How To Train Your Dog With Love And Science - Dog Training with Annie Grossman, School For The Dogs

At School For The Dogs, we are very picky about products we recommend:  We try to guide our clients towards products that we feel really work well and are made by US-based, sustainability-minded small businesses. North Carolina-based business 2 Hounds Designs ticks all the boxes. In particular, we are big fans of their Freedom Harness. It is one of only two harnesses that we sell in our Manhattan shop and in our online store. This innovative "no-pull" front-clip harness is one of the best selling items in our shop, and for good reason: it helps dogs learn to stop pulling! Annie interviews 2 Hounds' president, Alisha Navarro, who stumbled upon a little-known harness design nearly 18 years ago, purchased the patent, and now has a factory and 40+ employees who are working to keep up with ever-increasing demand for it. Annie and Alisha discuss why the harness works so well, the design's origins, its diehard fans, how the manufacturing side of the business was impacted by the coronavirus,  and more.  For a limited time, get 10% all 2 Hounds Design products at StoreForTheDogs.com using code ALISHA.  https://storeforthedogs.com/collections/2-hounds-design --- Partial Transcript: Alisha Navarro: I’m Alisha Navarro. And I’m the founder and president of 2 Hounds Design. Annie: And how would you describe what 2 Hounds Design is? Alisha: So we make dog colors, harnesses, and leashes. Our harness is a patented no-pull harness. It has a Swiss velvet lining, and it’s all made in the USA.  And our collars are pretty high end. We’re known for creating collars with our own ribbon designs. We also use some really high-end materials. Sometimes we’ll use home decoration materials, something that you would see in a luxury home. We’ll use that to put on collars. We’ve also taken wedding dresses apart and make collars out of them to match the bridal party. So we’ve done some really fun stuff on our collar side as well. Annie: So I discovered 2 Hounds because of the Freedom Harness. And so I’m really curious about that, but first I wanted to ask you, why is it called 2 Hounds? Alisha: 2 Hounds Design was named after my original two retired racing greyhounds, Iceman and Paradise. I adopted Paradise first in 2001, and I adopted Iceman in 2002, I believe. And then in 2003, I founded my company, and we were trying to come up with a name for it. And the company exists because of them, because I was selling collars for them. So we just named the company after them. Annie: So the Freedom No-Pull Harness is one of our best-selling items both in our online store and in our actual shop. And it is one of only two harnesses that we sell. And it’s definitely the harness that we recommend most. I love it for some reasons you already mentioned, for instance, I love that it has the velvet under the armpits. I love the front attachment. I was first made aware of this style of harness because of the Easy Walk harness, which is a similar harness, that I think is not as good actually.  But I’d love to hear the story of how you came to discover this kind of harness. I understand that you didn’t invent it. But you kind of well, tell me, I bet there’s a good story here. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

During the dark days of 2020, Annie has been self-medicating. Her drug of choice? Watching clips from old movie musicals she loved as a kid. It turns out that there are a lot of lessons about behavior in these films, and storylines that unwittingly relate to dog training. In this episode, Annie gives a dog-trainer’s-eye-view analysis of Mary Poppins, The Music Man, and the movie Annie.  See the full clips played in this episode when you join our new app: http://schoolforthedogs.com/community Mentioned in this episode:  Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin  https://amzn.to/2KkyXA8 --- Transcript: Annie: So there’s something that I think probably a lot of people who know me well, probably don’t even know about me, which is that I love old movie musicals. I grew up with a small skyscraper of VHS tapes balanced atop the TV of Judy Garland movies, Fred Astaire movies, Gene Kelly, Robert Preston. I would watch these movies — I’m trying to think of some of them, 42nd street, GiGi, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, the Easter Parade, Oklahoma. I would just watch these movies over and over. And so much of them I feel like are deeply ingrained in me. And really it sort of informed my early view of what the world was like, which is maybe why adulthood has actually been something of a disappointment. Like it turns out if you’re an unmarried woman in your thirties who loves books, that doesn’t mean that Robert Preston is going to come serenade you in the library while everyone does a choreographed jig around you. I think I kind of put my love of movie musicals aside for many years, you know, occasionally maybe going to one if there was something at the Film Forum.  