Background Info Resource guarding is a term used to describe situations in which dogs are in possession of an item and want to retain possession of it. In the wild, this tends to be a life or death situation in that if the dog let another animal take possession of his/her food s/he would ultimately die of starvation. Dogs are naturally highly motivated to retain possession of the resource so that they survive. While this survival instinct served dogs well in the wild, it’s not one we appreciate in our pet dogs, so we need to teach our puppies to
Read More

[print-me] Why teach “Watch”? Because getting your dog’s focus with a single word is very useful. You can distract him from enticing trash in the street, for example, or keep his eyes on you when walking past another dog. Plus, dogs that are rewarded for paying attention do it more. And attentive dogs are easier to train. How to teach “Watch” Step 1. Grab a bunch of small, delicious treats. Face your dog—he can be sitting, lying down, or standing. Step 2. At first, praise and treat your dog for looking at your feet or for turning in your direction.
Read More

[print-me] Getting dogs to hold still can be a real challenge. Their energy seems to have no boundaries. Still we need them to greet nicely, wait at the door – to just hold still, but sitting still takes practice for a dog. The key to building a rock-solid stay is to practice small, incremental steps. Here we will focus on duration, teaching our dog to hold a sit for longer periods of time. Going too fast causes your dog to fail and is the best way to build a spotty command. Instead, we always want to work at our dog’s
Read More