Enrichment (Productivity, Sanity) in a Time of Social Distancing

Doberman Undómiel chews on pumpkin

As many of you know, Clicker Expo was cancelled at the last minute last weekend. While we were all, attendees and faculty, disappointed (to put it mildly), I absolutely support the decision. I’m not going to talk about the math and what should have been done here before now, because… Continue reading

Podcasts about Books & Training!

I had the opportunity to chat with Melinda Schiller on her fantastic Elite Pets Podcast, in two episodes themed around my training books. We had some great questions about training and problem-solving and problem-prevention. (Also there’s a bit of news hidden in the Fired Up talk!) You can catch each… Continue reading

Still An Easy Pill To Swallow

This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series An Easy Pill to Swallow

I’ve written before about training my dogs to take undisguised pills on cue. There’s a host of benefits to this: I don’t have to worry about hiding the pills I don’t have to worry about coming up with ever better tricks as my dogs get better at finding hidden pills… Continue reading

Nail Trim: Making It A Choice Makes It An Easy Choice

Labrador on Klimb platform and Doberman sitting beside, both hopeful

I made a mistake yesterday. I went to a drawer in the kitchen. Not just any drawer, it’s the not-a-junk drawer, where I keep among other things the dogs’ nail trimmers. As I opened the drawer, two dogs materialized behind me, sitting politely with ears forward and eyes bright. So of… Continue reading

It’s Here! Social, Civil, and Savvy, for Puppies 

The new puppy and socialization book is ready to launch! This book is written for the puppy owner who wants to raise a pup to prevent behavior problems in the future, as well as for the adopter of an older dog who didn’t receive the best socialization as a puppy.… Continue reading

Mindy-Penny and the Return to Ordinary Life

young puppy lying down beside table with cheese and crackers
This entry is part 25 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

So Penny, née Mindy, is a pet dog now. Aside from the obvious things like no longer accompanying us into restaurants, church, grocery stores, etc., her life has changed in other subtle ways. Like, I can feed her what I want now, instead of sticking to a national brand available at… Continue reading

Assistance Dog Blog Carnival – a Call for Posts

This entry is part 20 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

I’ve been given the opportunity to host the Assistance Dog Blog Carnival, a collection of relevant blog posts on the topic of service dogs and their people. This edition of the ADBC will go live on December 16, 2014. This round’s theme is: Perceive. This is an official call for posts!… Continue reading