Professional Paws Pet Blog
A professional dog trainer’s thoughts on training, animal behavior, pet care and more!
Why I Prefer to Adopt Senior Pets
I love seniors. I just love them. Our two current dogs were adopted when they were over the age of 8 years. (BJ was 10 years young, and our best guess for Tule’s age when we adopted her was 8.) Honestly. I don’t know that I will adopt a puppy or adolescent dog ever again. Don’t get me wrong, puppies are precious. But I am in love with the idea and process of bringing an elderly dog into our home. In honor of National Senior Pet Month, let me explain why.
Training and Communicating with a Deaf Dog
Throughout my personal life and professional career I have worked with, loved, and lived with deaf dogs. Dogs can be born without their ability to hear, or they can lose their hearing later in life due to accident, injury, or just the natural aging process. As far as the training process goes, it is extremely similar to training a dog that can hear. In honor of Deaf Pet Awareness week, I wanted to go over some ways that we can tweak things to make training and communication easier with these special dogs.
How to Tell if Your Pet is in Pain
Our pets are beloved family members and we do all that we can to make sure they live long, happy, healthy lives with us. We provide them with routine vet care to prevent problems before they arise and to monitor existing conditions. We also take them to the vet if they become sick or injured. The problem is that our pets don’t speak human language. Because of this, it is easy for us to miss early signs that something is wrong. And for many medical issues, early detection and monitoring are key.
Pet Anxiety: When Being Alive is Scary
June is national Pet Anxiety Awareness month, and anxiety in our furry friends is something that is near and dear to my heart. As a dog trainer and professional pet sitter it is something that I encounter on a regular basis in my career. It is also something that I have personally dealt with in our own animals. No pet parent or animal professional enjoys seeing animals suffer, but sometimes it is difficult to know what to do when our dogs and cats are scared. I wanted to share some tips with you!
5 Pet Training Products I Can’t Live Without
It’s time to talk about dog training tools! Now, dog training as an industry has changed vastly in the past 10 years. Educated trainers are using modern and science proven methods over traditional methods that were used to cause pain and/or instill fear into the canine pupil. With this change in technique also came a change in the types of tools that progressive trainers recommend to their clients and use on their own dogs at home. This is a topic that I often discuss with clients and am asked about on a regular basis by other animal professionals, friends, acquaintances, etc. So much that I have whittled down my list of products that I love to recommend and use personally to only 5 items.
Things Dog Trainers Do That Most Dog Owners Don’t
Have you ever wondered what life is like for my dogs? Ever been curious about how I work with my own dogs, introduce a new cue or skill, or deal with a problem behavior? Well, you aren’t alone! Throughout my career I have noticed that professional dog trainers (like myself) tend to do things a little differently than the majority of dog owners. I wanted to take some time and share a few of the “secrets” that I tend to utilize with my own pets.
Choosing a Quality Breeder
You have made the big decision to add a dog or puppy to your household, and you have decided that purchasing through an ethical, responsible breeder is the way to go for your family. Now what? Now we need to begin the thoughtful process of choosing the breeder we want to be responsible for our new family member’s genetic makeup and early upbringing. This is no small decision, but I have put together some points to help make the decision easier. Remember that not all breeders are created equally.
To Spay or Not to Spay?
In honor of World Spay Day and National Spay/Neuter Awareness Month (AKA Beat the Heat Month) I decided to write up my thoughts on what has become a controversial topic. This blog is only going to entail my personal opinions based on my experiences in animal welfare and as a dog trainer. I will not be discussing any of the medical benefits or possible risks from surgery. Please don’t comment asking about these things or to inform me of a study that has been done. I am not a veterinarian and am not qualified to give medical advice. Period. I urge all of my clients to bring this topic up with your veterinarian so that you can discuss the medical side of altering your pet. However, I am also decidedly pro spay/neuter. All of our pets are fixed and I do tend to encourage owners to spay and neuter their animals. Let me tell you why.
How to Choose a Dog Trainer
Dog training is an unregulated industry, which means literally anyone can call themselves a dog trainer. No experience or education is required. This often means that there are a lot of options to choose from in any given area, but not all are created equally. Choosing a qualified trainer is going to set the foundation for your relationship with your dog. How do you know which trainer is going to be the best for your situation? I’ve made a list of some important things to consider when making this important choice.