Tips, videos, latest updates on dog training, canine fitness and IGP

There is a specific kind of frustration that builds when a dog understands a command perfectly at home and completely disregards it the moment a squirrel enters the picture. Or when a Border Collie who performed a flawless recall in the backyard yesterday stares straight through you in a parking lot today.

Owners in those moments often wonder whether their dog is stubb...

You have already been to one trainer. Maybe two. You followed the advice, bought the recommended equipment, watched the videos, and practiced in the backyard.

And yet your Rottweiler still lunges at strangers on the leash. Your German Shepherd still corners guests at the door. Your rescue pit mix still reacts with a ferocity that leaves you apologizing to neighbors and...

 

When Jim and Missy Cowan brought home their new German Shepherd puppy from Germany, they knew they wanted the best they could find, and were stepping into something completely new: the world of working dogs and Schutzhund (IGP). With no previous working dog experience and very little knowledge of dog sport, Jim decided to commit anyway. Less than two...

Here is something nobody tells new puppy owners until it is too late. The first sixteen weeks of a dog's life shape everything that follows. The Golden Retriever puppy melting in your arms right now is in the most neurologically receptive window he will ever have.

The Labrador who cannot sit still long enough to be photographed, the German Shepherd mix who startles at ...

Most people see a dog in a vest and assume the designation is automatic. It is not. The gap between a beloved pet and a legally recognized service animal is not a registration website or a purchased certificate.

It is hundreds of hours of precise, layered training that most dogs will never complete, and that most handlers underestimate until they are standing in a publ...