Nikki and Bella were adopted together and are litter mates. I think it is very important to treat siblings as individuals. I work with each dog separately as well as working with them together..
The following pictures show Nikki and Bella outside on a 20ft leash learning how to sit/stay and down/stay with all the distractions of a New York City sidewalk. I try and keep the level of distraction in proportion to how well they know the exercise and make each increment (duration, distance and distraction level) harder all the time but only to the extent that I think they can be successful.
Success=Fun Failure=Frustration
Nikki and Bella are 1 year old on January 14th! Congratulations!
How far they have come!
They are seasoned international travelers, they are avid water dogs (which is quite funny considering their breed), they have a full repertoire of fun behaviors and most impressive for 2 high energy puppies : they have graduated out of their crates when alone.
Congratulations guys!
BellaNikki
House training is not an issue at all and has not been for many, many months. Behavior issues (both puppies had a lot of fear when they first were adopted) are solved..no destroyed furniture, all this while Janet launched a new and very successful career.
I am pleased to share some exciting news. I was recently featured in not just one but two articles in NYMag’s renowned column, “The Strategist.” These articles, “10 Best Chew Toys and Treats for Teething Puppies” and “11 Best Dog Harnesses,” have allowed me to share some of my favorite…
Do you remember the story of June, the rescue mini dachshund with the megaesophagus? Yesterday I got a text that June was able to stay alone without any signs of anxiety or barking for a whole hour! It is an excellent example demonstrating that separation anxiety is largely a function…
I find different behavior cases so interesting, challenging, and gratifying when I can find a way to solve the path. Today I went to see a dog with megaesophagus. This is a malformation of the esophagus that makes keeping food down very difficult. The dogs have to be put into…
We use the internet every day to find much-needed answers to questions about our pets happiness, health and training. WikiHow is a huge resource for addressing these and many other questions, and now it just got a whole lot more exciting for pet owners. Elisabeth Weiss, owner of Dog Relations…
Just because you say it, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about a dog’s learning process is that they think the dog can conceptualize new verbal input. Let’s take the famous “sit” example. What actually makes the dog understand “sit” and…
One of the first things I taught my puppy Zeldi is to settle on the floor during food preparations, human and canine. She knows that very well. as soon as I pull out the bowls and fill them with their food she knows to settle. She also knows to settle…
Recently I learned more about the Premack principle in a webinar given by Kathy Sdao who is an admirable animal trainer. I was interested in learning more about how I could vary my reward system in my teaching. I was familiar with the idea of consequences, of course. When the…
A couple of years ago I read a blogpost by the very thoughtful British dog trainer Kay Laurence. Home She had a new puppy at the time and she was musing about greetings and how dogs just love to greet us by leaping up to come close to our faces. Somehow she…
Zeldi just had a great play session with an adolescent border terrier who lives a block away from us. They had a very animated game, their playing styles were matched really well. Both the handler of the border and I were able to call our dogs back to us and…
On a recent walk with my puppy Zeldi we came across a woman standing around in the street playing with her phone. She was wearing a billowing long dress. Zeldi found the fluttering fabric very interesting and the woman wanted to interact with Zeldi. Knowing how tempting her garb was…