Skip to main content

5 Ways to Unleash the Hero Within Your Dog

Consider this:  Even though good training is imperative to your pet's behavior, many owner don't recognize that with just simple changes, they can turn a rowdy puppy into a doggone hero.

Jennifer Arnold, the founder of Canine Assistants, a groundbreaking program that trains service dogs for people with special needs, has developed several secrets to raising brilliant and loving pups.

The following tips are some of the same ones Canine Assistants uses on its elite service dogs, who can do everything from opening doors and signaling for help in an emergency to detecting seizures and dangerous blood sugar fluctuations.


Teach Don’t Train
While most dog parents make the mistake of conditioning their dog to do a certain behavior when cued, Canine Assistants dogs are taught to think for themselves.

Find the Fun
Canine Assistants teachers play fetch, hide-n-seek, or tug-of-war with their dogs —letting them both win AND lose — to keep the dogs happy and responsive to their handlers.

Speak “Dog”
Canine Assistants teachers know to listen carefully for changes in a dog's bark. Subtle changes could mean the difference between a bathroom break or a life-and-death emergency.

Champion A Choice
Canine Assistants hero dogs will choose to let themselves get brushed or be given a bath because association with eating Milk-Bone treats makes these actions desirable for them.

Focus on Focusing
Just as Canine Assistants hero dogs exercise their cognitive skills by learning to identify new toys by name, you can develop your dog's cognitive prowess with games and exercises designed for mental stimulation.



Learn more about the Milk Bone Canine Assistants.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10 Strangest Items Swallowed By Dogs

My mother’s Schnauzer mix, Sha Sha, eats just about anything.  I didn’t quite believe just how often she would quickly snap up everything in her sight until a few weeks ago when she swallowed a quarter and a nickel in the blink of an eye. The vet advised my mother to watch her for the next few days as the coins would likely pass. It’s a very common issue among dog owners and it doesn’t only happen with puppies. The majority of dogs do grow out of the need to eat inedible objects. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what a puppy would eat so it’s best to be vigilant about where you dog is allowed to freely roam. Many dogs and puppies have been known to swallow seemingly unsuitable items, which  you might not find in any way enticing or preferable, but they do. Check out this list of the strangest things swallowed by dogs as witnessed by the  ASPCA :

Keep Your Dog Safe With These Holiday Safety Tips!

    ‘Tis the season for putting up decorations and eating delicious holiday treats, but that also means pets could be getting into serious trouble! Trupanion , a leading provider of medical insurance for cats and dogs, sees a 10% increase in foreign body ingestion claims and a 24% increase in toxicity claims during the holiday months each year. But you can keep your pets safe this holiday season with the below tips from Dr. Sarah Nold:

10 Most Common Medical Conditions That Send Dogs to the Vet

No one likes going to the vet, especially our dogs. Like many others, my dogs can sense when they are going way before we get there. They get nervous and hyper. Some dogs whimper endlessly at the vet’s office while countless others have fear-induced accidents right in the office. While regular check-ups and vaccinations are a necessary evil, we can try our best to keep our pups in optimal health thus avoiding another dreaded trip. Veterinary Pet Insurance  compiled a list of the 10 most common medical conditions that send dogs to the vet. Some are unavoidable while others may be caught early on. Dr. Carol McConnell, DVM points out that many of the conditions that most regularly require vet visits “can be stopped early or successfully managed in partnership with a veterinarian. To prevent some of the discomfort that so many pets experience from common diseases, the place to start would be by checking them regularly for developing problems.” Check out the full list here at Babb