Dog Behavior Archives - Dog Wisdom Workshop

23Feb 2021 by Marilyn No Comments

Dogs Need 4 Simple Things That Every Owner Wants

Dogs need 4 simple things that every owner wants. Truth. Not that complicated. Visualize this for a moment: Imagine yourself driving west down the highway at a comfortable 50 mph. Suddenly you realize that your destination is east, not west. Oops! Headed the wrong way! Gotta turn around...but not at 50 mph! Obviously reversing direction requires you to first slow down gradually-slamming on your brakes in traffic is a really bad idea! Then you need to signal your intentions so you can get your vehicle smoothly out of traffic. When it’s safe, you can maneuver your vehicle in a new direction. Now you can gradually gather momentum toward your destination in the east, not the west. Since my sense of direction has never been that great, I can easily visualize…

20Feb 2021 by Marilyn No Comments

Simple Updated Dog Training Just Makes Sense

Dog Behavior, Training

Simple updated dog training just makes sense. If simple updated dog training just makes sense, then why do so many of us believe it’s too complicated, too time-consuming, too futile? A lot of us dog people struggle with questions like these... “What can I do when my dog jumps on me - or on visitors?” “How can I get my dog to quit pulling on the leash when we go for a walk?” Sound familiar? So many dog parents ask the same questions. You’re not the only one! It can be so frustrating. You’re dealing with your dog’s unwanted behavior (jumping on you), you’re struggling to reverse it (make the jumping stop), but it’s already too far gone. And it feels like things are getting out of control! Outdated Practices…

26Nov 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

A Weird Holiday & a True Story With a Sprinkle of Normal

Dog Behavior, Stay Home Survival Kit

This is a true story about a 2nd grader and a dog. I'll call the boy Billy. And the dog's name is Chance. He's a registered therapy dog who visited Billy's 2nd-grade class every week. The red bandana is Chance's therapy dog uniform that tells the world he's on the job. Every week* Chance listens as children read stories to him. Because he's a small dog - only 12 pounds - he has determined that in order to be close enough to the child, he needs to be right up on the table, lying beside the book. This way, while each child reads to him, all the child has to do is glance up from the page to look into Chance's gentle, dark eyes. It never matters to Chance whether a child…

21Oct 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

Saying No to Your Dog is an Empty Bucket

Dog Behavior, Puppy Training

An Empty Bucket Saying No to your dog is a waste of time. It slows down the result you're looking for. It could even derail your purpose entirely. Not to mention unintended consequences. Keep reading and I promise to explain. And when I'm done, there's a pretty good chance you'll even agree with me! Imagine for a moment that you have been transported to an unfamiliar place. You don't understand the language, the customs, or the culture. The people seem nice but you don't know how to communicate with them. You try to make friends, but then something strange happens. The people who seemed nice are suddenly angry. You try to show them that you want to be friends and it does no good. They're very angry and you're afraid because…

13Oct 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

Squirrels and Birds and Cats, Oh My!

Dog Behavior, Training

Squirrels and Birds and Cats Oh My! is the final part of this 4-part series about dogs and human leadership. Read the previous three articles here. Squirrels and birds and cats aren't the only things competing with you for your dog's attention. But please raise your hand if you've ever had to find a way to manage critter distraction! That would be true for most dog owners, I suspect. Leadership is your ability to motivate your dog to offer attention. Motivating a dog to freely offer you his attention and to dismiss distractions is an art and a skill. It takes patience and practice. Seasoned dog trainers, whether hobby or pro, know that successfully keeping a dog's attention is proactive, and not reactive. They spend a lot of time purposefully…

07Oct 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

Stop Socializing Your Shy Dog

Dog Behavior, Training

Stop Socializing Your Shy Dog is Part 3 in this 4-part series of articles about dogs and human leadership. Part 2 is A Confused Dog Can't Just Google It And Part 1 is 3 Ways You Hired Your Dog As the CEO. Watch this space next week for the 4th and final article in the series. It felt really weird but I decided to stop socializing my dog. Did I screw up? I'll find that out at some point but for now, the jury is still out... I have not socialized my 10-month-old puppy much at all. At least not the way I intended to do it back in February when he was just a tiny bundle of brown and white fluff. Most people accept that puppies should definitely be socialized…

30Sep 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

A Confused Dog Can’t Just Google It

Dog Behavior, Training

(A confused dog wants clarity. In the previous article, I talked about 3 ways that people get disconnected from their dogs. Not knowing what else to do when that happens, most dogs simply decide to become their own boss - the CEO. Those 3 disconnection events are confusion, overwhelm, and distraction. The following article is about how to overcome confusion.) What do YOU do when you want the answer to some question that's on your mind? If you're like me, you just Google it! Easy peasy...gotta love Google! Thing is, though...a confused dog can't just Google it and get the confusion cleared up! Yet dogs have always been able to find answers in the environment...where Nature never lies to them. Dogs are super-savvy observers of their surroundings and that ability…

25Sep 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

3 Ways You Hired Your Dog as the CEO

Dog Behavior, Training

If you hired your dog as the CEO of everything, then what's your job? Look at it this way. When the family dog is given the job of "Canine Executive Officer"...CEO... does it mean that the humans are now the dog's...what?...employees? Scary thought, indeed! Not exactly what most people have in mind when they get a dog. So picture this. If you've ever wondered why the dog doesn't "listen" when you tell him to stop whatever, or why he doesn't come back when you call him, or why he leaves you "surprises" on your favorite carpet, then you just might have hired your dog as the CEO! Not on purpose, of course. But there it is. So how does that happen? How did it come to this? That you hire…

17Sep 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

Responsible Dog Ownership Day. One-size-fits-all?

Dog Behavior

In case you missed it, yesterday was Responsible Dog Ownership Day. At least it was according to the American Kennel Club. What does responsible ownership mean? If you're reading this, I'm pretty sure you are someone who strives every day to take responsibility for your dog's welfare. I respect and thank you for that. Dogs deserve the best from us mere humans. However, you should know that I've spent nearly my entire life surrounded by dog people. And when I see how people engage with their dogs, it's definitely not one-size-fits-all! As you might expect, they don't share cookie-cutter opinions about what's involved in responsible dog ownership. As a matter of fact, a whole lot of people with dogs view their role as more the parent instead of the owner. But that's a discussion for…

14May 2020 by Marilyn No Comments

Misunderstanding Your Dog Will Make You Crazy

Dog Behavior

If you're like most dog owners, misunderstanding your dog happens a lot. Ever wonder why the dog picks your stuff out of the laundry or your shoe from the closet? And leaves everyone else's stuff alone? I bet you thought he was trying to get even for some imagined offense. Imagined by you, that is, - not by your dog. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Maybe you felt guilty about paying too little attention to your dog when you were busy. And then you figured that because of it your dog must have been so mad at you that he decided to plot a little bit of revenge. So he sniffs out one of your favorite belongings and trashes it. Except for the part about sniffing, that entire scene is just a fantasy. Yet so many…