K9to5

04/22/2024

If you thought dog training was hard. Try Training butterflies.

As I write this article I am in the middle of an exciting and quite lengthy period of travel. Jokingly, I have referred to this as my International Consulting and Seminar Tour. It is a 31-day trip that takes me to Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Czech Republic—and includes 11 se...

03/11/2024

I always say, “ I’m privileged to be at the other end of their leash.”

02/27/2024

Terrie Hayward's blog post about vibration collars:

Do deaf dogs need a vibration collar? The short answer is no. Plus, the alternatives to getting your deaf dog's attention.

02/19/2024

Thank you to all the teams that came to support the students at UCCS today! Stetson , Snow, Bergan, Bella & Beau, Joey, Mikee, Eli

01/31/2024

Everyone did an excellent job today! Great improvement in just a few weeks! 💕 Beau, Tucker, Dakota, Ghost and the distraction dog Chip.

01/21/2024

I forgot pictures today but Beau, Tucker, Ghost & Dakota did amazing today!

01/11/2024

With frigid temperatures fast approaching, please don’t forget about your pets outside in this upcoming cold and snowy weather, stay safe! 🐾🌨❄️

05/26/2023

The easiest time to teach a dog to enjoy being handled is when they're a puppy. if you have a puppy now, or you know someone who does, PLEASE, take the time to proactively teach them to LOVE being held and handled by humans.

If your pup already seems comfortable being held and handled, don't take it for granted! Keep it up, and be sure to handle their entire body, using lots of food and praise to help them form a positive association. Don't forget to get your pup comfortable being handled by family and friends as well.

This will make it much easier to keep them safe and clean, and it will help them feel comfortable if they ever need to go to a groomer or get examined or cared for by a veterinarian. Dogs that are anxious about being handled will suffer much more if they ever need medical treatment for an illness or injury.

If you have an older dog who is already fearful or hand shy, you can definitely still teach them to enjoy being held and handled, but you'll need to proceed much more slowly and carefully, so you don't push them too far, too fast. If you take your time and use lots of treats you can build their confidence gradually, so that they can enjoy life more, with less anxiety.

Learn more here: https://dunbar.info/puppy-handling

If you have a puppy, or you know someone who does, we have an extra-special offer for you!

For the next few days, we're offering our Essential Puppy Training Course for 50% off AND we've just launched a new optional upgrade for our Essential Puppy Course Students. It's called the Premium Puppy Support Plan and it includes 3 months of personalized puppy training advice and assistance from us, the Dunbars, so you can give your pup the best education possible, make sure you and your pup are on the right track, and rapidly resolve any problems you might run into with your pup's training.

We're really excited to get to know some of our puppy students better, and have an opportunity to really help them train their pups with more personalized support.

If you know of anyone with a puppy, please tell them about this special offer!

Learn more here: https://dunbar.info/pup50

05/22/2023

Please remember!! Don’t burn your fur kids this summer.

03/17/2023

K9to5 is not taking any new clients. I apologize for the inconvenience. Life shifts happen, unfortunately

02/25/2023

Today, February 24th is National Service Animals Day, a day to honor the service and sacrifice of all service animals and their handlers! The Purple Poppy is the international symbol for service animals and their handlers that provide for our safety, security and independence and celebrates the human/animal bond.

02/21/2023

02/10/2023

Truth x6

02/06/2023

From the dog file

02/05/2023

01/21/2023

Even blind dogs can “see”

Cornell researchers have provided the first documentation that dogs’ sense of smell is integrated with their vision and other unique parts of the brain, shedding new light on how dogs experience and navigate the world.

01/17/2023

Dogs trained with aversive methods are less likely to show a ‘secure base’ effect.

01/15/2023

Magpies, just like their relatives crows and jays, have a reputation of getting attracted to and stealing shiny objects. A brilliant robotics expert took advantage of this and created a bottle cap bird feeder to put this bird behavior to good use. In exchange for a kibble, birds have to collect a bo...

01/10/2023

Previously, it was thought that only humans, and perhaps primates, could do this.

12/07/2022

Pause for Paws

11/24/2022

Dogs and humans have a lot in common.
~Some of us thrive in active social settings- every stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.
~Some of us avoid large social settings and prefer a more intimate and low key way of connecting.
~Some of us may prefer to be on our own a vast majority of the time.

Sadly we've seen a trend where we expect our dogs to not only tolerate but enjoy interacting with everyone and everything. Some dogs may love this, but MANY dogs don't.

Lets stop pathologizing the dogs who want to keep things low key. They have have a few human and/or dog friends and there's absolutely nothing weird or wrong about it. Love your dog for who they are, not who you hoped they would be.