Bark City Doggy Daycare

Dogs do not become aggressive overnight. There are always signs, though sometimes they can be subtle. In addition, understanding a dog's puppyhood plays a key into the temperament of their adult life. If your puppy has not been properly socialized or has a had a rough childhood, these could be factors that put your dog into a higher risk of being aggressive. Dogs act aggressive when they are in an uncomfortable situation with no route of escape. A dog's mouth is the equivalent to a human hand. We human's use our hands to express language: We hug, we tickle, we talk with hand gestures and we even punch. Dog's do the same. If a dog is in an uncomfortable situation and their fear or frustration becomes overwhelming, they will bite if they cannot find or have not been taught an alternative way to soothe themselves. As a dog's human companion, it's our responsibility to recognize our four-legged friend's language when they are telling us they are uncomfort...

In the past, I have written about choosing a pure bred vs. a shelter dog , how to choose a shelter dog and how to choose a dog breeder . But, I have yet to write in  more detail about dog breed personalities and traits. I am not saying that every individual dog of a specific breed is basically a clone of another of the same breed. As all dog owners know, individual dogs will have their own quirky personality specifically for them. What I am saying is that when choosing a dog breed, you must know historically why that dog was bred. Once you have that gem of knowledge, understanding why your dog does what it does will help you ease a lot of training frustrations. After all, some things may just be a bit more hardwired into your dog than you think. There are seven main dog breed groups in the dog world: Herding, Hound, Sporting, Terrier, Toy, Working and "non-working" (Basically, anything that doesn't fit into a nice tidy category). I provided examples of breeds for ea...

I've already written about 8 Things That Drive Your Dog Crazy , Top Ten Rules For Children Around Dogs and Why Socializing Your Dog With Other Dogs is Important . All of these are important topics to raising a well-rounded, balanced dog. But, one topic I have yet to write about are human behaviors that are downright ruining the dog. There are many of these behaviors, but I will just focus on the five most prevalent: Yelling at an aggressive / barking dog : This just doesn't work, because your dog doesn't speak human. Dogs that are barking excitedly or fearfully are stressed out. When you yell at them while they are barking, you are just adding to the stress which ultimately leads to more barking. They basically think, "Oh, hey! Now I have my human barking too! Yes!" A better idea is to distract your dog from whatever is causing the barking with their favorite game. OR, even better, teach your dog how to bark on command. I know this seems counter intuitive, ...