How about Training your dog yourself

A good police dog training program is that all dogs must be given to the landlord. This will not only help the dog to obey better, but will strengthen the bond with your dog. However, this should not be manned by professionals, because there is better equipment, training the dog to her.

When working with a dog training program, you have to keep in mind that you are a man in control. However, do not want to encounter too strong. The goal here is friendly and self-confident at the same time.

So how do you train your dog to obey you? Of course, you do not want to just start shouting orders to your dog. On the other hand, it is necessary to have a good game plan. This is to ensure that the dog is the right state of mind, even if they have not yet begun. In this way, you should not try to train your dog, who has to eat, you might want to consider his quick walk before you can begin. The other thing, this is a very good training before he is to do this will take some time to play with him, I feel relaxed and comfortable with you. All this will help to eliminate interference and to help you start business.

Until the train and the dog was not the right thing, make sure you have a treatment available to him. This can help your dog know when he did something right. On the other hand, not destroy, from time to time he is running a training session - this is normal. As long as he is called back to the workplace. This is normal, he seems to be totally ignorant, in some cases. Here you just need to find a better way to communicate with him, even if that means you want to show he has done.

Training your dog is a useful experience, has a huge advantage. Finally, there will be glad you made this decision.

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Dog Training Information from Sunrise Florida about Bike Safety

When You Ride Your Bike

I was up in Sunrise yesterday with a new dog training client and her Boxer who had a jumping problem and loved to run out the front door.  We resolved those problems pretty quickly and I was finishing up the lesson and planning what we would to at the next lesson and when we would return.  She had another dog issue that didn’t refer to her Boxer.  

She loved to ride her bike around the neighborhood but the local dogs loved to chase and bark at her.  She could never get in a full bike ride because of all these doggie distractions.  I mentioned that I had worked on this issue years ago and came up with some very interesting observations and suggestions for bike riders and “dog chasers”… 

Dogs love to play "tag, you are it".  In fact, this is one of the natural submissive/dominance that they naturally play as puppies to learn proper canine socialization.  When we ride past dogs on our bikes, they chase us, and we speed up, we are encouraging the idea of "tag, you are it". Here are some suggestions:

• When you are biking towards a dog or a group of dogs, slow down to a "crawl". Peddle as little as possible. Look straight ahead and move past them in a very slow, deliberate manner. The dogs should read your "non adrenalized and uninterested body language" as "I dont want to play" and ignore you completely.
• If the dog or dogs begin to chase after you, slow down and come to a stop. As soon as you have stopped moving, you have taken away the "I want to play" language from your movements. The dogs will normally slow down and approach you in a non interested manner.  They might be wagging their tails and give off a few “hello” barks.  Stand still and don’t stare at them.  They should quickly turn around and go back to where they came from.  (No fun here.)
• If the dog(s) approach you in an aggressive manner (jumping, showing their teeth, assertive barking), stop and get off your bike. Place your bike between you and the dog(s).    Do not make any sudden moves that would encourage or stimulate adrenaline in the dog(s).  Slowly back away, continuing to show an uninteresting distraction.  The dog(s) should loose interest in two to three minutes and leave.
• I have ridden my bike past a large number of dogs and have used these techniques and my bike rides have always been enjoyable.

For more information about bike ride suggestions with dogs or general dog training, please call us at (954) 424-0170 or The Best Dog Trainers in Sunrise and South Florida.

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Dog Training Tips from Parkland Florida about Jumping

We were at a new client in Parkand last week and were about half way through our initial canine behavioral review discussing rules and consistency.  She looked a little troubled, we we stopped the discussion and asked her if something was bothering her.  She replied “I hear what you are saying, but I really don’t mind if my dog jumps on me.  He did it since he was a puppy and it was no big deal.  We are having a bunch of friends and family over in a few weeks for July 4^th and I just don’t want him jumping on all my friends and their little kids”…

Things must be really simple when it comes to what you want your dog to do and what you don’t want your dog to do.  The instructions you give your dog must be absolute.  Saying that your dog can jump on you, but not your friends and their kids is not an absolute rule.  It injects logic and a level of problem solving that is impossible for your dog to accomplish.  If you don’t want your dog to jump, it must be that he can not jump on anybody, period.  Even if some of your friends like him to jump on them, he can not.  Here are some idea that will help you accomplish this:

