Travels with PPaws

Bright Light on the Veterinary Behavior Horizon 9

 in Dog Behavior Modification / Peaceable Paws / positive dog training / Travels with PPaws  tagged dog / dog trainer / dog training / Karen Overall / NAVC / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / positive training / seminar / Veterinian by

Every trainer I know can recount horror stories of veterinarians giving their clients bad training and behavior advice, and handling dogs inappropriately. You know: “Alpha-roll your puppy to show him you are dominant” “Don’t take your pup anywhere until after he’s 6 months old and has had all his shots” Techs and vets forcibly restraining a violently resisting dog in order to trim nails or draw blood (To be fair, I’m sure veterinarians have equally horrifying stories of trainers inappropriately giving veterinary advice, but that’s grist for another blog.) The good news is that a growing number of veterinarians are […]

Animal CSI Forensics and Dr. Melinda Merck 5

 in Animal Cruelty / Peaceable Paws / Travels with PPaws  tagged Animal Cruelty / animal forensics / ASPCA / Dr. Melinda Merck / Pat Miller / University of Florida by

Animal forensics DVM Melinda Merck’s rising star has recently taken a meteoric crash as a result of a couple of very high-profile animal cruelty cases gone wrong. There have been a lot of blogs and articles accusing her of either jumping recklessly to conclusions, or deliberately misconstruing forensic evidence in order to seek convictions against alleged animal abusers. Merck is director of veterinary forensic sciences for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She also co-founded a widely-hailed veterinary forensic science training program at the University of Florida. As one of the country’s most prominent forensic veterinarians, […]

The Chronicles of Narnia 2

 in Animal Training / Dog Behavior Modification / dog trainer / Peaceable Paws / positive dog training / Travels with PPaws  tagged Chicago / dog / dog trainer / dog training / Narnia / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / Reactive Rover / seminar / Sturgis by

No Lion, no Witch, no Wardrobe, just a wonderful weekend with some of the nicest hosts I’ve ever had the privilege of spending time with. They took me out for delicious dinners both Saturday and Sunday evenings, and we laughed so much my stomach hurt. The trip started on my favorite plane with my favorite airline (Cape Air) out of my favorite airport (Hagerstown, MD). I was the only passenger on the 8-seater propeller plane – I love the feeling of having my own private airplane – and it sure beats driving to the Baltimore airport in rush-hour traffic.   […]

Contest Winner Announcement(!) and Level 1 Academy 3

 in Academies / clicker training / contest / dog trainer / Peaceable Paws / positive dog training / Travels with PPaws  tagged clicker training / contest / dog / dog trainer / Dog Trainer Academy / dog training / Humane Society of Washington County / Level 1 Training Academy / Marin humane Society / motorcycle / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / positive training / shelter by

Exhausted after completing our last Level 1 Academy for the year… so why am I up at 5am on a Sunday morning? Well, clocks turned back at 2am this morning, so it’s really 6am and my internal clock just doesn’t get the message that fast. And besides, there are horses and dogs to feed, a dog-hike on the schedule, and blogs and articles to write. Not to mention laundry to do. Might as well get up instead of lying in bed trying to convince myself to sleep in another hour… Had a great week with a terrific group of dog […]

CONTEST: Where in the World is Pat Miller? 5

 in Academies / Animal Training / contest / dog trainer / Dog training classes / Dog Training Workshop / positive dog training / Travels with PPaws  tagged contest / dog / dog trainer / Dog Trainer Academy / dog training / Dog Training Workshop / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / positive training by

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 […]

From the Back of the Bike 10

 in Travels with PPaws  tagged dog / Harley / motorcycle / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / shelter by

I hope you’ll excuse a blog that has little to do with dog training this week. We just got home from vacation – where I spent the last eight days and 1,840 miles on the back of Paul’s Harley. Yes friends, if you weren’t already aware, this dog trainer/behavior consultant is also a biker chick. So, I fully intended to keep a daily journal so this blog would be a quick bit of editing and push-the-button done, but of course that didn’t happen. My intentions got soggy the first day and never quite dried out. Of course, I always take […]

All That Is Necessary 7

 in Animal Training / dog trainer / Dog Training Workshop / Travels with PPaws  tagged Bark / Cesar Millan / dog / dog trainer / dog training / Dog Training Workshop / Dog Whisperer / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / Premier by

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” This quote, often attributed (perhaps incorrectly) to Irish political philosopher Edmond Burke, is at the heart of the debate between many otherwise philosophically aligned positive reinforcement trainers. Do we speak our hearts about the atrocities committed by TV personality Cesar Millan in the name of “dog psychology” or do we simply commend his success in encouraging more people to seek help for their dog’s inappropriate behaviors as we work to repair the damage done to some or our canine clients whose humans have tried […]

PEACEABLE PATHWAYS: BACK TO THE FUTURE 1

 in Animal Shelters / Travels with PPaws  tagged dog / dog trainer / dog training / Humane Society of Washington County / Pat Miller / Peaceable Paws / seminar / shelter / Wisconsin by

I’m back home from an excellent seminar experience in Brookfield, Wisconsin, with 60+ (sold out!) attendees for a day-long discussion of dog body language and behavior. A well-educated, very positive and responsive group, who actively participated, asked great questions, and bought lots of Pat Miller books and videos – thank you!!! A huge thanks to AWARE for hosting me, and especially to Holly Lewis for making all the arrangements and playing very gracious tour guide on Sunday (more about that in a moment). I even got to see some of my Facebook friends: Crystal and Renea introduced themselves – it […]