Blog

Many new puppy owners think walking their puppy once per day or a few times per week is enough. It’s not! How can you or your puppy learn anything by doing it a few times per week? You can’t! I suggest 3-8 walks per day for effective leash training of the loose-leash walking techniques that I teach in my puppy training program. I got my dog, Spaulding, at 3 months old and had him for 12 years, until he passed in April 2020. I estimate we went on an average of 6 walks per day

Many people would love to have their dog walk beside them on a loose leash, never pulling or moving from side to side. Most dog owners never achieve this goal for a variety of reasons, including the wrong equipment, no formal training, and bad habits started early. It takes skill and practice to get your dog to walk on a loose leash and never react to anything. In my book “Leash Training Your Puppy,” I include a step-by-step process to achieve this goal. The book also include

Waiting for the puppy to tell you they need to go outside is the biggest potty training mistake that can cause more accidents than almost anything else. New puppy owners often expect their puppy to bark at the door, scratch the door. whine, pace around, or sit and stare at them. The problem is that most puppies don't know how to communicate that yet. They don't realize that the bathroom is outside. When they feel the urge, they simply go wherever they happen to be. Instead, o

Before bringing home a puppy, we all have this picture in our minds. We imagine cuddles on the couch, walks through the neighborhood, and a puppy that happily follows us around and quickly learns everything we teach. Then reality shows up. Your puppy is biting your hands, chewing on your shoes, peeing on the floor, barking at nothing, and somehow finding trouble every time you look away. If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Unrealistic Expectation #1: Puppies Naturally

If you like to do interactive things with your puppy to ultimately tire them out and help them calm down, then this is the article for you. Here are five simple ways you can easily add mental stimulation to your puppy's everyday routine without spending a lot of money or adding hours to your day. When people think of wearing out a puppy, they immediately think of exercise, longer walks, more playtime, more running around the yard. While physical exercise is important, it's on

Today I'm going to talk about something that many loving puppy owners never think about. You may actually be creating stress, fear, and anxiety in your puppy without even realizing it. The good news is that almost every owner does this at some point. It doesn't make you a bad owner. It simply means you don't yet understand how your puppy experiences the world. This article will help you recognize the signs that your puppy is becoming overwhelmed and show you how to become th

This article will focus on the importance of building a relationship with your puppy, why your relationship matters, five ways to build your relationship, and mistakes that damage your relationship with your puppy. Why the Relationship Matters Because your puppy won't work for strangers. It isn't going to work for people that it doesn't trust. Your puppy is constantly learning whether they can trust you. A strong relationship between you and your puppy creates: Better atten

I've been getting a lot of calls recently from people with dogs two to eight years old who were never socialized. When they go to public locations like Lowe's, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, or Bass Pro Shops, they can't handle it. They can't cope. They have a lot of fear, stress, and anxiety. This could have been prevented if the dog had been socialized between 8 and 16 weeks old. Socializing your puppy does not mean playing with other dogs or being petted by many people. The

There are no rules in dog training that say that we're going to train your dog to be petted by a lot of different people unless they're training to be a therapy dog. My dog Dixie is a therapy dog, highly trained and skilled to sit with people who are sick and have terminal illnesses, and to give them love and affection by letting them pet her. She's six and a half years old. She is a calm, zen, very well-behaved dog, and I worked for a long time to get her to this state so sh