dog behavior | Canine Coach

Does My Dog Need a Friend?

This is the first of several blogs about multi-dog households. As I sat down to write, I realized many factors are involved, and they cannot be wrapped up neatly in one short blog post. For the first part, we will look at the question of whether or not you should get a second dog. It…

Door Dashing

Does your dog make a mad dash for freedom every time he sees an open door? Door Dashing strikes fear in the hearts of most dog owners, as every dog will try it at least once. Knowing what to do could save your dog’s life. First let’s talk about what you can do to prevent…

Dog Stress

The Waldo Canyon wildfire has made the past week extremely difficult for all of us here in Colorado Springs, and that includes our dogs. In addition to the physical discomfort due to the high heat and smoke-filled air, we have experienced uncertainty and an emotional roller coaster due to the fire and evacuations. So this…

How to Love a Dog

Part of the definition of loving someone, whether that someone is a spouse, sibling, child or friend, is getting to know their likes and dislikes, their wants and needs. It also helps to learn about what makes them feel loved. I think the same applies to loving our dogs. Whether or not dogs truly feel…

Dog Training while Playing Games: Tug and Chase

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! In our busy daily lives it’s very easy to become focused on all the things we have to do, and forget about all the things we like to do. And while I’m the first to point out how important it is to spend time training your dog, playing with your dog…

Your Dog: To Punish or Not to Punish

Corrective or punishment based training has become a very controversial subject over the last ten to twenty years. When I began training my first dog, in the mid 1970s, the only training classes available were correction based. That means when teaching the dog a new skill we praised him when he got it right, and…

Exercise for your Dog

Over the next few months my training tips will address common dog behavior problems, and what you can do to prevent them. Most often behavior problems are normal, natural, and often necessary dog behaviors that are simply being expressed in inappropriate ways. They usually are a result of some basic need of the dog that…

Dog Socialization

When I bring this subject up with most dog owners, their mind immediately goes to their dog’s relationship with other dogs. Often they respond: “we have another dog at home, so do I need to socialize him?” or “We’re socializing him. He goes to the dog park regularly.” I’ve even heard “He’s never going to…

Train your Dog to Stop Jumping

Dogs jump up on people for two reasons. Jumping begins because it is s normal greeting behavior among dogs, especially for puppies greeting older “pack members”. It continues because it works. Dogs always get attention for jumping. In some cases, especially with smaller dogs, people will actually reward the puppy by petting him when he…

Dog Parks – Part 2

Making the Most of Your Dog Park Visit! Before you get into the park: Are you prepared? Do you have all of you supplies, clean up bags, water and bowl (if necessary), treats and clicker for training? Take care of all your “business” before you get to the park so you can concentrate on your…

Be A Good Dog

What does “Be a good dog” mean, really? During my first contact with a client, either on the phone, or in class, I always ask “What are your goals?” I usually receive one of two answers. Either they reply “I just want the dog to be good”, which I will follow with “define good”. Or…

What’s In A Dog’s Growl

Often clients will ask me, “My dog growled at (me, another dog, my neighbor, etc.), what should I do?” By growling, your dog is trying to tell you, in the least threatening way possible, that he feels uncomfortable with what is happening. So what you shouldn’t do is reprimand or punish him. By correcting him…