Dogs

Puppy teeth find ankles at the exact moment dinner burns and the phone rings. Advice to "redirect to a toy" sounds thin when the toy is under the sofa and the puppy is swinging from a robe belt. The fix...

A dog pulls, the person speeds up to keep balance, and the dog reaches the smell. The leash has taught its lesson: tight pressure moves the walk forward. Loose-lead training changes that result without turning every walk into a military...

A dog turns after hearing "come," sprints halfway back, then peels off toward a smell. Most people call that a failed recall. The dog may have learned a different finish: turn toward the voice and wait for the person to...

A puppy does not need to shake hands with the entire neighborhood. A five-minute visit where the puppy watches a skateboard from forty feet, eats three pieces of food, and leaves relaxed can teach more than a crowded hour of...

A dog can know "sit" and still bolt through a gate, steal a pill, drag a person toward another dog, and refuse to release a sock. Command count is a poor measure of usefulness. Build a small working vocabulary around...

The worst crate plan begins at bedtime. A tired household puts a wide-awake puppy behind a closed door, turns off the lights, and hopes exhaustion wins. Start in daylight. Let the crate become ordinary furniture with good things inside. Door...

A dog hits the window like a fire alarm. Someone yells "quiet" from the kitchen. The dog hears another loud voice join the event, so the whole room gets noisier. Stopping barking starts with a less dramatic question: what happened...

Dog training is often sold as a list of commands. The list is the easy part. The real work is getting a dog to perform one useful behavior in a kitchen, then on a sidewalk, then when a rabbit bolts...