I got an enthusiastic message from Jenny, whose young daughter Brooks “is obsessed with dogs & would love to go to Dog Film Festival. Is it playing in our area? We live in Beacon NY & have family we visit in the Berkshires.” I wrote Jenny back to say she was in luck — that […]
In an article published January 1 in The New York Times, the columnist pointed out that by law city shelters and pet stores are required to microchip animals before selling them or releasing them for adoption. The author mentioned that the chip should be registered, but the “rest of that story” is where the slippery […]
Opening Your Heart to a New Dog After Losing One Last week I wrote about putting to sleep my very lame old girl, Jazzy, and I was deeply touched by how many people expressed their condolences. I was moved by the many people who shared their own stories of heartache in making that loving decision […]
Six Ways to Create Positive Associations with the Crate. 1) Put a Halo Liv-a-Little treat into the middle of the crate and say “In your house” in a high cheery voice to train her to go in happily. 2) Give the puppy lots of praise for going in the crate. Never put the pup in […]
Puppy Crate Training — How Long Can She Hold It? The first thing to know about house training a puppy is that she does not physically have control over her muscles of elimination before she reaches four months of age. However, that is a general rule of thumb and puppies do vary in the development […]
Seven Tips to Make the Crate More Welcoming 1) Wrap a hot-water bottle with a big towel. Warmth can feel cozy and like the litter she recently left. 2) When you first get your puppy, make sure you ask for a piece of bedding she as on with her Mom and litter-mates so you can […]
First off, adjust your own thinking so that you do not view a crate as “puppy jail” and feel sorry for the puppy being in a crate. Part of learning how to train a puppy is understanding her point of view: she feels protected in the crate, it is her own special place. It’s essential […]
Once your puppy is past a few months old and doesn’t need to be picked up and placed outdoors immediately after eating, you still need to be super alert to any signs that the puppy may need to go potty at times other than right after mealtimes. House training a puppy is a whole lot […]
Because I know quite a few lucky families that got new puppies over the holidays, for the next few weeks I am going to write about all the aspects of using crate training as a foundation of puppy training. Crate training teaches a puppy where to eliminate — the first thing he has to learn […]
CURES FOR COMMON PUPPY MISBEHAVIOR Preventing Puppy Aggressiveness (Note: the following comments refer to puppies only. Aggression issues with grown dogs are best handled by an experienced trainer.) Neuter your puppy. The most frequent dogfights happen to young, intact (which means not neutered) males. Simple solution: neuter your dog at six months of age. If […]
