Dog training classes


Hidden Talents – Tracking Turtles with Josie

It’s been an interesting week at Peaceable Paws… but then, aren’t they all? We continue to work through the challenges of starting up our classes outdoors – electrician is coming on Tuesday to give us some quotes on providing lighting – to see if we can do classes after dark – and we’ve ordered an Amish 8×10 wooden storage shed for some of our equipment, so we don’t have to keep lugging everything back inside after class. Wonderful husband Paul is leveling a spot for it near the training yard with the tractor, and with cream-colored siding and green roof […]


Diversity on the Farm, Classes are ON – and Commando Crawl

CLASSES ARE ON!!!!!! Not only are they ON… the response has been terrific!!! Our Basic Good Manners and Puppy Classes are all full, and Beyond Good Manners is just one shy of full. We do still have room in the Brain Candy Workshop in August, (8/15-16) if you are looking for a fun getaway weekend with your dog. We are experimenting with the new outdoor format – where to put chairs and canopies, how many barriers we need, and how to weight them properly with sandbags so they don’t blow over. We normally have access to tethers indoors (with eye […]


Almost Summer – Teaching “Wait a Minute” and Peaceable Paws is Almost Open!

TRAINING NEWS I’m happy to report that our classes are filling up nicely! I was concerned that COVID-19 might keep people away, but we only have a few openings left, including a couple of spots in my Fidos on Farm class… You can sign up for classes on our website: www.peaceablepaws.com. We officially open tomorrow (Monday, June 15). Come hike and train with us! We continue to put finishing touches on our coronavirus protection plans – getting cement blocks for outdoor tethering, sandbags to keep barriers from blowing over, chairs and canopies are all purchased, and we have hand sanitizers […]


Coyote Capers and Re-Opening at Peaceable Paws

WILDLIFE ADVENTURES Well, it’s certainly been an interesting week here on the Peaceable Paws farm. We had previously seen a coyote at the far edge of one of our fields, at least a quarter mile from the house, and Paul had found the remains of a raccoon in that same field. This week we saw her out our back bedroom window frisking along a fence in the horse pasture at 7:30 one morning (about 200 feet from the house) and she has left the remains  of  two more raccoons and parts of 4 very young fawns in the driveway down […]


Of Protests, Riots… Peonies and Peace

Incredulous, aghast, heartbroken, dumbfounded… first coronavirus, now this. Watching the protests and riots on television takes me back to the 60’s when, as a child, I watched our cities burning. Have we truly come this far… only to have gone nowhere? Maybe not quite. My heart warmed to the photo of the row of white women standing shoulder-to-shoulder, shielding black protesters from the police. And the photo of police officers taking a knee in solidarity with peaceful protesters. We will get through this, too, and hopefully come out better and stronger on the other side. I know that as a […]


A Careful Re-Opening – and… SPRING!!

First – and most important – all of us at Peaceable Paws hope all of you and all of yours are staying safe, sane and well. I feel like we are living in a bad science fiction movie, just waiting for the credits to roll so we can get up and leave. Every day I am struck by how much this has changed – and will continue to change – life as we know it. I am cautiously excited though… with Maryland’s Governor Hogan starting the reopening process last week in our state we are in the in the midst […]


GREAT Day For a Hike!!! and Doggie Nail Files

HIKE!!! It finally got out of the 50’s here in Western Maryland… yesterday and today in the 80’s, YAY, that’s more like it!!!!! Today was a GREAT day for a hike – sunny, nice breeze, so, of course, I had to take the dogs out for a run, and we all had a great time.                   They ran and ran and ran and ran, (Kai gets to go off leash, Sunny stays on a long line), waded in the creek, stopped to smell the flowers and are now both appropriately crashed on […]


Recharging Our Batteries & Reinforcing Our Clients with PPaws Performance Titles 4

Happy Holidays!!! It’s December! It’s almost Christmas! Why not put “Tuition for a Peaceable Paws Class or Training Program” at the top of your wish list for yourself – or for your dog-loving family members and friends?   Happy New Year… I always feel a little drained by the end of a Peaceable Paws year, what with our half-dozen week-long academies, multiple 1-3 day workshops, out-of-town seminars, weekly group classes, articles to write, private consults, a couple of dozen articles, sometimes a book,  and more. Fortunately things grind to a halt in early December. My assistant, Shirley and I have […]


Instructors Course 8-2010 12

Yesterday was the closing day of yet another Peaceable Paws Academy – this one our Level 2 Instructors Course. We tend to not get as much interest in this one as our Level 2 Behavior Modification (BMod is sexier), but it’s an excellent opportunity for trainers to hone their teaching skills – teaching humans is a very different skill set from training dogs. The students take turns teaching our Peaceable Paws Basic Good Manners exercises to each other, and as we do in our Level 1 Academy, students are working with shelter dogs. This week’s group consisted of: Bob Ryder, […]


CONTEST: Where in the World is Pat Miller? 5

Are you ready for a contest???? Description: below are 15 photographs taken during Pat Miller’s travels over the last several years to seminars, workshops, and on the back of the Harley. Your job is to correctly identify the locations of as many of them as possible. Identification must include city, state (if US), country, and a brief description as to what the photo represents or where in the city it is located. The contest will run for 3 months. If more than one person correctly identifies all 15 photos, the one with the most accurate descriptions wins. If there is […]


Downtown Hound 9

Always a popular class, we offer our Downtown Hound experience just once a year, when we can take advantage of the long summer evenings. It always fills quickly, with some of our favorite students. This year is no exception. Our class is: Katie and Brooklyn – an 8 month old Rottie/Shepherd mix (below): Kristy, Bobbie and Grace – a 1 year old Belgian Tervuren: Mary and Milo – a 2 year old Collie mix: Lori and Pearl – a 1 year old Cockapoo: Ronda and Shea – a 7 year old Australian Shepherd (foreground): Karen and Cullen – a 2 […]


Academy Time!

Summer is certainly our very busy time here at Peaceable Paws, and the endless weeks of 90-plus degree heat seem to be making our academies and workshops more tiring than usual. So here it is Thursday already, the AC in my office is not working again (and it’s going to be over 90 again), and I’m waaaay behind on getting this blog done. I intended to get to it last Sunday, immediately after our Level 1 Academy, but Sunday was the Humane Society of Washington County’s “Bone to be Wild” motorcycle ride, and I was just too hot and tired […]