You should find a good trainer.” How many times have we heard this advice but don’t know exactly who to turn to? When one of my dogs began exhibiting aggressive behavior, many people told me that I should “find” a behaviorist, as if it were a simple, ordinary task and that all I had to do was search. In my quest to find the best behaviorist, I realized that the options were much more nuanced, the licensing/certification organizations much more varied, and the process much more complicated than I had initially thought. Unlike many other professions, there is not one

How many of you dog owners have been a victim of this scenario? Your dog enters the room and sees you on the other side. He’s tosses his ears back, puts on a smile, wiggles his way over and gives you a big smooch. For an instant you’re overjoyed but then you realize, “That’s not normal doggie breath. Yuk. It smells like poop!” If this has happened to you, rest assured, you’re not alone. According to a study presented at the Dr. Benjamin Hart at the 2012 ACVB/AVSAB Animal Behavior Symposium, 16% of dogs are serious stool eaters – a.k.a. copraphagia – meaning,

When I think back to when I was a student in college majoring in Biochemistry I remember my professors constantly stressing that school was more than book learning. It was about getting an education so that we could see the world more broadly and understand how the information we were learning fit into real life. I took their advice and looked for connections between my classes in everything I did. When I exercised, the glycolysis and Kreb cycle pathways ran through my head, watched TV commercials psychology and classical conditioning came to mind, and whenever I waited in a slow

People frequently ask me why I use hands-free leashes in my dog classes instead of letting owners hold the leash. One main reason is the hands-free leashes allow the clients to easily handle and deliver treats quickly, in rapid succession, and with correct timing. A less obvious but very important reason and my answer: Have you seen what people do with a leash in their hands? I remember attending a seminar early in my career by Patricia McConnell where she showed a video of chimpanzees handling objects. They grabbed, swung, lifted and pulled at these objects. Her point was, primates

Do you ever wonder why seemingly loyal clients suddenly take a hike? Sometimes the issue is money or medical care; however, a surprisingly common reason is that they feel their pet has been mishandled. Just ask Carolyn Martin of Sylva, North Carolina. “I recently switched veterinary practices due to my displeasure at how my dogs were being handled at my previous vet.” She had been with her one hospital for a while before she realized that the handling was less than ideal. “While I had only small animals, I never noticed how they were (mis) handled,” she states. “I didn’t

What should you do? What DO you do in this type of conflict where dogs are at risk of biting and humans are at risk of being bitten? Well, a couple of years ago when I was on my way to Australia to lecture at APDT-Australia (Association of Pet Dog Trainers), a nonprofit called AMRRIC (Animal Management in Remote and Rural Indigenous Communities) contacted me with just that problem. “We’re having conflict between people and the dogs that live on Aboriginal town camps,” they said. “We want to develop educational materials but we need help to know what to do.