Sadly, the life of a dog can be relatively boring.  

In today’s modern world, most people work or go to school during the day leaving the family dog alone much of the time. While you tend to your daily responsibilities, your dog spends his days in a crate or roaming your empty home with little to no stimulation. When people do finally get home, they are usually too busy to invest hours into the dog. After all, we all have to make dinner, visit with friends and family, clean, relax, etc. In our laundry list of daily chores, our dogs can often become a box to check off the list: one half hour walk per day - done! However, after spending hours alone, most dogs - much like people - need more than 30 minutes per day to feel fulfilled. 

I often dream of a world where we can bring our dogs with us everywhere, to allow them to lead more fulfilled lives and receive lots of mental stimulation. However, since that isn't likely, we can open up the workplace to our dogs and allow them to receive stimulation by being with us more. I’m particularly speaking to people who are employers or business owners (or people willing to persuade their bosses and managers).  

When you bring your dog to work, suddenly your dog’s day has gone from sitting home alone to being busy for a whole day just like you. When you get home with your pup, you are both exhausted, fulfilled and ready to eat dinner and lounge on the couch for the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The imbalance that occurred between you and your dog just melts away.  

Employers are also able to create better work environments, because having dogs in the workplace makes people happier and more productive. Having well-behaved and friendly dogs in the office creates a warm and inviting atmosphere for customers and employees alike. If your office is forward thinking and smart, then you can improve your office’s health and lower health care costs by having lunch time walks with co-workers and their dogs. Having dogs in the workplace reduces stress and even encourages people to take their required lunch break (source).  

I believe this is so beneficial, that Andrew Warner Dog Training will offer a free consultation on how to establish the proper rules and guidelines that could make dogs in the workplace a possibility at your Indianapolis area business.  

E-mail andrew@awdt.net to set up a time to make your workplace a productive and happier place to be. If you’re not the person in charge at your employer, please feel free to forward this along to let them know that you want to bring your dog into work with you! 

Having trouble getting your dog to bring the ball back to you while playing fetch? Try two ball fetch!

Developing your dog’s off-leash skills is the greatest gift you can give to him. As I’ve said time and again, the frustration from being attached to a leash and collar is the source of countless problems people have with their pets. 

However, depending on your dog, creating off-leash reliability can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish – seemingly impossible at times. 

When working towards this goal, there are three things you should be focusing on to keep your dog happy, safe, and free.

Dogs tend to be their best behaved when they are at home with their usual company. 

One of the most common problems with owning a dog is that all that good behavior goes out the door when new people come into the house. Dogs have various problem ranging from overexcitement to aggressive tendencies when it comes to visitors in the house.

Here are some tips on how to help your dog overcome their problems with strangers in the house:

1) Practice everything that excites your dog with no guests. For example, if your dog goes nuts when they hear the doorbell or a knock on the door, you have no chance when there is actually somebody on the other side of the door. Make sure you desensitize your dog to these usual triggers and also use them to indicate a beginning of an obedience routine. Meaning, ring the doorbell and send your dog to their place and reward thoroughly. If you practice this, then the doorbell will mean "go to your place" rather than "attack the door."

2) If your dog is uncomfortable with people, food is the easiest way to right the ship. I like to teach people that when guests come over, the dog should be given treats by each guest. It's important to start this as early as possible.  There should also be a hierarchy of treats that your guests give: Women should give something low value, but enjoyable like kibble. Men should give something higher value like a good treat or peanut butter.  Kids should give the highest value treat imaginable. The more consistently this is done from the beginning, the less problems your dogs will have with guests. 

Note that if your dog has already begun biting or is under extreme anxiety, this is much more difficult and may require the help of a professional.

4) Don't lose control of the situation. If your dog needs to be on a leash to stay out of trouble and to have a clear routine, then that is how you should do it. If your dog is under stress, bring them to the guests just for the treats and then take them away from the situation.

5) Try taking a walk with your guest and your dog. Dogs make friends quickest by walking together - whether that is with other humans or other dogs. It is also something high value that they will come to associate with strangers! If you do this regularly, your dog will view strangers coming over the same they view you when you pick up a leash - a sign of great things to come.

6) Get everyone involved. Use this opportunity to reconnect with people in your life and invite them over to help. Getting yourself social is a great way to improve your dog's socialization. If they don't have any practice, they aren't going to get any better. You probably have spent your life building up a list of facebook friends, it's time to start using it for good.

7) If you're not making progress or it is getting worse, contact a professional right away. Even if your dog does not exhibit aggression today, unchecked issues with strangers can escalate quickly if a dog feels repeatedly threatened by your friends and family!

How much should I talk to my dog? 

This is a question I have never been asked, but something that should come from every client. 

Two of the easiest mistakes to make when training a dog is to praise her incorrectly or to verbally reprimand her incorrectly. Both mistakes are common, and it happens repeatedly in any training scenario - often times even by experienced and skilled trainers.  

There's several considerations when trying to decide if your words are hurting or helping your dog training, and this is largely dependent on which type of dog you own.

This weekend AWDT spent some time helping older dogs set a new course in their lives.