• You must enforce the "cold turkey rule".  You must never suggest or encourage your dog to jump on yourself or anybody.  Tell your friends not to do the “jump on me pat” or encourage him to jump.  This undermines your authority and the effectiveness of the rule.
• If your dog approaches you and gives the appearance that he wants to jump, pay no attention and calmly walk away.  This passively removes you from the inappropriate moment.  Dont turn your back on him when you walk away.  Move diagonally from him, keeping him in your peripheral vision.
• If you miss the moment and he starts to jump, don’t turn your back on him or raise your knee.  I know that a lot of trainers say that you should do this.  Don’t!  Stand tall, face him, say “No” in a low, firm tone, and give a big clap of your hands.  As soon as he decides not to jump, praise him in a high toned “Good doggie!”
• When you have guests around, put a leash on him.  If he is starting to build adrenaline and jump, simply step on the leash at a point where he doesn’t have the ability to jump.  This passively takes his ability to jump away while you are staying calm and focused on your guests.  After a few failed attempts, you will find him calmly sitting at your side.

Follow these simple and consistent suggestions and you will have happy friends and a well behaved (not jumping) doggie..  For more information, please contact The Best DogTrainers in Parkland and South Florida.

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Boarding or Pet Sitting That IS the Question

When you travel or work long hours, should you choose a quality pet boarding facility for your pet, or should you consider pet sitting for your pet? Here are a few questions to ask yourself and you make your decision.

Pet sitting offers advantages to boarding in that your pet remains in his or her familiar environment; therefore your pet experiences less stress. Some boarding facilities will allow you to bring your own food, others charge extra for you to bring your own food, and still others charge extra if you dont bring your own food! Usually, your dog remains less stressed if you provide the food that s/he is accustomed to.

Some advantages to boarding are the opportunity for day care or interactive play at your discretion and close supervision during regular business hours.

First consider the number of pets or animals that you have. If you have more than one or two pets to board, then even with two or more visits to your home daily, pet sitting will be no more expensive than most boarding facilities that you would choose to care for your pet.

Another question we ask our callers is what species of pet(s) do you have? Very often cats, cage animals and livestock with access to pasture will do just fine with a once per day visit. A once per day visit usually costs only slightly more than a pet boarding fee. Some pets or animals are not candidates for boarding ... farm livestock, some reptiles, aquarium fish, and the like must have a visit to the farm or home.

Another question to consider is whether your pets have all of the vaccinations that might be required by a quality boarding facility. All cats and dogs are required by North Carolina law to be vaccinated for rabies after 16 weeks of age, but other vaccinations are generally a decision for you and your veterinarian to make. If you have to fully vaccinate one or two pets in order to take them to a boarding facility, your 2-night trip might end up costing $200 or more in vaccination charges and veterinary visits.

Clearly, the distance of your home or farm from the business center of the pet sitting service that you have contacted may affect the cost of the service. At TLC Dog Training and Critter Care, we absorb mileage charges up to 15 miles from our primary business location, but for mileage to a job site greater than 15 miles, we must charge a mileage fee of $.50 per mile.

Another issue to consider is the age of your pet. Generally speaking, dogs younger than 18 - 24 months are not good candidates for in home pet sitting, as they are more likely to go exploring and get themselves into trouble in the home. If you normally house your dog outside in a safe enclosure, then age becomes less of an issue. Pet sitting is usually a better option for a mature, thoroughly housetrained pet.

Other things to consider are your dogs reactions to loud noises, thunderstorms, and other unpredictable things that may happen near your home. If your dog is fearful of strange noises, then you could return to a damaged home! In a boarding situation, your dog is safely confined, and should s/he become frightened, s/he cant really get into a lot of trouble.

Finally, is your dog or cat fearful of strangers entering your home? Might your pet hurt a stranger that enters your home? If your pet will be stressed every time that someone appears to care for him or her, then perhaps boarding is a better option.

Consider your options carefully. Should you decide to board your pet, make sure that you choose a boarding facility that is licensed by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. Should you decide to hire a pet sitting service, ask for references. Your pet sitter should minimally belong to one of the nationwide professional pet sitter organizations, like the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS). Make sure that anyone coming into your home to provide a service has their own workers compensation insurance and professional liability insurance.

