Guarding objects is a normal, common, instinctual behavior in all animals, including humans!  If we don’t take care of our stuff, our valued resources could easily be lost or stolen – which are outcomes each of us tries to avoid.  So, now let’s consider our dogs. In the wild, when a dog [any animal] is in possession of, and wants to retain possession of, … Read More

In Part One of this post on Real-World Solutions for Impulse Control, we explored a pawsitive approach to teaching your inquisitive canine polite-and safe- manners around an open door to prevent door dashing and described some training games to encourage Fido to take treats gently. In this next installment, we will walk you through training polite manners for greeting others while on leash. It’s … Read More

Let’s face it, if dogs were born with a strong foundation of self-control, well, they wouldn’t really be dogs, would they? That said, darting out the door, bolting down the street, going after someone or grabbing food can result in catastrophic consequences! It’s important for us to teach our dogs that, in some situations, slow and steady pays off. In this two-part series, we’ll … Read More

When was the last time you enjoyed a guilt-free snack? For us dog lovers, it’s not usually the guilt over calories that gets us; it’s those sad, sweet, pleading puppy dog eyes staring longingly in our direction.  We might interpret ‘that look’ (plus or minus varying amounts of drool!) as begging. But from a behavioral and scientific perspective, is that really what’s going on? … Read More

Like all normal doggy behaviors, such as barking and chewing, digging can be seen in many (if not all) of our domestic dogs at some point or another. And like other canine species-specific traits, each of these characteristics can be more pronounced in some dogs than others; where one dog loves to chew, another loves to dig. However, these ‘hobbies’ are sometimes considered problematic … Read More