When you think about dog training, we are fortunate to be living in this time. Even before the internet brought us together in a variety of new ways, veterinarian Dr. Ian Dunbar, dolphin trainer Karen Pryor, and others were doing things that would have massive effects on how people think about dog training. Now, positive dog training is turning up everywhere.

Dr. Dunbar has gone on to create an outstanding line of books and DVDs, including one of my all-time favorite DVDs, Sirius Puppy Training. He founded the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, which describes itself as…. CLICK THE TITLE TO READ MORE…

Summertime coming up! And thousands upon thousands of family dogs will pile in the car, maybe with the kids (and sometimes the cat or hamster) and head out to go camping, visit Grandma or in reverse visit the grandkids, or just to have a good time. Some dog training in advance will help everyone have more fun and be safer.

First, brush up on the good old basics: sit, stay, down, come. You may well be using them every day at home, but an interesting thing about how dogs learn is that it tends to be very location-specific. In other words, if Fluffy sits beautifully in the kitchen, she may not when outside on the patio, let alone in a completely unfamiliar situation with distractions.

So do some very simple training, on these basics, but with a twist: do it in a variety of places. Click the title to read more…

Lately I’ve been training LarryDog on his long down. Kelly and our Rottweiler Lola have a habit of going for a walk around the neighborhood and into the mountains behind us early most mornings. (And of course Lola sees no reason it shouldn’t be every morning!) When they would leave, Larry would complain loudly at [...]

Here is my list of the best dog training ebooks. I’m not calling it the “top ten” or any other number, because over time I intend to keep adding to it. Who knows? Maybe someday it will be the top 100! These downloadable products are typically in PDF format, and the free software you need [...]

I love finding clear dog training information that is suitable for both adults and children– so long as it uses teaching methods that don’t hurt the dog in the process. The economical Train Your Dog DVD: The Positive, Gentle Method, succeeds admirably in

When you first start dog training, simple commands are the best ones to use. Generally, that remains true even as your skills improve over time. Dogs learn simple commands more easily than complex ones, though of course a working dog such as a Border Collie herding sheep will be able to perform very complex behaviors. [...]

If you’ve been clicker training your puppy or dog, there will be times when you don’t have a clicker handy. How do you handle the training then?
Well, this has come up quite a bit for me lately, as our Rottweiler, Lola, has developed a good understanding of the basic commands in the months we’ve [...]

Recently I put up an article about coprophagia, or as it’s more commonly described, dogs eating feces or poop. I got some helpful feedback from several readers, which I am putting here with their permission.
First, someone wrote me to point out that spinach contains oxalic acid, not good for dogs, so don’t try it as [...]

Eating poop has lately been the most common question I’ve received from readers. Sometimes the dog has been eating its own poop; other times it’s been the poop of other dogs or cats. People are grossed out (hey, I procrastinated on writing this!) and they want their dogs to stop.
Coprophagia is the scientific name [...]

Chances are that your dog or dogs are already trained to sit, but are you taking advantage of the many ways this versatile word can be used? Today I’ll give some tips on training the sit with a clicker. These are hot from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, as I’ve been doing this [...]