A Separation Anxiety Trainer's Blog

"I often hear the refrain, 'My dog isn’t allowed to have people food,' echoing through the years of my work with families on teaching their dogs basic manners. It's a sentiment often expressed when I suggest using chicken or cheese as dog treats during training sessions. Observing dogs reluctantly accepting treats, owners sometimes conclude their pets aren’t food motivated. But there are compelling reasons why 'people food' can be effective in training. There are two main rea

I used to work in an animal shelter with the fantastic benefit of taking my dogs to work with me each day, where they could comfortably hang out in my office while I worked. It was only after I started working from home that I discovered just how busy my neighborhood is during the day on week days. If it was just me at home, I would have tuned out the neighborhood activity for the most part and probably not even noticed, but my dogs were very alert, and found the goings on to

A dog barks non-stop when left alone, is howling, digging, chewing and destructive – especially around doors and windows; these are signs...

Last summer I was in the backyard with my dog Whimsy working on some agility drills. Agility is a lot of fun, but it can be a difficult...

Separation anxiety is normal for children up to about 14 months of age. According to WebMD , “When this fear affects a child over age 6...

“He can’t be crated even if we’re in the next room. I know we should have worked harder at getting him to like his crate.” This is what I...