"Chaining" is a training method that involves teaching your dog to perform a series of behaviors in a specific order. This can be a useful technique for teaching your dog complex behaviors. Continue reading

When a dog is thirsty, they pant. Oddly, they also pant when they are aroused (either through stress or excitement). When a dog a dog is hungry, they may lick their lips. Oddly, they also lick their lips when they are stressed (or aroused). These indications of arousal (it's easier to call it arousal rather than try to immediately determine whether it's stress or excitement) are so different that what humans do. It's important to notice these signals so we can understand what a dog is going through. Treating a dog like a human doesn't work because, for one reason, their arousal signals are different than the way humans react to things. Continue reading

Have you met someone who's pretty good at training their dog what to do? Do you know one way to tell the difference between that person and a GREAT dog trainer? The difference is that the great trainer uses a "marker word." Continue reading

The Dunbar Potty Training works especially well for a future service dog because it is so positive and it allows the puppy to succeed. Two things to remember are: 1. An eight-week old puppy has little control over their bladder and can only hold it in for a little over an hour (that's not very much!) Bring the puppy out potty BEFORE he/she needs to. 2. Crate-train the puppy (keep the puppy in their crate at night, for instance). While hard at first, this crate-training will solve a lot of future problems. Note that an eight-week old puppy cannot keep it in all night, so it's best to wake up at 3am or so, wake up the puppy, and take them out to potty. Continue reading

Have you ever met a dog that is afraid of thunder? Or men? Or shiny floors? It's because the dog did not become exposed to these things during their "critical period" (8-12 weeks old). If you miss this critical period, it's extremely hard to accustom the older puppy or dog to these stimuli later (in general, they'll be afraid of everything they didn't experience during their critical period). Continue reading

There are three main categories of tasks of a PTSD Service Dog: Alerting Calming Helping with other co-morbid disabilities Continue reading

JetBlue, American Airlines, and probably other airlines now insist that flyers get an 8-digit ID number to fly with a service dog. Having a signed copy of the new DOT form form is not enough. And you need to get it 48 hours before you fly. And you need to have a paper boarding pass (because the code will be printed on there, but won’t be on your electronic one). And the code isn’t for a lifetime—it expires when the dog’s rabies immunization expires. We are appalled by this burdensome requirement. This is a picture of the DOT form, but the best way to get the form is to use the official link because then you get a PDF that you can fill out on your computer (you don’t need a printer, but you need a computer). Continue reading

Pawsitivity’s coloring book was featured on The Wrap! Continue reading

From the Elk River Star News: Continue reading