Risk Assessments and YOU
Do you do risk assessments on the animals you work with? If not, you should. But you say “I’m a groomer, I don’t try to train aggressive animals” or “I don’t allow aggressive dogs in my training classes.” Even if you don’t intentionally work with aggressive animals, there is always the possibility that any animal…
Your Behavior and Training Business Is Really An Information Business
If you have a pet behavior or training business, you probably think of your business as being a provider of training services. Your customers and potential customers want their dogs trained, or their pet’s behavior to change in some way. And they want you to show – and tell – them how to do it.…
Pet Behavior Information Business Cruise 2013
If you’ve been following us for any length of time, you know about our membership site – Behavior Education Network – the online educational site we opened in 2009 for pet professionals to learn about animal behavior. We’ve had nothing but good feedback from BEN members –here’s just a few examples: "I’m finding my…
Who Owns Your Website?
You might have seen the recent story about the lawsuit over the website “Sammy and the City”. The site was created by the dog’s owner, his sister, and his now ex-girlfriend. The site contains stories, pictures, and videos of the little dog as he and his owners visit various landmarks in and around Manhattan. Several…
Pet Behavior Consults as Scientific Experiments
How Thinking of a Behavior Consultation as a Science Experiment Can Improve Success Your first thought may be that you are trying to help people with their pets’ behavior problems, not trying to discover a new truth through experimentation. And you are correct in terms of your primary goal being to help your client. But…
The Power of Focus
We just finished another mentoring session, helping one of our Behavior Education Network members develop a plan to follow-up with clients whose dog has multiple problems. This dog needs help with his behavior when visitors come to the door, on walks, in the backyard when the neighbors are out, when he sees or passes joggers…
Alternatives to Social Dominance in Dogs
After predominating thinking about the social behavior of dogs for over 60 years, dominance theory (or pack theory) is finally on the decline. A number of authorities have argued against the application of dominance theory to dogs, but nowhere is the theory more persuasively debunked than in John Bradshaw’s recent book Dog Sense. Bradshaw marshals…