Imagine that you were forced into a car, unexpectedly taken to your doctor’s office without you knowing why. You were met at the door, taken by the arm and led to a room where you were restrained in a chair. And you were still not told why you were there or what was about to happen. How hard would you fight the restraint?  How loud would you scream, trying to be heard, demanding you have some choice in what was happening?

I remember the first time Dazzle lowered his head and growled at me over a bone I’d just given him. He was young—around 8 months old—and I felt I had done everything right—took him to classes, fed him a premium diet, including raw, meaty bones, walked him three times a day, every day and played with him in between. He had started basic obedience classes and puppy agility. I knew he had a good life and I worked hard to be able to afford to do it all—where did I go wrong?

Family decisions can be tough. It’s hard to get everyone on the same page for anything no less for training the family dog. Unfortunately, inconsistencies among family members can lead to unintentional learning by the dog.

Next time your dog does something you don’t like, think of what you’d like the dog to do and ask for that.  Too commonly, we don’t take the time to give our dogs the skills and the ability to do what we’d like them to do instead of just telling her “no!”

You yawn when you’re tired and probably when you’re bored. You even yawn when you see someone else yawning a lot. And some athletes yawn to focus and stay calm before a competition. Olympic skater Apolo Ohno was well-known for his warm-up yawns.

Your dog also yawns—so what’ up with that?

You have your new puppy or dog for a few weeks and then realize that, as the dog gets more comfortable, that sweet puppy or new arrival gets more active and starts to explore, push boundaries and get downright naughty. The result? You feel as though all you say is “No!”

Many dogs bark to get attention—and it works for them.  They bark and we either tell them to stop or, even worse, pet them or give them a biscuit—all without thinking about it, so long as the barking stops. That bark becomes successful as it gets the dog what he wants—attention. And when a behavior is successful, it become stronger and more frequent until you have a dog that barks at you, your family and your guests all the time. 

Shopping, baking, decorating, cooking, cleaning—the preparations for the Holidays go on and on. And then it’s guests, lots of food, wrapping paper and ribbons, music, laughing and playing. So…where’s the dog?