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 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

Someone asked me a question that l have been asked many times. I like to take this opportunity to address this in public. Q: lf l put a prong/ecollar on my dogs, do they need to wear them forever? How long before l can remove them completely? A: Many dogs have to wear a flat collar, martingale, harness, or a halti during their entire life. But for some reason, people don’t think there is anything wrong with that. But once they see a prong collar or an ecollar, they

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

Many puppies are overwhelmed by the amount of attention they receive once they arrive in their new homes. When they are with their mother and litter mates, the dog mother would make sure the puppies are advocated for; she will make sure they have their privacy and down time so they can feel safe. However, very often, once the puppy arrives in the human’s home, everyone comes to fuss around the puppy, they give the puppy lots of attention but no one takes up the role of be

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

Dogs should not only work for you or listen to you when you give him food. It does not matter whether the dog was bred for whatever purposes, all dogs can be taught to listen and be motivated even if you have left your treat pouch at home. If you need to give your husband $100 every time you ask him to take out the garbage bin or else he will completely ignore you - will you say you have a great loving relationship with your husband? Will you think it is normal? Many ow

"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

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