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Send us Fan Mail Okay. This is the most common question, at least after “when can we take the e-collar off?” Neither question has a straight answer, either. But I think the most succinct response is you can take it off when you can take it off (might be never) and the right level is the one that works (in most cases). Most people don’t realize that we can use our e-collars (aka big, scary shock collars) in a variety

Send us Fan Mail Here is a list of 5 rather random things that I hear people say they are doing VERY frequently. And they are things I wouldn’t recommend. These things are usually not helpful and often even make things much worse. 5-Tethering your puppy or dog to you all day This is supposed to strengthen your bond and “reduce freedom” but really it helps create a needy dog with potential separation issues. It also allows you to actually

Send us Fan Mail Puppies! We’ve been talking about them a lot lately. One thing I hear over and over again is people justifying behavior as “puppy” behavior. And although there might be some truth to that in a way, the dangerous part of that is attached to that statement, logically, would be that once the puppy isn’t a puppy anymore the behavior goes away naturally. And THAT couldn’t be farther from the truth in most cases. Puppies exhibit everything

Send us Fan Mail Food! Most dogs love it. But some dogs couldn’t care less about it. Some dogs are too reactive or too nervous to take it. So what do we do to motivate our dogs with food if they aren’t the most food motivated? There are ways to make food more desirable. One of which is to use it when the dog is hungry. This might mean training before a meal or it might mean skipping a meal

Send us Fan Mail I hear it all—the—time! You should never punish a growl because that’s how dogs communicate they are uncomfortable. This argument is complete nonsense, and in this episode I break down why and what we have seen with the hundreds of dogs we have addressed growling with. By putting more emphasis on why something is happening than on how to change what is happening, people stay stuck. The whole ‘root cause’ argument is generally not helpful and

Send us Fan Mail Everybody wants results, naturally. Does this training really get results? I’m talking with Joyce today about her journey through training her own dogs. We met when she needed help with her reactive labs. And now that she works here she gets to help clients through all of the trials and tribulations on the way to the finish line. And she’s living proof that it’s worth it! We also chat about some of the hardest parts of

Send us Fan Mail Today we are breaking down exactly what we recommend you do when your dog goes home after a board and train. It’s a lot of information covered at the go home lesson, and you’re not going to absorb it all. For that reason, we do send you home with a go home packet and respond as promptly as possible to texts and emails. But we thought it would be a good idea to have this very

Send us Fan Mail If you adopt a dog from a shelter you don’t know for sure what you are going to get. In this case the person ended up with an intense and drivey dog with clear hunting instincts. These were getting in the way of them ever having positive interactions and affecting their ability to bond and live life. The human is covered in bruises and is at a loss as to what to do. She can’t kennel

Send us Fan Mail A lot of folks get stuck in training “lessons” with their dog and they never graduate to just having a trained dog that can do the stuff in real life. There are a few reasons for that. The biggest thing is you can’t ask your dog to do things in real life and expect that to be easy until A-they’ve practiced and know it and B-there is real accountability for not doing what is expected. If