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As dog trainers we hear it a lot: ‘my dog is lonely, I’ll get another one to keep it company’, or ‘my dog has separation anxiety, another dog will help with that’ and even ‘my dog doesn’t like other dogs, getting another dog will help fix that.’ Even though the intention behind this idea is undeniably one of love and…

A little over a year and half ago, Kovu, the Belgian Mallinois came into my life. He was about a year old. His owners had become afraid of him. Puppy Kovu was a present from the boyfriend to the girlfriend. She had wanted a Golden Retriever. They both agreed that they would work together to raise the pup. They are…

Every morning when I wake up, I let the dogs out and make myself a coffee. It’s a habit. My dogs know it very well. After all, I have been doing the same thing since forever. My dogs assume that going out, doing their business, coming back in, lying down and waiting for breakfast is what they are supposed to…

Proactive: “creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it has happened.” Reactive: “acting in response to a situation rather than creating or controlling it.” Thinking about your relationship with your dog, would you say you are more proactive or reactive when seeking a specific behavior? In my experience the majority of…

You are finally ready, you have decided, planned, prepared and you are now pulling the trigger on getting yourself a dog. You have read books, you have seen videos, but are a little confused on what exactly to focus on. How and what to start teaching your new furry companion is something that different trainers will have different answers to,…

In my experience when people ponder dog training, they often think about everything they want to teach their dog in order to make coexisting more enjoyable. Seldom do people realize that dogs can teach us a thing or two about life. I often say that while humans speak in prose, dogs speak in poetry. Their communication is extremely nuanced, small…

I can’t exactly remember at what age I started going to ballet classes. I know I was young, maybe 5 or 6, and like many girls, I was obsessed with ballerinas; the grace, the tutus, the pink shoes! By the time I was 14, the maxim “don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong”…

A few months ago a friend of mine was telling me about this dog that was up for adoption. She had been following this rescue organization online and fallen in love with this little black, fluffy dog. She knew right away that they were meant to be together.  She was ready, she told me, to have a dog. Since she…