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Fight and Flight State of the Mind One of the most fundamental ways that a dog lover can become relevant to a dog is with the comprehension of the four state of minds. The understanding that a dog can only have four responses to stimuli is the foundation of being able to communicate effectively with them  These states of mind…

A friend and her dog came to stay with me recently. Her dog’s name is Doodle, she is 14 years old. When my friend spoke to me about Doodle, it was almost always in downcast way: “She’s done. These are her last days. I just want to spend as much time as I can with her.” Being someone that has…

Often times when people bring a dog to training, they expect immediate results. A common refrain is, “wow, 3 weeks of board and train is a very long time”. Can my dog learn how to open doors, sit on command, stop chewing on everything, lunging at people, peeing in the house, jumping on guests, walk without pulling, come when called,…

A theme that comes up a lot when clients start learning about how to better communicate with their dogs is: “I don’t want to punish my dog for doing something wrong”. My answer to that is “don’t punish your dog. Instead teach them pathways to behaviors that you do agree with.” In the human world, words matter. Fully grasping that…

Training for anything takes time. Training anyone takes time. The art of mastering anything, be it a great dish that one loves to make, be it learning an instrument or creating a work of art, it always, always takes time. To achieve a Masters degree in academia it takes a minimum of 18 months, and that is after the 4…

A new client recently told me she has a really hard time with the word discipline. She can’t help it, she equates it with meanness and does not know how to change that. I told her that she could change the wording to coaching, directing, guidance… that gave her pause. She told me she never thought about it like that.…

In a world where dog ownership has become ubiquitous, it is somewhat confusing to me how many people get a puppy without thinking about what it will take to potty train them. It is also a little disconcerting that new puppy owners think that simply having them learn on their own, without any guidance or prompts is a successful way…

Scrolling around social media recently, I saw a video of a trainer yelling at a human whose dog was off leash that the dog he was working with was not friendly. He yelled ‘not friendly’ four or five times while the woman’s dog kept approaching his dog. The off-leash dog was curious about the ‘not friendly dog’, the dog’s owner…