Perfect Companion K9

Harley just went back to Whistler BC after finishing his boarding here. We just finished a lesson with his lovely owners, who came here after an epic flight back from Europe. We went over something in the lesson that l like to talk a little bit about here. In order for Harley to feel safe and stop reacting, he needs to believe that his human can absolutely take care of the situations for him. This is about trust. There is a part of trust that is not often talked about

Many owners were told they should use desensitization and counter conditioning when they have a reactive dog. They were told they should never use correction, they were told they should never punish the dog for reacting, they were told they should never make the dog uncomfortable. I was one of those people years ago. We were told we had to keep the bar opened so to speak whenever a dog appeared. We were told to pour high value treats onto a dog when another dog appeared

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

Q: l spend awesome quality time with my dog when we snuggle on the sofa watching tv together. Other than that, what else do you recommend l do with my dog? A: Spending quality time with your dog is not the same as coddling or snuggling with your dog. When l think of quality time, l think of spending time to train my dog, walk my dog, and play with my dog. These activities can challenge my dog, educate my dog, and encourage my dog. They are “quality” because they can e

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

Sadie used to love chasing squirrels, skunks, cats, rabbits, and racoons. She had pinned a cat down and almost killed the cat when l first got her. I almost lost my finger when she took off after a cat on the street. I recently have adopted a cat in my house, and l walk my dogs around lots of squirrels multiple times daily. We walk past many squirrels when l and my dogs walk my kids to school every morning. We can't have a big powerful mastiff going after squirrels with a bun