When it comes to teaching someone how to do something, it certainly seems difficult. Doesn’t it? Have you ever wondered why that is? Humans have a very academic way of learning things. Whereas dogs tend to be motivated by pleasing their human and by food. Not necessarily in that order. Think you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Well, you can… And even your young puppy! I know what you are thinking… Really? I can teach my puppy to sit? Yup, it’s actually quite easy with our tips and tricks. Traditional Learning Versus Motivated Learning With the traditional and older methods of teaching animals tricks, people would use praise and punishment. While the outcome may arguably be the same,...
I don’t know about you, but I can never have enough pictures of my dog. With my phone’s camera at the ready, my poor dog just can’t get a break. I think he’s on to me too… He likes to turn away at the last second, right before the ‘click’ of his picture being taken. That’s okay fella, I’m patient! Time flies by so quickly when you have a dog - they age faster and photos are often the only thing you have to remember your dog’s puppyhood. That’s why it’s important to take pictures of your puppy. Throwback Thursday If you are on social media you’ve probably seen the craze of throwback Thursday posts. Or #TBT as it’s known...
Every one of us can relate to that rush-of-excitement feeling a puppy has when experiencing things for the first time. And even if they are experiencing it for the eighth time. Life, it is exciting! Especially to a youngster. Some dogs grow out of their puppy thrills and some dogs don’t. It truly depends on how a puppy shows his or her excitement. If it’s over-the-top, non-stop and it gets in the way of training, then yeah, that’s a problem. But, is self-control something you can train a puppy? What Is Self-Control? Honestly, self-control is just a different way of saying impulse control. This is particularly true when it comes to a puppy. Some dogs are born with it, some...
When humans get a little thrilled about something, it’s fun to turn on some tunes and dance around the room. The same thing for when we get agitated, we like to play some mellow music and chill out. Is this also true for dogs? Can music calm a high strung puppy? Why Are Some Puppies High Strung? Just like some humans, many dogs, including puppies, do not rebound fast when placed in stressful situations. Also, what makes one dog stressful cannot be universally applied to all dogs. While fireworks tend to upset a lot of dogs, it’s untrue that they bother all dogs. Some puppies can sleep through most anything, including fireworks. But, open up the refrigerator and the little...
Don’t you just hate it when your best friend, who is all chipper, calls you at 6 a.m. to go for a run… She knows that you’re a late night bookworm! I mean, BFFs are great and all but they have to synch their schedules. Particularly when one is a morning person and the other is an evening person. The same is true for you and your furry BFF. But, how do you know if your dog is a morning or evening pup? When is the best time of the day to train your dog? Your Dog Gives You Clues It’s widely known that on average a dog sleeps about 12 to 14 hours a day. Puppies sleep even more....