Puppy Socialization
All About Socialization By Rachel Moseley The critical socialization period for puppies is between 3-12 weeks of age. Ideally the breeder you’ve gotten your puppy from has started this for you with carefully planned exposures and socialization opportunities prior to...
Top 5 Reasons to Crate Train Your Dog
By Rachel Moseley 1. Potty Training When you are house training a dog, the most important thing you can do is control their access and therefore their ability to make mistakes (have accidents) on your nice floors. One of the ways to do this is by utilizing a crate...
Puppy Survival Guide
Rachel and Shanthi run the puppy training and socialization course at NWA School for Dogs. With years of experience and a passion for helping pups and their humans thrive, they’ve seen it all when it comes to puppy parenting challenges. From potty training mishaps to...
What is clicker training
What is clicker training? “Clicker training” is the popular term for the training or teaching method based on what we know about how living organisms learn. Research has shown that any creature—whether a dog, cat, dolphin, parrot, fish, horse, llama, or person—is more...
Leash Foundations
*This was written many years ago when the school was at a facility with cement floors that we could use sidewalk chalk on. Nowadays, our high tech waterproof floors don't work with chalk so we ask our students stand perfectly still and reward their dog for paws being...
Lockdown!! A detailed protocol for potty training difficult dogs.
“Lockdown” Protocol for housebreaking adult/problematic dogs. Most people that contact me regarding this protocol are at the point where they’re ready to get rid of their dogs because this behavior has become so problematic. Most dogs are over 2 years old and have...
Engage Disengage
One of my favorite techniques for working with reactive dogs is this lovely, easy to follow, technique called "Engage-Disengage". I generally recommend starting reactive dogs with classical conditioning when they are around the stimuli that causes an...
Training tips
1,000 clicks Reward quickly and often! Dogs will offer behaviors that are highly rewarded. If you reward your dog for sitting in front of you every time they want attention, they'll sit instead of jump on you! I say it's 1,000 clicks to emphasize the high rate of...
My groomer saved my dog.
My old girl is turning 12 in August. She gets around but has arthritis in her paws which make it very uncomfortable for her nails to be cut with traditional nail clippers. Hannah Manesreh, with Lucky Dog Canine Grooming, gently takes care of Stregas paws in a manner...
It’s Fireworks season!
I know July 4th is seven weeks away but it is a FAST approaching holiday that terrorizes animals all over the United States. Every year, dogs get spooked and lost on the Fourth of July. Here are some tips to prepare you and your dog for one of the more traumatic...