The DPU tag line, 'The art is in remembering to play' comes from an essay I wrote a number of years ago. I have printed it in this newsletter before, however, I have gained many subscribers since then, so here it is again: Dog training, we are fond of saying, is as much an art as a science. Of course it is, because we don’t keep our dogs in Skinner boxes, they live with us as family members, privy to our moods and secrets, sharing our lives intimately, in a way that precludes us from keeping...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I briefly touched on this the other day, how taking pictures can help you to become a better teacher to your dog. Since it's something that I do on an almost daily basis, I thought I would delve a little more into the topic. After all, who doesn't want to get great pictures of their dog doing stuff and who doesn't want to improve their timing? The set up The ability to clearly see and react to the exact moment a behavior is happening is the single biggest factor that separates the best...
2 months ago • 2 min read
(if you follow me on Facebook, you've already read some of this. In addition to my regular newsletter material, I will also be sharing the a series about my young service dog Know Me, including how I came to have a service dog, the dogs that came before him, how he came into my life, and bits about his training. This is episode 1) There are a lot of different steps involved in partnering with a service dog, but the very first place you’ve got to put your feet is into the world of disability....
3 months ago • 4 min read
We come to training with so many preconceived notions, so many beliefs that we are not even aware are of, ways of doing that have become second nature, things that ‘everyone knows’ or ‘common sense’ or ‘science’, things that are buried deep in the way we move and think and hold our hands, our treats, our toys and leashes. Our language around dogs speaks to our times, or our sport, or our beliefs. Commands or cues? Rewards or reinforcers? We recognize each other and ourselves by what kind of...
6 months ago • 1 min read
Retirement is a peculiar thing. Humans, even those who thought they were not all that fond of the job they did, sometimes find themselves at loose ends when they no longer have that singular thing they did each day. Work is something that can give us a sense of purpose in the world. a very young See Ya, just starting her service dog journey See Ya is almost ten years old and still working. This is longer than many service dogs stay in their jobs, I’m sure there are people who think it is...
7 months ago • 1 min read
The snow and deep freeze of the last weeks, balanced like another boulder on the already rocky year we've been having here at DPU, juggling Kiss's chemo, See Ya's mystery illness and the less than stellar economy while trying to keep up with training and entertaining three younger dogs, might have buried us like an avalanche, were it not for the stupid stuff. Step right up and take your chances Sometimes people, including me, train for titles, for ribbons, for greater goals. Concrete training...
8 months ago • 1 min read
My children grew up knowing animals. Just like farm kids growing up intimately understanding cattle, combines and baling twine, mine knew how to tame birds, train cats, and help out with the dogs on movie sets. They were raised like animals too. Maybe not quite the same, but by the time I had kids I'd been raising and training animals for a while, I was starting to get a hang of how to relax and let them show me what they needed. Animals had already shown me that the more I worried about...
9 months ago • 1 min read
Anyone could be forgiven for imagining that my dogs spend a lot of time being trained. My TikTok, instagram and Facebook are filled with them doing all kinds of things. I’m a professional trainer. What else would one expect? In fact, they mostly act like animals. We share a life together. Am I ‘the boss’? I am the human of the household, and we live in a human based society, so that puts me in a unique position of power. I make all the rules and decisions. I choose what they eat, how much and...
11 months ago • 2 min read
How do we hold our dogs? We hold them in our hands when they are born, tiny beings breathing our dreams. They fill our hearts and break them. picture credit Chris Ott We live along side each other, sharing intimacies and indignities, secrets we might never utter to a human soul. They show us how to laugh over and over again. And how to cry unashamedly. We teach, we learn. Both of us foolish and wise by turns. My house is run by the rhythm of the dogs in it. Their lives and needs. Animals have...
11 months ago • 1 min read