This was prompted by a friend who was impatiently having concerns about his 4-month-old GSD puppy not barking at people coming to the door, as a watchdog should, yet barking during walks in the dark or at strange-looking things such as a big rock that doesn’t seem to “belong there” or at something that the …
There has been considerable confusion, even at the American Kennel Club (which novices presume to be the citadel of dogdom), about the sport of Schutzhund and the proper role of protection and law enforcement dogs. Back in the mid-1990s, the AKC sent out some strongly-worded warnings about dog clubs putting on events or demonstrations that …
A few weeks ago I got into a bit of a debate with another trainer over the fact that I did bitesuit work with a dog who is destined to be a competitive Schutzhund dog. The accusation was that suit work leads to sloppy gripping technique as well as “dirty” cheap shot behavior in Schutzhund …
After my last article I was really stumped for my next topic. There are so many things one can write about. But with a lot of topics I found that a magazine article would either be too general and not of any great value or way too long and detailed to go into a magazine. …
The SV celebrates 100 years this year, so for all intents and purposes Schutzhund training has been around for close to 100 years as well. In that time countless books have been written, and even more seminars have been taught, and let’s not even start on how many conversations and discussions were held late into …
…continued from part one I believe that reading dogs is one of the most important parts of dog training. In part one of this article I tried to address general qualities in dogs that we hear often when dogs and their training are discussed. I deliberately limited myself to traits that deal with perception and …
Show Handling Tips Why are some people better handlers than others? This question is asked all the time. Some people are more coordinated than others, some people can do many tasks at once, some can see mistakes or problems and correct them on the fly, and some people prepare themselves for trials. All of these …
In today’s world, working dogs are a fact of life. These dogs selflessly provide a service to their masters and their communities and are rewarded with adoration and praise. Police dogs provide such an important service that, in some areas, the killing of a police animal is just as serious an offense as murdering an …
Unwanted barking is one of the most common behavior problems in dogs. It is normal for dogs to vocalize and bark from time to time but many times this behavior escalates much to the frustration of many dog owners. There are many causes of unwanted barking. First you must determine why your dog is barking …
Dogs are amazingly social animals that have evolved a pattern of behaviors that are meant to communicate their feelings and emotions to the living things around them. While humans rely mostly on vocalizations and the tone, cadence and volume of their speech to communicate their mood, dogs use several parts of their body. Of course …