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Such a simple question with a not so simple answer. As Laura & Kim discuss this topic, you’ll hear why just blurting out “yes” may not be the best option. No matter how friendly your dog is under normal circumstances, there may be situations when he isn’t comfortable having a stranger pet or interact with him. Nobody wants to offend someone on the street who says nice things about their dog, like how cute he is, or he reminds them of a dog they had growing up. So, when that same person asks if they can pet your dog you feel compelled to say “yes”. Unfortunately, that may not be what’s best for your dog.

Kim & Laura discuss some myths about dog behavior and training. Find out how some of these ideas came about and whether or not they are true. Feel free to contact us with ideas you've heard of and maybe we can tell you if they are fact or indeed a myth. #dogmyths #dogbehaviormyths

Behavior is rarely isolated and more often than not one bad behavior can lead to another, more serious behavior if we don't see the potential connection. This episode discusses how to make those connections to prevent possible future behaviors from cropping up. #connectingthedots, #evolutionofbehaviors

Kim & Laura discuss what happens when our dogs don't like the things we want or expect them to like. Whether it's playing fetch, riding in the car or even other people & kids. It's important for us to understand what our dog is actually capable of instead of having our own goals and thrusting them upon our dogs even if they don't have the capacity to reach those goals. Just because you like it doesn't mean they will. #unrealisticexpectations, #iwantmydogtolike

Toys in Puppy Class To allow toys or not to allow toys, that is the question. When you watch puppies play together some things to take into consideration are *how* are they playing. Do they play chase or do they wrestle? Unfortunately, there are many group puppy classes which don’t allow people to bring toys to class, nor do they supply toys for the puppies to play with. The problem with this is that the only option that leaves the puppies is to wrestle & chase. As we all know, wrestling is practice fighting. If that is the only interaction, and especially the first interaction, your puppy has with other dogs then they are learning how to fight and getting better at it with each subsequent class. The reason trainers give for not allowing toys in puppy class is that they don’t want the puppies to start guarding toys. What they fail to realize is that by having toys in their classes they will minimize the possibility of that happening. By providing more toys than there are puppies they learn to share and interact with each other by focusing on the toys, not by wrestling. And if there is a potential resource guarding issue with one of the puppies THIS is the time to deal with it. Not after the puppy has had more time to practice guarding things. Add to that if the age of puppies in puppy class ranges from 7 – 16 weeks there can be a huge size and developmental difference between those dogs depending on their breeds. If you have a 15-week-old Mastiff and an 8-week-old Maltese there is going to be a massive size difference. Now imagine those same puppies not having toys to play with and only having the option of playing chase and wrestling. If the Maltese was your puppy would you feel comfortable with that? We sincerely doubt it. We’ve seen puppy classes where that exact scenario happened and the small dog was bullied and ended up hiding under a chair. The trainer never stepped in to stop it from happening and the owner wasn’t going to stop it if the trainer thought it was ok. The big puppy was just doing what came naturally, but that behavior could have been redirected if there had been toys available to play with. However, what did the small dog learn from the incident? At a very impressionable time in his development he learned that big dogs chase and harass him and his owner, the person he should be able to depend on most, did nothing to stop it. So, before you join a puppy class we highly recommend you stop by and watch one first. Locally, we recommend J9sK9s in Canoga Park for group puppy classes. Hers are the only ones we know of that allow toys in puppy class.

When we choose to be caretakers of animals we make a contract with them. That contract says you will not put your dog into an uncomfortable/unnecessary situation. What we mean by that is if we are in public with our dogs and somebody wants to pet or interact with your dog, it is your duty to know your dog well enough and read your dog’s body language to determine if he is comfortable with the person and wants to be petted.

Today's podcast is all about socializing your dogs.

When we choose to be caretakers of animals we make a contract with them. That contract says you will not put your dog into an uncomfortable/unnecessary situation. What we mean by that is if we are in public with our dogs and somebody wants to pet or interact with your dog, it is your duty to know your dog well enough, and read your dog’s body language to determine if he is comfortable with the person and wants to be petted.

