Introducing Service Puppy in-Training, Rogan Welcome, Rogan! We’re back in the world of raising service puppies again! I promised our seniors (Nemo, Lily, and Tango — service dog dropouts themselves) that as they entered their “golden years,” they could retire from helping us raise service puppies. Levi was the last service dog we raised. We […]
Introducing Walter, the Labrador Puppy
Walter, the Labrador puppy is a lot of things. But no, he’s not mine. And no, he’s not a service dog pup. Walter is the first pup I’m raising for a client. He’s also a balm to help soothe the pain of losing all our dogs. He’s funny. He’s just what we needed. I’m not […]
For the Love of an Old Dog
I’ll do almost anything for the sake of my dogs. This year, I’m giving up something I love dearly: raising service dogs. When we started raising puppies for service work back in 2001, I was a newlywed. I’d never owned a puppy ever and was a relative newcomer to the organized, specific training required of […]
Budweiser’s Super Bowl Commercial – Another Dog
Another Budweiser puppy commercial for this year’s Super Bowl! I love the ad agency who created the award-winning Budweiser Super Bowl commercial from last year. Remember it? Puppy Love? I’m sure you saw it (who didn’t?), but click here to see it again. I’m not a naive consumer. I know these commercials are created specifically to grab […]
‘Tis the Season: When a Dog Trainer Takes Her Own Advice
It’s ridiculously annoying when people tell us how busy they are. We KNOW! We’re ALL busy, right? Especially now that the holiday season has kicked in. We need to be in 100 places in 24 hours, have a to-do list longer than our shopping list, and absolutely no time to get it all done. Most of us […]
Three Reasons to NOT Buy a Pet Store Puppy
Imagine you went to a restaurant. It wasn’t very good. The food tasted bad. In fact, you got sick afterward, and had to spend a lot of money to get well again. Would you go back? Of course you wouldn’t. Why would you?! You didn’t even enjoy the food. AND YOU GOT SICK! You explain […]
Is Your Dog Guessing? Cues are Important! (Video)
Does your dog KNOW what the word “sit” means? Or is he guessing? Does your dog go through all the behaviors he knows when you ask him for something? Sometimes, when you ask your dog to do something, does he look at you like you’re speaking a foreign language? All of those things are related […]
Teach Your Dog to Eat from a Kong – Video
Want to know what I can’t live without? Kongs. Kongs, a staple in our house, help teach puppies to love their crate, keep our dogs occupied when we have visitors, give them something to do when I need to get work done (like write this, for instance), provide an alternative to a feeding bowl, and […]
Socializing a Puppy: ClickerExpo 101
Elevators. With mirrors! Crowded meeting rooms. Projection and audio systems. Applause. Lying down for 60 minutes with dogs (puppies!) nearby. Spending the night somewhere other than home. Seeing ships on the water. Hearing dogs bark in the room next door. These are just a few of how Levi is getting his brain stretched in so […]
How to Crate Train Your Dog
Mention crate training and you’re likely to hear either people singing it’s praises or complain about how much trouble they have getting their dog into the crate. Enter: Crate Love! We have a new puppy in the house every year to raise as a service dog. The first thing I do is teach them Crate […]
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