Can Playing Tug Build a Dog’s Confidence?

During a recent presentation at a conference, we were discussing myths surrounding playing tug of war with dogs.  We were explaining that tug-of-war is a cooperative game, not a competitive interaction over which individual is going to control the toy.  Several people in the audience mentioned they had heard playing tug-of-war is a good way…

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Is Your Dog Afraid to Ride in the Car?

 Question:   My 1.5 year old Rat Terrier has some disturbing issues with fear and anxiety. We have been taking him on weekly car trips to visit family every week. He has never enjoyed our weekly car trips to visit family and recently his anxiety is getting worse.  I do not want him to live in…

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Push Button Dog Training

It’s always surprising to discover where it’s possible to find enlightening analogies that can be applied to dog training.  Unfortunately, the snow and ice on the ground has forced us inside to run on the treadmill at our gym.  An hour’s worth of jogging provides a goodly amount of time for “people watching”.  Because we…

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What’s Your Dog Training “Philosophy”?

How do you describe your “training philosophy”?  Do you think it’s important to have a brief description of your perspective on how best to modify or train specific behaviors?  Why or why not? When Suzanne first started training dogs professionally (and she’s both proud and reluctant to admit how long ago this was) in the late 1970’s,…

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Crates and Confinement

As an early Christmas present to our loyal readers, we are giving you access to part of one of our Exclusive Behavior Education Network Pro Member Only Classes.  This was one of the first sessions we did for BEN members.  We want to give you a glimpse into the what BEN Members have access to every…

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Suzanne’s Introduction to K9 Nose Work

Although I’d heard about K9 Nose Work® for the past few years, I had never seen a trial or attended any workshops or training classes.  So I decided to attend Jill Marie O’Brien’s and Amy Herot’s half-day workshop at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Conference in San Diego last October. Jill and Amy gave…

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More on Reinforcement and Punishment

In our Fundamentals of Animal Learning Course, we are tackling some thorny issues. in another post we talked about the terminology problems surrounding terms like punishment, correction, and discipline.  In response to that discussion, our colleague Dr. Frank McMillan, the Director of Well-Being Studies at Best Friends Animal Society in Utah submitted a  thought provoking…

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An Introduction to Mobile Marketing to Grow Your Business

Do you have all the business and all the clients you want? Do you know that more and more people are searching for local businesses using their phones, and that 60% of those users call after finding the business that way? Wouldn’t YOU like to be the business receiving those calls? In this special webinar…

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Are Punishment and “Corrections” the Same Thing?

We were reading a popular mail order pet supply catalog and came across some descriptions of training products using incorrect terminology.  We know such confusion is widespread and worth discussing.  We’ll tell you right up front that the take home message is that as professionals, it is important to be precise and correct with the…

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Why We Have To Read Research Very Carefully

       The pet behavior and training literature is full of misinformation that exists  because writers either misread or misinterpreted the research of others. One prime example is the frequent claim that synthetic pheromones from dogs can reduce anxiety in a variety of situations. A systematic review of the literature (Frank et al. JAVMA, 2010, 236,…

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