Choosing a Dog Trainer from The Doodle Pro
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Corinne Gearhart, who is the oracle for all things Doodle, on her Doodle Pro podcast. The tide has been shifting about Doodles. Trainers used to be more wary about the energy level, and the purebred dog world looked down on hybrids. Now, trainers have come around. Doodles […]
The Magic of Management in Dog Training
You’ll get a new perspective on using management to help dogs (and their guardians) with these inspiring posts from the Academy’s March is Management Month.
A Good Trade: Online Coaching for Food and Object Guarding
The look of astonishment on my client’s face wasn’t unusual. Her dog had a history of growling, snarling and biting if anyone came near when he was chewing his favorite bone. And she had in fact just walked up to him while he was chewing on this coveted bone. But guess what? When she approached, […]
Naughtiness in Dogs: Why They Do It & Why We Love It
Why does my dog… [insert naughty behavior here]? Trainers get asked this question all the time. I sometimes ruminate on this question, mostly as an indulgence. At the end of the day, why dogs do certain things is at best a guess. As trainers, we typically track their behavior—what they actually do—to see whether it’s […]
Sound Sensitivities and Unexpected Parameters: A Case Study from Academy Grad Kathryn Boccia
Graig and Ashley, an Army Corp engineer and a special education teacher, are in their mid-30s with two young sons, ages five and two. They live on a 27-acre lot in rural western New York. In February of 2009 Graig rescued two Malinois / Husky puppies living in a cardboard box, naming them Ava and […]
Staying The Course With A Nervous Dog
“She’s afraid of the hall again,” my young client said, her voice tense. “And she’s also flinching when she hears the elevator. She’s regressing more and more!” “She” was Nellie, a 5-month-old Rottweiler mix who had been rescued from an abandoned house in rural Puerto Rico and transported to a tenth-floor apartment in Washington, D.C. […]