kids and dogs

10 Things I Hate About You, Continued

Posted on by HandsFullDogTraining

Yesterday we reviewed some of our most-disliked Ranger behaviors.

I’ve polled the family members one more time and an avalanche of complaints has ensued. Poor maligned Ranger!  But seriously, these are the kind of things that can add up over time and frustrate families into turning their dog outside permanently…

labrador retriever

Why don’t you love me any more?

…keeping him kenneled 22 hours a day, or re-homing him.

If only people knew there are good solutions than can keep their dog with the family and resolve these every day annoyances! We’ll get to those. First, the problems.

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“Labradors are Common”

Posted on by HandsFullDogTraining

I quote myself, and I’m not ashamed of it. They ARE. And that’s why I, a dog trainer, have a dog that I haven’t trained more than 30 minutes total in my year and a half of being his dog-mommy.

Flipping through breed books as a kid, I was never really interested in yellow labs, the Ritz cracker of the dog world. Sure, they are buttery yellow and everyone likes them, but they just aren’t…special. There’s nothing thrilling about a Labrador. They are like minivans. Or carnations. They’re buying a Scream mask for Halloween.

I moved in with Ranger last year and deigned to pet him occasionally. I told myself that he was just a common dog. I didn’t invest myself in him, even though he did dumb things like run away and pull on the leash and bark BARK BARK and rest an impolite muzzle on the table at dinner.

But then I had my most recent baby and just…just look.

labrador and baby

This happened. Read More