If your dog is a perfect angel amidst the chaos of a holiday gathering, you can skip this installment of my Weekly Yip—unless you happen to know someone else whose dog’s behavior is less than exemplary in such situations. Teaching a dog to resist stealing hors d’oeuvres off the coffee table, leaping into the laps of guests uninvited, jumping up to greet each new guest as they arrive and how to wait patiently while humans take forever to eat dinner at the dining room table takes time—but the holidays are coming up fast. My advice, if whipping your dog’s manners into shape before your holiday …

Owners of rescued dogs often tell me they think their pets really do understand how lucky they are to have been taken into a good home, and that they seem thankful to their adoptive families. I can relate to that sentiment. My adopted borzoi, Skylar, is the epitome of the “thankful adopted dog.” He seems to exude thankful cheer in nearly every situation (except bath-days.) A treat? Oh, my gosh!  Thank you so much! A car ride—again? Could life get any better? Breakfast and dinner, too? I’m the luckiest dog in the world? A snuggle up? I could just burst with joy! Yes, I’m guilty of …

Stuffable puzzle toys for dogs are a saving grace around the holidays! I consider the equivalent of setting a young child up with a coloring book and crayons as busy work when guests are over. One of the most classic dog puzzle toys around is the Kong, a durable rubber toy with a hollow center which comes in a variety of sizes and strengths, to suit nearly any dog on the planet. How I often wish that I had been the inventor of this brilliantly simple, yet ingenious design! As much as I consider the Kong the foundation piece of a new dog’s puzzle collection, some owners complain to me that …

I know what I’m about to say won’t sit well with many American pet lovers, but I’m going to come clean anyway: I resisted spaying my first borzoi, Toffee until she was about three years old. The week of her operation, I cried every day and apologized to her repeatedly for what I had to put her through.  Although it usually only takes a female dog a couple of weeks to recover after being spayed, it still seemed like a horribly invasive procedure to me—especially when I know that if we had stayed in Japan instead of coming home to the U.S., I could have avoided having her entire uterus removed …

I’ll admit that I’m often guilty of it, too, even though I know better. Someone else’s cute little puppy jumps up on my leg and I reach down to pet it, fully aware that doing so is reinforcing a canine habit many humans hate, but powerless to resist the powerful draw of puppy love for a moment or two until I come to my senses. It’s something my dog training students frequently complain about. Other people unintentionally have a tendency to cause setbacks to such training goals as teaching a dog not to jump up. Although they work hard to set their puppy up to learn alternate greeting behaviors…

There’s a lot to fear around Halloween with regards to safety and your dog. Here are some of the top threats as well as some things you can do now to prevent a ghastly scene on October 31st. Halloween decorations and dogs don’t mix. Holiday decorations may look like fun play things or chew toys to dogs, so keep these out of your dog’s reach lest they cause an emergency room visit or worse. Make sure your dog doesn’t trip over or chew on power cords. Keep your Jack-o-lanterns out of reach, especially if you have a fruit and veggie loving dog like my borzoi, Tatsuya, who’d happily munch down a …

How timeless is the image of the Christmas puppy surprise? I have to admit that it was always a dream of mine growing up—waking to sounds of playful barking from under the decorated tree. Nowadays, getting a Christmas puppy is a much frowned upon practice, and with good reason. Too often, many families have succumbed to the emotional tug of the Christmas puppy tradition without really considering how much of a commitment it is to bring a young life of any species into the family. Puppies are cuddly, cute and irresistible. Adolescent dogs, not so much. For that sad reason, in the spring and …

We “cookie trainers” get a lot of flak from people who don’t understand the right way to use food as a motivator in rewards-based dog training. Opponents assert that dogs trained our way are doomed to suffer an unhealthy future, but that doesn’t have to be the case. I encourage my students to make sure that none of their dog’s daily calories are given out for free. That’s when many of them tell me that they already ask their dogs to sit and wait before they put the food dish down. That’s a decent start, but what if we were to put most of our dog’s kibble into our training bag and dole it out …

For as long as I’ve been in dog training, this has been a topic of debate—and it isn’t limited to just our dogs. This question extends to our relationships with family and friends, and even among nations. Do we get other creatures on this planet to behave in ways we like by showing them how to please us and providing consequences they’ll want to work to get again, or do we let them make their mistakes and then provide sufficiently unpleasant consequences that they’ll work to avoid similar situations in the future? If we use a combination of the two approaches, how do we find the right balance…

I’ve been intrigued by the rumors about dog-friendly happy hour events taking place in Boston for the past couple of years, and this week, my older borzoi, Skylar, and I got to experience The Liberty Hotel’s “Yappier Hour” first-hand. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Having hosted a number of pet parties over the years for my dog training business, I was familiar with the kind of trouble that can break out when lots of people bring their dogs to a social event in a confined space and are distracted from managing their dogs as well as they might if they weren’t wrapped up in the air of …

