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What is the "leave it" command?    A "leave it" command tells the dog that something is off limits at that moment/to walk away from it. For some dogs maybe a person or a dog will be a "leave it", we don't have to say hi to every single person or dog we see. Or maybe your dog might be reactive to other dogs so you could use a "leave it" command before the situation escalates when your dog sees another dog. It could be that squirrel, bird or bunny you don't want your dog chasing. Or that tempting garbage on the sidewalk your dog...

Why teach the drop it command?  It is a great way to get your dog to drop whatever is in their mouth when you need them to. Dogs will pick up things they shouldn't, it's not just puppies many dogs of all ages do it. (a rock, mulch, a piece of garbage on a walk etc).  If they don't know a drop it command you have to physically pry these things out of their mouth but really what that says to your dog is.... you are taking their things!! Most of the things they pick up they view as items of high value,...

Why do cats urinate or defecate outside of their litter box? Cats are very clean animals so when one starts urinating or defecating outside of the litter box something is wrong either behaviorally or it could be health related. Please take your cat to their veterinarian to rule out any health issues first. My experience with my kitties. When I had my kitties over the years one of them, Lincoln started inappropriately urinating on dog beds, rugs and eventually my chaise. This was out of character, I knew something was wrong. I took him to the vet and it was health related....

Doggie Daycares   When it comes to choosing a daycare for your dog there are so many options out there. Being a dog trainer for the past 13 years I get questions often about how to choose a good daycare so I decided to write about it. My friend and fellow dog trainer, Judit Arroyo-Czachor put together a list of questions to ask when considering a daycare for your dog. The goal of sending your dog to daycare is so they can get some exercise and social interactions. As appealing as that sounds, just make sure your dog would actually enjoy...

Why do dogs jump on people? Dogs get excited and want to greet people face to face as they would when meeting other dogs which can be frowned upon by humans especially when a larger dog is jumping. How do we stop it? One of the most common goals my clients have in class is to stop their dogs from jumping on people during greetings. So if we don't want them jumping on people we need to teach them an alternative, appropriate behavior to replace the jumping.  Where do we start? It starts at home, if your dog is used to jumping...