The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Every September my inbox does the same thing. Somebody writes in a little sheepish. They were doing great in June. Practicing daily. Then the kids were home, the schedule went sideways, and somewhere around mid-July it all just stopped. Now the calendar has flipped and they're bracing for the answer they expect from me. That they blew it. Back to session one. Listen. That is not what happened. First and foremost, the thing carrying your training in June was a...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Moose goes to daycare three days a week. Same dogs, for years. Plays fine. Put him on a leash, walk him past a dog he's never met, and he snaps. Teeth, lunge, the real thing. Same dog. Same species on the other end of it. One variable. His owner came into our session shaken. Someone had walked their dog straight over to say hello and Moose went off before anybody could stop it. She'd started using a word about him she never thought she'd use. She hadn't been...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,The backpacks are back in the front hall. Supply lists on the counter, new sneakers by the door. Somewhere in the middle of that is a dog who has spent ten weeks with a full house. Kids home at noon. Somebody on the couch every afternoon. A person in almost every room, all day, every day. In about a week, that ends. Same house, empty by 7:40 in the morning. Most families I talk to have already clocked this. The plan is usually some version of "we'll ease him...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Your dog has never done this before. Not like this. The couch has a chunk missing that wasn't there last week. He's up bouncing off the walls at 9pm after a day that should have worn him out. Or he snapped at nothing tonight, over the leash, over a toy, something that never bothered him before. Where did that come from? Here's the confusing part. You haven't been slacking. You've added a walk, redirected more, corrected more, tried to burn off whatever this...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Your dog sits every time you ask. In the kitchen, in the hallway, the second the word leaves your mouth, they're already sitting. Take that same dog outside. Cue "sit" near another dog, a squirrel, or basically anything worth sniffing, and suddenly you're standing there wondering if they've ever heard that word in their life. You've done the work. Repetition, treats, consistency at home. The dog IS trained. So when it all falls apart the second you step...
2 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,This is the hottest summer on record in Boston. Two heat waves in July alone, one of them pushing 100 degrees. If you had a dog park trip on the calendar during any of that, there's a decent chance it didn't go the way you hoped. Before you decide what it meant, read this. A crowded park is one of the hardest setups you can hand a dog. Nobody's managing space. Everyone's too hot and too close together. And the second your dog can't create room for himself,...
2 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Archie is a young mixed breed I've been working with in my Real World program. In a structured training session, he's a star. Focused, responsive, takes every cue like he wrote the lesson plan. Then his owner walks him through their own neighborhood and it falls apart. A dog barks from a porch and Archie locks on. Pulling, spinning, done listening. His owner asked me the question I hear from almost every family: "He knows this stuff. Why is he like this out...
3 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Think back to last year. Somewhere around the first boom, your dog vanished. Wedged behind the bed. Shaking under the kitchen table, ears flat, not touching the treat you slid over. You stayed close and waited it out until the last one faded near midnight. Now it's almost here again, and the thought lands in your stomach. I should have started months ago. Too late now. Here's the deal. You didn't blow it. You're mixing up two different jobs. Training a dog...
3 months ago • 2 min read
The Weekly High Five 🐾 Hey Reader,Last July 4th, your dog found the smallest, darkest spot in the house. The bathtub. The back of a closet. Flat behind the couch, panting, not coming out for anyone. You tried to coax them out. Maybe you held them. Maybe you sat on the floor nearby until the last boom faded around midnight. And somewhere in there you probably landed where a lot of people do. They'll get used to it. It's one night a year. We'll ride it out again. Let's be real. Riding it out is...
4 months ago • 3 min read