Exciting news! Bark and Lunge: Saving My Dog from Training Mistakes will launch this summer. Join my mailing list for alerts. I promise not to share your email address, and won’t bombard you, just send you updates about the book. Also, list subscribers are eligible to receive a FREE advance PDF of the book, and will beContinue reading “Bark and Lunge coming soon”
Category Archives: barking and lunging
Happy Birthday (observed) to the most destructive dog I’ve had
Isis eviscerated a couch, and Leo devoured the interior of my car, but in the last year, Mia has managed to do more damage than the two of them put together with her incessant door shredding. I don’t care. I’m not even mad. That’s how much I love my Meezy B. We brought her homeContinue reading “Happy Birthday (observed) to the most destructive dog I’ve had”
Do dogs need rules?
Unbelievably, there are people in dog training circles who think positive-only training is wrong. But as Victoria Stilwell explains, positive does not equal permissive. Cesar Millan is big on saying that dogs need rules, boundaries, and limitations, more than they need affection. Whether or not that’s true, I abandoned that notion around the time I learnedContinue reading “Do dogs need rules?”
WOOF! Handler Error
You know how no parents think their baby is ugly? Sometimes it’s hard for parents of reactive dogs to see their dogs as scary. I’m not completely delusional. Leo is a 98-pound dark German shepherd. When he barks and lunges, I know he’s a frightening sight. But I’d like to think, and this isContinue reading “WOOF! Handler Error”
W is for Water! (Whee!)
Isis loved to play with the hose, as seen in this video from 2009. During the several months we tried to get Isis and Leo to be buddies, the closest we ever came was when Grandma sprayed them with the hose on either side of a fence. I describe it in Bark and Lunge: Isis reared upContinue reading “W is for Water! (Whee!)”
T is for ThunderCap
Leo rocks the ThunderWorks brand Calming Cap, a.k.a. the ThunderCap When we were first introduced to the Calming Cap, our trainer, Shannon, lent us a bright blue one. “The idea is that it reduces visual stimuli by filtering a dog’s vision,” she said. “I held it up to my eyes and you can still seeContinue reading “T is for ThunderCap”
R is for Relax Harder
I had a hard time finishing this post about getting dogs to relax, because Mia kept whining and trying to climb onto my lap. Think she’s trying to tell me something? The idea of relaxing harder used to be kind of a theme in my life. I suffered from TMJ and headaches, and the medicalContinue reading “R is for Relax Harder”
Q is for Quitter
The day we brought Leo home, and his introduction to Isis went very, very badly, my first instinct was to take Leo back. Rob talked me out of it. In my memoir, I wrote: Here’s where Rob and I showed our true characters. I am a quitter at heart. Rob is not. The moment comes afterContinue reading “Q is for Quitter”
P is for Progress?
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether you’re making progress or not. As I’ve explained in previous posts, I’ve been taking Leo to a parking lot to work on desensitizing him to bicycles. During the cold, dark months, I discovered that the adjacent residential neighborhood has many fewer bicycles and joggers than our own neighborhood, so that’sContinue reading “P is for Progress?”
WOOF! I is for Isis
Brought to you by the letter I and the WOOF Support Blog Hop. I is for Isis, the most beautiful name of the most beautiful dog in the world. What Do I Love About My Reactive Dog? Funny you should ask. After Isis bit someone, her victim referred me to a positive reinforcement trainer. Before weContinue reading “WOOF! I is for Isis”
Kari Neumeyer 