Living with Dogs Archives

Play Fetch with Your Dog

Playing fetch with your dog is not only fun and good exercise, it can also be a way to train him to give you what he has in his mouth… if you do it right. In this short audio, about … Continue reading →

Doing Dog Toenails with a Dremel Tool

Dog toenail trimming can be agony or it can go quite smoothly. I’ve experienced it both ways, and I much prefer the smoother approach. In this short audio (under 4 minutes), I talk about how using a Dremel tool has … Continue reading →

Does Your Dog Get Enough Exercise? Do You?

How much exercise a dog gets is a crucial factor in his health and happiness. Here I talk about this briefly: http://www.training-dogs.com/sound-files/exercise.mp3 I hope this inspires you to increase your dog’s exercise. Here’s a good book on how to do … Continue reading →

Is Your Dog Bored?

Do you leave your dog or dogs alone for long hours while you are out working or active in the community? Or, like me, are you at home a lot but glued to your computer? If so, your dog is … Continue reading →

Energy Healing For Dogs, by Nicole Wilde

Energy Healing for Dogs, by Nicole Wilde, can provide you with a useful tool for helping your dog stay healthy or become healthy. I remember my mother-in-law sending our aging Rhodesian Ridgeback, Cider, Reiki healing from 1000 miles away, years ago. … Continue reading →

Is Your Dog Fat?

Can you feel your dog’s individual ribs with your fingers? If not, there is a good chance that your dog is too fat. According to research, close to 40% of pet dogs are overweight. Luckily, there is plenty you can … Continue reading →

Teach Your Children How to Behave Around Dogs

Whether we are talking about your own dogs or any dogs that your children may happen to meet, be sure to teach your kids some basic principles of how to behave around dogs. Doing this will make it much less … Continue reading →

Save Time and Trouble, Don’t Wash Your Dog Much!

A veterinarian whom I know online recently gave me some information about bathing dogs, and what she said was so much like my own approach, that I got her permission to use it here. I rarely bathe my dogs, but … Continue reading →

Six Ways to Have a Happier Dog

Here are six ways you can increase your dog’s satisfaction and enjoyment. Not all will be right for every dog. I’ll give you the list first and then discuss each one. Dog training, whether on your own or in a … Continue reading →

Do You Feed Your Dogs the Wrong Food?

Do you just grab a bag of dog food from the supermarket when you’re doing your grocery shopping? After all, you probably get good people food at that store or you wouldn’t use it. They probably have quite a few … Continue reading →

Hard Times? Keep Your Dog if You Possibly Can

Chances are that what I am about to say doesn’t apply to you. Most of us can afford to keep our pets. But a significant number of the people, in the US and around the world, are facing – or … Continue reading →

New Year Doggy Resolutions?

Any dog training plans for the new year? Or have you thought of changing to homemade dog food? Taking up agility? Volunteering at a local shelter? Doing art that features dogs? Maybe you have some wild ideas relating to dogs: … Continue reading →

Dogs: The Choices We Make

Recently my husband Kelly and I passed up a chance to go someplace special on the spur of the moment because we would have been away all day till maybe 11 at night. We didn’t want the dogs to have … Continue reading →

Play as You Train Your Dog

Dogs love fun. Who can doubt it, watching a group of dogs running joyously across a field or dog park? Today’s dog training tip is simple: play with your dogs. There is a movement afoot to encourage us to play … Continue reading →

Good Dog! Kids Teach Kids About Dog Behavior and Training

Good Dog! Kids Teach Kids About Dog Behavior and Training is, as you’d expect from the title, a book written by kids. Evelyn Pang and Hilary Louie began writing this book when they were 9 years old, and Dogwise published … Continue reading →

Chocolate and Dogs

You likely know that chocolate isn’t good for dogs. In fact, it can kill them. But how much chocolate does it take? I’ve seen more than one panicked post on a dog forum when someone’s dog has just eaten some … Continue reading →

All Over The Planet, We Love and Train Our Dogs

Every now and then I go take a look at the statistics about who is viewing this website. It’s kind of a one-way street, to write websites and blogs, so it’s fun to see some evidence that there really ARE … Continue reading →

Visiting Other People and Their Dogs

I’m just back from a couple of weeks visiting family and friends in northern California. I visited with a dog walker in San Francisco, a young couple with small kids and a patient dog, a woman who has two Cairn … Continue reading →

More Deaf Dog Training Tips

Recently I posted an article written by Kate Stolle of Columbia, Missouri, giving tips on training deaf dogs, based on her own experiences with a deaf dog, Lilly. Here are more tips from Kate again. Kate says: Kennel: we don’t … Continue reading →

Deaf Dog Training Tips

I did some articles a while ago about deaf dogs, and now I have some deaf dog training tips, this time from Kate Stolle, of Columbia, Missouri. She writes: As for training tips: I highly recommend using a harness when … Continue reading →

