Canine Scholars Behavioral Training Center

All “back on the farm” today, having fun with my camera this weekend: Maggie and I spent Thursday and Friday in heaven, learning learning learning, at a sheepdog clinic put on by one of my favorite sheepdog instructors, Scott Glen. I didn't take many photographs but got lucky with this “money shot” of friend Donna's four-year old dog, Davy. It's the shot all of us want of our dogs, and really, really hard to get. [...]

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Boom! Summer brings longer days, garden-fresh produce, ice cream treats, vacations, and "staycations." For the most part, it is a time of fun and relaxation. But summer also brings an increased chance of thunderstorms and fireworks—events that can be scary for your dog. [...]

(Note: Would some one please trim this dog's nails?) This is a repost of an article I wrote in 2014 (July 7) about the motivation behind barking. Since it's been five years, and since barking plays such an important part of our experience with dogs, I thought it would be fun to repeat it. I've done some minor updating, but the post still focuses on the age old question Why Do Dogs Bark? Seems like the [...]

Why so much learning theory doesn't work too well in practice. An applied learning theory is essential for teaching/training all animals, people included These days we are being increasingly advised that dog training should be based on peer-reviewed, published studies. I feel this is a bit silly because there are so few research studies on dog training. In fact, there are next to none. Certainly, there are wonderful studies on the behavior of wild canids, on [...]

Oh dear. I fear that this is going to be one of the “self-help” pieces in which the author begins by talking about how bad she is at doing something (we'll call it X), and then tells you why it's so important to do it. It might end with the author seeing the light, as should we all, and is now doing X with consistency and dedication. Oh, wait, it's not going to be like that [...]