But the existence of YouTube has really made it possible for me to occasionally dive in for an hour or two and watch some old favorite clips.  It’s like a drug. It just makes me so happy to see people singing and dancing and these old movies. And during these gray months of 2020, I have started watching some of my favorite old musicals with my daughter, who’s almost two. We have Disney Plus, which is a treasure trove. And I’ve made her some YouTube playlists that we work through of my favorite scenes from old musicals. And of course I can’t help myself from finding little dog training lessons and dog life parallels in, in my old favorite movies. So I thought I would share a few songs today and tell you how I’ve been thinking about them as it relates to dog stuff. I don’t think there are any majorly important dog training lessons in what I’m about to share, but maybe it will just be a little bit of fun to share my thought process with you. And of course, to share these joyous, joyous movie moments. I am going to post the full videos in our brand new app, which you should definitely check out. You can get there at schoolforthedogs.com/community. There is a section there specifically about the podcast and that is where I’m going to post the videos. So, first one that I want to share with you is from Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins was based on the PL Travers books and of course starred Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke. Two of my all time favorites, both of whom are still alive, fortunately. Julie Andrews, this was the first time she played an amazing babysitter. The second time being in the Sound of Music, which came a few years later. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Shari asks:  "A few months ago we had to put our beloved 17 year old dog Lola to sleep. A few months later, when a friend of mine who runs a shelter got a litter of lab puppies, she invited me to come play with them. Not surprisingly, I came home with Jasper, a now 4 month old chocolate lab. Already 50 lbs, Jasper is a big handful. We adore him and we're doing our best at training him, but we have a crazy busy household with three young children, two cats and two adults working very full time jobs from home.  To be honest, we're feeling really overwhelmed about training him properly. Would you recommend a board and train program to help give us a leg up?"  Annie talks about the cons of board-and-trains, and suggests a couple of alternatives.  --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hello, Annie here. Thanks for joining me. This is my first experiment with going live in our brand new app, which you can find by going to Schoolforthedogs.com/community, or look up School for the Dogs Community in iTunes. It’s pretty great. I’m pretty excited about it. And one cool feature is that I can do this in the app. If you’re able to tune in, say hi, love to see if this is working. You can also join these little Q and A sections online at schoolforthedogs.com/Qanda. And you can ask a question in advance at anniegrossman.com/ask. Okay. Today I have a question from my friend Shari. I actually worked with Shari on Too Cute the Animal Planet show. She was a producer there and I was an associate producer and sort of the resident dog nerd animal trainer. It was a great job for me for about a year. I did it about 10 years ago. Anyway Shari writes: A few months ago, we had to put our beloved 17 year old dog to sleep, Lola.  A few months later, when a friend of mine who runs a shelter got a litter of Lab puppies, she invited me to come play with them. Not surprisingly, I came home with Jasper, a now four month old chocolate lab, already 50 pounds. Jasper is a big handful. We adore him and we’re doing our best at training him, but we have a crazy busy household with three young children, two cats, and two adults working very full-time jobs from home. To be honest, we’re feeling really overwhelmed about training him properly.   Would you recommend a board and train program to help give us a leg up? So I think Shari is in a very understandable position that I think probably a lot of people are finding themselves in right now.  