I have an old dog

I have an old dog. When did she become old?  Maybe it started with the decline in her manners. Doesn’t she see me standing here as she pulls something out of the trash?!  Maybe, but it doesn’t matter because she knows I won’t enforce the rules and she can’t hear me...

Molecular Redistribution

Here on my blog I generally talk about dog training, but on Facebook, I cover a good deal more territory. The following conversation is one of a regular series of conversations that I have with my 13-year-old dog, Raika.  Some of our conversations are funny and some...

Impulse Control

Unlike my prior dogs, Lyra has had almost no impulse control training.  That’s because she rarely wants anything badly enough to experience the conflict between cooperating with me or taking what she wants directly.    The things that Lyra wants badly enough to...

Systematic Problem Solving

Trainers often say that they don’t need to know why a problem exists in order to fix it; they simply look at the behavior and address it.  I disagree.  I find that identifying the underlying source of the problem is critically important, otherwise the trainer is...

What am I Teaching?

Several years ago I watched a person train a dog is a sport I’m very familiar with.  For the life of me, I could not figure out what the human wanted the dog to do – that’s pretty bad when it’s my own sport.  The dog was paying the price with...

Protection Training (IPO)

In addition to obedience, all of my dogs compete in the sport of IPO – formerly known as Schutzhund. IPO stands for Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung. IPO is a three part sport which includes Tracking, Obedience and Protection phases – the dog must pass all...

Raika – Verbal Discrimination

Raika is contemplating a return to the sport of Schutzhund (now IPO).  We never earned her schutzhund three title; mostly because I got distracted with AKC obedience and that became my focus.  When I returned a couple of years ago, I found that I didn’t have...

Raika – play as contest

My last blog showed Cisu and Ali playing; these are physical dogs who like physical play with a lot of opposition reflex.  For dogs like Cisu, play is both physical and reflexive (not thinking). Raika has a completely different play style.  For Raika, play is a...

Why would any trainer….

allow their dog to hit them so hard during training that they were bruised? That’s a really good question and I’d like to answer it.  Some of you have asked me directly and I’m quite sure that others have been thinking it. First of all, I do NOT...
Raika – Who’s the cutest??!!

Raika – Who’s the cutest??!!

I’d like to talk about Raika.  The Leaping Lunatic.  Moderately neurotic, single minded and full of life.  The apple of my eye.  The cutest ever. Welcome to my blog, Raika. Raika doesn’t really deserve the amount of adoration I slavish upon her.  Raika has...