My Blog

Dog Training and the Toxic Triple Whammy, Part 2

Imagine that you have a condition that is jeopardizing your health, your relationships with those you love, possibly your very life. ...

Mar 14, 20169 min read

Dog Training and the Toxic Triple Whammy, Part 1

Oh! My heart is broken, another crushing blow to me and my geek tendencies… :) The recent hoo-has involving a celebrity TV dog trainer,...

Mar 14, 20166 min read

I Can’t vs. I Don’t Know How

Good morning! It’s a beautiful, cold clear day in Mt. Shasta, and I’ve been thinking. (I do that sometimes.) Here’s my thought for the...

Nov 23, 20154 min read

Dog Training and the Toxic Triple Whammy, Part 2

Imagine that you have a condition that is jeopardizing your health, your relationships with those you love, possibly your very life. ...

Mar 14, 20169 min read

Dog Training and the Toxic Triple Whammy, Part 1

Oh! My heart is broken, another crushing blow to me and my geek tendencies… :) The recent hoo-has involving a celebrity TV dog trainer,...

Mar 14, 20166 min read

I Can’t vs. I Don’t Know How

Good morning! It’s a beautiful, cold clear day in Mt. Shasta, and I’ve been thinking. (I do that sometimes.) Here’s my thought for the...

Nov 23, 20154 min read

Help! My Dog Doesn’t Respect Me… (Part 3)

Imagine this—my favorite analogy: we decide we’re going to take up ballet dancing and we go to the studio for our first lesson. When...

Jul 31, 201510 min read

Help! My Dog Doesn’t Respect Me… (Part 2)

In the first part of this blog, we ended with wondering where oh where do pet owners come up with a notion of “respect,” a word they...

Jul 26, 20158 min read

Help! My Dog Doesn’t Respect Me… (Part 1)

Well, there really isn’t any nice way to say it. The chances are extremely good that—oh, no, it’s true! Your dog has no respect for you...

Jul 25, 20155 min read

Saying Hello and the Need for Empathy

Imagine you are walking down the street, minding your own business and enjoying a leisurely stroll in peace and quiet. Around the corner...

Feb 1, 201514 min read

Making Your Voice—and Your Money—Count: Some Tips from an Animal Welfare Professional

If you’re like a lot of people—and you’re reading this blog—you love animals. Or at least, animals of your species of choice, be it...

Jan 19, 20159 min read

Two Things We Need to Know About Our Dog’s Performance (and Ours), Part II

In the first part of this blog topic, I talked about how stress can impact both our performance and that of our dogs—with an underlying...

Nov 22, 201421 min read

Two Things We Need to Know About Our Dog’s Performance (and Ours), Part I

I admit it: I am a Behavior Geek. My idea of a wildly exciting night is curling up with my cats, my dog, a glass of warm milk and a DVD...

Nov 2, 201412 min read

TINKER DAY! A Celebration

It’s dark in the back yard, nearing 10 o’clock, and all hell has broken loose. During the day, the house next to mine is used as a...

Oct 24, 201415 min read

On Leaders, Babies and Bathwater, Part Five

Oh boy. In the last part, I talked about the two flavors of Strategic Following: Following because someone has greater expertise, and...

Aug 17, 201411 min read

On Leaders, Babies and Bathwater, Part Four

The second kind of Following, what I’m calling Strategic Following, is in many ways the most complex and nuanced. I’m not blindly...

Aug 7, 201412 min read

On Leaders, Babies and Bathwater, Part Three

In Part 2, I asserted that if we really want to understand how Leading works, we might do better to look at it from the extremely...

Jul 28, 20149 min read

On Leaders, Babies and Bathwater, Part Two

In this part, I said I was going to explore the other kind of leading—the kind that we really do want to use to reach success with our...

Jul 24, 201410 min read

On Leaders, Babies and Bathwater, Part One

Though I myself think that living in the Social Media/Information Age has its benefits, there are also some downsides. For one thing,...

Jul 6, 20146 min read

The Absolute Real Truth About Dogs & Dog Behavior, Part 2 of 2

In this first part of this blog, I talked a little about animal trainers vs. strictly dog trainers. Now I’m going to turn to the...

Jun 9, 20148 min read

The Absolute Real Truth About Dogs & Dog Behavior, Part 1 of 2

I’m joking, of course, but you might not know it if you don’t know me. Those of you who do know me know that I’m kind of a geek—I like...

Jun 7, 20146 min read

On the joy of training your dog

As the Behavior Program Coordinator at the Siskiyou Humane Society, it's been my privilege over the years to meet many very fine young...

Mar 31, 20144 min read

On Spring, Love, Dogs and Volcanos

Oh, it's so good to be back! As many of you know, last summer a detached retina put me on somewhat limited training duty. Four eye...

Mar 23, 20145 min read

Foundations in Behavior & Training starts March 21

It's official--Foundation in Behavior & Training will begin on Thursday, March 21, 2013 from 6-9 pm. The course will be held in Mt....

Feb 19, 20131 min read

Behavior "Chopped"

As many of you know, in addition to working at the Siskiyou Humane Society and my own private practice, I have over the years had the...

Feb 10, 20134 min read