A QUICK WORD OF WARNING: It is NOT a good idea to play with your pets with a laser pen beam. It makes your pet jumpy at shadows and other stimuli. Dogs and cats become neurotic as time goes on. While it is funny to watch,...
Let's talk about the opposite of "leash reactivity"...
AGGRESSION: I hate the word. Why? Because we use it too much and we use it wrongly. Dogs are reactive, especially the working breeds or what I refer to as "survival breeds". Why survival breed? Because if they aren't cautious, reactive, and alert, a cow will...
We get a lot of pleas from people who do not know how to help their dog and ask us to rehab or rehome. A typical sequence of events: The family has been totally unable to manage their Catahoula or Catahoula Mix (or what they...
We all like to give our furry family members "people food" treats from time to time. Leftovers often find their way into dog dishes, and those begging puppy eyes are often hard to resist. However, you should be aware of how some seemingly innocuous foods...
Free feeding--or allowing your dog to "graze" on a full food bowl at will--is simply against nature. It is against how the wolf bonds her cubs to her by providing food and safety, then later taking them out and teaching them when and how to...
...how can we know when it is time to say hello to a new one? I have learned that it is better to grieve full than empty. Grieving goes on no matter what you do or don't do. No dog takes another's spot, you are not...
Talking about food means talking about calories and weight. Excessive weight shortens a dog's life and puts stress on joints as well as organs. Excessive weight can sometimes be due to thyroid issues but often it is from Free Feeding (we will discuss that in another...
One of the first questions I ask when doing rehab/ behavior modification is: What do you feed, when do you feed and how do you feed? Food means survival to a dog. Food comes from the "Leader of the Pack" and brings security and safety....