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Ten Training Truisms

1. Dogs are genetically wired to engage in certain behaviors that extend individual longevity and assure continuation of the species. These behaviors include socializing, playing, predation and feeding, guarding resources, defending territory and personal space, vocalizing, digging, chewing, eliminating and reproducing. The goal of training is not to eliminate these behaviors, but to modify their expression so that the dog can fit into our society.
2. There is a narrow window of opportunity when the dog is between 7 weeks and 18 weeks of age that desensitizing a dog to novel situations and teaching them to accept even unusual situations in their daily lives with humans is relatively easy. This process is called socialization. Older dogs can be reprogrammed, but the process is time intensive and takes a great deal of patience on the part of the owner. A problem behavior or behaviors that have been reinforced for 2 or 3 years or more will not be unlearned in 8 weeks.
3. Dogs dont know right vs. wrong. They know pleasant vs. unpleasant. Dogs have no moral compass, as much as we would like to believe in the Hollywood version of dogs like Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.
4. Dogs are very context sensitive in their learning. This means that although they may appear to know a behavior in one location and with one person, they will not generalize the training to a new location or group of people without additional training. A large part of training is teaching the dog, from the ground up, in many different locations.
5. Dogs do not have an agenda (See #3 and #4 above), although they do express emotions like fear and joy. They live in the moment. Dogs do not seek revenge upon their owners by peeing on the carpet, digging in the garden, or chewing up a prize piece of furniture (see #1 above).
6. All dogs bite (see #1 above). They just have different triggers and thresholds for biting.
7. Dogs are social animals. To isolate them from meaningful human and/or animal contact is to create or exacerbate problem behaviors.
8. A minor punishment, such as verbal discouragement, usually serves as an attention reinforcement to all but the most sensitive dogs.
9. Non-lethal punishment is usually a temporary "fix" for problem behaviors. If the underlying reinforcement for the undesired behavior is not changed, and the dog is not trained into a new, desirable behavior, then the dog will return to engage in the previously learned undesirable behavior.
10. There is no such thing as "permanent" behavior change or "cure", even in the best trained dogs. Desired behaviors must be variably reinforced and undesired behaviors must be ignored to maintain a given level of training. Training and maintaining good manners must be a lifelong commitment on the part of the owner.

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Dog Training Tips from Davie Florida about Potty

Great Dog Training Tips about Pottying and the Rain

I was revisiting a dog training client in Davie yesterday when, all of a sudden, we had a massive rain storm.  Although that was not the dog training issue that my client had called me out for, it did initiate another question.  It appeared that his dog was doing quite well with his puppy potty routine until about ten days ago when we started to get into our “summer rain” routine.  All of a sudden, this great dog who would want to run outside to potty is now making accidents on the carpet. 

Like many things, simply describing the problem starts to explain the answer.  We had helped the client work with his dog to understand about going potty outside.  We had conditioned the dog to go on the dry grass during nice days and nights when it was not showering down on him.  Now the outside is wet and muddy and he is trying to go potty while he is constantly getting wet.  All in all, it is just not a potty experience to which he had been conditioned.  Some dogs are OK with the wet and rain and some dogs just don’t want to potty in the wet and rain…

What my client’s dog was telling him was "No thank you, I wont go here, I will just wait until I get back inside.  By the way, when is it going to be dry again?"

Rainy season lasts until November and there is no way that you want your dog pottying on your carpet until then.  So, what do we do?  The answer, as with most of my blogs, is pretty simple.  What I always teach my clients is to first understand the situation when everything was working.  After that, we need to find the moment when things began to all fall apart.  From there, we simply need to analyze the divergent operating conditions between the situations and make the appropriate adjustments.  Here we go:

• The first and obvious observation is that when the ground is dry, the puppy goes to the bathroom with no problem.
• When the ground is wet and mushy and it is raining, the puppy doesnt want to have anything to do with the "outside potty".
• The obvious conclusion rests on the wet grass and being rained upon.
• What we need to do is to find a place that is not mushy and is protected when it is raining.

Here is what you do:

• You must find a place that is out of the rain in your back yard.  This can be a covered area off your cabana bath door, patio, etc.
• Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get two pieces of sod from the garden department.  Place the sod in the protected area you have chosen.  It would be a good idea to place a plastic tarp or plastic garbage bag under the sod so that it will be easy to remove it, when needed.
• Direct your dog to the sod whenever it is rainy outside or the ground is mushy.
• Change out the sod every few weeks so it doesn’t start to smell too bad.

You have now given your puppy the bathroom he wants and your carpets are now safe!  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in Davie and South Florida.

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Lets Get Serious about Getting Wolfie to Come

Why is it the more I try and work with Wolfie to come, it seems that he only comes when he feels like it?  It feel like every time I really, really want him to come, he doesnt feel like it...