Dog lovers, picture this: You’re watching your dog do zoomies around your yard when suddenly he begins shrieking and limping, then falls to the ground, still making the most gut-wrenching sounds you’ve ever heard. Do you have any idea what to do in order to be the utmost help to your best friend until you reach the twenty-four-hour emergency veterinary clinic? Years ago, I found myself in just such a position. Although the pet first aid course I had taken over a year before had left much to be desired, once I came to my senses, I was at least able to fashion a muzzle out of an ace bandage to …

New dog owners frequently comment that getting a dog has suddenly earned them introductions to people they’ve lived amongst for years without previously having had much contact. Even neighbors without dogs often pause to admire a new four-pawed family member ambling down the block with its people. It does seem that many of us dog owners tend to gravitate towards one another, like members of a secret society. I think that’s especially true when our dogs are of the same breed. I’ll at least smile and nod at anyone with their dog, but whenever I see a person with a borzoi (like my dogs, Tatsu …

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the ways that positive thinking can support a positive dog training program. Getting my students to opt in to my delirious positivity sometimes takes a bit of effort, but I’m encouraged by my recent experiments. I love working with all of my pupils. Figuring out how to help each individual succeed with their own, specific dog training goals is a daily challenge that I relish. However, I really do see a difference in the learning curves of humans with a “can-do” attitude when compared to those who fret about whether they or their dog will be clever enough …

Raising a puppy is exhausting, yet rewarding and very important work. The first couple months a puppy spends in your home are pivotal. If you do a good job, you put your pup out on the road to being a well-adjusted, friendly, happy, polite and safe adult dog. If you slip up, you could end up with a dog that chews all the wrong things, soils your carpet beyond repair, (playfully but painfully) nips your kids or even shows all-out aggression towards unfamiliar dogs or people. One secret to successful puppy-raising is to use management options to prevent your puppy from learning unwanted lessons…

About a week and a half after my dogs’ monthly bath, my boyfriend starts asking when their next one will be. I try to keep in mind that I might be somewhat desensitized to pet odors, working with dogs all day, every day. Living with one cat, two large dogs and one human with a sensitive sniffer, I’m always on the lookout for the next great stinky-pet solution. Here are some of my current favorite solutions to various pet odor challenges. Summer Swamp Dog Smell A favorite way for my dogs to cool down on hot days is to go wading in a pond, but a rinse in the hose usually isn’t enough to …

It may surprise you to learn that there are lots of ways you can support rescues and shelters in their mission to find homes for dogs, cats and other animals in need even if you don’t have much money to spare, yourself. Here are just a handful of examples. Participate in Fundraisers The MSPCA’s annual Walk for Animals is just around the bend! Now’s the time to join a team or create one of your own in preparation for this one-mile group-stroll around Boston Common, to take place on September 9th. Pay just $25 to register as a walker (or as a virtual walker if you won’t be able to attend in …

Every time I bring home a new puppy, there’s a period when I find myself wondering, “Why, why, WHY did I do this to myself?” All the nipping of hands and ankles, chewing of anything in sight and on top of it all, the rigors of housetraining are enough to drive anyone a little mad. However, it’s not long before I find myself wondering how I ever survived without this new furry creature in my life. If I, a life-long “dog addict,” suffer some doubt and regret while going through those first few painful weeks of intensive puppy training, imagine how stressful that period is for the first-time …

I love small, local pet supplies shops. I love buying from people I get to see face to face—people who remember my pets’ names, always ask about them when they aren’t with me and offer them love and treats when they do come along for the outing. Recently, however, online retailers are making it tougher to resist their services with speedy and cheap (sometimes even free) shipping. With a recent flare-up of lower back pain, the idea of having the huge bags and heavy cans of dog food that I buy for my two Russian wolfhounds delivered directly to my door at no extra cost seems almost too good to …

Last week, a reader of my column commented that, “We are all painfully aware of all the incidents where unmuzzled and off leash pitbulls and other breeds have frequently mortally wounded helpless victims…” Hmmm…are we? I, for one, am not. Rather, I’m painfully aware that I’m more likely to lose my life to human violence than to canine aggression—in spite of the fact that I spend much of my time on behavior modification work with aggressive dogs. However, I can understand why others might erroneously think that dogs have frequently mortally wounded humans. Because fatalities caused by dog …

Last week, I shared the personal experience that convinced me all dogs should be taught to wear a muzzle comfortably during times when you’d never dream of the day your dog might need to wear one. On occasion in my dog training work, I actually do have to recommend to a student that they have their dog wear a muzzle in certain situations. This might be to protect a dog from itself, as in the case of dogs that have developed the habit of eating items that then need to be surgically removed. When we are not actively supervising such a dog (ready to use our “leave it” and “drop it” cues, as well…