Focus on … Focus

Focus on … Focus

Puppy classes often include exercises designed to entice your puppy to focus on you. After all, what can you teach your puppy if you can’t even get his attention? Some puppies seem to naturally attend closely to their owners, much to the envy of other people in class,...
Park That Puppy

Park That Puppy

How do you help your puppy settle quietly in your vet’s waiting room, during quiet times at puppy class, on walks while you stop to talk to a neighbor? How do you keep your puppy from jumping up on people you would like to have greet him? Learn to park your puppy. Not...
Our Ever-Changing Relationships With Our Dogs

Our Ever-Changing Relationships With Our Dogs

Puppies are so sweet, so vulnerable, completely dependent on us for everything. We are like their parents, keeping them safe, providing what they need, watching over them and doing our best to help them become the very best dogs they can be. We laugh at their cute...
Wonderful Wait

Wonderful Wait

My puppies begin to learn the meaning of the word ‘wait’ from the very first day they join my household. I use ‘wait’ many times a day, every day, with all of my dogs. ‘Wait’ means ‘pause and wait for further instructions.’ I ask my dogs to wait before running out the...
Puppy Exercise

Puppy Exercise

Puppy trainers are often asked what kind of exercise is best for young puppies. The answer is, puppy-directed exercise. Puppies have bodies that are growing and changing every day. Their soft joints are easily injured by impact such as jumping, leaping, and running on...
Don’t Socialize, Familiarize

Don’t Socialize, Familiarize

Puppy socialization is huge these days. Puppy owners are told that if they want a well-adjusted puppy who is friendly with people, they must get that puppy out on the streets. Goal: meet 100 people before the ‘window of socialization’ slams shut at 16 weeks of age....