I have talked about this before, but because so many of my clients seem to need "refreshing" on this subject, I wanted to talk about it again.

Dogs learn through consistent, repetitive association. They learn that A always equals B.  When I hear this sound or see that hand action, I always do something.  "Always" does not mean sometimes.  When you tell Wolfie to come, he must always come.  If you dont provide this type of learning environment, it wont work, or take a really, really, really long time.

Here is what you do:

• Put a leash on Wolfie.  See Wolfie above?  Guess what, he has a leash on!
• Hold the leash, step back to the end of the leash, and go to your knees.
• Now, say Come.  If he doesnt come, give a little tug on the leash to guide him in your direction.
• When he reaches you, praise him for doing the right thing.

Guess what just happened!  You said "come" and Wolfie came to you.  If Wolfie didnt come to you, you gave him a little tug on the leash and he came to you.  A sound (command) resulted in a unique and consistent action.  That is how Wolfie learns and that is the method you used to teach him.

Until Wolfie will come to you every time you give the come command without your need to guide him with a gentle tug, do not say "come" if you dont have the leash.  This opens up the possibility that he wont come to you and you will no longer be consistent.  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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Dog Training Tips from Weston Florida about Walking Your Dog

I was at a dog training session in Weston the other day and the client and I were walking his dog down the street.  We were walking on a short leash and everything was going great.  This was a larger dog and the client was right handed, so we decided to walk the dog on the client’s right side.  As we were about half way through the dog walking exercise, a neighbor approached us and said he was doing it all wrong.  He told my client that all dogs should be walked on the left side.

We politely acknowledged the neighbor and tried to get away from him as quickly as possible.  When we were out of earshot, my client asked me if there was a correct side to walk the dog.  My answer was “It depends”.

I always tell my clients that it doesnt necessarily depend if they walk their dog on their left or their right unless they are going to be in dog shows.  In a dog show, you walk your dog in a counter-clockwise circle around the judge.  You have to keep the dog on the inside of the circle (on your left) so that the judge can easily view and grade your dog.  If you don’t plan to be in dog shows, who cares…

With that piece of information, let me add some general tips about picking the right side for you and walking your dog.

• You pick the side you want to have your dog on when you walk.  You can pick the left or right side, it doesn’t matter.  The important thing is consistency in the walking process.  When you finally pick your side, you will always walk your dog on that side.  This allows your dog to establish a perspective of where he should be while walking with you and will make the entire experience far more enjoyable.
• If you have a big dog, walk him on your dominant side.  If you need to correct him, it is important that you do it from your strong side.  (i.e. Are your right handed or left handed?)
• Once you have picked a side for your dog during the walk, everyone will walk him on the same side.  If you allow different friends and family members to walk him on different sides, it will add to his confusion and extend the time it will take him to “walk well”.
• He should always walk by your side.  When he walks ahead of you, it is far harder to have him obey you when you encounter a distraction such as a duck or squirrel.
• (My pet complaint!)  Use a regular six foot leash when walking.  NO EXTENSION LEASHES!

Follow these simple suggestions and your "walkies" with your dog will be a great experience! For more information about dog training, canine obedience, or dog behavior, please contact us at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida or call us at (954) 424-0170.

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Medical Alert Raisin Grape Toxicity

Everyone knows that chocoloate is poisonous to dogs, but did you know that grapes and raisins can be also? As few as 5 grapes or raisins can induce fatal renal failure in dogs.

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Competition Training Managing Handler Nerves in Dog Sport Competition

Handler nerves can destroy a performance, even when the handler and dog have engaged in adequate pre-trial training. Some dogs are very sensitive to the handler, and they can quickly lose confidence and focus if the handler becomes nervous during competition. Although handler nerves can affect performance in any venue, I compete in both AKC events and in schutzhund, and my nerves have NEVER been as bad there as they are in schutzhund style events. I have gotten so that I almost hate to compete in schutzhund because of the nerves both before and during the performance.

Some exhibitors may take a light drink prior to competition to calm nerves. I keep threatening to drink before a performance, but strangely enough I havent done it yet. Im too afraid that my already garbled brain will become even more garbled. Some alternate suggestions for reducing handler nervousness can be found below.

PRIOR TO COMPETITION

1. Train beyond adequate. Your dog should be able to perform each exercise at 90-95% correct in practice before you consider competition. That is nine successive times out of ten that your dog performs correctly.

