Are All Doodles Hypoallergenic, Or Is That A Misconception?
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the the owner and head trainer of "The Doodle Pro™", the host of the highly-rated and popular, The Doodle Pro™ Podcast, that has most recently ranked #1 on Australia and New Zealand's charts and #3 on the genre's US, Canada, and UK's Apple charts, and generally one of the foremost experts on doodles on the planet, Corinne Gearhart, who just so happens to be allergic to dogs herself, what her opinion is on the popular belief that all doodles are “hypoallergenic”.
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Why You Don't Get "Before & After" Videos From Positive Dog Trainers
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, and Tanya, talk about why we love "Before & After" dog training videos so much as a society, why it's so hard to stand by and look at (never mind record) a dog "losing it", and why positive reinforcement dog trainers don't lose sleep over it.
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Why The Term, "Reactive Dog" Is A Misnomer
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, tells us why she thinks the term "Reactive Dog" is a misnomer.
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What "Trigger Stacking" Is And How It Relates To Dog Reactivity
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, explains what "Trigger Stacking" is, and how it relates to reactive behaviors in dogs.
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How Dog Trainers Apply Their Training To Their Own Lives
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, how she applied the training and experience she gained with working with car reactive dogs to her own life.
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How To Train A Dog That's Reactive In The Car
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the owner and head trainer of Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, Vanessa Charbonneau, what her training protocol would be to train a dog that exhibits reactive behaviors inside the car towards strangers outside of it.
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How To Reduce "Demand Barking" At The Dinner Table
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the founder of Positive Partners Dog Training LLC, Brianne Harris, what she would recommend to a client who is expecting a large gathering of friends and family, and has a dog that has a bad habit of "Demand Barking" at the dinner table.
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Why It's Important To Focus On The Steps, And Not The Goal In Dog Training
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we discussed the importance of focusing on the steps in dog training, rather than the goal, with the founder of Positive Partners Dog Training LLC, Brianne Harris, as focusing on the goal too deeply, like trying to get your dog to stop demand barking for a specific duration or by a specific date, can be counterproductive to the actual achievement of those goals.
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What Are "Extinction Bursts" And How Is It Similar To Our Reaction To A Broken Vending Machine?
When you’re managing and training your dog to reduce their “demand barking”, there will come a time when their “demand barking” will escalate, and the dog parent will believe that all of their efforts were for naught.
But this precise moment is when you know your hard work is paying off, as this rapid escalation of barking is called an “extinction burst”.
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Why Can't I Use Intimidation To Get My Dog To Stop Barking? (i.e. screaming, spray bottle, can of pennies)
For some people, instead of trying to ignore their dog's barking, they'll do the opposite, and try to intimidate their dog, either by raising their voice, using a spray bottle, or god forbid, a can of pennies, to get them to stop.
And in their mind, they may think, "I don't like doing this, but this situation sucks, and at least I'm not causing physical pain to my dog.”
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Why Ignoring Demand Barking Just Doesn't Work
On the latest episode of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked the founder of Positive Partners Dog Training LLC, Brianne Harris, what the most common piece of advice she hears people using that inadvertently INCREASES demand barking, and makes the training process LONGER, as a result.
Without a doubt, her answer was, "ignoring the barking".
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How to Train Your Puppy Not To Lunge Towards Other Dogs and People (Part 1)
Puppies are naturally curious and social, so as they start to explore the world more, they will try to interact with it as well.
Most puppies can also be quite fearless and may not have necessarily learned the “social etiquette” required to navigate greetings and play.
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4 Training Techniques To Help Your Fearful/Stressed Dog
Simply put, in order to stop an undesirable behavior, and create long-lasting positive behavior change, we need to change how the dog feels about the thing in the environment and then teach the dog a different set of skills/behaviors that the dog can perform around their trigger.
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‘Help, My Dog Only Listens When I Have Treats!’
For some clients brand new to dog training, a phrase I hear quite often is, “Well, of course he’s doing what you’re asking him to do. You’re giving him treats!”
I always find this phrase so interesting, because it very quickly indicates to me how these clients view their dog, and behavior, in general.
Specifically, whenever I hear a client say a phrase like this, the thing that is not said, but is something that I hear loud and clear is:
“I want my dog to just do WHAT I WANT, WHEN I WANT IT, and he should JUST WANT TO do it.”
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What Kind Of Dog Parent Are You?
One of the things I enjoy the most when walking around the neighborhood is observing the interactions of people and their dogs while out on their walks.
It’s such an interesting look into the relationships people have developed with their dogs, and the specific rules and consequences they have established and imposed on their dogs’ behavior, not too dissimilar from seeing new parents and their children interact in public.
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On ‘Stubborn’ Dogs And Other Labels
Labels are often mental constructs of what we perceive as reality, or how we explain the reality we’re experiencing to ourselves.
And while using these labels may make us feel like we’re expressing something objectively true we’ve discovered about our reality, more often than not, using labels can often have the opposite effect, and lead us further away from understanding what’s happening right in front of our very eyes.
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Teach Your Dog What TO DO Instead Of What NOT TO DO
Imagine for a moment that you invite your significant other over to Thanksgiving dinner with your family for the first time.
If your family is anything like mine, you’ll know that every family has their own unique set of rules, expectations, customs, and rituals that compose a list of behaviors that everyone in the family deems appropriate and desirable.
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You Can’t Make Your Dog LESS SCARED By Making Your Dog MORE SCARED
Do you remember when you were a kid and had a scary dream during the middle of the night?
If so, and if you were anything like me, didn’t you immediately head straight to your parents’ room so that you could jump safely under the covers with them until you fell back asleep?
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My Dog ALWAYS Pees When My Sister Comes Over, What Should I Do?
Dear Family Pupz,
This has happened a couple times now, so I need to figure out how to deal with it. I have a 1 year old Aussiedoodle, and he was fully housetrained when I got him.
We have a fair number of male and female visitors to our apartment, and he get excited but has never had any accidents.
However, EVERY TIME my sister comes over, my dog has urinated in the house pretty soon after she comes inside. He's not lifting his leg like he's marking, but actually squatting like he does when he just has to pee.
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My Dog Always Runs Away When I Pick Up The Leash, What Should I Do?
Dear Family Pupz,
One of the most frustrating things about being Roxie’s (a French Bulldog) mom is that she always runs away from me the minute I pick up her leash when it’s time to give her a walk.
It’s gotten to the point where my boyfriend and I have to go chase/hunt her down together to even have a chance of getting her harness and leash on her for a walk.
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