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A Kids Comprehensive Guide To Speaking Dog!

A Great Educational Tool for Families A Kids’ Comprehensive Guide to Speaking Dog! Available NOW A fun, interactive, educational resource to help the whole family understand canine communication. Keep future generations safe by learning to “speak dog!” The perfect tool for parents, educators, dog trainers, and behavior specialists to use in support of family pet dog training. Features the renowned Be a Tree® international dog bite safety program Real-life situations explained with photos and fun cartoons Complete toolbox to help children stay safe around just about any dog Written and contributed… Continued

Is Walking the Dog a Dreaded Chore?

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One of the biggest complaints I hear as a trainer is that dogs pull, are reactive toward people, or toward other dogs. Dog Walking Pro Tips I have different ways of addressing all of those things, but can give you one hint before your walk with any dog. Wear them out a little before the walk. I love to take them out to the front yard on leash and sprinkle treats around for them to search for. This gets them in a sniffing mood and it is commonly said that… Continued

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs! We Love Them!

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So, how do we help dogs navigate our human world?   When I go to see a client, I begin each session speaking about what it was like for me going to the zoo as a child.  The lion, the gorilla, all the inhabitants lived in cages.  As a result, they often displayed abnormal repetitive behaviors known as zoochosis, a form of psychosis that develops in animals held captive in zoos. These behaviors included pacing, bar biting, excessive licking just to name a few. I then move the conversation onto the happy fact that… Continued

What You Need to Know About Puppy Socialization

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Socialization is a hot topic, but what does it mean exactly? Is it about your pet being able to play and being social? Well kinda, but not just that. Dogs and cats have a critical socialization period; in puppies this is a period of 3-12 weeks of age, and in kittens their key socialization period is up to 7 weeks of age. During these periods our pets are most receptive to new experiences, and the things they are exposed to -or not- can have far reaching consequences. That’s not to… Continued

Common Stumbling Blocks to Behavioral Recovery for Dogs and How to Overcome Them

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  by Diane Garrod In response to a survey of more than 1,000 pet parents in the United States by Kinship Partners (2021), 62% said their top priority is their pets’ happiness, and 80% said their pets deserve more of their time. Seventy-one percent said they could not have survived the pandemic without their pets. (A link to the full results of the survey and infographics can be found in the references.) Even so, pet parents often have unrealistic expectations of their dogs, and when addressing a behavior problem, these… Continued

Meet Laura Cassiday of Pawsitive Vibes Cat Behavior and Training

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  Laura Cassiday takes cat owners from hopeless to hopeful using her feline expertise and force-free training techniques.   Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you first get into animal behavior and training, and what you are doing now? I studied English and professional writing in college and grad school, and worked a couple of writing and editing jobs. In 2017, I was so bored and miserable that I just quit without any real plans. I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do with… Continued

Teaching a Fearful Dog Trust and Skills – In That Order

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Teaching is a proactive process, rather than a reactive one.  The goal is to prevent unwanted behaviors, rather than wait for them to occur and then try to remedy the situation.  Helping Maizey When a client asked for help with Maizey, a dog with several fear triggers, I resolved to begin with a proactive plan. Maizey had a history of fear of strangers, fear of trucks, fear of other dogs and excessive arousal upon seeing squirrels. Her behavior responses included barking and lunging which made it stressful for her family… Continued

Questions to Ask About That Bizarre Prong Collar Diagram

An excerpt from a blog by Eileen Anderson. Posted on October 6, 2021 by Eileen Anderson Questions to Ask About That Bizarre Prong Collar Diagram The Diagram I am going to critique a certain diagram (and a few other arguments about prong collars) I have seen online. But I won’t link to the diagram. I hate vague-posting, but I can’t see another ethical way through this swamp. I feel bound to say something about the misinformation, but I know that linking to it, even for criticism, will promulgate it. So I am… Continued

When Services Refuse Access to Assistance Dog Teams

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Pet Professional Guild Member Let Down by Services That Promise Otherwise Uber is a taxi service which is accessible through an app. Within the app you can book your driver and also let them know if you have an assistance dog. The idea is to help people to easily access the most local driver and have reassurance that they can go to their destination, with their assistance dogs, in peace. However, some Uber drivers over the last five years have been refusing access to Ruby Welsford and Millie Gee (and… Continued

Lorena Beatriz León-Patti Is Appointed Chair of PPG’s Inclusivity Division

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  The Pet Professional Guild has appointed Florida-based dog trainer Lorena Beatriz León-Patti as chair of its Inclusivity Division with immediate effect. As chair of the Inclusivity Division, Lorena also takes a seat on PPG’s Steering Committee.    Click here to read more about Lorena and her new role as Inclusivity Division Chair.   Congratulations, Lorena!

