One of the great things about bringing a new puppy into your home is that you not only give yourself a great new friend that you will start to build a great relationship with. But you can also get a good head start with the training as well.

I recommend training puppies at a young age for a number of reasons. The first is that in general puppies and dogs love to please us, and they love to do things for our approval. If at a young age you can instill that in the dog, you really set yourself up early on for a great positive and fun working relationship as you to train your dog. READ MORE

A dog relieving himself in the house is probably the most common of all the behavioral issues a new owner may have with his pet. When a dog is brought into a new home, remember that he will almost always want to relieve himself and then repeat the same behavior in the same area of the home.

This is why the biggest mistake a new pet owner can make is to let his dog roam free in the house the second he brings him home. Think about this from your dog’s perspective. If you let him loose to roam free in your house the minute you bring him home, why would he not relieve himself in the house? He hasn’t been taught any differently. READ MORE

When it comes to bringing a new dog into your home, there are two types of things you need to be aware of when socializing the animal, and they are people and dogs. I think a mistake that a number of pet owners make is assuming that everything will be OK with this new dog they just brought in the home.

Remember that the first introduction can quite often be the most important introduction of all. Because of this, if the introduction is a good one, it can lay a great foundation for a positive relationship. READ MORE

It is a fact that dogs like to learn, and depending on the dog or breed of dog, some like to continue learning and being challenged. There are a variety of things you can do to challenge your dog that involve training. If you have a dog that is a very high prey drive dog like a Border collie or Australian Shepherd, a great idea is to get your dog involved with agility training or fly ball training.

But there are some people out there that have the desire to want to take their dog to the next level, but rather do it in a way where they can do it anywhere and does not cost anything. My expertise is training advanced behaviors, and since there are so many choices in behaviors, I often gauge the behavior I am teaching to individual the dog. READ MORE

As a movie animal trainer, I have had a lot of experience traveling with dogs and other animals, both throughout the United States as well as around the world. There are two types of traveling, and they are traveling by air, and traveling by car. I wanted to give you a few tips on traveling by car.

If you plan on going on a vacation, have a dog that likes to go in the car, are staying in a place where the dog will be safe, and you feel the dog will not be an imposition on your vacation, I would actually recommend taking the dog with you. Dogs are a huge part of our lives, and depending where you are traveling to, and how far the ride is, bringing the dog may actually add a lot to your retreat! READ MORE