Who Gets to Label Animal Behavior?
Helping people with their pets’ behavior and training problems requires a variety of skills. One skill is to know what are normal behaviors and what aren’t. That can get a little tricky because to call something “not normal” we must have a frame of reference for “normal”. Normal for all members of the species? Normal…
When Dogs Bite Kids
A member of our Behavior Education Network site told us about a case of Great Pyrenees mix that had a great several year history of begin well behaved and getting along with everyone, including the two kids in the family (8 and 10 years old), their friends, other dogs and adults. His owner did describe…
What’s Wrong With Dog Shaming
By now you’ve probably seen the “shaming” pictures of dogs on the internet with hand-written signs about the “bad” things the dogs have done. These include peeing on the owner’s leg at obedience class, slamming against the bedroom door to wake the owner up, eating feces or TV remote controls, and more. We’ve included…
Pet Behavior and Training Business Session – on a Cruise!
For the last week or so, we’ve been telling you about our first-ever pet behavior session “Five Crucial Strategies To Expand Your Local Dog Training and Behavior Consulting Business into a Behavior and Training Information Business” that will be part of a business marketing cruise in February 2013. We’ve attended this business marketing cruise for…
Cumulative Thresholds for Aggression
We recently posted an article about why pet professionals should do risk assessments of the animals they work with. It served as a reminder that any pet can bite and the safest thing to do is to gather information about the likelihood that the animal may bite in particular situations. Whether you are a behavior…
That’s My Job! Really???
What is your job as a dog trainer, behavior consultant, or certified behaviorist? Is your job to meet an owner’s unreasonable expectations of wanting to have a serious aggression problem resolved in five minutes before the next commercial break? Is your job to push a dog during training or “evaluating” him to the point of…
What’s the Value of Your Services?
The veterinary profession has suffered financially with the downturn in the economy the last few years. Many dog trainers and behavior consultants who are our customers say the same thing, that business isn’t as good as it used to be. Interestingly, statistics indicate that the pet industry as a whole hasn’t been hurt too badly…
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…