A lot of people have gotten puppies during the pandemic, which is a great thing for a million reasons, but also I’m sure is posing a lot of challenges that are somewhat unexpected. Especially since a lot of people probably didn’t expect that they would have to continue trying to work from home with kids and maybe didn’t factor in what it would mean to have a puppy in that equation as well. My response to Shari is to think twice, though, before jumping to doing a board and train. I get the appeal of a board and train it as far as like what one imagines. It might be, I’m going to send my dog to some perfect person, perfect place, and my dog is going to come back with all the work done for me, and everything’s going to be easy. And all that stands between me and this is money. However, I think that it very rarely works out that way. Full transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Amos Grossman Pedicone died on November 3, 2020. He was 15.5-years old, and lived with Annie Grossman since his puppyhood. He was a black Yorkiepoo who enjoyed playing fetch in the ocean, swimming in fountains, and learning new tricks -- sometimes pretty fabulous ones. But this episode isn't about his accomplishments, or about his braininess or cuteness. It's about death as part of dog ownership, and about how dog ownership can be part of a person's self-care. It's about how people can love a dog that doesn't belong to them. It's about how training can help us be able to enjoy our dogs and spend more time with them, and can help them be happy to be in the role of being the objects of our affection. It's also about how dogs are the opposite of death and heartbreak. But mostly, it's about Amos. He will be missed.  Join the School For The Dogs Community app! On the web: http://schoolforthedogs.com/commumity On iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1355439730 In Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.disciplemedia.schoolfordogs --- Partial Transcript: Annie: So my dog died a month ago on November 3rd, Election Day. And I have been attempting to record this episode for the last few weeks, but it’s been hard to get myself to sit down and do it.  To sit alone in a room and talk about losing my dog best friend over the last 15 and a half years, you know? And it’s not like I have to race cause someone else is going to scoop the story. It’s not like I have an editor breathing down my neck. I mean, I could just choose to not record a podcast episode about losing my dog. But this is a podcast about living with dogs, loving dogs, teaching dogs, learning from dogs. And unfortunately death is part of pet ownership. So I sort of feel like I would be chickening out if I neglected to talk about this part of my experience of this relationship. Also, this is School for the Dogs Podcast, of course, and Amos was a big part of how School for the Dogs came to be in existence. You know, some people I know have become dog trainers because they were really interested often from an early age in animal behavior in general, and dogs are a relatively easy animal to focus on if you’re interested in animal behavior, since you can study them and work with them without having to go scuba diving or camping out in a tree. I know quite a few dog trainers who consider themselves, I think animal trainers first, dog trainer second. And I also know a lot of people who got into dog training because they had a really difficult dog. But I don’t think I fit into either of those two categories for me. I think my dog training life started with a love of dogs in general and then a great love for one dog in particular. I didn’t become a dog trainer to change Amos in any way. I became a dog trainer because I wanted to figure out how to be a better person to my dog, how I could spend more time with him. I think I mentioned this in an early episode of the podcast, but I went through this real soul searching period during the last major economic downturn, like in 2008, 2009, 2010, where I was really thinking hard about how I could make a living doing something different than I had been doing. And I spent a lot of time with Amos in the dog park, writing lists of things I liked and things I could imagine spending my time doing. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays. Sign up for the next one at schoolforthedogs.com/qanda. Have a question? Visit AnnieGrossman.com/ask or upload a recording at anchor.fm/dogs. In this episode, Annie talks about using a crate with a new dog. Among the questions answered: Where should you put a crate? What kind of crate should you get? Do you have to use a crate? How can a crate help with housetraining? What can you put in a crate? How can you get a dog to like being in a crate? What work-to-eat toys work in a crate? Can a dog be alone in a crate right away? Should you cover a crate? What training exercises can make a dog enjoy being in a crate? What behaviors can you teach in a crate? Mentioned in this episode: Slow Food Bowls https://storeforthedogs.com/collections/dog-bowls-and-treat-dispensers Revol Dog Crate https://storeforthedogs.com/products/the-revol-dog-crate Revol Crate Cover https://storeforthedogs.com/products/revol-crate-cover Groov Training Aid https://storeforthedogs.com/products/groov-training-aid Lickable Treats https://storeforthedogs.com/collections/lickable-and-spreadable-treats?sort_by=best-selling Susan Garrett's Crate Games  https://amzn.to/3lCYnpK --- Partial Transcript: Annie: I have been getting a lot of questions about crate training. A lot of people getting dogs this year, which is pretty cool.  