A reactive dog — one that barks, lunges, and loses its mind at triggers like other dogs, strangers, or traffic — is one of the most challenging behavior issues for owners to deal with, because it happens fast, in public, and is immediately embarrassing. I’ve been there. My second dog, a rescue Border Collie mix,…
Of all the small breeds prone to separation anxiety, Yorkies are near the top of the list. I’ve spoken with dozens of Yorkie owners over the years, and the story is almost always the same: the dog is perfect when someone is home, and completely falls apart when left alone. Howling, destructive behavior, bathroom accidents…
Yorkshire Terriers are one of those breeds where the personality is inversely proportional to the size. Yorkies are small dogs with large, confident, sometimes stubborn personalities — and behavior problems that catch owners off guard because nobody expects a 5-pound dog to be quite so determined. Yorkie behavior problems are common, well-documented, and very fixable…
If you’ve ever watched an Australian Shepherd greet their owner after even a 20-minute absence, you’ve seen the wiggle. The whole back end oscillates independently of the front. The tail (or stub, depending on whether it was docked) works overtime. The dog’s enthusiasm physically exceeds what their body seems designed to express. Why do Australian…
If you own an Australian Cattle Dog, you already know that biting isn’t a character flaw in this breed — it’s an engineering feature. ACDs were specifically bred to heel-nip cattle to move them across rough terrain. The bite is fast, controlled, and deliberate. The good news is that same deliberateness makes it trainable. The…
I’ve adopted two dogs from shelters over the years, and both experiences taught me something the adoption process itself doesn’t tell you: the dog you meet at the shelter is not the dog you take home. Shelter environments produce behaviors — anxiety, hyperactivity, shutdown — that disappear once the dog is in a stable home….
When I first brought a dog into a home that already had two cats, the feeding situation became chaotic within the first 24 hours. The dog ate the cat food. One cat stress-ate. The other stopped eating entirely. It took a few weeks of trial and error to figure out a feeding arrangement that worked…
I love Bulldogs. I want to be clear about that before this post gets going, because what I’m about to say will sound harsh to fans of the breed. British Bulldogs are one of the most affectionate, devoted, and genuinely loveable dogs I’ve encountered. They are also one of the most health-compromised breeds in domestic…
There’s a particular kind of whining that every dog owner knows — the one that happens the moment you sit down, open your laptop, or try to have a phone conversation. My dog Biscuit perfected this art form early. What took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out was that responding to it even…
My neighbor’s German Shepherd, Rex, turned into a completely different dog every Fourth of July. Calm, obedient, easy-going the other 364 days — and then reduced to a trembling, drooling, fence-jumping wreck the moment the first firework went off. His owner tried everything: reassurance, treats, even sitting with him in the car. Nothing worked until…
My dog Biscuit has been staring at me for the better part of fifteen years. Not occasionally — constantly. He follows me from room to room, settles within eyeline, and watches me with an intensity that would be unsettling if it came from a human. After years of living with this, I’ve learned to read…
The first time I visited a friend who had just gotten an Australian Shepherd, I noticed the lint roller sitting on the kitchen counter, next to the couch, and on the stairs. Three lint rollers. Strategically positioned. I asked about it. He just gestured around the room without saying anything. Three months with his Aussie…