2. Build procedural and muscle memory for yourself. Leave your dog out of it and ask a dog savvy friend to be your dog to go through the pattern ad nauseum. At first your friend should be an obedient dog ... attentive, always stopping properly and responding properly, but after you are sure you know the pattern, ask your friend to misbehave, and then practice how you will handle the OOPS factor. Also, your friend should be quick to let you know that you have not praised when you can.

One of the problems with schutzhund trialing is that we may only trial once at each level ... not enough to become familiar with the patterns and all of the rules, unlike AKC obedience where you MUST compete at least three times to earn a title. Not to mention the fact that the rules have changed quite a bit over the last few years! Its hard to be confident on the field if you dont REALLY know the procedure or the rules. Get out there and trial! Work with others who are serious about competition to set up mock trials. Use mock trials to identify problem areas, not to try to conduct full-blown training sessions.

Also, in my opinion, schutzhund scoring is a LOT more subjective than AKC judging, and schutzhund judges have an unusual propensity for changing the performance parameters to their liking ... hence the "ask the judge" session at the draw party. This adds to the stress on the handler, even when the handler knows the rules. Theres not much you can do about this, but be aware of it and understand that this may be a source of stress for you.

2. Vary reinforcement patterns. For every 5 times that you practice heeling in a non-pattern on the schutzhund field or anywhere else, work the pattern once. For every 5 times you work the pattern, praise and treat only at the end of each exercise once, as if in a trial. For every 5 times that you praise and treat only between exercises, withhold praise and treat until completing several exercises.

Sometimes we get in the habit of reinforcing too often, and we dont build the dogs tolerance for continued performance without immediate reinforcement. When you move toward more variable reinforcement for extended behavior, the paypoff should be bigger.

3. Take your training on the road. Remember to practice in MANY locations, not just on a a field. Work in a parking lot, a park (with lots of squirrels), at a pet store beside the hamster cages. Generalizing training is not about perfectly replicating the trial field ... its about teaching the dog FOCUS regardless of where you are. Once a dog knows a behavior in his home environment, its time to train it in multiple locations. Be prepared to reinforce heavily for correct behavior in a new context, until the dog acclimates to the new environment.

DURING COMPETITION

Before you begin, congratulate yourself on participating in competition. United Doberman Club member Laura Baugh offers this inspiring advice,

" Its an achievement being here. No matter what happens today, I have worked with my dog to the point at which I felt comfortable taking him into an enormous multi-acre unfenced field, surrounded by wildlife in woods and more unfenced fields, removing the leash and asking him to work with me in the presence of unlimited freedom and distractions. We have developed a relationship advanced enough that I and others had good reason to think this was possible. Even if today is the day that something goes wrong, I can look back at why Im even here and know that, well, today was something going wrong, a deviation from the norm, because look how far weve come together."

1. Defrock the judge. If you are intimidated by the judge, like I often am, go on the field and imagine the judge with no clothes on, or with a funny hat, or with a booger hanging from his or her nose. If you are a Harry Potter fan, youll know what I mean when I say consider the judge a bogart. If you can laugh at him, he suddenly becomes much less intimidating! I often find some judges to be very rigid and intimidating, and boy it has traveled right down the leash!

2. Meditate between each exercise. Practice taking a deep breath and meditating for 3 seconds before starting an exercise. Tell yourself this is the "running stand" or this is the "sit in motion". You can practice this without a dog or dog friend. The point is to build the procedural memory so that when you hear the exercise description in your head, you have an automatic visualization of the entire exercise. For example: This is the "SIT IN MOTION". Im going to walk 12 paces, command sit, continue 30 paces, turn to face dog, wait 3 seconds, return to dog. You are NOT thinking about what your dog is going to do ... only what YOU are going to do. If your training has been beyond adequate, then as long as you do your job, your dog will do his job!

3. Let each exercise stand alone. Just because you or your dog have blown one exercise doesnt mean that you wont nail the next. Smile, let your dog know that you are pleased with him, and focus for the next exercise.

4. Make it fun. Focus on making this performance FUN for the dog. After all, this is not about world peace ... it is a dog sport competition. Your dogs long-term enjoyment of the work is much more important than a single competition or score.

5. Pray. I pray to God to help me do the best I can do and support my dog to the best of my ability. Sometimes turning it over to a higher authority can help ease the nerves and allow "what will be will be".

