Archives for April 2016

Every field of knowledge has books that have stood the test of time. They call it “legs” in publishing, as in “that book has legs,” because it’s going to keep walking itself into the future on the strength of its content and its impact on those who read it. Dog training is no different. Because of some game-changing authors, our dog training abilities have experienced profound changes in the last thirty years. Indeed, our perspective on the relationship between people and dogs has evolved into something as rich and nuanced as it has ever been, in part because of these books. In honor of these important volumes, we've created a new section on the website for them. I'd like to tell you why these books are such game changes, and why I honestly think every serious student of dog training Read More

In August of 2011, I wrote an article titled "The Nail Wars," about the value of a "grinder" (also called a Dremel, but that's a brand name) when trimming a dog's nails. I'm updating and revisiting it here, after a friend mentioned that nail trims were a big issue at her house. Now that I have three sets of nails to trim, I find myself thinking about it again too. Right now I am using the clippers for Tootsie and Maggie, and the Dremel for Willie. Tootsie came (at age 7 or 8, from a puppy mill) hating the clippers, and acting like my Lassie used to ((“I’M DYING!” her face said to me) when I got out the clippers. I used the conditioning method so well described by Sophia Yin in this great video, and Tootsie now tolerates nail trims, although I won't pretend that she likes them. I know Read More

Well, this is about as much fun as I've had in weeks. I thought I'd get some interesting photographs from you all when I asked for sweet/amusing/ridiculous images of your sleeping dogs. Little did I know that we'd get over 100 photos of dogs, sleeping in every imaginable position. I can't possibly post them all, but I'm so grateful to everyone who sent one in that I've decided to post some today, wait a while, and post the rest of the best later. Apologies, of course, for not being able to post all of them. If you don't see the one you sent in today, it might appear in the second round. If not, know that just looking at your dog in slumber made me seriously happy, not to mention that you cared so much to take the time to send in a photo. Here's round one for today: Clockwise, from Read More

I come to you slightly abashed to ask, but determined to do what I can to keep our dogs and family members alive a little longer. This is the third year in a row I have raised money for Puppy Up! (formerly called the "2 million dogs" campaign), which raises money targeted to cure cancers found in both people and dogs. Our group (Pet Pals) and our town (Madison) has kicked butt, I say with unabashed pride. Our local program brought in $86,000, a record-setting amount. In May, 2015, our second walk raised yet another record setting $128,000.  What's even better: We know exactly where the Puppy Up money goes. For example, the Puppy Up Foundation awarded $96,000 to the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of stereotactic radiation for Read More