The upside of global pandemic seems to be that people bring dogs into their homes.  Who knew that that would be a silver lining. And crate is often one of the first things that people purchase right when they’re getting a dog.  I think sometimes people get confused about how to use it, why they should use it or not use it.   So I want to just sort of talk to y’all about the way I think about a crate. A crate is, of course, a great management tool. The three pillars of the dog training triad — management, timing and rewards.  Management is all about setting the stage, setting a stage where our dogs are going to perform in ways we are going to be likely to like, and are not going to have a chance to do a lot of the stuff we might not want them to do. I think particularly a crate can be a very good management tool for house training. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Meet Liz Zarro, a young designer at Oregon-based dog gear company, Ruffwear, which specializes in making products that help dogs and humans have outdoor adventures together. Liz and Annie discuss how Ruffwear's innovative products are developed, the thinking that goes into designing gear meant to please both dogs and humans, and how the products we use can affect how dogs are trained.  You'll learn about the though process behind everything from treat pouches to dog seatbelts and more. This episode contains an Easter egg:  a 25% discount on all Ruffwear products from now through 11:59PM ET on Monday 11/30.  Find all the Ruffwear products mentioned in this episode, and more, at StoreForTheDogs.com! Follow Liz Zarro on Instagram: @liz_zarro Take Annie's Master Class and get a free e-book on the three keys to dog training success! http://anniegrossman.com/masterclass --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Liz Zarro: My name is Liz Zarro, and I’m a product designer and developer at Ruffwear in Bend Oregon.  Ruffwear is an outdoor dog gear company. We basically design and develop the items that you would need to take your dog out on adventures with you and enable those outdoor pursuits. So things like dog boots, harnesses, backpacks, we kind of specialize in that area. Annie: And you studied in Bend, right? Isn’t Ruffwear in Bend. Am I right? Liz: Yes. Ruffwear is in Bend. Annie: And when you were going to school there in Oregon then, was Ruffwear kind of a spot that you thought, wow, that would be a great place to work as a dog lover and designer? Liz: Yes, I did. Yeah. When I was in college, actually, I sent an email to Ruffwear to see if they needed an intern or any extra help on their design team. And at that time I got an email back that was basically saying that at this time we don’t really need any help in that area. But fast forward a few years, after I had graduated and I was working as a freelancer. Ruffwear came back, and they did need a little extra help. And so I was able to freelance with their team, before I was offered a full-time job, and being able to move to Bend and join the team to make great performance dog gear. That was definitely like a dream come true, Annie: Ruffwear as a brand, it sells at REI. Do you think that’s how a lot of people discover it? Liz: I do. I think that, who I would consider our sort of core base, so outdoor and dog lovers, that sort of cross section.  To me, that’s a total REI customer.  For those people shopping at REI for other things, and then seeing Ruffwear, I think that is a big way that we become known. Annie: Yeah, it’s interesting because REI doesn’t carry a whole lot of pet gear. So it’s like the gear that they do carry, I guess, seems like it would have some kind of great stamp of approval on it.  Because like I was saying, you know, you guys have huge fans, we carry it at my online store, storeforthedogs.com. We carry a lot of different brands and I don’t think any sort of thing, any specific brand has as big of a fan group. Have, have you, have you experienced the Ruffwear fandom? Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

