Hi all. Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. Mine was part "labor" and part "weekend" - with a deck stained and a full belly to show for it. I wanted to let those of you in my area (Portland, Maine) know that I'll be giving a brief presentation this evening at the South Portland Dog Owners Group meeting, which will be from 7:00-8:30 pm at the South Portland Community Center (21 Nelson Road). While my primary goal will just be to introduce people to Natural Dog Training (and this blog), I'd be delighted to meet some of you in person (and answer any questions that may be percolating). Additionally, I've been working on a course outline for a weekend Natural Dog Training seminar - if any of you would be interested in hosting such an event, let me know, and we can work out the details...especially if you're in a warm climate and you're thinking about a workshop in, say, January.
This week I'll be writing some more about aggression in dogs- in particular a way to deal with your excited (or aggressive) dog when you're out on a walk and you encounter another dog. We will come to rely on the technique of pushing quite a bit as we deal with these issues, so make sure you've had a chance to read that article and get in some practice with your dog. As you will see, once the push becomes reliable you will be able to use it in MANY situations with your dog, as it's a great way to rechannel their drive (their drive toward whatever it was they were about to do) into what you WANT them to do.
Over the course of September, I also hope to be gathering and editing a lot of video footage of various Natural Dog Training techniques. The videos probably won't be available until October, but I just wanted to let you know that they're coming - so keep an eye out!
Another reminder: tomorrow is the deadline for submissions for the first edition of my dog training blog carnival. If any of you have something you've written related to Dog Training and would like to be featured (and get some free promotion), send a link to your article my way!
Hope all's well with you, and Happy September!
