Our very own Dog Blog for training and the State of the Trade in The Age of Wingnuts and Zealots.
A collection of articles written by Linda Kaim on the State of Dog.
All comments are moderated, but open, intelligent discourse is welcome. Posts MUST be signed with a real name. Anonymous, unsigned comments will not be published. Inflammatory, troll-like behavior will not be rewarded by inclusion, nor will profanity, threats to my person or other nonsense. Spam is welcome in some parts of the world, I guess, but not here.
If you are still with me, read on…
Groomers take a lot of risks
Groomers are Saints I pay homage to my roots and to all the groomers past and present that have endured the worst of the worst, and still kept their wits about them. This may come across as a bit like kicking a dead horse, if you will forgive the phrase. I am a person...
Buying a dog isn’t that hard
I hadn't intended writing a post on buying a dog today, but here we are! So, I did a thing this morning, before sitting down to my desk and trying to figure out which roller coaster I was going to ride today; the productive, lifestyle supporting one, or the merry...
How to train a dog
When it comes time to learn how to train a dog, the leash and collar is the primary device we use to communicate with them. Whether that collar is a buckle, martingale, chain, prong or electronic, it is still accompanied by a leash that acts as a conduit for...
Littermate Syndrome In Dogs
“Littermate syndrome” is not specific to littermates or even dogs of the same behavioral age range. It can happen at any age.
My dog is driving me crazy!
My Dog Is Driving Me Crazy! Drive. It's a hot-button, poorly understood and frequently misused word in dog training. Dog owners want their dogs to stop driving them crazy. Dog trainers talk about building drive, channeling drive, switching drive, engaging drive, all...
Dog “parent” or dog “owner”?
I ran a single-question survey on my facebook page the other day. I asked folks to determine if they saw themselves as a dog parent or as a dog owner. I knew going in that the overwhelming answer would be biased towards dog owner because that is my belief, and the...
Dogs need calm, not calamity
Are you rewarding chaos or calm in your dog? A nice woman wanted a companion for herself and her busy family. Something smallish, easy to groom, easy to keep. This wonderful lady became my client not because the pup was 'bad', but because they wanted to get started on...
Who is training your dog?
Who is training your dog? Why it matters!
Resolutions (or confessions of a fat dog trainer)
The New Year is creeping closer, and already the cash registers at every gym and fitness center on the planet is ringing. The murmurations of every overweight, soft, unfit, couch-riding over-eater can be heard for miles as they flock to the nearest sweatshop for...
On the Road to a Trained Dog
What a trained dog starts to look like after only 5 weeks of work. Zwei is shown demonstrating the training skills he had learned in the first five weeks of a ten week program. He was just 13 months old. Up to the day this was filmed, Zwei's exposure to this kind of...