So, you want to provide enrichment for your pet or your clients’ pets. Awesome! Welcome. One of the questions we at Pet Harmony get asked frequently is, “How do I do it?” It seems easy at first: let your dogs sniff, give your birds something to shred, give your cats something to pounce on, and provide them with all food …
Bad behavior: the big picture Did a new dog join the family recently? Are you aiming to start with fine habits and manageable goals? Is this the time to tackle your dog’s problem behaviors, the ones that have had you perplexed? A solid foundation in positive training gets you off to great start, either with that new puppy or with …
Why all the barking? Barking happens for a reason. Sounds obvious, right? It didn’t always, according to applied ethologist Julie Hecht, writing in the spring 2013 issue of The Bark. At the turn of the century, barking was widely thought to be “simply an item on a dog’s daily checklist: ‘Take a walk, have breakfast, bark.’” Nowadays there’s a small but …
Howdy When someone mentions a “spaghetti western,” the mental picture is of an actor’s lips moving out of sync with the words coming from the film’s audio sound. Watching dogs go crazy on the end of a leash while they are trying to greet other dogs or people is akin to watching an old spaghetti western. The dog and the …
Below are The Eight Ways of Changing Behavior, originally included in Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor and adapted by Karen for the show dog guardian. While it reflects the practices at the time of publication, standards and recommendations have evolved. All eight of the methods discussed are still used in some training circles. However, today, Karen might advocate more strongly against …
Old view, new view The old school of thought was that playing tug with your dog would teach him to be “dominant” and should be avoided at all costs. And it is not surprising that this viewpoint still exists. Poorly executed tug-o-war games often excite dogs with low thresholds for arousal, dogs that are fired up easily. They can also …
