You know that your dog needs a walk each day to stay fit and happy. Have you considered that walking the dog may contribute to your health and happiness as well? After surveying more than 800 dog owners, Australian researchers have the data to prove that yes, walking the dog provides significant health benefits for humans as well as dogs.
Dogs
The Phoebe Chronicles XVI: The Dharma of Clicker Training
By Gale Pryor on 11/01/2005Clicker training is especially interesting when viewed through a Zen lens. Take these words of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk, poet, and peace advocate:
"Every day we touch what is wrong, and, as a result, we are becoming less and less healthy. That is why we have to learn to practice touching what is not wrong—inside us and around us."
This is the fundamental realization that we make when we first become clicker trainers. Focusing on what we don't want leads to more of what we don't want. Turn your focus to the behaviors you do want in order to see more of these behaviors. The others will disappear.
KPCT Review of Kong Time: Cure for the Home-Alone Blues
By KPCT on 10/01/2005
As much as people regret it, a dog is often alone in a house or apartment for hours at a time. This can lead to boredom, and boredom can lead to mischievous and even destructive behavior. Idleness can also produce the kind of couch potato syndrome we see in people. Dogs that are thinking and working, in our opinion, are likely to live healthier, happier lives, be prone to less stress, and make better companions.
Dog Responding Slowly to Cues
By Melissa Alexander on 10/01/2005Q: My dog is responding slowly to the cue. How can I get a faster response?
A Dog with a Catch
By Karen Pryor on 10/01/2005Teaching a dog to catch is a matter of what trainer Margi English calls eye-fang coordination. Some are better at it than others, but most of them can learn—if they want to. Take my poodle Misha. Misha can catch things, but he has to know what it is, first. Hold out a treat, say "catch" and Misha goes "Ew, but what is it? What if you throw me something disgusting?" Never in his whole life have I thrown him something disgusting, but he worries anyway. If I just toss the treat he ducks, and the treat hits him in the face. He will catch…provided he first has a chance to smell and inspect what I'm holding, which kind of spoils that desirable appearance of joyous spontaneity.
