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Canine rescue training with service dogs at Canines In Action.

Optimizing Zoom for Remote Training

Whether you’ve signed up for remote training sessions due to the pandemic or whether you’ve been taking advantage of long distance opportunities, virtual sessions can be a valuable and effective part of your training program. I’ve found virtual training to be surprisingly good in general and especially helpful with these benefits:

Anxious or fearful dogs may be better able to learn without a stranger in the home.
Travel time is eliminated, freeing up both trainer and client schedules and allowing for specialist sessions despite distance (and reducing mileage costs).
Clients can replay recorded sessions to review coaching if needed.
Clients need only declutter a small area without worrying about a visiting trainer seeing the rest of the house! (Don’t worry, though. Seriously, we’re not judging.)

Zoom is great for virtual and remote sessions, however, Zoom was designed for meetings with humans speaking with human voices, and by design it attempts to suppress other sounds. This is great for muffling background noise during a complex financial meeting, but it’s not as helpful when we’re trying to hear a properly-timed click or subtle animal vocalizations! Here’s how you can optimize your Zoom settings to make your sessions as clear and helpful as possible. These instructions are for the Zoom app on a computer (not a mobile app or in a browser).

The Best Dog Bed (Not a Sponsored Post!)

I’ve raved to friends about this before, but now it’s earned a spot on the blog. And no, I’m not getting any kickback from this!

I’ve had Big Shrimpy dog beds for a long time, nearly two decades, and I’ve been consistently impressed with their durability. There are four Big Shrimpy beds in my house right now, and most of them date back a good ten years or so. But one finally succumbed to wear, when Undómiel got enthusiastic in her bed-fluffing after ten years of wear, and the cover wore through.

Flying — and Arriving — With Your Dog

You may have heard about the young dog dying after a United flight attendant insisted that it be placed in an overhead bin. And then just a day later, a family flying United went to claim their elderly German Shepherd at their arrival in Kansas — and found only a Great Dane someone else was missing. Their German Shepherd had been accidentally sent to Japan.

There is enough outrage over these incidents, as there should be, that I do not need to repeat it here. What I want to do is share how pet owners can prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future.

Total Solar Eclipse with fiery corona around the moon, astronomical event, space sky image.

Pet Safety During the Eclipse

Originally written for 2017, and now updated for 2024.

I’ve already seen some chatter on social media about pet safety during the Great American Eclipse, and some of it has been quite off-base. So let’s talk about safety!

First, unless you’ve been living in a cave (perhaps a reasonable choice, given the recent socio-political climate), you’ve probably heard about the eclipse predicted for ~~August 21, 2017~~ April 8, 2024. This will be a total solar eclipse, particularly notable for many Americans for its convenient path of travel right through the center of the continental US.

17 Essentials: My Shopping Haul for New Puppy Gear

What does a professional trainer buy for a new puppy? I already have a full complement of Kong toys and other standards, but you can always use a few new items. And sometimes there’s a special gap that needs to be filled — like during travel.

(By the way, I’m not really trying to be coy when I only say “puppy” in this post; at this time of this writing, I actually don’t even know the puppy’s gender yet. I will happily introduce you all when things are settled.)

Bringing home this puppy is a bit more complicated than usual — we’re flying back from Europe. So not only do I have to travel with a puppy, hotels and all, but I have to keep it happy — or at least quiet — for 10 hours in a pressurized tube.

So, how does one plan for that? Here’s what I pulled out of storage, dusted off, or purchased new for the trip.

Puppy’s First Tornado – Preparedness for Pets

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Storm Watch

Spring came very late to Indiana this year, and I got complacent. With a lot fewer spring storms, I didn’t prep for tornados like I should have. So when the warning sirens went off a few minutes ago and I saw that a tornado had been sighted, I was unprepared.

This is dumb. If you’re lucky, you get up to half an hour of tornado warning, if it’s considerate enough to touch down at a distance and with an observable and predictable path. The average warning time with today’s radar equipment is about 13 minutes, according to NOAA. But you might have just a few minutes, if even that.

So I’m writing this post from my basement, waiting for the tornado to pass (it seems to be heading north of us) and making plans to improve my storm preparations.

Resisting Temptation

This entry is part 11 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

honey-drizzled Brie, prosciutto, and crackers — Honey-drizzled Brie, prosciutto, and crackers. Yum.

So the puppy and I had a night out last week to the New Day Meadery, a local mead and cider room. (I drink very little, maybe a glass every couple of months, but I find their libations very tasty.) Their tasting room also offers specialty foods, and I ordered a honey-drizzled Brie and prosciutto platter along with my mead. Only problem is, their tasting room is pretty hip, with ultra-low tables to serve the lounging couches. And Brie and prosciutto are pretty attractive to a 15-week old puppy (or any dog, let’s be honest).

Dice as Training Tools

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Training Tools

To train an animal, you really need only two things: a marker it can recognize, and something it wants as reinforcement.

To train an animal efficiently, you need a way to track and plan your sessions, or you’ll waste time in moving too quickly (confusing your learner) or moving too slowly (frustrating you both).

There are many ways to do this, of course, but I just got home from Gen Con, the world’s largest gaming convention, and I thought I’d mention some less common planning tools you might not have seen.

Training a Dog to Wear a Muzzle

I ran into Chirag Patel at ClickerExpo last year. He showed me a Baskerville muzzle and asked what I thought of the design. “I’d like to try it,” I said. “I’m thinking of making a video on muzzle conditioning.”

“I have one,” he said. “Have you seen it?”

I hadn’t. And I soon realized there wasn’t a need for me to make another one.

It’s That Time of Year, When the World Falls In Love…. Holiday & Seasonal Care for Pets

English: Rottweiler Head Deutsch: Rottweiler Kopf — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It may be the time of year when the world falls in love, but the holidays stretching from Halloween to New Year’s can be a particularly tough time on household pets, especially with parties, house guests, and distracted owners. This stress can manifest in a variety of unpleasant ways, from house-training accidents to chewing to even fearfulness or fear-aggression.

Fortunately there are a number of things we can do to mitigate the stresses and dangers to our pets. Read on, and with a little preparation, you and your pets can be full of good cheer.