Every Thanksgiving, it seems we are bombarded with messages about people not having a turkey on the holiday. Don’t get me wrong, this is real, and considering that we are one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, it’s unimaginable that people go to bed hungry on Thanksgiving or any day!

There was a time when zoos housed wild animals in cages and or other small enclosures for the public to view. Fortunately times have changed for the better and anyone who has visited a modern zoo will see that enclosures have been replaced with habitats that are modeled from actual environments where the particular species lived in the wild.

Yes, you read that correctly, and I’ll bet you’re probably wondering what dieting has to do with dog training, so as usual, I will digress…

What’s old is new again, or as I like to say, those pretending to have knowledge about dogs are regurgitating outdated and idiotic advice to pet-parents on how to raise and train their puppies or adult dogs.

I have a fascination with time travel; in fact one of my favorite shows is Quantum Leap which, by the way, has been rebooted this year. How amazing would it be to visit past times to see how people lived?

Do you speak monkey? Yes, I know that’s a strange question, but humans seem to think that they can be understood by foreigners by speaking slowly and loudly, so I’m guessing that same logic would also work on animals with close genetic ties to humans such as monkeys. But I’ll digress…

Just Google “Dog Training” and you’ll see a long list of places, claiming to fix your problem dog. The choices can be overwhelming for the average pet parent, after all they have a dog that needs to be fixed, but have no clue who is capable of delivering results, so they have to go with a business image that speaks to the issue.

There are lots of good reasons to leave bees alone. Number one, bees do so much good for the environment, and two, it hurts when they sting! But today that’s not my point.

There’s an old saying that too many cooks spoil the broth, or on this HALLOWEEN day, we say that they spoil the caldron of witches brew!

We humans love our labels; no I’m not talking about designer clothes labels, but rather the way we toss around our assumptions about other humans, as though one had significant insight about the person.

On my way to catch the train last week, I saw a guy walking his dog, when suddenly I heard him command, “Drop it!”, followed swiftly with a hard slap on the dog’s back! The dog cried out, but apparently didn’t drop whatever he had in his mouth, so the guy again commanded, “Drop it!” and slapped the dog harder!

I don’t train my dogs! Now that I have your attention, it’s not that I don’t train them, of course I do, however, there are so many things dogs do to show us their genius, that are not trained by humans.

What scares the bejesus out of you? I often ask my clients that question and emphasize that this “thing” is in a room with you, and there’s no way to escape!

Imagine that instead of money, you were paid in a variety of currencies. As an example, think of a variety of things such as theater tickets, concerts, vacations, music and so on. Keep in mind  that all these categories have a variety of values. So while you might say that you would definitely work for theater tickets, the question to ask yourself is what’s the production, who’s in it, and how many times would I see it before it is no longer valuable?

Recently a client contacted me because her dog barks and growls at a particular dog while out for a walk. The client was further baffled because the other dog, as she put it, “Is such a friendly breed.”.  Other clients have expressed similar surprise that their dog’s response was less than sociable or that the other dog owner did not want their dog to engage in a “social moment”.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the king's horses and all the King's menCould not put Humpty together again.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that nursery rhyme lately, especially in light of our unregulated training industry’s attempt by some, to set a standard for legislation.

Of the many evolutionary changes that turned wolves into dogs, is our companion animal’s unique gift to read and respond to human body language, which they acquired over the thousands of years of cooperative living together.

As a trainer and applied animal behaviorist, the bulk of my business is working with humans who just adopted a puppy, adolescent or young adult dog. And that makes sense because this population of dogs is typically going to display issues that the average person does not have the knowledge to change, so they call a professional.

There was a time when the tabloids beckoned anyone standing in the grocery checkout line to take them home! And I used to wonder who the heck would believe headlines like, “JFK alive and well on a remote island” or “Famous actress is carrying alien baby”?

Freddie was my heart-dog and I lost him to cancer when he was only 9 years old. Saying I was devastated, doesn’t begin to explain my heartbreak.