This bonus episode is a recording of an Instagram Live Annie did, which can be seen here. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CH8i617n2mi/ The treats discussed here are main ones trainers use at School For The Dogs. They are:  Happy Howies food rolls Carnivore Crunch by Stella + Chewy's Crumps Freeze Dried Beef  Lamb Lung  Tricky Trainers  You can find them all at StoreForTheDogs.com  https://storeforthedogs.com/collections/go-to-treats --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hey, this is a recording of an Instagram live I just did about five of our go-to brands of dog treats at School for the Dogs.  The first minute or two didn’t record. But the first treat I am talking about is Lamb Lung. We have our house brand of lamb lung. And a listener wrote in and suggested that I would have a good voice for a ASMR. So I attempted to talk about lamb lung in my best whispery, breathy voice. [whispering:] I never thought I would think so much about the lungs of lamb. It’s really a disgusting thing. When you think too much about the lamb lungs that are enjoyed by our dogs, but at least one of these animals is having a good life. I don’t know about the poor lambs. It makes me quite sad.  Which it actually is one of the reasons why we started carrying a lot of vegan treats at School for the Dogs, because I think it’s actually a good idea to feed your dog vegan food, because it means fewer dead lambs, but that said the dogs do like the lamb lung. [whispering:] So this is the lamb lung that we carry. It’s our house brand. [crinkling plastic sound] Oh, it’s a crinkly noise to go with the whisper noise.  So many good noises. So I like it cause it breaks up into really, really small bits.  Really small, and they’re not greasy. And the dogs love them. [whispering:] So when I'm using a clicker, I will often have the treats and the clicker all together in one hand. And I will either have the lamb lung in small pieces, or I'll have one big piece, and then click, give a treat.  You can like break off a treat while you like click and then just break off a little bit. So lamb lung is a real go-to at . [speaking] Oh my God, I don't think I can keep doing it. Doing the whisper is going to hurt my voice too much.  [laughs] God, those whispering people on the internet have a lot of stamina. Okay.  The second treat today is tricky trainers. We carry these in a bunch of different flavors kind of butter, cheddar cheese. This one is liver. I think liver is probably our most popular, and these are like the err dog treat. I think they're great. There's a couple of dog treats that come in, kind of brands that have treats in this kind of shape and size is like pencil eraser type treat size. It's great. Cause you can break one of these up into like one, two, three, four, right? I think I've got six pieces here. They're super low calorie.  They’re three, three calories per treat. And like I said, one of these treats is really basically like 6 treats. So that's half a calorie per treat. They're made by Cloud Star, which is a small company in Missouri. You've probably seen their stickers. They have the slogan Wag more bark less. They make stickers that people put on their cars and whatever. Anyway, I'm a big fan of wheat and corn free Tricky Trainers. And look how cute is their little logo. It's a dog riding a bicycle. I love it. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Sasha Prasad moved to New York City with her three rescue dogs last year in order to get a masters degree in Animal Behavior and Conservation from Hunter. She began working at School For The Dogs right away, and has been with us ever since, doing everything from walking to client relations to social media. Her passion is helping all animals live happier lives; dogs are just one of the creatures she wants to work with. She and Annie discuss how she built her own dog walking company, Freedom Tails, in Boston, her shelter-based education in dog behavior, and her current work: researching how to make koi fish live happier, more enriched lives.  Learn more about Sasha at http://SashaPrasad.com Articles by Dr. Becca Franks: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zBb257kAAAAJ&hl=en --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Annie: So I think I’ve said this before and I don’t want to sound self-congratulatory, but I have to say Kate and I have really great people working for us at School for the Dogs. I am. So just thrilled, thrilled to have a team of people who have these special talents and interests. I’m thrilled to have these people working towards the same goal altogether under the School for the Dogs umbrella.  The goal of helping dogs and people live happier lives together. And I feel especially I don’t know, sort of sappy about it. I think just because this has been such a difficult year for pretty much everyone in the world. And one thing, one blessing, one silver lining has been that I feel like it’s brought our staff closer together and just made me all the more grateful. So today I am sharing with you a conversation I had with Sasha Prasad. Sasha has been with School for the Dogs for over a year now. But you maybe haven’t met her at the studio because especially lately, she does a lot of behind the scenes stuff. She does a lot of our Instagramming, the wonderful roundups we do on the weekend. And she also is the person who answers a lot of emails that come into our info box. But Sasha