Tonight it happened again. I had a session with a client that thought their puppy “was screaming bloody murder” in the crate and were anxious to get my opinion  about whether their puppy had separation anxiety.

If you are feeling frustrated or overwhelmed at all in your dog training pursuits, pay attention to the time you have when working with your dog, without setting specific training goals. You should look at the amount of time you have to train so you can find “quality” time to train where you can focus 100% of your attention on your dog’s behavior.

Do you have a puppy that has so much energy, is jumping on you, biting everything, pulling on the leash and just acting crazy?

This is a really simple dog training trick that works for puppies or older, over-exuberant dogs to calm them down and teach them to focus and be more composed.

Say the cue once.

What?

Say. The. Cue. Once.

In my opinion, timeouts are the most powerful, humane punishment that can be used for dog training. I never agree with physical punishments, partly because there are just as effective means of humanely teaching a dog.

There are many strategies to work on teaching your dog to come to you faster when called. One of my favorites is to work on a distance “stay”, and then ask the dog to “come”.

What happens very consistently is that dogs will pay attention as the trainer is walking backwards in anticipation of being released. Also, often dogs want to follow but are told they have to stay instead. “You want to come after me? Sorry you have to stay!” Think of it as reverse psychology.

This is a very difficult topic. You have two or more dogs, and they are getting into fights. When is it time to find a new home for one of them?

I recommend re-homing if the quality of life for all involved (people and dogs) is drastically affected, even after trying well-executed training exercises. It is often best to hire an in-home trainer to assess the situation to see if it can be worked through.

Another potential client contacted me a while back to “fix” her dog that she dropped off at a “boot camp” for two weeks.

I have heard this scenario many times over the years. Her dog was aggressive and a trainer told her  that “she needed to show it who is boss” and she believed him. She dropped her dog off in the care of this “dog trainer” that assured her that her problems would be solved when she picked her dog up.

When clients report that their dog is going potty numerous times per day and they are having house training problems, I always recommend that they look at the quality of the food.

Inexpensive foods that contain corn, soy, grains and animal byproducts are usually not utilized as well by a dog’s body and therefore are eaten during breakfast and dinner  and are excreted during potty breaks in large, often extra smelly quantities.

I frequently get questions about dog play, whether it is between two siblings in the same home or about a dog that frequents the dog park and plays with other dogs. The questions might pertain  to my client’s dog and if their play style is too rough or worries about the behavior of other dogs at the park.