Making Dr. Pitcairn’s Fresh Meat Supplement for Dog Kibble

There’s a lot of interest in feeding our dogs a better quality diet. I’ve written about it some on this dog training website, since what you feed your dog can affect his behavior. Many people have become more aware of … Continue reading →

Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats: My Review

Do you have a copy of ? Do you pull it out when one of your dogs or cats shows a worrisome symptom? Do you read the reference sections for fun? Do you cook from its recipe section? Do you … Continue reading →

Homemade Dog Food and Dog Behavior: When Experts Disagree

The vast majority of dogs are fed commercial pet food. Whether it’s canned, bagged, or semi-moist, until recently dog owners have just grabbed their dog food off the grocery store or pet store shelves. Most still do. Happily for the … Continue reading →

Sometimes Euthanasia is the Best Choice

I’m writing this with a heavy heart, because this morning a friend took a dog to be euthanized for behavioral reasons. I know my friend well, and she knows a huge amount about dogs and dog training. I have seen … Continue reading →

Deaf Dog Otis Figures Out a Gum Ball Machine

Training deaf dogs is something I’ve written about before, not because I have ever done it but because I’ve heard from some owners of deaf dogs. Recently I got an email from Becky, whose deaf dog Otis you can see … Continue reading →

Disasters and Dogs

How prepared are you and your dogs for a natural disaster? This came up big time for us once when torrential rains did some serious damage to the town in Mexico where we were living. Here are some tips. 1. Depending … Continue reading →

Does Your Dog Eat Poop?

Dogs eating poop grosses people out. What can you do about it? Sometimes the dog has been eating its own poop; other times it’s been the poop of other dogs or cats. Coprophagia is the scientific name for this habit. There are … Continue reading →

Dogster: Where Dog Lovers Meet

“Social Networking” is a relatively new, and ever-more-important aspect of the internet. Sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and many more create ways that we can connect with others who share our interests. And the dogs have their own social networking … Continue reading →

Marley’s Story III: A Puppy’s Food Allergy is Discovered

This is the third of three posts telling the story of Marley, a puppy who has had numerous behavior problems which turned out to be directly related to his diet. He was very sensitive to what dog food he ate, … Continue reading →

Marley’s Story II: Changing Dog Foods Twice Leads to Success

Marley is a puppy who was attacking members of his family, both children and adults, for no evident reason. His owner Karen and I exchanged emails about the situation, and not long after that, I got an encouraging report from … Continue reading →

Marley’s Story I: A Puppy Has Biting Spells

Sometimes a puppy shows behavior problems that are dangerous to its family. Children are being nipped at, skin is being broken. What can you do? Some months ago, I received an email from someone dealing with exactly this problem. (I … Continue reading →

Dog Food, Behavior, and Health

Today I’m beginning a section on dog food, and I expect it to become an ongoing theme on this website. Dog food? On a dog training website? You bet! The many complex relationships between food, behavior, and health are well … Continue reading →

Halloween! And What about Your Dog?

Halloween! Trick or treaters! Some wild and crazy energy at times! And what about your dog or dogs? Will there be treat-or-treaters coming to your door, or teenagers roaming around with possibly mischief on their minds? Making sure that your … Continue reading →

Training a Deaf Dog: Part Two

Recently I blogged about Otis, a deaf dog being trained by his owner, to very good effect. Becky (from Ohio) and I have exchanged further emails and here is her latest update. Otis is the black-and-white one. This is our … Continue reading →

Other Dogs Accepting a New One

Here are some tips on getting your existing dogs to accept a new one, woven into the story of our household: We’ve had our new dog over a month now. An 8 month old Rottweiler rescue, she’s fitting into our … Continue reading →

A Tellington Touch Dog Story

The Tellington Touch, or TTouch, is a wonderful method of working with your dog to ease physical pain or emotional problems. My husband Kelly and I learned about it when we produced a program called The Tellington TTouch for Happier, … Continue reading →

Using the Tellington Touch for Socializing Dogs and Cats

I’ve been doing a lot of Tellington Touch (known more widely as the Tellington TTouch) lately, in the process of socializing our new and already very large puppy. Lola is 8 months old and both LarryDog, shown above, and our cat … Continue reading →

The 10 Smartest Breeds of Dogs

I came across a list of smart dog breeds recently, and found it quite interesting. The article didn’t happen to mention where the information came from, or how it was derived, but still it was fun. Intelligence of dog breeds … Continue reading →

Training a Deaf Dog

This charming pup, Otis, is deaf. I had some interesting correspondance with Becky of Boardman, Ohio, Otis’ human mom. She wrote asking if I knew anything about training deaf dogs. I didn’t but I had noticed that my webpage on … Continue reading →

Dreaming of a Mexican Xoloitzcuintli

When we lived in the highlands of central Mexico for five years, I became intruigued by the Mexican Xoloitzcuintli, a rare breed of dog that was sometimes seen in our area, between Guadalajara and Colima. I remember one time I went on … Continue reading →