Separating Feuding Fidos If you have a dog and he goes to the dog park, lives with doggie housemates, or otherwise socializes with other dogs, chances are at some point you may need to break up a spat. These may range from low-level altercations with no real contact to a no-bites-spared brawl. So what should you do? First, realize that regardless of the amount of noise, most fights between unfamiliar dogs at the dog park or first fights between housemates are spit and drool matches. When bites are involved during these fights, dogs generally bite and release. So in the

Dog Aggression Dog Aggression available here in our store. You may know many techniques for dealing with your reactive or aggressive dog, but with many dogs, to get the results you want you need a clear step-by-step plan.  First you need to realize that every interaction is a training session, so what you do outside of official sessions may undermine your progress. Second, for fast and enduring results it’s often essential to improve the dog’s impulse and emotional control. Third, your training will require good technique and an integrative approach and should focus on creating a dog who is happy,

For most pet parents, having a dog that’s well trained would be nice but doesn’t seem like a necessity. This is especially true if the dog spends most of his time in familiar places—such as the home, or the yard, or just on short walks in the neighborhood. He may be so used to the scene that he never gets excited enough or distracted enough to be bothersome. It turns out that you can’t count on life being so mundane. One family found this out the expensive way when their Holiday house plan went awry. It was Easter Sunday and

Are you looking for a way to encourage visitors to come to your shelter, increase kitten adoptions, and as a result have kittens that are less fearful of being handled, encountering strange objects and people, and that are more tolerant of having their nails trimmed or of being vaccinated?  Watch Kitty Kindergarten to learn how to make scary experiences that might elicit fear in a kitten into scenarios that are pleasant and downright fun for kittens!  Most Behavior Issues Can Be Prevented with Early Socialization Did you  know that most cat behavior issues—aggression, antisocial behavior, potty problems— can be prevented with early

Intro by Dr. Sophia Yin In 2009, I produced the first and only textbook and DVD on Low Stress Handling of dogs and cats in the hospital or shelter setting. Since then the methods and philosophy have spread around the world. In this article, my colleague in the Netherlands, Dr. Valerie Jonckheer –Sheehy details how she used desensitization and counterconditioning to give a cat a pleasant toenail trim. The techniques used in this case are based on Dr Sophia Yin’s protocol for trimming the nails of an anxious dog. Counterconditioning for Toenail Trim Aggression 15 April 2014 History: The owner reports

Questions of the Day for the week of August 11th-14th We posted a series of pictures with questions on Facebook and we got some great answers. How did you do with your answer? Test yourself!     Question: This cat has come for its first visit and spends most of the visit in this position. Is the cat relaxed or anxious? Explain. Answer: A comfortable cat should explore the room. This cat is stationary with tail tucked and feet tucked into his body because he’s nervous. This behavior is a form of freezing.      Question: You enter the exam room