Five Freedoms and Dog Training
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA Have you heard of the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare? ASPCA defines them as such: 1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst by ready-access to fresh water …
WTF
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA “What’s the Function?” -Susan Friedman, PhD Now that I have your attention! I wanted to talk about our dogs’ behavior today and the wonderful …
National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA It’s National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day! The day was created as a way to raise awareness for thousands of pets that are patiently waiting for a loving home. This …
Are You Telling Stories?
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA “He pooped on the floor because he was mad I went out with my friends.” “She is jealous of my boyfriend, so she chewed up his …
How to Show Up for Your Dog
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA I listened to a great podcast today-Canine Conversations: Human-Canine Behavior Connection Parts 1 and 2. They featured Marissa Martino, CTC, CPDT-KA, who wrote a book titled: Human-Canine Behavior Connection – A …
Let’s Talk Positive Reinforcement
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA We’re going to delve a little into science today and talk about operant conditioning and positive reinforcement. One of the major learning theories is Operant Conditioning. …
Loving and Living with Reactive Dogs
By: Kaitlin Coley, Transfer & Rescue Supervisor for SPCA Tampa Bay I love my dogs. I feel like I have to preface this by saying …
Celebrate Small Successes
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA We live in an instant gratification world. If we want information, we pull out our phone and Google it. Want to order something? Amazon Prime gets …
Congrats on your New Dog! Now What?!
Bringing a new dog home is exciting! Often we are so excited that we do too much too fast, without giving the new pup time to settle in. No matter …
Preparing Your Dog For Vet Visits
By: Melissa Kolmar, CPDT-KA Do you and your dog dread going to the vet? There is no need for it to be a stressful place for either of you! Here …