K9 in Focus Blog
Deb has LOTS of strong opinions, mainly about dog training, and this is where she shares them!
It’s Your Fault! Blaming the Victim
As soon as something bad happens to someone we humans begin the process of assigning blame. Whose fault is it? A very common psychological cognitive process is to blame the victim for their victimization. It’s their fault! Case closed. Blaming the victim makes...
Are You In The In Group?
Two really important things happened to me around 1992. First, I got access to the internet at home for the first time. That was actually a big thing for all of us! Second, through the internet I discovered that there was a group of people out there who felt and...
How Many Psychologists Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?
Just one, but the lightbulb has to really want to change. Why do people choose to train dogs the way they do? This question has intrigued me for decades. Back in the early 90s when I first discovered the world of competition obedience I closely observed the...
Come Closer or Run Away
Warning: I’m feeling old & cranky, and I know that the people who need to read & understand this won’t, so that’s annoying. But hey, it’s my blog post so I’m saying it anyway. I have been pondering the mess we have made of the language we use to describe...
Minimally Motivated
Heads up that this blog post is only marginally related to dog training. If that’s what you’re here for and you don’t care about my life choices then feel free to skip this one. I promise I won’t be offended. However, if you are around my age and thinking about...
The Only Constant is Change
Sometimes those old Greek philosophers like Heraclitus knew what they were talking about! While I don’t have the exact quote, I don’t think anyone does, I interpret his basic sentiment to mean that trying to hold on to things (people, places, physical objects, jobs,...
The Most Important Puppy Training Advice
I’ve learned many things over the course of my career as a dog trainer and my years raising probably a dozen puppies. And to distill it into a single sentence the most important piece of advice I’d give anyone is this: Always, always, always have cookies in your...
What’s in a Name? Everything!
It’s new puppy season! Every time I get a puppy I think to myself “this might be the last one” and Neo is no exception. But I’ve also learned to never say never about things like getting puppies and writing books. We get amnesia about the hard parts very quickly! ...