Train Your Dog Positively: Understand Your Dog and Solve Common Behavior Problems Including Separation Anxiety, Excessive Barking, Aggression, Housetraining, Leash Pulling, and More!

The brain’s circuits for aggression are separate from those for play; by playing with Tink near other dogs I was effectively engaging her play drive and shutting off any fear she felt.

all of them were fed through activity toys at mealtimes rather than just from their bowls.

It’s possible to condition a dog to feel differently about storm noise by gradually exposing the dog to audio recordings of storm sounds at low volume levels and, if she appears relaxed, playing her favorite game or feeding her her favorite food. Allowing a dog to play and relax in the presence of the soft noise for short periods of time throughout

petting also triggered a burst of oxytocin in the dogs themselves.

Active hand signals are easy to see and recognize even from far away.

On an emotional level, aggressive behavior is very stressful for a dog, especially if the behavior is triggered by a traumatic incident, abusive handling, or an inability to cope with continually changing environments.

Leash reactivity and aggression are exacerbated by a dog’s feeling restrained and therefore unable to act naturally in a social situation.

the definition of a true pack is, again, a mother, father, and their offspring—a combination usually found only in the wild (not in captivity).

For thousands of years dogs have hunted with us, protected our lands, warned us of impending danger, and brought us comfort. The shared need we both developed for nurture and companionship meant that dogs became more attuned to humans than to any other species.