One of the first lessons you learn when you get a dog is not to anthropomorphise your dog. That is, to credit her with human qualities. And with good reason, dogs simply cannot rationalise like we can – their behaviour is impulsive, uncalculated for the most part, and without plan for the distant future. They […]
Recently, I was asked to do a piece regarding grief in dogs after one of the other dogs in the household passes away. Having only recently lost my beloved Takara, I understand this only too well. It’s hard enough for us when we lose a dog, after all they’re a member of the family. However, […]
I used to have a rule that my dogs didn’t approach other dogs if they were on the lead. It’s a fairly common rule of thumb amongst dog walkers, though unfortunately, lots of people don’t seem to have heard about it! You see lots of memes, infographics, social media posts, etc. stating that dogs may […]
Okay, so the title is a little deceiving – many of us don’t really mind you knowing, we just don’t make a habit of telling lots of people! For the purpose of this article, ‘we’ refers to myself, and some other dog trainers I know – I can’t speak for all dog trainers! Perfect Dogs […]
As a pet owner, there are lots of decisions you have to make that are not easy or straight forward. From whether you should crate train your puppy, to what food you feed, kennels vs home boarders, to that ultimate decision at the end, you will never find the decisions involved in dog ownership easy […]
I’m going to touch on a subject now that probably won’t make me very popular. I have kept my feelings about this to myself, due to the fear of the criticism I’d receive, but having talked to other owners of elderly dogs, I feel the need to share my feelings because I’m sure there must […]
Please note that this article is a review of my own experience, but also advertising on behalf of Furbo Dog Camera who placed the product with me for review. I regularly recommend that clients use cameras of some sort to see how their dogs cope when left. They are particularly useful when working with Separation […]
This year I was very fortunate to have three dogs who didn’t really care about the fireworks. Only once did we get any kind of obvious reaction when Radan wanted to go to the toilet so I opened the door and a very loud one went off by close by. Radan was fine, but it […]
Last year, a study came out of Switzerland by Heberlein, Manser and Turner that appears to prove that dogs are capable of ‘tactical deception’ – lying – to get what they want. Whilst I haven’t yet read the study thoroughly to get my thoughts on it, I decided to write this blog after I was […]
As dog trainers, we often stress the importance of providing dogs with enough stimulation and exercise. I’m really pleased to say that I’m meeting more and more pet owners who take this into consideration. However one thing that people often forget to consider is how much rest their dog needs. On average, an adult dog […]