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Understand Your Dog
Could You Be the Reason Your Dog is Behaving Badly?
Your dog is behaving badly. Could you be the one encouraging it? How easy is it to reinforce your dog for behaviors you don’t want? Soooooo easy. Yesterday I reinforced my dog for demand barking to play. Why? He’s 11 and when he gets all puppy-like, it melts my heart. He barked, he did some […]
This Is My Dog on Drugs
Clarifying Behavior Science: Classical Counter-Conditioning
A New Dog for Randi: Bringing Home Norman
I did it. Not one, but TWO things I promised I would never do: Have three dogs when I’m the only one living in my house (too high a dog-to-human ratio). Adopt a client’s dog. But Norman stole my heart, so on Monday, he is joining the Casa de Rossman household. About Norman Norman is […]
Eileen Anderson Joins the Canine Behavior Science Team
Extremely excited about this part-time addition to the Canine Behavior Science team! Eileen is joining us as a writer, editor, and SEO/content strategist. Well known to the dog training community for her Eileen and Dogs blog, Eileen has worked as a concert musician, an academic editor, a university math teacher, and grant writer. Eileen recently […]
Choosing a Puppy: A Personal Tale
What if a Dog Barks When People Come in the Door?
We are huge lovers of teaching “go to mat” to manage behaviors that are troublesome, safety risks, or just plain annoying. For example, for a dog who goes nuts when people come in the door. Ender used to respond to anyone coming in the house by turning into a little windup toy of barking. Everybody […]
Dog Looks Calmly at Owner Instead of Reacting to Horses
Auri used to freak out and drag his people to the ground when he saw the horses. But here he is calmly looking at his person while the horses are actually fighting over branches in the background (a huge distraction). They were acting like two giant, rowdy puppies, snorting and grumbling. How did Auri go […]
Why Might a Dog Turn Aggressive to Another Dog at Home?
Sometimes behavioral challenges can be at least partly based in medical issues. During sweet Tulsa’s assessment, Randi heard lots of warning flags that her aggression toward the other dog in the home could be at least partially based in pain. A trip to the vet with our accompanying observations confirmed that suspicion. Tulsa’s family was […]
Does Counter-Conditioning Bribe Our Dogs?
Why Should Not Understanding Something Invalidate Science?
In the dog training world, a lack of understanding of a science seems to be a valid enough reason for those to minimize its value and credibility. And I see this not only in the general population and the dog trainer population, but also among folks who have real academic credentials (even PhDs) in other […]
