On another episode from the archives of The Family Pupz Podcast, we asked board-certified veterinary behaviorist, the owner and lead clinician at the Animal Behavior Clinic, and one of our favorite people, in general, Dr. Chris Pachel, to give us his take on whether he thinks dogs would still exhibit anxiety-related behaviors if all humans on Earth suddenly started treating dogs in a humane and loving way.
Read MoreWith so many choices of dog food available on the market, it can feel impossible to decide which is best for your prized pooch. But, we’re here to help you understand the world of grain-free dog food; our comprehensive guide will help you to make an informed decision on what to feed your pup.
Read MoreOn 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”.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreWhen 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”.
Read MoreFor 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.”
Read MoreOn 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".
Read MorePuppies 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.
Read MoreSimply 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.
Read MoreFor 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.”
Read MoreOne 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.
Read MoreLabels 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.
Read MoreImagine 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.
Read MoreDo 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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