Should You Let Your Dog Sleep in Your Bed? My two dogs sleep in my bedroom. Wanda likes her soft-sided “hut” and Maisie stretches out on the chaise longue which is designed as “hers,” but neither of them sleeps on my bed — partly because, as a widow of two years, I have a crazy… Read more »
Interrupt “Bad” Behavior With A Reward! We have all heard about ways to stop your dog from doing something we don’t like by basically “snapping him out of it,” using various methods of distracting him from his shenanigans. There’s the squirt bottle that often comes up as a supposedly harmless intervention. Some trainers suggest that… Read more »
Do You Let Your Dog Lick Your Face? How do you feel about letting your dog lick you in the face (or elsewhere!)? It turns out there are many sides to the answer and expert opinions aside, people seem to embrace dog kiss as a welcome sign of affection. This week on DOG TALK® we… Read more »
Joe. Maisie. And the Cheese This is a little story about how dogs learn, and especially how we can communicate to them certain behaviors which displease us. Most importantly, it’s a story about how/when/if to reprimand a dog for having engaged in one of those behaviors. This story is especially useful for new dog owners,… Read more »
Table Scraps Do’s & Don’ts For Dogs At holiday times there are often enticing and bountiful meals, with lots of leftovers. Can your dog share in more than the delicious aromas? That depends — but certainly whatever you share should be about the experience they’ll have of getting a few tasty licks, never in a… Read more »
Pork Bone treats are no treat for Pups The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning on “bone treats” for dogs, having recently received more than 70 reports of illnesses in dogs who ingested the “bone treats” derived from pigs. “A variety of commercially-available bone treats for dogs — including treats described as… Read more »
You Don’t Have to Feel Bad for the Turkeys This Year Those of us who are not vegans or vegetarians can still have misgivings about the way animals are raised for food in this country. We’d like to be able to choose humanely raised animals in the food chain, which isn’t always easy. The Humane… Read more »
Is that the ‘Look of Love’ in Your Dog’s Eyes? You know how some dog trainers caution to never look a dog directly in the eye — that it can be threatening or intimidating or send a negative message along those lines? And might even incite a dog to go after you? Now this may… Read more »
What Do You Think About Paid Leave for a Sick Pet?! An article in the New York Times recently told of a woman who works at Sapienza University in Rome who asked for paid time off because her 12-year-old English setter needed surgery. “My dogs are my family, I had to be there for her,”… Read more »
The Best (and Last) Dog Bowl You’ll Ever Buy I had a “light bulb” moment recently about the cleanest, most comfortable and healthy way to feed my dogs — one of those “Ah duh!” moments where you hit your forehead with the bottom of your palm and say, “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!”… Read more »