Give a Little

Give a Little

Give a Little How to help dogs without owning them. “Giving does not and should not always have to mean getting something back in return.” I mentioned in my post about the Secret Lives of Streeties how humans often think we are the only ones who can...
Muzzle Nuzzle

Muzzle Nuzzle

Muzzle Nuzzle A dog-friendly alternative to human forms of affection. It’s worth noting at the beginning of this post that a dog’s reaction to our human behaviours and ways of interacting with our dogs will vary from dog to dog. Some dogs will be very...
Hugs & Kisses

Hugs & Kisses

Hugs & Kisses And other weird things humans do… “We should not assume that whatever we think we might be communicating to our dog is understood by the dog the same way.” You might think that hugging your dog, giving them a pat or a kiss on the...
Doubting Dominance

Doubting Dominance

Doubting Dominance Why it’s not a sound basis for dog training methods. Continuing on from last week’s more general blog post on Dominance in Dogs, in this post I will focus more on how the dominance theory has and continues to affect dog training methods...
Dominance in Dogs

Dominance in Dogs

Dominance in Dogs What is it, and why is it so controversial? “Dominance is often thought of as dogs’ attempt to obtain leadership, or an “alpha” role, over their “pack”.” Humping, jumping, pulling, barking…you might...
New Year Same Dog

New Year Same Dog

New YearSame Dog As the year changes, your dog, most likely, does not, but take this opportunity to review his/her wellbeing. We humans often have ambitious ideas about what the transition into a new year can do for us personally. We sometimes view it as a magic pill,...
Stress Busting

Stress Busting

Stress Busting Helping you notice signs of stress in your dog, so that you can help your dog deal with it. I already covered a lot in my other post about stress, and something that was repeated a lot in that post will be repeated here once more: observing your dog is...
Happy Walking

Happy Walking

Happy Walking Work on the walk.  In summary: Teach your dog a contact/attention sound – a valuable tool, which you can use in any and all situations to help ensure your dog’s safety and wellbeing. Create distance between your dog and the situations in...