It’s no secret that coming when called is important. It keeps me from chasing a fast creature with twice as many legs as I have, and it can save a dog’s life, if she gets out near traffic or other hazards. Currently Undómiel is undergoing treatment for heartworms — yes,… Continue reading
Guys, I cannot tell you how important it is to teach puppies that “What do you have?” and “What did you do?” are the best phrases on earth. From the first times my puppy is “naughty” — and let’s be honest, it’s a puppy, it’s going to get into things… Continue reading
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
I had the opportunity to compare our husbandry behavior training with two species, as I both took my dogs to the vet for their annuals and I went to the ophthalmologist for my semi-annual. I’ve written about managing my own behavior at the eye doctor before, and it’s gotten a… Continue reading
We rearranged some furniture this week to make room for an event, and I guess it was enough to make someone wonder if the house rules had changed. (Hint: they hadn’t.) I looked up from my computer to see that Undómiel had brought a recreational bone onto the chair with… Continue reading
I’m not supposed to work on my computer in bed (spine) but darn it, the company is better here.
Oh my gosh, you guys. Back in January (it’s early April as I write this), I arrived at ClickerExpo and found that one of my favorite stupid props had not made the journey with me. I have a Batman toy from an old McDonald’s Happy Meal merchandising tie-in which I… Continue reading
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
The temperature has been climbing all day and we’ve now broken 0 degrees F! (-18 C) so I thought I’d share some of our cold weather activity and precautions. I don’t keep my dogs inside, as they love to play in the yard, but they definitely get to come inside… Continue reading
My friend Emilia sent me photos of this great PSA at Dragon Con this year. Dragon Con is an enormous pop culture convention annually in Atlanta, GA, with attendance of about 80,000 guests. They have a lot of service dogs working at the convention. Because many people still don’t know… Continue reading