For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

The Midwest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog Crate is the bestselling dog crate at Amazon. I recently learned that when you are in any category there, you can look up at a top menu bar and choose Bestsellers. I just did that and as of today, this crate is not just the #1 dog crate, it’s #1 in pet supplies AND #1 in the entire home and garden category. Okay, I admit to liking odd facts like this! So I got interested and clicked through to read the page about this particular crate. I’m a huge fan of crate training for puppies and dogs both — that link takes you to a long how-to page I wrote. It immediately became evident why this crate is so popular. It has two features that most dog crates don’t have:

1. There are doors in two different spots, very convenient for different places in your home or for use in both home and car. Latches on the top and bottom of each door.
2. There is a divider that can be used when you are potty-training a puppy or adult dog. Since puppies are more apt to hold it in a smaller space, use this for training. ( Of course, if you will be gone all day, be sure the pup has enough room!) They say that this crate cuts housebreaking time in half. Read the rest of this entry

The title combines two things that might not be related but are. We are going to be making a long trip with our dogs and cats. My husband and I have been living in Mexico for four years, near Lake Chapala. It’s been really nice in many ways, but now we are selling our house here and moving back to Colorado. I’m very excited that we will be living in a small town where we lived for a decade and there is a real sense of community.

The long drive north will be in late April, and I’m already doing a bit of training review with the dogs, as I recommended in this article I did back in 2008: Train Your Dog Before Vacation Travel and I’m getting our kitties used to their carrying crates by feeding in one and having the other in a choice location on my desk, next to my computer. Read the rest of this entry

What is dog trainer training like?

It comes in many forms. Some dog trainers just naturally start training their own dogs, maybe as children or maybe later in life. From there, they might begin training dogs belonging to neighbors, family members, and friends. At some point, they begin learning from other dog trainers. Maybe they simply take their dog to a group class. Maybe they read books, watch DVDs or online videos.

But if you are considering becoming a professional dog trainer, there are some even better choices for you. First, think about what kind of training philosophy you have. In the past twenty years or so, there has been a dramatic evolution in what is scientifically known about the best ways to train dogs.

It turns out that positive, pain-free training methods evoke a willingness to learn in dogs and other mammals that just isn’t there if they are trained with repeated punishments. Older dog training methods drew more on yanking choke chains and doing other things to make the dog do what you want. Now we are learning that we can get away from the old dominance theories and methods. Dogs will often happily do what we ask of them because we give them a food treat at first, or reward them with some time playing ball. Read the rest of this entry

So many interesting and maybe scary things happen in our everyday world. Wherever you live, you have things going on nearby. Maybe some of these:

• Cars stop and start.
• Rock music blares out as a teenager practices drumming.
• Cats, squirrels, birds, and other animals move around.
• Greasy papers from a fast-food joint are lying in the gutter.

Once your puppy is old enough to go out into the world with you, who knows what you will encounter and how your puppy will react? Read the rest of this entry