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A Harness (or Two) for Misha

By Karen Pryor on 10/17/2012

Karen Pryor went to Germany and came back with… a new harness for Misha. Well, two, actually. Read on.

Clarissa v. Reinhardt has a goal: all dogs should be safe, well, and happy. To this end, at her establishment in the Bavarian Alps in Germany Clarissa runs a training school (with ten acres of outdoor training grounds), an animal shelter (with living rooms and gardens for the dogs), a publishing house (clicker training strongly endorsed), and a store (selling organic nutrition and wellness supplies and the world’s most comfortable dog beds). Her organization, called Animal Learn, holds an annual conference on canine behavior, attended by several hundred people (and some dogs) from all over Europe.

On My Mind: Going to the Vet

By Karen Pryor on 10/16/2012

Better safe than sorry

Going to the vet—the topic came up on the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Alumni list recently. When do you know the dog or cat is sick enough to be taken to the vet?

Someone's puppy was throwing up quite a lot, and there was some kind of foreign material in the vomit. The puppy was playful and seemed normal in every way, but still. Then the owner remembered that the puppy had eaten part of a rubber slipper. The consensus from the list was to take the puppy to the vet.

ALS (All Life Stages) Training: A Well-Behaved Companion for a Lifetime

By Casey Lomonaco on 10/01/2012

One of the most encouraging trends in the dog-owning community is the increase in attendance at puppy classes. More and more vets are aware of the considerable benefits of well-run puppy classes taught by qualified professional instructors in a safe, sanitary, and controlled environment. Puppy class is frequently, and correctly, touted as a "behavioral vaccine," a proactive way to prevent behavior problems in adult dogs.

Do You Know a Ball-Crazy Dog? Try Flyball!

By Denise Lacey on 10/01/2012

Controlled chaos! Drag racing for dogs! These are some of the phrases used to describe flyball—a relay race for dogs and their humans.

Flyball began in the 1980s as an offshoot of scent hurdling (a sport that was itself started in the 1960s). In scent hurdling, a team of four dogs and handlers races against other teams. The object is to see which team can be the first to send all their dogs over four jumps to retrieve scented dumbbells and return with the correct dumbbell.

School for Puppies: Positive or Negative Experience?

By Kay Laurence on 09/19/2012

Puppy class is probably the most popular class among instructors, particularly for the inexperienced enthusiasts. I would like to examine exactly what a puppy class can provide to meet the main purpose of education (of the owners) and prevention (of behavioral issues).