What Exactly Is Appropriate Play?
For some reason, dog owners often have difficulty distinguishing between appropriate and inappropriate play. Some may think that perfectly acceptable play behavior is bullying...
Communication Efforts
Most dogs don’t want to bite or fight. The behaviors that signal pending aggression are intended first and foremost to warn away a threat....
Why Try Agility With Your Dog?
In many cases, people with difficult dogs spend most of their time trying to get their dogs not to do something don’t jump, don’t...
What’s the Big Deal?
On a big dog, one pound wouldn’t matter, but for Ella, that’s 10 percent of her body weight, and it’s noticeable on her small...
How Do I Stop My Dog From Jumping Up?
What if I told you that you could improve your dog’s behavior without training him? That you could prevent him from doing many of...
Is Some Resource Guarding Normal?
Excerpted from an article by Pat Miller
Resource guarding is a natural, normal canine behavior. In fact it's a normal behavior for most warm-blooded animals....
Can Your Dog Settle Down on Cue?
An important skill for impulse control is the ability to settle down in the face of excitement. There is a lot of value in...
How to Pick the Right Dog For Your Family
You’ve determined the source from which you want to acquire your next dog, or at least identified which sources are the most likely candidates...
Supplies and Equipment for Your New Puppy
Excerpted from Puppy Basics by Pat Miller, CPDT and Nancy Kerns
There’s lots of puppy stuff you’ll need to make your puppy comfortable, happy, and...
Different Reasons, Different Solutions
Remember that barking is normal behavior for dogs. It is a form of communication. Most dogs bark some of the time and often for...
Punishment works …. but here is why training experts don’t use it.
Excerpted from an article by Mardi Richmond, CPDT-KA
Just say no to bark collars, air horns, squirt bottles, and other punishments. There are several reasons...
These Behaviors May Indicate Separation Anxiety
Typically, symptomatic behaviors may begin either as the anxious dog’s human prepares to depart, or immediately after they leave. The behavior may continue for...
Latest Blog
An Open Letter to the People with the Cat
Dear people who were out walking with their cat in the Oroville Wildlife area a week or so ago when you saw a lady and three off-leash dogs emerge from the woods. I am so sorry that we startled you