Pets, Emotions and Anthropomorphism

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by Don Hanson Emotions are complicated and messy. So much so that as a youngster watching Star Trek in the 1960s, I was attracted to the Vulcan ethos of suppressing all emotion and replacing it with logic. However, I eventually learned that without emotion, we are devoid of joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love. But, unfortunately, the price for those positive feelings is negative emotions such as anger, emptiness, frustration, inadequacy, helplessness, fear, guilt, loneliness, depression, feeling overwhelmed, resentment, failure, sadness and jealousy. The fact… Continued

Advocating Together—The Mission, Vision and Values of the Pet Professional Guild

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by Niki Tudge Each of us wants to bring about change in our industry. We yearn for a day when pain and fear are no longer used in the training and care of pets. We have a mammoth job ahead of us, and it most certainly is not a sprint but a marathon. It is possible to hold professional autonomy and support your choice of humane hierarchy while also taking a stand and position against the use and application of tools designed with one purpose: to inflict pain or fear.… Continued

Tips for Parents and Dog Guardians to Help Keep Kids Safe

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The 3 Most Important Things to Teach Your Kids Dogs Don’t Like Hugs and Kisses – Teach your kids not to hug or kiss a dog on the face. Hugging the family dog or face-to-face contact are common causes of facial bites.  Instead, teach kids to scratch the dog on the chest or the side of the neck. Be a Tree If a Strange Dog Approaches – Teach kids to stand still, like a tree. Trees are boring and the dog will eventually go away. This works for strange dogs… Continued

How Many Dogs Should I Adopt at the Same Time?

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Adopting a dog is so exciting, not just for us but for the dog as well. I don’t think there is much that can match the feeling of giving a previously unwanted dog a new beginning. Of course, you do have the option to adopt more than one dog; here are a couple of things to keep in mind. Adopting One Dog…At a Time Adopting two or more puppies together is not advisable. Similar to purchasing siblings from the same bred litter, two puppies are double the costs, cleaning up,… Continued

Play Dates and Babysitter’s House

When a child wants to go to a friend’s house, a responsible parent asks some basic questions. For example: will a parent be home? Does the family have a pool? Is the yard fenced? Are there guns in the house and how are they secured? A parent would ask these and many more questions of a prospective in-home daycare or nanny. Rarely does it occur to a parent to ask if the family has a dog and if so, what steps will be taken to ensure that there are no… Continued

Growling at Kids

Growling at the Kids -Never punish your dog for growling. This may seem counter-intuitive and may even go against the advice of your dog trainer or dog trainers you have seen on TV. If your dog growls at your child he is sending a clear warning that he is very uncomfortable with the actions or proximity of the child. Be grateful that your dog chose to warn with a growl rather than going straight to a bite. If you punish the growling, you may inhibit the warning growl the next… Continued

Tips for Ensuring Safe and Happy Holidays for People and Dogs

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By Niki Tudge All behaviors that dogs exhibit are designed either to access pleasurable situations and desirable objects or to avoid and escape unpleasant situations and undesirable objects. (Note: This is based on what each individual dog considers to pleasant or unpleasant, not the human, and it is important to be aware that the canine and human opinions may differ in any given situation!) A dog’s communication systems are greatly ritualized, and have evolved specifically to avoid or cut off conflict. This has made dogs, as a species, very successful… Continued

The Station Cue: Its Many Uses for Equids and How to Train It

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Have you thought about teaching your equid to station? Here’s what stationing is and a few reasons why it’s a great thing to train! What is Stationing? Stationing is where you teach your horse, pony, donkey or mule to stay in a specific place. It can be teaching them to stay at a tie up point, teaching them to “park” when you drop the lead rope or teaching them to stand on a mat without walking off. All it means is that they understand, when you give the cue, that… Continued

What Is Enrichment for Animals?

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  by Diane Garrod When the term “enrichment” is verbalized, its meaning is often not clearly understood. When I’ve asked clients, “What enrichment does your dog get?” I’ve gotten answers like ball play or a walk, or a long pause of nothing because the client is not sure what enrichment is or means. This got me thinking about the differing categories of enrichment for animals and led me to dig deeper into the science and definition of enrichment. Is it the same for dogs as it is for horses and… Continued

Cat Introductions – One Step at a Time

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Since starting my cat behavior consulting business in 2019, the issue that I have been most often contacted about is that of cat introductions. While there are some cats that will roll out the welcome mat almost immediately for a newcomer, most need a more structured approach. 1. SAFE ROOM The first introduction step is to start your new cat in a safe room. This room should have all the major resources that a cat needs: feeding station, litter box, scratching post, bedding, and toys. One benefit of a safe… Continued

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