AFTER COMPETITION

Analyze your performance. Every time that I compete I learn something new about my dog and about trialing. Mistakes I have made: wearing sunglasses that I dont normally wear in training(dog couldnt see my eyes!), mixing up the pattern, not training my dog for a right arm sleeve presentation, inadequate proofing of stays prior to competition, giving a command in a totally unfamiliar voice, pulling my dog off the track ... I could go on and on. But the important thing is to build your experience so that you hopefully avoid those mistakes in the future.

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Dog Training Tips from Plantation about Extension Dog Leashes

Pardon me if I just get on my high horse for a moment and talk about one of my biggest dog training pet peeves…  People who use extension leashes with their dogs!

First of all, I have to state that we all just love things with buttons, widgets, and gizmos.  We always think that the more buttons, the better it is.  Let’s check out an extension leash.  Wow!  It has a handle and several buttons.  Look at all these things you can do with it!  You just have to get it because you need to be pushing those buttons!

No you dont. Bad, bad dog owner!

I always teach my clients that the most important thing that we must do when we have our dogs out with us is to let them know we are keeping them safe and protected.  We might be walking in our neighborhood, at the park, or at the mall.  In order to do this, we must have their focus so that we can let them know how they need to act.  If we are walking and change direction, they must understand that they need to change direction too.  If we slow down and stop, they must do the same thing.  This allows them to follow our lead and stay safe.

To be able to do this, our dog must always have an eye on us and we must have an eye on him. The only way this can happen is if he is by our side. If he starts to deviate from our side, we must be able to guide him back.  When this takes place, we are providing the proper consistency and repetition of our actions to communicate to our dog "dont worry, you are with me."

Now let’s talk about the horrible extension leash. The only thing this leash does is to give your dog the ability to do whatever he wants.  He can be twenty feet in front of you, behind you sniffing the bushes, or even in the street.  The one thing he is not is by your side, focused on your actions.  When this occurs in the canine world, and you allow it to occur, you are placing the "Boss Hat" on your dog. He gets to do whatever he wants because you are letting him.

With the extension leash, when another dog or person starts to approach you, your dog will bark and jump at them.  He is simply taking the leadership/protective role in the situation. You might get mad and yell at your dog, but you are still allowing him to lead.  He is the leader.

The good old fashioned six foot leash allows you can keep your dog right next to you and naturally provides the leadership your dog requires. You will have a great "walkies" and a dog that will be well behaved on and off the leash.

I could go on and on about this subject, but I will stop now.  If you would like to hear more why I hate the extension dog leash or have any other dog training questions, please call us at (954) 424-0170 or go to The Best Dog Trainers in Plantation and South Florida.

Labels: dog training leash walking extension

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Why Fluffy Goes Nuts at People in the Car

My dog, Fluffy, is the greatest dog in the world until she gets in the car.  Bark, Bark, Bark,Bark,Bark!  She barks at everyone as I drive down the street.  What gives?

I have seen this time and time again.  Here is Fluffy in her car seat.  The owner is doing the right thing by constraining her so that she wont go flying around if they had to put on the breaks.  So far so good.  So Fluffy constantly barks and drives you crazy.  That is bad.  What is the problem and how can you fix it?

...The answer is simpler than you think and the explanation is just as simple.

Dogs are always very aware of dominance and their role in the pack.  Who is the dominant one?  Who is in charge?  Look at this picture of Fluffy.  She is in her car seat that is raised off the normal seating which puts her in a raised position.  In the canine world, height is dominance.  Guess what?  We are sitting lower in your drivers seat while Fluffy is sitting high and mighty in her "dominance seat".  On top of that, we have given her a very clear view of everyone around the car.  She is dominant and she sees all these "other animals" (people) moving around the car.  Some of these "other animals" might even be walking towards the car which is a naturally aggressive move.  

We put Fluffy in the dominant role and she sees issues.  Barking, jumping, growling are all natural actions she could take to try and protect the rest of the "pack".  We put Fluffy out in front.  We told her that she was the one who had to protect us.  We did this by giving her height and dominance.  We elected her the "boss of us".

Now, what do we do?  The answer is simple.  Lower her height.  Find a car seat that sits on the seat of your car.  Find a doggie carrier that you can put on the seat or floor of your car.  All you are doing is lowering the height of Fluffy and lowering her requirement to be the "boss".  Also, make sure that you dont put her in the front passenger seat, unless you can turn off the air bag release.

This is a quick fix that seems to work over and over again.  Take away your dogs requirement for dominance in the car and your rides will be a whole lot nicer!  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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