Average Reading Time: 3 minutes, 7 seconds

My wife and I were walking around a Junior College near our home last week when we observed something that was distressing to both of us. A young man was walking his beautiful adolescent-looking German Shepherd. This man was almost a parody of what I hate to see in abusive dog owners: muscled up with a tank top, yelling “heel” every three seconds and constantly jerking the leash. Upon closer observation, I noticed his dog was wearing a metal prong collar.

Average Reading Time: 4 minutes, 58 seconds

“Does my dog need to have a lot of dog and human friends to be happy?” As a professional dog trainer, I hear this question all the time from my clients. Our society tends to be a social one, and often we feel most happy when surrounded by a lot of friends and attending events like concerts, parties and other social gatherings. Social media is a part of our everyday lives. So, the question is, are our dogs the same way? Do they need friends and social outings to be happy? Are they sad and lonely without them?

Average Reading Time: 2 minutes, 44 seconds

Dog rescue’s job is to take millions of unwanted dogs each year from across the country and find them loving forever homes. These dogs primarily come from dog owners who voluntarily surrender their dogs, strays picked up on the streets and municipal animal control shelters.

Average Reading Time: 1 minutes, 55 seconds

Some dog owners think a doggie peephole could be a gift to their dog while others just don’t want the ugly hole in their fence. Are they good or bad for dogs? What’s the real story?

Average Reading Time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

Housetraining can be an issue for puppies as well as adult dogs. I frequently find adult dogs who have never been properly housetrained - this article applies to these dogs too. If you have a properly housetrained adult dog who abruptly develops housetraining problems, there may be more going on.

Average Reading Time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds

“My dog is a picky eater – What can I do?” is a common question for many dog owners. It’s actually a much easier behavior problem to address than most dog owners realize. Money motivates people, but food is the monetary system of dogs. Food is an important variable in a dog’s behavior and needs to be controlled by the dog’s owner and not by the dog. I’ve provided five ideas below to help you get a handle on this.

Average Reading Time: 1 minute, 6 seconds

Dog Behavior FAQ #74: Why do veterinary employees take my dog to the back to take blood, etc.?

Average Reading Time: 1 minute, 56 seconds

"Why do some people have such a problem with punishment styles of behavior modification in dogs? I'm specifically talking about some of those used by Cesar Millan in his controversial TV shows. Seems like he has fixed the dog by the end of the episode and the owners are happy. What’s the problem?"

A dog owner submitted this question to me last week: “My dog is afraid of men. Why are so many dogs afraid of men?” I get this question in one form or another all the time.

Dogs jumping on people is the common cold of problematic dog behaviors. I describe it as a benign behavior problem - albeit a behavior problem nonetheless. Dogs who jump on you, your family and friends can really be annoying. Let’s quickly break down:

1) why your dog is doing this.
2) why all the things you’ve tried in the past don’t seem to help.
3) how to address the root cause of the behavior and stop it.

Dr. Ian Dunbar, who is the best-known dog behaviorist on the planet, said something that is 100% true about confident dogs at one of his seminars I attended. He said, "You will never be able to find the most confident dog on earth; it's really impossible."

What did he mean? Let me explain.

There are a lot of dog owners handing out bad dog behavior advice. Just because someone flies on Southwest Airlines doesn’t mean they’re qualified to jump in the cockpit of a Boeing 737 and pilot the plane. Likewise, getting anecdotal behavior advice from dog owners and the internet (i.e., Dr. Google) can get you and your dog headed in the wrong direction. Sometimes this advice can be funny because, like with most good humor, there is an element of truth in it sometimes.

If you have a dog-reactive-dog, your dog does one or more of the following as another dog passes by: forcefully pulls, whines, lunges, growls, barks, etc. This can be quite embarrassing for you. In an attempt to manage this behavior, you may force your dog to sit and watch as the other dog passes by.

If your dog grumbles, growls, barks or generally gets an “attitude” when humans or other dogs get near their food, toys, treats, favorite resting place, crate, etc. - they may have an issue with resource guarding. Resource guarding also goes by the name “possession aggression”.

I first saw Archie about one year ago. At that time, Archie was a five-year-old Golden Retriever mix who was scared of his own shadow. When I first met Archie, he wouldn’t make eye contact with me, his tail was tucked and he urinated a little out of fear. I have to tell you that seeing dogs like this hurts my soul, even after all of these years.

Do dogs have the capacity to love us like we love them? Unfortunately, we can't know what dogs are actually thinking, but we do understand the behavioral side of what motivates them. Dogs do things that either: a) bring them rewards, or, b) help them avoid pain.