Lately I've had a lot of occasions in which I needed Willie and Maggie to walk beside me, whether on or off leash. It has reminded me what a joy/time saver/relief it is to be able to walk with your dog and know he or she will stay right beside you. That's not something that dog's naturally do (unlike us primates), but it is something that most of us want and expect, often unrealistically. That's why I'm repeating this post Making Leash Manners Fun from November 2014. I've added some updates in italics. While you are reading, please think about what advice from any source was most helpful (or the opposite) when working on your dog's manners.[From Nov 2014]: Maggie, all 35 exuberant pounds of her, has lousy leash manners. That is because 1) she is a dog and walking beside me, shoulder to Read More

I'm not sure how this is possible, but Willie turns twelve years old today (July 3rd). Wasn't it just last month that he was a seven-week old fuzz ball? Or just yesterday when he finally stopped being terrified of unfamiliar dogs after years of conditioning and training?Time is indeed relative. It's been no time at all since Willie came into our lives. And yet it's been an eternity, because I can barely imagine life without him. Those of you who have read my memoir, The Education of Will, know that our story together is a complicated one. His fears as a puppy set off my own, and things got a lot worse before they got better. But they never would have gotten better at all if Willie hadn't forced me to dig deeper in my own recovery efforts than I had in the past. Every dog we have is Read More

The celebration of July 4th and all things loud and noisy has already begun here in Wisconsin. And so have the thunderstorms. We've had at least three major thunderstorms so far, and no doubt more are to come. That's why the next section summarizes a post from 2009 with specifics about helping noise phobic dogs:First and Foremost, try Counter Classical Conditioning: In this paradigm (described in a general sense in The Cautious Canine), you pair something the dog adores (food or play best) with a damped down version of what scares him. Your goal is to condition your dog to associate thunder with something he loves, so that his emotional response to the loud noise is “Oh boy!” rather than “Oh No!” To get this to work, you need to start at whatever stimulus first elicits any sign of fear Read More

Are you doing any traveling with your dog(s) this summer? I love taking the dogs on trips, and am starting to prepare for one coming up in July. As I was making a list of things to take, a good article came out in Conde Nast about traveling safely with pets. Author Rachel Peachman interviewed me and several other experts in the field, and did a great job summarizing some of the most important considerations. The article contains a lot of great information about traveling safely with pets, including by plane, car, and even train. Check it out.Here's one consideration I brought up, and I want to focus on it here today--Not so much how to travel with your dog, but should you? There are two ways to look at it:First, does your dog want to go? Your dog may think you hung the moon, but Read More

Some things seem to be universal—like discovering a need for the thing that you just threw away. Or looking for your cell phone when you are actually talking on it. (This, of course, is just theoretical.) Included in that list is a feeling of panic after bringing home a new dog.Here's what blog reader Martha recently wrote, in response to a post I wrote about a year ago, Rescue Regrets are Temporary. Thank you very much for this kind post that addresses what we humans are experiencing during this transition. We are on day five, and I am in a cloud of free-form anxiety and dread. I so appreciate your post, and everyone’s responses. It DOES feel good to know I am not alone. I’m thankful that my husband has far more patience and faith than I do. I need to work on steps 3, 5 and 6. Thank Read More