I was inspired today to talk about dominance by a fantastic dog trainer in North Carolina. I think it's a concept that's frequently misunderstood, and often misapplied in the best of intentions - and the reason for the misapprehension is that the concept of dominance isn't well understood in our culture as a whole. Dominance often has connotations with power, control, and violence in modern society. However, in ethology it has a very specific meaning and a limited scope of d

I have been studying dogs now for fourteen years. I started my observations with a background in behavioral ecology, which has given me a different persepctive to dog ownership than most pet owners, though I was what I would consider a callow novice at the beginning of my study. Most recently, I had the astonishingly deep and almost spiritual experience of bringing a planned litter of puppies to fruition with my mated pair (yes, in my observations I have found that some dogs

"So which of the kids menu items would you recommend?" The hostess stared at me blankly, then turned the menu over, pointing to the kids menu, starting to slowly read off the options to me. I felt like a heel - she didn't speak English. I wracked my brain for pieces of Spanish I learned twenty years ago to ask her the same thing. I had a few phrases floating around in there, where is the bathroom? and eventually settled on "Lo siento" because I was sorry I couldn't ask her m

I believe in dog karma. What that means is, if I see a loose dog, I stop and call them, and try to gather them up so they aren’t hurt. I should hope that others would do the same for mine were they lost. Of the ten or so dogs I succesfully gathered […]

As the holidays draw near, I keep seeing more and more evidence of everyday normal folks getting pulled into using unprofessional people for dog services – whether it be training, boarding, dog sitting or walking, or anything. Just because somebody has fancy letters after their name, a website, a business card, or even a […]

As a trainer, I see a lot of dogs that work, and do amazing things, for their owners. And I see just as many dogs that just don’t fit in their homes. Their energy levels are too high (or too low, rarely), they are working dog types in a home with people who don’t want […]

Apparently, the rescue world has become so weird that even if you find a stray dog, do your due diligence to locate the owner with flyers, contacts, internet postings, etc. and cannot; foster the dog under your care without compensation, and interview and vet multiple adopters in an effort to find this stray dog a home, […]

I read a lot of articles about “leadership” in dog training. They have a lot of rules, and dos and don’ts, and depending on which tribal camp the author comes from emphasize heavily some woo-woo things about energy or some equally woo-woo things about positive reinforcement. I’d like to write a different list about how […]

Mika didn’t come inside when I called her. It was late, and I had just arrived home – normally she’s there to greet me (sometimes by dancing on the table). I went outside to make sure nothing awry was afoot, to find her hunched over a partially devoured rabbit corpse, blood smeared muzzle black in […]

I had occasion recently to consider what should be the fate of dogs if their trainer dies. Dogs are a craft, almost a religion, to trainers. We put thousands hours of hard work, and so many countless heartaches and long nights contemplating ethics, strategies, and learning with our dogs and ourselves. I put it the […]

We get a LOT of calls about service dogs. A LOT. As in, upwards of twenty a day. So, why aren’t we full up to the brim with people, and a waiting list ten miles long? Because 99% of the people inquiring about service dogs don’t know what it takes to produce one, maintain one, […]

One of the current trends in dog-owning culture is that of thinking of dogs as “children” or “babies”, exemplified by terms like “furbaby” and “Pet parent”. Frequently, anthropomorphism is vilified, particularly in behaviorist circles as being unfair to a dog, as being flawed as a method of understanding behavior. Often the same people who vilify anthropomorphism […]

I think that part of every dog’s training should be a gentle regimen of Dog Annoyance. What is Dog Annoyance, you say? Just that – doing things that are just very slightly uncomfortable to your dog, just a little odd, in order to expand their horizons and their ability to tolerate uncomfortable and weird things. […]

You’ve seen it. The internet arguments. The hateful, judgement filled ripostes over obscure matters of philosophy, breeding ethics, training, dog food. The in-person arguments, accusatory fingers pointing at prong collars, red faces, spittle flying, pausing just a breath before catfights and hair pulling. The people dressing their dogs up in humiliating costumes (well, I’ll admit […]

An Ode To Mutts Mutts profane the sacred ring and offend the pedigree’d Bouffant aristocracy For mutts achieve their looks from a forbidden, classless love outside the tight grip of human codependence And wilder, more proletariat roots whose great grandfather was a bootlegger of chickens wily enough not to get shot Mutts live with […]

Oftentimes in dog training, I tell owners to speak and act like Bob Ross, because their dog needs to have clear, easy, gentle, unexcited communication. Bob Ross could have easily been a dog trainer. “Hi, I’m Bob Ross, and for the next 13 weeks, I’ll be your dog trainer. I think all of us at […]

This is heartbreaking. There are a lot of people who go on and on about the relative worth of dog training tools, and claim that some are inherently inhumane and others are superior by their books. But any dog who reacts this way to a tool, should not have that tool used on them. It’s […]

There are two reasons why this blog is called Diary of a Dog Pusher. The first is because I – unconsciously, compulsively – try to get others to find the joy in having a dog. The first time my mom got her little chihuahua to go through a cat tunnel, I was ecstatic. […]

There are some very, very good dog trainers out there. These are the trainers-of-trainers – they don’t take on pet people any more as they are beyond that, they are the nth degree blackbelts of dog training, the grand masters, the sensei, the research scientists of the dog world. Some of these will drop little pearls […]