Lessons from My Leash Reactive Dog, Loker

Ah the challenges of training a reactive dog… I’ll start by saying, “It’s easier said than done.” As a trainer, I know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy! It’s been hard, but it’s also been fun! That’s what I love about positive reinforcement based…

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Communicating Effectively with Your Customers – A Book Review

I am ecstatic about what I have just finished reading. I have a hard time finishing books. I get bored pretty easily which is why I like things to get straight to the point. If it’s not going anywhere, I move on to the next thing. I read this whole book and loved it all.…

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Pitbulls and Positive Reinforcement!

There is a special Facebook page that is close to my heart because of my love of pitbulls and the common misconception that bully breeds need stern and dominant training methods. Bully breeds are, first and foremost, DOGS. They learn the same way as a Chihuahua, Beagle, or St. Bernard would learn- through classical conditioning…

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A Message From Your Dog

Sometimes it’s good to step away from all the mumbo-jumbo and look at your dog with a fresh perspective.   “I Am Your Dog” created by Casey Lomonaco, www.rewardingbehaviors.com, 2013   Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

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Why I Was Rude to My Neighbor Today

Its official! We’ve moved to Austin, TX! I’m happy to be back where I grew up because I love this city. Both the dogs are getting time to romp around in our large backyard and they are having a blast with the two ball game! Loker has been surprisingly calm-ish and collected in the backyard…

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The Dog Trainer Spectrum

Watch out! I’m going to use labels to describe dog trainers in this post! Read at your own risk!  I am on a lot of Facebook groups. The forum-like setting creates a great environment to interact with many different people and trainers from all over the globe. There’s nothing out there like it. I recently…

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Stop Addressing the Symptoms

Symptoms may include, but are not limited to: barking jumping digging growling biting pawing These behaviors occur because of a variety of reasons. Instead of digging deeper for the real reasons these behaviors are occurring, dog owners often only want to address the symptoms because those symptoms are what immediately affect the owner’s life. Digging…

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Tidy Training

I love reading other blogs, one of my new favorites that I haven’t yet had much time to read yet is one by Mary Hunter. She just graduated with a Masters in Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas. Her blog is called Stale Cheerios. Her recent article reviewing what she had learned at a…

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