I posed the question earlier this week: Is crating ok? First a definition, just so we’re all on the same page. By crate I mean an enclosure that’s large enough for a dog to stand up in and turn around but not large enough for him to take a stroll in or do a cha-cha.…
Training Tuesday: Goals
I’ve been a bit vague here about the goals of my training with Frankie — so much so that my friend Mary, over at Dancing Dog Blog, assumed in a comment here that I was attempting to get Frankie to cease humping his houseguests. I can see where she might have gotten that impression. I…
The Friday Five: Dog Crating
It wasn’t until about 30 years ago that people started putting their dogs into crates to transport them to shows and, eventually, to keep them from doing damage at home. Other countries find crating barbaric, but it’s become standard practice in the United States, sanctioned by all types of trainers. Is crating merely for human…
Training Tuesday: What Is Dog Training For, Anyway?
For many, the term “dog training” has become synonymous with parlor tricks: Sit, stay, roll over, shake, play dead, hand me a beer… They’re fun and they can definitely be part of any training program. Who doesn’t want to impress their friends — especially dogless ones who are always bragging about how smart their kids…
Training Tuesdays
I’ve been talking the talk about dog training for a long time, emphasizing its importance in such posts as What Is Dog Training & Why Do It? But, aside from an early small dog class that involved a choke collar (more on which later), I haven’t been walking the walk. My plans to start training …
Charles (Not) in Charge
Meet Charles, my friend Rebecca’s Brussels griffon. Rebecca is going into the hospital soon for spinal fusion surgery. I promised to take care of Charles for the three weeks during and post-op, so last night we had a trial sleepover. It didn’t go so well. Charles was distraught at being left with a strange human…
You don’t own me…
… Oh, wait, you do, your dog might say, if she were inclined towards philosophical musings. But does that mean you can — and should — try to change everything about me that you don’t like? Those questions came to mind — mine, not Frankie’s, at least as far as I can tell — after…
Thanksgiving in the land of the alpha dogs
[originally posted November 25, 2009] After Sunday’s Make Fun of Dog Dominance Theory fest on this blog, I figured that topic was pretty much played out. Then, later that day, I discovered an article in the New York Times fashion pages — an apt place for this kind of facile faddism — that suggests Cesar…
It’s “Make Fun of Dog Dominance Theory” Day
[originally posted November 22, 2009] In case you’ve noticed that my blog has been a bit wonky — and my blogging a bit erratic — lately, it’s because the platform is being moved from WordPress to Joomla. Note the passive tense. I am not doing the moving and if I tried to explain why it…
How to find a good dog trainer, Part 2
Finally: The completion of my series on dog training. It covers a bit of the same ground that previous posts do, including those that mock dominance trainers. I’m aiming for straightforward and dispassionate here, not because I’m any less riled up about the topic but because in some circumstances it’s the best way to convey…