Articles: dog training

Danny Kimbrell, who served in the U.S., military, talks on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show about the Tony LaRussa Animal Rescue Foundation pairing and training service dogs for veterans with PTSD. Because Kimbrell has post traumatic stress disorder syndrome, he fully understands how these dogs can bond so intensely so quickly. Although merely…

Thunderstorm anxiety is a problem for many dogs, and indeed thunderstorm season continues only for a short time for many dogs but it’s year-round for much of the country. And when dogs are better at predicting weather than the National Weather Service, you know you have a problem. And the fear may be called thunderstorm…

Some people think dogs afraid of thunderstorms will figure out over time that the storm won’t cause dogs with thunderstorm anxiety any harm.  But that hardly ever happens. In fact, often, without intervention, the fear can worsen. I argue it may be inhumane to merely let even mildly anxious dogs deal with storms without any…

Kelly Gorman Dunbar, renowned trainer, talks with me about dog training philosophy. Increasingly, some trainers are supporting the practice of training your dog like a wolf. Gorman Dunbar wonders, what that even means. Secondly, most people have it wrong, as far as how wolf pups are trained anyway. Do you really need to dominate your…

I almost feel sorry for the famed Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan after watching this video: And this video only offers the highlights – both good and not so good. While all our lives are a bit of a roller coaster, his has been a particularly wild ride. I am writing about Millan again because Petcube, a…

The pet world lost one of the best journalists its ever had last February with the passing of Darlene Arden due to ovarian cancer. Darlene was a sister in sound, hosting her own pet radio show for several years; authored many well-researched and award-winning books about pets – including the seminal book about toy breeds…

Animals can help to heal, and Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy dogs do this on a daily basis. I begin by talking HERE on WGN Radio’s Steve Dale’s Pet World with Susan Burrows, program coordinator at Rainbow, about definitions. What’s the difference between a service dog, a comfort dog, and a dog who partakes in animal-assisted…

Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Nicholas Dodman, professor emeritus at Tufts University, has launched a nonprofit called the Center for Canine Behavior Studies. HEAR Dr. Dodman talk about his new endeavor on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show. The goal is to increase dog adoptions and decrease the number of dogs returned or relinquished to…

Legendary dog trainer Terry Ryan has a new book called Gamify Your Dog Training: Training Games for Group Instruction, and this is my fourth of the 12 Pet Books of Christmas. This book is written for training professionals, but anyone can read it, of course. And, who wouldn’t like playing games with a dog? There are…

It’s as if there is a competition—people forever argue about who’s got more smarts, cats or dogs. A new study led by Suzana Herculano-Houzel, neuroscientist and associate professor and associate director for communications at Vanderbilt Brain Institute, believes her group has come close to answering this question of the ages. Researchers suggest the key to intelligence…