Here's an interesting question: Should you teach a dog the concept of "no, don't do that?" If so, how would you teach it? This came up during a discussion generated by an earlier post, "Asking versus Telling." It was mentioned that very few classes teach the concept of "Don't do that," but lots of owners want to convey that information. I get why it's not taught much, for a variety of reasons. First off, teaching a negative is tricky. ("Don't think about red!") In addition, the word "no" has been so inappropriately and, often ineffectually, used. I grew up often hearing "NO!" spoken (or yelled) to my family dog, Fudge, a multi-mix of a sweetheart, who none-the-less, thought the garbage was her god-given right. The primary problem with "No" it is often used without any training of Read More

Dogs play more together when being watched, a research result I've been fascinated by since it came out in 2021. Maggie, playing with Skip in the photo above, is the poster child for this phenomenon. She'll stop, look at me, pointedly. Why? We all know I'm just guessing, but I get the distinct impression that she loves my attention. But is that it? And, is it just Maggie? First, the study: Researchers Merkham and Wynne set up three conditions for familiar dogs to play together in: The dogs played together when owners were watching attentively, were present but not watching, and were not present at all. The dogs played significantly more often in the first condition, evidence of the "audience effect." Karen London wrote a great summary of this study in Bark magazine, reminding us that Read More

It is Labor Day as I write this, a holiday that deserves a lot of attention. There is controversy about exactly who got it started, but forces gathered in 1882 to pay tribute to laborers and workers who rarely get attention and acknowledgement. It feels especially important now, given the Writer's Guild of America strike and the current cosmic forces changing work as we've known it in the past. Here's the thing about that: I have an outline written about what to say next--the importance of laborers and unions, then, transitioning to the work that dogs do, from sheepdogs to the companion dogs that enrich our lives. But, apparently my brain is going on it's own kind of strike, because I've written what should be the next paragraph about ten times and keep deleting it because it's not good Read More

  This post is inspired by Katha Miller-Winder's new book: Practicing Partnership: A therapy dog and his person. My favorite part of the book (definitely recommended for anyone with, or about to have, a therapy dog), is on page 7 and 8: "If I'm being a true partner for my dog, I've given the dog the skills to recognize whether complying to a cue to sit is one where it's important that the dog comply, or whether the cue is one that is at the dog's discretion whether to comply. One way I do this is to consistently preface discretionary cues with "can you" or "will you." I LOVE this perspective, especially when working with a dog who is being asked to participate in work that could be frightening or stressful. I have seen way too many "therapy dogs" be pushed into situations in Read More

Today it's all (sort of) MEANWHILE, down on the farm, because I'm spoiling myself and writing about our family vacation in Vermont, and the "joys" of reality at home. First, the good. The very, very good: We splurged on a Billings family vacation in the Green Mountains of Vermont last week. Jim's two sons, wives/partners, and two adorsable grandkids. We didn't make resos at the Mountain Top Resort until it was almost too late, and got the only places left: One lodge room, facing the field, one Lodge Suite, facing the lake, and one cabin in the woods for the family with kids. That ended up being, uh, "spendy," as my friend Julie likes to say, but we booked it with our eyes shut, repeating mantra-like, "you can't take it with you, you can't take it with you." What we can take with us are Read More