I got a call from a potential client whose young dog was returned to them in a fearful state after having completed a board-and-train with a shock-collar trainer. Though they called it an e-collar, which is the nice-nice term shock collar trainers use to indoctrinate their clients into believing shock is a harmless buzz. It’s not. There are two ways to motivate dogs to learn. One way is through reward-based motivation, which is what we use at Love Wags A {Read More}
Water Availability When Housetraining Your Pup or Dog
June 1, 2014 by
Housetraining puppies is a big job. Their bladders are small, and they have to eliminate much more frequently than their adult counterparts. This chart is a guideline of how long puppies can generally last between one elimination period to the next. Each puppy is different, and some may have lesser or longer holding stamina. Age/Weeks 8–10 11-14 15-16 17+ Maximum Elimination Span 30–60 minutes 1-3 hours 3-4 hours 4-5 hours I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have {Read More}
Brush Your Dog’s Teeth
May 30, 2014 by
You’ll find a lot of people who say they love puppy breath. But the buck stops there. Adult dog breath doesn’t get the same accolades. Could it be that as a dog grows up, his teeth desperately need brushing, but most dog owners don’t brush their dogs’ teeth? Primarily because they don’t know how. Or why they should do it. Treat and dog food manufacturers would have you believe that all your dog has to do is eat hard food {Read More}
Bunny Ears on Your Dog
April 18, 2014 by
Would you like to put bunny ears on your dog, so you can take a few memorable Easter pictures? There’s a first time for everything, and this was the first time this adolescent Elkhound wore bunny ears. You can almost hear him howling, “Help me!” So how do we help him? There’s a little trick to this. And it works. Contact me if you’d like help with teaching your dog to get used to bunny ears, or any other head {Read More}
Dogs and Destructive Chewing
April 5, 2014 by
We call dogs who chew our stuff destructive chewers, but in reality, they really don’t know the difference between their stuff and ours. They have an internal program running that makes them want to chew, shred, express themselves. And sometimes the target of their behavior can get them into really big trouble, through no fault of their own. They were only doing what their hardwired dog brains told them to do. With management and training implemented, however, the behavior of {Read More}
