The lack of external cues has been throwing our household for a loop. While I’m generally rather good at creating routine, none of us realized just how much the dog’s feeding routine and cues were based on external triggers. Like…
Home, Home all the time
With the many closures of non-essential businesses, businesses shifting to work from home, and school closures, many of our dogs are suddenly finding their people home, home all the time. While this might be exciting and fun at first, having…
Routine
As with the rest of the world, these past few weeks have required adjustment. We are now past the 2 week mark and with my spouse working from home for at min the next month we’ve learned somethings about our…
Boundary Skills
Place targets, body targets, waiting at doors, and loose leash walking are all versions of boundary skills. All are very valuable in helping our dogs understand and succeed in our human world of fences, leashes, gates and endless number of…
Elevated Dog Feeding Stand v. 2
A few years back I repurposed an old tray table into an elevated feeding stand for Tom. It well served its purpose, but recently it came to my attention it needed replacing. Can’t have splinters after all! This weekend included…
Best Cue Ever
It’s the weekend. The corgi is bored. I am otherwise engaged. She is standing, staring at me, willing spontaneous adventure to begin. “Zora, go find William.” She turns tail and determinedly trots off through the house to find her other…
Don’t Take Good for Granted
With all of the millions of behavior choices available to our dogs in any given instance, it never ceases to amaze how frequently the behaviors they chose are ones that are pretty darn wonderful. That isn’t to discount the moments…
2019 Dog Gift Guide
For many, the days between The 4th Thursday in November and the 1st of January, bring up feelings of gratitude and desire to give gifts to our dogs. I think one of the most under marketed gifts we can give…
Thanks Giving
My spouse and I were talking about this past year the other day and came to the realization that 2019 has been a year full of personal growth (majority of it positive, I think, I’m glad to report). I’m grateful…
Falling in the Pond
Often when we look at or make plans for behavior modification with our dogs the focus is on management and gradual exposure to stressors that allow the dog to practice alternate coping skills below threshold working to change the dog’s…