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Training crazy dogs from over-the-top to under-control book cover, dogs in action.

Please welcome the revised edition(s)!

    I am very pleased to announce that Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out has a new revised version!

    It has somehow been ten years since the first publication of Fired Up, and the book has gone further than I had ever dreamed. A lot can change in ten years, however–not the basic theory of reinforcing good behavior, and not the concepts for teaching coping skills before they’re needed under duress, no, but other things. Many links to resources were outdated, as organizations reorganized their websites or took materials offline, for example.

    Podcasts about Books & Training!

      Active woman training service dog outdoors, promoting canine training and assistance.

      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 of the episodes online:

      Labrador on Klimb platform and Doberman sitting beside, both hopeful

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

        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 course I had to get the trimmers out.

        Better Together is Coming Soon

          Better Together: the Collected Wisdom of Modern Dog Trainers

          Hey, there’s a great new training book hitting the shelves!

          Better Together: The Collected Wisdom of Modern Dog Trainers is a comprehensive collection of both practical and inspirational advice from some of the best trainers in the world. Learn the methods of modern dog training through more than 60 articles from 28 experts, specially selected by world-renowned trainer Ken Ramirez.

          Black Labrador Mindy sits and watches deer eating across a wide, rocky creek

          Recall Roundup

            This entry is part 22 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

            Black Labrador Mindy in her green service vest beside an enormous prickly pear

            Last November — yes, I’m more than a little behind on posting — Mindy took a trip with me down to my aunt’s ranch in Texas. I knew this would be an exciting trip for her for a variety of reasons, not least of which that the ranch is a seriously cool place for puppies to explore, with lizards, snakes, rabbits, deer, boar, turkeys, and many other things. (Some of these are fun to watch or even chase; some should be explored by sniffing their tracks only.)

            The ranch is big, but not so big that a dog couldn’t find her way off it and get into local trouble. I would never have allowed Laev off-leash even for a moment there, if I’d ever taken her; Laev would have tangled with a rattlesnake and then chased a rabbit or deer straight off into a neighboring sheep ranch. There’s a ranch gate on the road which for years has been decorated with the hanging bodies of the latest coyotes or dogs which had been shot while hunting or harassing their stock.

            Training & Gaming at Gen Con

              This entry is part 19 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

              Mindy joined me at Gen Con this year. Because you can’t buy that kind of socialization experience. What is Gen Con, you may ask? Well, “Gen Con, LLC produces the largest consumer hobby, fantasy, science fiction and adventure game convention in North America. Gen Con, The Best Four Days In Gaming!™”

              (Actually, I think it’s the world’s largest?)

              A girl in a wheelchair is accompanied by a Golden Retriever wearing a service vest and carrying a plushed terrier on his back, dressed as Sir Didymus from the film Labyrinth.
              Mindy wasn’t the only service dog at Gen Con. Here’s an assistance dog appearing as Sir Didymus (from Labyrinth).

              It’s a gaming (and SFF, miniatures, film, etc.) convention which takes over much of Indianapolis each year. I posted on Facebook that Mindy wasn’t impressed by the 60,000 people, but that was an exaggeration; this year’s actual count was 56, 614 attendees. But of course, most of those people came more than one day, so turnstile attendance was 184,699. The con runs five days, but Mindy attended only three, including the two busiest. And she was a rock star. Rock star, I tell you.

              The Training Game and What It Teaches: The Rat Is Always Right

                Many clicker trainers are familiar with what is almost universally known by the ridiculously simple name of The Training Game. It’s a shaping game played among humans, and most often a learner is sent from the room while the group determines a (physically and socially safe) behavior to shape, and then a trainer shapes the learner with the clicker to perform the chosen behavior.

                There are a number of variations on this game, many useful. The trainer (and observers) can learn a great deal by doing this! and it’s a great way to test various training concepts and approaches. There is a variation I have not used in nearly a decade, however, with good reason: It broke the learner.

                Fireworks Without the Freak-Out

                  This entry is part 18 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

                  Fireworks on the beach on the Fourth of July. ...
                  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

                  So it was the Fourth of July this past weekend, Independence Day, with all the challenges that brings for pets and their people.

                  I was traveling with Mindy, the guide dog in training, and we did fireworks. With flying colors (terrible pun intended).

                  Puppy’s First Tornado – Preparedness for Pets

                    This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Storm Watch
                    Tornado warning
                    Tornado warning (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

                    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.

                    Puppy Training on a FitPAWS Donut

                      This entry is part 16 of 25 in the series Service Dog Training

                      So apparently I forgot to publish this blog post — sorry!

                      Set the Wayback Machine for a few months ago, when Mindy was small enough to use this size FitPAWS Donut. The weather was too bad (sub-zero Fahrenheit) for puppies to play outdoors for long, and this was not only a great energy burn, but an important skill development for a dog expected to handle lots of surfaces and challenges in her career.