Behavior & Training

A crate calms some anxious dogs and stresses others. Here is how to test it, which crate types suit a chewer, and what to do if your dog panics inside.

Boots protect paws from salt and cold, but only when they fit and your dog tolerates them. Here is how to measure, test and introduce them.

Fluoxetine and clomipramine are FDA approved for canine separation anxiety, and a dexmedetomidine gel for noise aversion. Medication works alongside training, not instead of it.

An apartment dog goes from a quiet room to a hallway to an elevator to a lobby to a sidewalk in about ninety seconds. That is four environment changes and potentially four strangers, two dogs and a delivery cart, all before the walk has technically started. A dog in a house with a yard gets

There’s a specific sound a heavy chewer makes about ninety seconds after you hand over a new toy, and every owner of one knows it: the pop of a seam giving way. Then the slow, methodical work of extracting whatever is inside. You bought a toy. The dog received a puzzle with a solution, and

Pulling works, and that is the whole problem. A no-nonsense, gear-honest plan to teach loose-leash walking in a couple of weeks, even with a strong adult dog.

You sit down, the dog crosses the room and plants himself on your lap. Your partner sits down right beside you and gets nothing. Same dog, same couch, two completely different responses. It stings a little for the person being skipped, and it’s one of the most common questions dog owners quietly wonder about. The

Stand a Chihuahua next to a Great Dane and ask which one you’ll hear more of. Anyone who’s lived near both already knows. The little one wins, and it isn’t close. The interesting part is why, because the answer isn’t just “small dogs are yappy.” There’s wiring, history, and a fair amount of human habit

The mail carrier. A leaf. The neighbor’s cough through the wall. A small dog that barks at everything has decided the entire world needs commentary, and by the time most owners go looking for help, the habit is months deep. The good news is that “barks at everything” almost always breaks down into two or

Why doesn’t my dog bark? It is a question that worries a lot of owners, especially the ones used to a noisier dog. The short answer: it could be a naturally quiet personality, a health issue, past training, or something else entirely. The cause changes what you should do about it. Let’s walk through the

Open your eyes at 3 a.m. and find your dog watching you. It is unsettling the first few times. But that fixed gaze is rarely creepy once you know what sits behind it. Your dog is usually asking for something, guarding something, or just keeping tabs on the person who runs his whole world. Some

Bring home a five-pound puppy and the noise blindsides you. Within a week, most new owners are asking the same thing: why do small dogs bark so much? The short version we give people is “for attention.” Spend enough years training dogs, though, and you learn it’s rarely that tidy. Here’s the full picture. Small