Puppy Rules?
As a trainer, there are a lot of recommendations I give my clients - especially with puppies - to make their life a little easier. The real question is, what advice do I ignore when it comes to my personal dogs and why (I might just be slightly masochistic)? And what...
Top 6 Tips for Crate Training Your New Puppy
Bringing home a new puppy is an exciting adventure, but let’s be honest—it can also be a little overwhelming! One of the biggest challenges for many new puppy parents is crate training. How do you make your pup feel safe and comfortable in their new space without all...
The Monster in the Room: Dog Reactivity Explained
Storytime with Shanthi kiddos. Got another one for you. Question: How do I get my dog to stop barking at (insert thing here like cars, people, dogs)? I scold them for it and tell them to ignore it but they won’t stop. Are you afraid of anything? ...
Looking for the Good: Positive Reinforcement Dog Training
As humans, we tend to be predisposed to looking for “bad” things" as a side effect of living in a punitive society. If someone steals your wallet, you’re going to notice right away and want them punished for doing something morally wrong. Whereas if you leave your...
Dog Training: Intuition or Protocols?
I had two separate clients talking about playing fetch with their dogs today. They both have the issue that their dog won’t let the ball go or let them get it to throw again. Both dogs also have an issue with being easily aroused (read that however you want...
First Week with a New Puppy
As a trainer I’ve done my fair share of work with young puppies - whether it’s raising them for myself and other people or helping clients with their new pups. I just brought home a new puppy and he’s given me the perfect opportunity to really discuss puppy raising in...
Dog’s Don’t Want To Bite: Understanding and Helping Reactive Dogs
An Interesting, But Not Unique, Encounter While picking up lunch, someone saw my logo’d jacket and asked if I worked at the School for Dogs. “Why yes I do!” I replied. “What kind of training do you do?” he asked. “Well, mostly just manners,” I replied. “So no...
Holiday Travel Tips for Your Dog
With the Holiday Season comes a lot of traveling, whether it’s to visit family and friends or you’re just taking a little vacation time. If you’re opting to bring your pup along, here are our recommendations! First, let’s talk about car travel! Fairly short drives...
Cueing Behaviors
What is a cue When we're talking about dog training, a cue is essentially anything that elicits a behavior from an animal - it can be something in the environment, a physical movement you do, or a word you say to them. When to add a verbal cue We don’t want to name...
Adolescence Survival Guide
Puppies are great! Adorable little sponges that (typically) want to be near you instead of venturing far away, learn new behaviors fairly quickly, recall pretty well, and seem to learn so much in those first few precious months home. And then they hit 6 months and...