Today's show is all about allowing your dog to play roughly with other dogs. What is acceptable and what isn't? We had a lot to day about this topic so there are 2 parts to this episode.

Laura & Kim talk about what to look for in a good breeder as well as some red flags that mean you should keep looking.

Kim & Laura talk about clickers, how to introduce them & what they are used for.

Laura & Kim talk about living in a home with both cats & dogs. They don't always agree on things in this show so have a listen to get two differing views on how to handle this situation

Laura & Kim discuss how teaching impulse control makes all training better. A dog with impulse control will seem like a better behaved dog than one without, no matter how much training the one without has had.

“Dealing with Oh No! Situations” In today's show Kim & Laura talk about what to do when the unexpected happens. We've all been through it. You're out with your dog and a loose dog comes running up on you, what's the best way to handle that and keep your dog safe?

Today Laura & Kim discuss how to get your dog to play. Play skills are so important in interacting with your dog. If your dog likes toys and will play with you then that's just another tool in your training toolbox.

Kim & Laura are usually on the same page with regards to training, but when it comes to tug of war they have differing opinions. Tug is a mutual killing game where you are a teammate with your dog killing the toy; it is not you against your dog fighting for the toy. However, just as with any game there are very specific rules for playing tug. Laura likes to play tug and teaches clients how to play it with their dogs, on the other hand, Kim does not like to play tug. So today Kim takes Laura systematically through the rules of tug to give you a clear understanding of how best to play it with your dogs and use it in training situations. One big rule for tug is to make the dog work for it. Meaning, before you offer the toy ask him to do something like sit, down, spin, shake, etc... Basically, anything he knows how to do can be asked for before offering the toy for play. Begin the game by asking your dog to do something for you. Once he does the behavior say “yep” and “take it” or “get it”. After he is playing make sure you move the toy in a side to side manner, not up & down so his feet come off the floor, and not by pushing into him and compressing his neck. The former is because we don’t want your dog getting into a state of arousal and coming up into your face, and the latter is because you could injure your dog by compressing his neck. The key to this game is not to make the toy a valuable object your dog will want to guard. This means you are keeping your body language and voice soft and your facial expression happy/smiling. If you get tense or raise your voice it will increase the value of the object, which in turn will make the dog less likely to give it up when asked. Tug is a great way to teach a “give” or “mine” cue; we prefer those cues to the more common “drop it”. When using the words “drop it” people tend to use a harsher tone of voice which raises the value of the toy. The impression you are giving the dog by using a harsh tone is that you are now willing to fight for the toy, making it less likely he will let go of it. If you already use “drop it” as a cue we suggest you shorten it to “drop”. Occasionally there is a dog that prefers the toy over the food. In those cases, you can use 2 toys of equal value and perform the same “give” exercise as above. Most dogs who like to play tug have a difficult time giving the toy up. Of course, it’s more reinforcing for us to play tug if the dog doesn’t give up the toy easily. This means we are more likely to allow our dogs to play tug longer and thus have fewer opportunities to practice giving. Rather than having your dog tug for 3 minutes and asking for one “give”, you should start by tugging for only a few seconds and then ask your dog to “give”. This means your dog is getting reinforced more for giving up the toy than he is for playing tug. When this happens, it increases the likelihood your dog will give up the toy in the future. As an aside, growling during tug is perfectly normal because if you watch 2 dogs playing with a toy you will hear them growl and in the majority of circumstances it doesn’t mean anything.

Kim & Laura discuss what happens when you play roughly or wrestle with your dog.

This is part 2 of our interview with movie & television trainer Mathilde DeCagny. Mathilde is known for her great work with Moose, who played Eddie on t.v.'s Frasier, as well as movies like Marley & Me, My Dog Skip, Hotel for Dog, Steel Magnolias, and many, many others.

This is part 1 of a 2 part interview with movie & television trainer Mathilde DeCagny. Mathilde is known for her great work with Moose, who played Eddie on t.v.'s Frasier, as well as movies like Marley & Me, My Dog Skip, Hotel for Dog, Steel Magnolias, and many, many others.

“Tricks” – Doggie Dish