is an animal trainer in her own right. Currently working with fish, actually. So I’m excited to share this conversation she and I had. Annie: Hi. Sasha: Hello. The lighting where you are as beautiful. You are glowing. Annie: I’m right in the window. Sasha: Yeah, amazing. Annie: So I am psyched to get to talk to Sasha Prasad and to see your little dog there. Sasha: Yeah. Chloe is here, Lilo’s down here. Jackson will probably make himself heard at some point. So the gang’s all here. Annie: You’re a three dog, three dog household in New York City. Sasha: Yeah. Not on purpose, but here we are. So. Annie: Aw. And I know one of them, one of them has been in hospice care — at home hospice care. Is that right? Sasha: Yeah. It’s been a pretty wild ride. So Lilo, she’s 17. We brought her to the emergency vet sometime in late August and they told us she was in kidney failure and that she had a couple of days to a couple of weeks left. But here we are going on a month. Behaviorally, she’s a little slower and I have to do a lot more coaxing to get her to eat, but she’s eating full meals. She’s still doing the things that she likes to do. She’s going for walks. And so, I don’t know. We’re really grateful and we’re taking it one day at a time. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays. Sign up for the next one at http://schoolforthedogs.com/qanda. Have a question? Visit AnnieGrossman.com/ask or upload a recording at anchor.fm/dogs. In this episode: Annie talks about some of the awesome handmade products for sale at StoreForTheDogs.com and  answers questions about a young dog who "submissive pees" and bites the leash on walks.  She also talks about a friend who was receptive to Annie's dog training advice when it came to her kid throwing tantrums when it was time to get dressed.  Find all the items mentioned in this episode at StoreForTheDogs.com http://storeforthedogs.com/collections/handmade --- Partial Transcript: Annie: So today I thought I would show you guys some of the really cool handmade things that we sell at School for the Dogs as as a lot of you know we really try and have items that are, first of all, things that we really like that we recommend. We have like a pretty limited amount of space. So we want to fill it with things that we truly think are great. We also try and support other small businesses, particularly small local businesses. And we have quite a few people who make really lovely goods by hand, and I wanted to show you just a couple of them. These are all available at storeforthedogs.com and also in our East Village shop. This is a toy that just came in. It’s pretty hilarious.  I think it’s like a tomato with a baby tomato, I guess. I don’t know what’s going on here. It’s made by the company at the furry folks, we carry their whole line on our online store. But what’s cool about this is, you pull out the tiny, tiny baby tomato and this, I don’t know, yellow pulp stuff comes out, and you can hide treats in the pulpy part, in this like yellow fabric thing with holes in it. I’m trying to figure out how I would describe this to someone who can’t see it. It’s kind of like a big, weird stocking that comes out of this tomato. That’s like crackling. [crinkling sound] And we all know dogs like things that crackle.  It has this really sturdy fabric on the outside. So anyway, you put dry food, treats, kibble, whatever in the yellow pull-out part and then stuff it in here. If you have the kind of dog who really loves to pull things apart, really nice toy that comes in this very cute little like tomato style box, like you would see at green market. Also by DogNMat, is this sushi snuffle toy. I’m a big fan of this because I think it’s just so cute. it comes like this rolled up like a sushi, totally made of fleece, machine washable. You unroll it and it has like avocado in it. What is this? The egg stuff? I never liked that stuff in my sushi rolls.  Salmon. And, again, you just hide treats in the little bits here, roll it up, has a little Velcro closure, and you have a sushi snuffle roll! Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

When he wasn't revolutionizing the world of mid-20th century jazz music, Charles Mingus was home training his cat, Nightlife. Specifically, he was really into training Nightlife to go on the toilet. Indeed, he was something of an evangelist on the subject. Here, Annie reads from "The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat," his 1972 brochure that outlines a step-by-step process.  You can find the full text here https://www.charlesmingus.com/mingus/cat-traning-program?utm_content=buffer97a50 Train your own cat with a  modern invention: The Litter Kwitter https://litterkwitter.com/ Music: Full of Love from Album Stay Tonight, by Till Paradiso (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/till-paradiso/stay-tonight/full-of-love-tp-031mp3 --- Partial Transcript: Annie: There are two things I love that I rarely talk about on this podcast. One is cats. The other is jazz music. Well, that's all going to change today.  