3 Common Mistakes that Detract From Your Professionalism – And How To Avoid Them

Professionalism is More Important Than Ever Professional ethics is front and center in today’s news, and will likely remain so for quite some time.  In the dog training world, the majority of the most well-known certifying bodies contain statements of ethical guidelines its certificants are supposed to follow.   But professionalism reaches beyond what’s covered in…

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Where Did the 0.5 Second Delay of Reinforcement Rule Come From?

Some argue that reward or punishment must follow the behavior of interest by no more than 0.5 second if learning is to occur. Others argue that animals can learn with delays between behavior and consequence of even a couple of minutes or more. Where do these numbers come from and which is more accurate? The…

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Why Are Some Dogs So Adaptable and Others Aren’t?

Our recent foray into pet sitting has certainly provided us some interesting experiences!  We are continually amazed at how easily most dogs adapt to being with us and how trusting they are of us.  We started to think about how different the dogs who come to us for sitting are compared to the dogs we…

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Three Tips to Improve Cooperation and Communication Among Owners, Veterinarians, Behaviorists and Trainers

Getting to the reasons for behavior changes and problems requires cooperation among pet owners, veterinarians and behavior and training professionals.  Remember the story of the 3 blind men and the elephant?  None of them could identify what animal they were touching because each of them was touching a different part of the creature.  It was…

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Automate Your Client Follow-up Email

We all need to followup with clients after an appointment or training session.  Wouldn’t it be cool if you could automate part of that process, and schedule emails ahead of time to go out on a schedule you choose? Well, with this free online tool you can. Check out just a small part of what…

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Are You Unknowingly Turning Clients Away?

Have you had the experience of a potential client turning to someone else rather than working with you?  There are any number of reasons why this might happen, but in this article we’re going to talk about a mistake you want to avoid making that could be one reason why a pet owner would choose…

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Do Dogs Instinctively Love People?

What do you think of the following quote about the dog-human relationship? How true is it? “It is scarcely possible to doubt that the love of man has become instinctive in the dog.” —Charles Darwin http://darwin-online.org.uk/Variorum/1860/1860-215-c-1859.html When examined as it is, out of context, it appears that this quote from Darwin’s On the Origin of…

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A Message for Everyone Who Consults On Aggression Cases

If you are working with aggression cases of any kind – dog-dog or dog-person, in any advisory or problem resolution capacity, you can’t afford to not watch this video.  Did you know that your records – all of them – can be subpoenaed for a lawsuit?  If a dog bites someone, or causes someone to be…

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Use Visual Aids To Help Pet Parents Identify Emotions

One of the biggest obstacles for pet owners in trying to prevent or resolve behavior problems is that they are not good at recognizing the more subtle signs of emotional states such as fear and aggression. Many trainers and behavior consultants recognize this, and try to educate their clients in identifying these signs. However simply…

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Jump Starting Counter Conditioning

What happens when you can’t get started with counter conditioning?  Let’s face it, – it is just not always possible to keep a dog “under threshold”.  Stuff happens unexpectedly.  The requirements of daily life mean sometimes the dog has to go in the car, even when he’s afraid of car rides;  we have to get…

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