Bringing a new puppy home is an amazing experience that will change your life, but some breeders may try and encourage you to take a littermate also. Some people would be able to handle such a commitment of two puppies, but littermates can come with a whole set of challenges you may not be expecting....

  Over the years, Halloween has been a fun tradition highlighted with candies, trick-or-treats, themed parties and fun costumes.  Indeed, Halloween is a fun time not only for kids and adults alike – but also for pets. But before you get carried away with fun and excitement, here are important...

  source: petmd.com Let’s face it: as a pet parent you are going to have to deal with more than a few messes in your time. When it comes to diarrhea nobody wants it smeared over their carpet or even in their kennel. It’s one mess that we would all rather live without! Fortunately for...

Dog training is very important, but we often make mistakes because we are unaware of the error of our ways. Most of the times, these mistakes are not critical, but they do tend to slow down the process of the dog’s training. This causes frustration for the owner and confuses the pet greatly. Here are...

How to Perform CPR on Dogs – A Step by Step Guide CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation can save your pet dog’s life when done in a timely manner and following the right procedure.  The procedure is basically a combination of artificial respiration and chest compression. Chest compressions will help keep...

  Videos of dogs trapped in vehicles on hot summer days have gone viral around the world.  The harrowing images have tugged at our heartstrings and deepened our public commitments to preventing these tragedies and helping our furry friends when they are in danger.  But it’s important to know that...

Nowadays it has become more important than ever to adopt a pet instead of buying it. Thousands of helpless animals are put to death every year because they are ownerless. If you have your heart set on a puppy of your own there is no reason not to call around shelters and find some puppies that way…...

In many parts of the US and the world, ticks are a big problem for dogs. They burrow their heads into the skin of the dog and feed on the blood of the dog. Many ticks carry diseases that can seriously harm your pet, and some breeds of ticks can even be lethal to animals. Because they are small and hard...

 Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) may be beautiful and cheerful but they could cause serious harm to your dog, as well as cats or horses.  The majority of daffodil species, part of the Narcissus group of flowers, such as jonquils, paperwhites, and narcissus, all contain substances that can poison...

  Throughout history, up until now; people have often suggested that powerful relationships are established through play. By analogy, studies have shown that a competitive games can affect dog-human relationships, in a positive way. There was a Rooney and Bradshaw study done on this idea/fact in...

  In the 1950’s, a man named B.F Skinner described a powerful cognitive quirk, called A Variable Schedule Rewards. Skinner’s experiment/study observed that lab mice reacted most voraciously to random, variable rewards; when the mice would press the lever, sometimes they’d get a...

The Problem With ‘Fad’ Training Nobody likes to hear that they are, in any way, failing those we care about. Whether it is children, pets or ourselves, the thought that we are teaching self-destructive habits to anybody is truly heart breaking. It’s no wonder, then, that as soon as some new article comes...

We always get asked, “Can you train a deaf dog?”  The great news is, the answer is, “Yes!”  We have trained many deaf dogs, and it’s really not much more different nor difficult! Why are dogs deaf ? Deafness can affect dogs of any breed, age or colored coats but there have been many studies into the...

 We do dog aggression training regularly in Northern Virginia (our Headquarters), we often times get asked, “What is the most aggressive breed?” The answer may surprise you! There are so many dogs that get put to sleep on a regular basis as a result of their aggressive behavior. This is because...

We handle aggression in dogs in Northern Virginia on a daily basis!  Most people do not realize that it can also be medical related. Thyroid glands regulate the body’s metabolism, any decrease in the thyroid’s work can cause various complications that are similar to other conditions. Pet owners and dog...

We deal with dog aggression regularly in Northern Virginia.  Your dog may have been such a sweet little puppy. They were behaved and well-mannered. That was until they were not. One very common question for animal behaviorists is why their dog suddenly starts showing aggression. This problem is especially...

  This is one of the many dog training issues we deal with in Northern Virginia. You may notice your dog humping something or everything and wonder why your dog does it. Part of you wants to laugh and post the video but other times this can be an incredibly embarrassing situation. Whatever the reason...

  At our dog training facility in Northern Virginia, we do dog reactivity training; however, it appears it’s needed in the White House! TMZ has recently posted a photo of a nasty cut under a young woman’s eye, allegedly the result of being bitten by the Obama’s family dog, Sunny. The 18-year-old...

      Anyone who has ever watched my Facebook Live videos know that I LOVE Pit bulls and I’m a huge advocate for them, so, I was very excited to see this! If a survey was given to answer the question of whether or not a Pit bull might make a good police dog, many would surely find...

  We deal with food aggression training in Northern Virginia (our HQ) on a pretty regular basis. There are many different behaviors that our dogs do that maybe you do not really know how to interpret. They are communicating in their own way and as a responsible dog owner, it is your responsibility...

  Positive reinforcement is something we get asked about in Northern Virginia, a lot! People are always told about the magic of positive reinforcement. While it is an effective tool, unfortunately there are many  occasions where it is not as effective as you would like. For instance, a lot of the...

Picking the Perfect Christmas Puppy If there’s one surprise that is sure to bring your family untold levels of joy during the holidays, it’s a puppy (unless of course you didn’t discuss it with your spouse, but that’s on you). Many dog professionals claim that it is a bad idea to bring in a new family...

Bringing your Christmas Puppy Home So, you’ve finally chosen the perfect dog for you and your family, and it’s time to bring them home to experience the good life. Before deciding this, realize, that you are giving someone a life to take care of daily, for the next 12-15 years. You are giving them a...

At our board and train facility in Northern Virginia, we always get a lot of questions around Thanksgiving. You may not naturally consider your family pet to be a major part of Thanksgiving as a holiday, but your dog can be a source of stress or setbacks if you don’t know how to take care of them during...

While sleeping with your dog is generally enjoyable for both owner and dog, sometimes it doesn’t work out as planned. This is because the dog doesn’t understand their role in the household. Years ago, dogs played a much different role in a family. Most dogs were working animals on a farm. They had...

There has been a debate as to whether or not you should spay or neuter your dog. Many different groups have a variety of different feelings on this heavily debated topic, each for their own reasons. This can be a very personal decision and one of the most important ones that you can make as a dog owner....

Summer is fast approaching, and it’s the perfect time to learn about dogs having a heatstroke. Humans often believe that dogs are fully capable of cooling themselves off by panting. This is not true. Dogs aren’t able to control their body temperature as well as humans. If a dog has a heatstroke, they...

If you are a dog owner, chances are that you have noticed your dog munching on grass a number of times. This is generally nothing to be concerned over. Our dogs’ wild ancestors were scavengers; they would get vegetation if they couldn’t find any meat. Owners often forget that our dogs are omnivores,...

We all have heard the saying that a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s mouth. While it’s a common saying, it is simply untrue. There are a few reasons that this myth has floated around for so long. At one time, studies were showing that human bites became infected at a faster rate than dog bites....

There are a lot of unique behaviors that dogs have that can be difficult for us humans to understand. They do things that you may find disgusting, which are actually completely normal to them. Dogs have no actual language that people can tell so they do heavily rely on their body language to help them...