Positively | Victoria Stilwell | Forum

Thank you Wicket. I appreciate that so much. The "other half of the list" will be posted before Dec 25th. Someone suggested sweet potatoes for a holiday dog treat. I thought that was a great idea. My "Thank You" 's are a work in progress, so any stories or ideas you or anyone may...

Puppy Training--When and Why? by Linda Michaels Q. What are some of the benefits of training my dog? A. Training the dog you love is one of the best ways to develop a great relationship with your dog that will last a lifetime. Additionally, training makes home life more manageable and fun for you bo...

by Linda Michaels, MA Psychology, Victoria Stilwell Licensed Trainer, Certified Professional Dog Trainer How do you say "Thank You" to your dog? If your gratitude this Holiday Season includes your precious pup who faithfully brings so much joy and unconditional love all year long-- show yo...

Hi Mattie! What a great idea... :D You said,"These people who train their dogs by punishment it would be interesting to know how they were treated as children, I suspect that they were also taught by punishment and is all they knew. As they were taught this way they will have problems getting t...

Hello Fellow Dog Lovers! Thank you for asking for a VP trainer's response to Tammie's post. Where better to respond than right here, in my new, well-loved home with Victoria Stilwell. Victoria is absolutely on the right track, make no mistake. Just look at her list of Expert Bloggers that include th...

Thank you so much for posting this! Let me add if I may, "loud erratic noises". Interestingly, loud unexpected sounds are one of a rare group of hard-wired fears in all mammals. It's adaptive to survival and people all "jump" when startled. Some dogs have what we call a startle r...

Hi Mattie! I absolutely agree that academic theory is not something to discuss with pet parents :) It's even hard to study as a discipline and overly complicated which is why I called it "sticky". There's really no call for pet parents to get into all that. So, as in my original article, I...

Thank you Mattie! And Nettie too. Let me see if I can address Nettie's responses. I'm not wishing to make an across the board comparison between training captive dolphins and training dogs, but rather to make a dramatic and revealing statement about the lack of the need for the use of force/aversive...

By Linda Michaels, MA Psychology, CPDT-KA, AKC Canine Good Citizen Trainer -- Victoria Stilwell Licensed Training Partner If you adopted a pound-puppy, an all-grown-up dog, or have a family dog you'd like to get on the training bandwagon, you'll want to learn about positive method dog training. It's...

Socialization and Fear by Linda Michaels, MA Psychology, CPDT-KA, AKC CGC Evaluator: Victoria Stilwell Trainer and Expert Blogger Is your dog low on the “social butterfly” scale? If you’re wondering why your dog is not more playful with you, other people or dogs and what you can do, take heart. Mos...

Hi Group, It's great to find you here! As you may or may not know, poop-eating is a bonafide disorder/condition in case anyone's interested, called coprophagia. Actually, it's pretty common to digest feces. There's an ethological and adaptive value to every behavior and this one is believed to be th...