Here is a quick housetraining tip that might make your life much happier!

Having housetraining regressions with a dog that was previously housetrained?

This is an excerpt from my EBook, “Separation Anxiety – Identification and Treatment”

Separation anxiety can be one of the most frustrating dog behavioral problems. It is important to understand how to identify the signs and address the situation as quickly as possible before it spirals out of control.

Everyone is busy and can feel guilty for not spending enough time with their pooch. Here is one tip for giving your dog some much-needed fun.

My latest discovery is a variation of something that I have been doing for years: stuffing and hiding Kongs for my dogs to find. When I do this I often hide twelve Kongs for my three dogs with varying amounts of food in each one. I often wonder if they enjoy the actual discovery or the food more, because they seem to enjoy both aspects of the game.

I hated baseball when I was young. My Mother signed me up when I was seven years old and took me to my first practice. I did not want to go. I did not feel comfortable playing the game. I wasn’t very good and I did not know my other teammates.

The Canine Good Citizen test is used to encourage the training of dogs to comply with guidelines that identify well-mannered dogs. Once a dog passes the test, they can receive a tag with the Canine Good Citizen designation. Sometimes landlords require this to live in their dog-friendly building. This is also the first step for dogs to gain the more advanced therapy dog certification.

My client called me two days ago and she was almost in tears. Her 6-month old puppy was sick for a few weeks so we took a break from training, so we hadn’t talked in a few weeks.

“I think I ruined all our training!”

“What happened?”

I work with dog-dog aggression a lot. I get lots of practice in the congested city of Chicago, and I use techniques that work. As with any training topic, there are many competing strategies out there, but I urge you to think about the psychology of anxiety and aggression. If an animal is not hunting for food (one form of aggression) if they show aggression towards another animal it is almost exclusively as a result of discomfort.

A few months ago Trooper, one of my Collies, tested  positive for Lyme Disease. Thankfully my vet had decided to start testing dogs in Chicago for Lyme Disease after she saw a few cases recently. He must have caught it during one of our infrequent visits to a friend's cabin in Wisconsin. All three of my dogs have had ticks even with preventative topical solutions applied beforehand. After numerous blood tests it has been determined that Trooper will be completely fine and we intervened early enough.

This is a quick and easy training exercise for dogs of all ages. 7-week-old puppies can learn this as easily as older dogs. This is also one of the most important behaviors your dog can learn.

I am constantly amazed at how many new dog walking services pop up all over Chicago. I would imagine this is consistent with other big cities. With downsizing and people's desires to run their own business, dog walking is often a natural fit for the dog lovers of the world.