It’s week 1 of our quarterly 7-week dog class and we have some fun and exciting updates in store. First, this quarter two of our student employees, Lynna and Lauren, get to teach one exercise each week. That allows me and co-instructor, Melissa Morris, CPDT-KA, to assist with the demo so that there are more “demonstrators” for the participants to watch. It also allows us to test out our curriculum for training new instructors to teach our specific training program. As usual, the set of classes started off with our introductory workshop-game show. In this workshop, we find out about

When it comes to training our dogs, we all have some physical and coordination challenges at times. When you’re confined to a wheelchair those challenges can be amplified. It’s at those times that something like the Treat&Train®, remote controlled food reward device can come in handy. Just ask Ashley Anderson, a third year veterinary student from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. “We got our St. Bernard puppy, Lucy, when she was 10 week old,” states Ashley, and we put her in puppy classes right away. She behaved very well for me. She was always eager to learn and

Once the owners have made the subtle but important changes to their technique and are getting better responses in their dogs, we work on using the exercises with distractions—the distraction that they actually react to OR any known distraction that they can handle. The goal is to present the distraction at a level that the dog-handler team can handle and then work in progressively more difficult distractions.

Veterinarians, technicians and other dog enthusiasts often ask me about the most efficient way to learn about animal training or to become a trainer. Currently, my best recommendation is the Karen Pryor Academy and others agree. Just ask veterinary technician Debbie Martin, a KPA graduate and co-author of Puppy Start Right: Foundation Training for the Companion Dog. Martin was no beginner when she took the KPA trainer course in 2008. She had been teaching puppy socialization classes in the veterinary hospital where she was employed starting in 1997 and, for three years, she had been the animal behavior technician for Veterinary Behavior Consultations,

When people hear about the Treat&Train®, they frequently ask similar questions. How can the Treat&Train help me train my dog to be calm? Why would I want to use a machine to deliver treats instead of giving them myself by hand? Can I use the device if I have multiple dogs in the house? Here’s one set of pet parents to a spunky Pembroke Welsh Corgi who learned the answer to all three of these questions when they tried the Treat&Train® with their high energy pup. “We have a high-energy dog who had trouble calming down, states owner Jennifer Lundmark.

Whether your cat’s as shy in public as a student with stage fright, or enjoys being the center of attention, chances are still good that a trip to the veterinary hospital has him retreating into his shell. According to the Bayer veterinary care usage study funded by Bayer HealthCare LLC, Animal Health Division, fear and stress prompt 39% of owners to take their cats to the vet hospital only in cases of emergencies, and 37.6% of owners feel stressed just thinking about going to the vet. This fear of veterinary visits can be prevented early on by proactively providing kittens with many