Author Archives: RogerGafke

Wounded vet turns to dog training as transition from military to civilian life. Now he’s planning to expand his year-old training school. First connected to dogs who were in a K9 unit assigned to his own platoon in Iraq.

In this blog, the photographer suggests getting our dog used to having a camera pointed at him/her by picking it up while the dog is on a sit or down and rewarding the stay.  She says the dog will become eager with a happy face over time and that will produce a better picture.

Sara Purewall provides an overview of 7 apps for various aspects of dog training from logging potty training to teaching tricks.  She concludes while she wishes they would substitute for actually training — they don’t replace that effort, just supplement it.

Just as human vets need new opportunities when they return from war, so do their canine partners.  Here is a Washington Post story about the transition to police work.  Story also deals with  some difficulties in the transition.

The department’s K9 carries a high tech camera into suspicious situations reducing the threat to officers.  The dog’s trainer acknowledges the higher risk to his canine partner.

Here is a good summary of the military service related disorder, the attempts to deal with it through medication, counseling and group work – and increasingly with the help of service dogs.

Gun- and drug-detecting dog patrols the hall of an Ohio High School.  Could the dog reduce or avoid violence – Test underway.

An Alabama therapist recounts how her own dog helped her cope with pain and depression.

Dog trainer and behaviorist, Nicole Wilde, offers thoughtful discussion of the problems of using a heavy hand in dog training even for a potentially aggressive dog. She draws on her experience with wolf training.

Here’s a cute Reading to Rover pictures from Ohio.  Young student appears to show the dog the pictures of the story she’s reading — Maybe early signs of a wise, skillful teacher being developed?