Perfect Companion K9

All the dog needs is NOT only love! When we become very emotional in trying to save a dog, we can often forget whether we can actually provide the perfect home for the dog. We may think we can give the dog the perfect home because we have lots of “love” to offer, but reality is, love is not really all that the dog needs. I see lots of dogs being returned to shelter and eventually being put down because they were being rescued by people who thought all they needed to give t

A dog can become reactive with too much love and freedom. A lot of dogs ended up in the shelter because they were given nothing but love and freedom by their owners (should say ex owners). Freedom is not a good thing for a dog when the dog has no idea what to do with it. Love without guidance is not going to make the dog stronger or happier. Lots and lots of misplaced love and freedom will result in lots and lots of entitlement, confusion, and anxiety, which are what dr

A lot of people like to see a dramatic before video when a new dog comes in, and l have been asked many times why l don’t usually show those. It is because I don’t usually see the really bad “before” once the dog is here. But we all know owners will not pay thousands of dollars to send their dogs here if there is nothing wrong. What happens is that l spend a lot of time to help the new dog to feel safe and secure around me and inside my house upon arrival. I take lots o

Dogs are being rehomed or put down daily because of behavioural issues. This is a fact. It is also a fact that many of these dogs were once little puppies who were very loved by their owners. What happened? One common mistake l have seen new owners (or even experienced dog people) make over and over again is their misunderstanding on “socialization”. For some reason, many people mistakenly believe they need to find some doggie friends for their puppies, and they believe t

You are like a mirror to your dog. If you cannot stand being away from your dog for a second, your dog will likely also feel the same way and suffers separation anxiety. If you are very emotional, your dog will likely be reactive, too. Training can only help so much. You need to change. Instead of being the mirror, you can be the role model. If your dog is very obsessive, you can act independent. If your dog is very reactive, you can be aloof and calm. You can l

If you have to choose between giving up treating your dog like a human baby vs giving up your dog entirely, what would you choose? You may be surprised to know how many people l have met chose the latter instead. “I feel so sad about giving up my dog...but l think he will be happier with someone else.” Usually, what really happened is that the dog would have been really happy with the same person and would also behave much better if the owner could only stop humanizing th

I have seen so many owners who were afraid to correct their dogs. Many of them have been to other training classes and they were told that if they corrected their dogs, their relationship would definitely be damaged and there would be fallouts and their dogs would turn on them. I have met owners with scars all over their arms, ladies who could not wear bathing suits due to numerous scars on their thighs, seniors with cuts all over their faces after being pulled and dragge

Puppy owners often told me they could not get their puppies to calm down until they have given the puppies lots of exercise. This is a common problem with puppy owners. A lot of it has to do with the energy and behaviour of the people around the puppy. It is largely about how they live with the puppy. If they are always showing excitement (o look at him, come to me, l miss you so much, give me a kiss...) and rewarding the puppy with attention and affection whenever the pu

Many people feel bad about implementing structure for their dogs. But structure is not a bad thing. It is good for your dogs. Dogs love structure. Structure clarifies the confusion for a dog who may find our world intimidating, and it gives the dog a sense of security and stability as he/she knows what to expect so he/she does not need to guess and worry. Structure is a life style. A structural life style for a dog is like working in a very organized office - you kn

Our human view of freedom is often about letting our dog do whatever he wants. For an anxious/fearful/timid dog, this could however be interpreted as not having a leader to follow with no clear set of rules to observe, which can make such a dog more confused and insecure. To a dog, freedom is about not having to doubt and worry. It is about having someone who can guide and protect them. When we allow our dogs lots of freedom, we are also asking them to make lots of decisions

When grandma comes to visit, the kids are very excited because grandma will shower them with gifts, yummy snacks and so on. Grandma never asks them to do anything they don't like to do. Grandma will tolerate all sorts of inappropriate behaviour. The kids love both dad and grandma but they display very different behaviours in front of them. There are lots more self-control in their relationship with their dad. With dad, there are clear boundaries and they understand what they

"My puppy loves to jump on all sorts of people and he gets really excited... What to do?" We need to teach our dog how to be calm around people. To start, we need to be calm and we should ask other people to be calm around our puppy. Do not let all these people just come and make a big fuss to your dog. Teach your puppy to know how to be calm and relax around other people so he will not view them as a source of super excitement. Physical touch and praise are high value affect

"Why did my dog bite me? I am so nice to him!" Many owners feel very puzzled, frustrated, and even betrayed, by aggressive behaviour from their own dogs. This German Shepherd in the picture used to attack anyone who came close to her crate, her owner, her house..,etc. It was a perception and relationship issue. Since l had Anja, she never showed any aggression even once about anything. Nothing at all. She is a very gentle, sweet, easy going dog. I developed a mutually respect

When you have a dog that you cannot take out on a walk because he is just ridiculously out of control, you most certainly have a dog who is also ridiculously out of control inside your home. To have a well behaved dog, training has to start from inside your home. A lot of people just let their dogs run free in their homes. They struggle with the concept of leashing their dogs inside; they do not want to crate their dogs; they do not spend time training their dogs inside their

Very often we let our dogs experience lots of excitement around other dogs; but once our dogs become a bit calmer, we try to ramp them up to play some more or we take them home. This will, overtime, create a dog with a single response whenever he/she sees another dog - extreme arousal. In the human world, we have more than one response in front of others- we can be very attentive (e.g. work, classroom), very active (e.g. sports), very aloof and quiet (e.g. library); we may no

After sending an aggressive, reactive, or anxious dogs to a board and train for a few weeks, the dog is now back home acting like a different dog. He is much calmer and much better behaved. Will the training stay? Will the dog revert back? What should the owner do to keep things on track? The followings are what l would like my clients to do. Firstly, l want you to learn my training system and train your dog multiple times daily. My marker system is very simple (yes, no, good