Therapy dogs play a vital role in providing comfort, emotional support, and mental health benefits to adults, children, and families. They visit personal homes, elder care facilities, hospitals,

I am regularly asked to assist with training projects that include animal actors in various entertainment settings, including film, television, and professional theater projects. Recently,  I assisted in

Behavior chains seem pretty straightforward: it’s when an animal does a series of behaviors in a row, like links in a chain, ending in a reinforcer. Yet, behavior chains

A search-and-rescue start Sometimes trainers venture into uncharted training territory without realizing how novel or new it might be. I have been teaching a graduate course on animal

Maremma Sheepdogs As 2017 came to a close, I acquired a two-year-old female Maremma sheepdog named Tulip. The Maremma is a livestock-guarding dog, often referred to as an

Is the end-of-session signal beneficial or harmful? Should trainers use it or not? At a conference, I got into a debate with a group of search-and-rescue trainers about

A Mysterious Change in Behavior A few years ago, a search-and-rescue trainer named Sharon asked me to help problem-solve a perplexing case. Her dog, an energetic five-year-old Lab

Scents, in many scenarios Scent-detection training has been receiving more attention in recent years. The use of dogs to alert on explosives has become increasingly critical in our

Times are changing For many people, the idea of a muzzle evokes a long-standing association with aggressive dogs. That impression can create feelings of fear and worry when

Focus on the student and the process Someone recently asked me how the term “microshaping” developed, and what, exactly, it means. I think I probably originated that term

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

Scent discrimination is one of the “advanced” obedience exercises, but it is actually one of the easiest to train. Why? You are working with the dog’s single most