The dogs pose in front of Sam Elliot’s store (the black lab). I remember in high school math class thinking, math wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the word problems. Now, as an adult, I think, if you can’t do the word problems, which represent math in real life, you don’t really know math. Similarly, with dog training classes, it’s great when dogs know how to sit, and heel and focus on their owners in the controlled class environment but what they really need is to be able to do those things in real world. That is, it’s

Lucy at 8 weeks of age. When we last left off, I’d dropped Lucy, the 8 week old Australian Cattle dog with my parents after taking a week to train her through the puppy learn to earn program at my house. Before I brought her down, she seemed virtually perfect. She would automatically sit to be petted, to get her leash on, to go out the door, to have her toy tossed, and even when she greeted guests, including young toddlers. She could fetch and would chew on appropriate toys. And she could walk on leash in heel position and come when called

Day 4 of my Indonesia Trip (Sept 2009) One fact that’s wonderful about dogs is that whether they’re a pampered pet from America, a trained competition dog in Germany, or a street dog in Bali, the language is the same. So no matter where I go, I know I’ll be able to communicate with them. On the morning of our first full day in Bali, while my friend Asri and her family and I are waiting at Lovina beach for our dolphin-watching boat to get fixed, a little village dog follows a visitor to the beach looking for food. The

Anyone who hangs out with dogs and their owners has probably heard this or similar comments a million times-“My dog is dominant, he ignores our commands and plays too rough with other dogs.” To the general dog owner, this statement seems pretty normal. But, to researchers studying social hierarchies in animals ranging from lions to macaque monkeys to bulls, the statement is likely to solicit a pause followed by a “Huh?” That’s because while an individual in a group can have a high dominance rank, dominance in dogs, and in any animal for that matter, is not a personality trait.

It takes about 5 minutes to train a puppy to learn most new behaviors but how long does it take for that behavior to become a habit? When I started training Lucy, my Dad’s 8 week old Australian Cattle Dog I was hoping that not long. By then I had been training her for a week through the puppy learn to earn program (a.k.a. Creating the Perfect Pup in 7 Days) and she seemed virtually perfect. She would automatically sit to get petted, to get her leash on, to go out the door and come back in, and even when she greeted guests, including a

It was 100°F here today but that didn’t stop us from going to our foundations agility class. Or as I call it “Jonesy time.” Here’s Jonesy on the teeter. Over two years ago when he was 10 months of age and had been lliving with me for several months, I took several private lessons from a really good trainer, Cathy Leggett. Then I decided, Jonesy had more pressing behavioral issues and stopped agility until recently. We’re taking a weekly class now even though Jonesy knows a lot of the exercises already. I’m basically too lazy to practice unless we’re taking