What helps an animal learn a new behavior fastest? Standard practice has assumed that learners need a large number of trials to learn a new behavior, and given the numbers of repetitions required, each reward, usually food, is small. In other words, lots of tiny treats one after the other, in order to get in…

I’m repeating a post from 2024, because I am 1) truly interested in whether things have improved, even a bit, related to the male/female ratio of dog trainers and dog training seminar in current times, and 2) I’m updating The Puppy Primer and spending pretty much all my waking hours on it. Just asked my…

Positive reinforcement seems so simple, doesn’t it? Your dog does something you want them to do, and you reinforce them. Except, it’s not so simple, and, because we are human, we fudge it up. Here’s an excerpt from The Puppy Primer, pg 25, which I will spend much of July updating. (A new updated version…

Can Dogs Have ADHD? Many years ago, when I was in my early years as an applied behaviorist, a dog came to me that I couldn’t quite figure out. It was an adolescent Old English sheepdog, let’s call him “Bear,” who was driving his humans crazy by biting on the leash and increasingly, their legs…

    I don’t know about you, but I seem to keep getting busier and busier, while time seems to be speeding up. If this also describes you, and you are feeling pressed for the time and energy to do things like read a book review, I’ll save you some trouble: Buy this book. Then…

It has been an intense and emotional week (more on the Ridglan beagles next time), and I need a breather. Here’s a break for our souls–some spring joy for us all to savor–and a reminder that we all must never lose sight of joy, even if it’s in a single flower petal. By the way,…

How does a dog heal if it was raised in an abusive situation? Can it ever become a “normal” dog? I’ve been asked this question often in the last week because of the release (sale, actually) of 1,500 beagles from Ridglan “Farms”, which has gotten national attention. Primarily a place that bred beagles for laboratory…

This is where I was last Saturday: Outside of Blue Mounds, WI, observing an attempted break-in and protest about the conditions of the beagles in a breeding and research facility, called Ridglan Farms. I choose not to break the law myself, but I am deeply disturbed about what’s going on inside the walls of place,…

It’s Women’s History Month, and I’ve been thinking about the women in science who have had a significant effect on our understanding of animal behavior, and how it might relate to canine behavior and training. Of course, my first thoughts are of the “Trimates,” referencing Jane Goodall (chimps), Dian Fossey (gorillas), and Biruté Galdikas (orangutans),…