The Academy Blog
Naughtiness in Dogs: Why They Do It & Why We Love It
Why does my dog… [insert naughty behavior here]? Trainers get asked this question all the time. I sometimes ruminate on this question, mostly as an indulgence. At the end of the day, why dogs do certain things is at best a guess. As trainers, we typically track their...
Nature Wins: Competence and Complexity in Behavior Modification
It’s time to stop blaming competent practitioners. Natural Remedy The other day, I read about a woman using bloodroot salve to try to heal suspected cancer on her nose. Her face sloughed off. Bloodroot, a plant native to North America, is touted for its medicinal...
Dog Pros and Dog Cons: Competence, Celebrity, and the Value of Kindness
Dogs. They’re magic, aren’t they? They’re magic to us two-legged beasts, at least. They’re sisters and brothers to the big bad wolf, but they’re content to sleep snuggled up on the couch with us as we watch a movie. They’re sleek and fast, or tiny and endearing, or...
Dig In: Summer Reading for Dog Lovers
We love books. And we love dogs. This summer has been...well, if not the summer of our discontent, certainly arduous and fraught. But being at home this much has given some of us the time and space to crack open a book, sit back in the patio chair and read,...
Sound Sensitivities and Unexpected Parameters: A Case Study from Academy Grad Kathryn Boccia
Graig and Ashley, an Army Corp engineer and a special education teacher, are in their mid-30s with two young sons, ages five and two. They live on a 27-acre lot in rural western New York. In February of 2009 Graig rescued two Malinois / Husky puppies living in a...
Staying The Course With A Nervous Nellie
by Toni Clarke, CTC “She’s afraid of the hall again,” my young client said, her voice tense. “And she’s also flinching when she hears the elevator. She’s regressing more and more!” “She” was Nellie, a 5-month-old Rottweiler mix who had been rescued from an abandoned...