Pet Connections

What do you “say” to your dog?

If you adopted a dog or purchased a puppy, balanced training is essential for having a happy life with your canine companion. Dogs are very intelligent and willing to please but they need a leader and structure. Did you know that 3.9 million dogs are surrendered to shelters each year? Nearly half had some informal […]

Why use a clicker to train a dog?

Why use a clicker to train a dog? The most important reason is communication. How does one communicate with a nonverbal mammal, not to mention a totally different species than oneself?  Sometimes it seems as if our dogs understand what we are saying to them. Some dogs do understand their humans, but that is because […]

Behavior and Mechanical Dog Training

Training the mind of a dog, and his body position are equally important. Training should always be fun, think about how little people learn. Why would a dog that has the cognitive ability as that of a 2-3-year-old toddler not learn the same way? After all they are both mammals, just different species. If one […]

Who is Walking Who?

The hardest behavior to teach a dog, in my opinion, is loose leash walking. Many people start at the end of the behavior, which is holding the leash at its handle and not using two hands to guide the dog on their journey. I see many allowing the dog to switch sides which can cause […]