A few weeks ago in a Q and A I did, I mentioned this little known fact in the history of jazz, which is that jazz titan Charles Mingus was very interested in cat training. Specifically, he was interested in training cats to pee and poop on toilets, and he actually wrote a guide to how to do that. So today I thought I would just share with you a reading of this guide paired with some jazz music. Here is Charles Mingus is the Charles Mingus CAT-atalog for toilet training your cat. First, you must train your cat to use a homemade cardboard litter box if you have not already done so. If your box does not have a one-piece bottom, add a cardboard that fits inside so you have a false bottom that is smooth and strong.  This way the box will not become soggy and fall out at the bottom. The grocery store will have extra flat cardboards, which you can cut down to fit exactly inside your box. Be sure to use torn up newspaper, not kitty litter.  Stop using kitty litter. When the time comes, you cannot put sand in the toilet. Once your cat is trained to use a cardboard box, start moving the box around the room towards the bathroom. If the box is in a corner, move it a few feet from the corner, but not very noticeably. If you move it too far, he may go to the bathroom in the original.  Do it gradually. You've got to get him thinking, then he will gradually follow the box as you move it to the bathroom. If you already have it there, move it out of the bathroom, around, and then back.  He has to learn to follow it. If it is too close to the toilet to begin with, he will not follow it up onto the toilet seat. A cat will look for his box.  He smells it. Now as you move the box, also start cutting the brim of the box down, so the sides get lower. Do this gradually. Finally you reach the bathroom, and eventually the toilet itself. Then one day, prepare to put the box on top of the toilet. At each corner of the box, cut a little slash you can run string around the box through these slashes, and tie the box down to the toilet so it will fall off. Your cat will see it there and jump up to the box, which is now sitting on top of the toilet. Get the sides cut down to only an inch or so. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

If two dogs are playing, and you're unsure if your dog is into it, there is a simple "test" you can perform. The Bully Test, which was coined by Dr. Ian Dunbar, is a great way to tell how your dog feels about his or her playmate. Annie looks at how she herself behaved when faced with childhood mean girls, and how voters reacted when bullied by the Bully-In-Chief.  Also: Is "bully" an inherent quality in a dog? Or a kid? Is there a term that we could come up with that doesn't vilify one of two puppies when performing this "test?" And: Why you shouldn't expect dogs to just "working it out" during play. Lastly: Annie explains how to use FOMO to train dogs to love going in crates. Master Class: http://anniegrossman.com/masterclass   Community App Early Invite Signup: http://schoolforthedogs.com/podcastcommunity --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Annie: Here is a pretty simple thing that any dog owner can do if their dog is playing with another dog and they're not sure if both the dogs are enjoying themselves. What you do is you gently restrain whichever dog is the more outgoing, the more aggressive one. I think a lot of the time, in play with dogs, just like with kids, one person is the chaser.  Hold back, restrain in whatever gentle way you can, the more aggressive of the two dogs and see what the other dog does. If the dog comes right back and goes up to the dog, who's being restrained and is like, come on, I thought we were doing this. Then that dog probably was into it. Right? That dog was probably feeling good about that place session. If the dog goes to the other side of the room that tells you that that dog was most likely happy that he has the chance to take a break and that perhaps he was feeling bullied. This is called the bully test. I believe it was named, if maybe not also developed, by a Dr. Ian Dunbar, a trainer of great renown and also a veterinarian. It's such a simple thing. It makes so much sense. And if it can help you make sure that two dogs aren't enjoying playing with each other, there's really no downside. And by the way, the dog who is the possible bully -- if the dog who wasn't being restrained does take the chance to go to the other side of the room -- that does not mean that one dog is a bad dog. It just means that in that situation, maybe the intensity was too much. Maybe there’s a size difference between the two dogs that is making one of them uncomfortable. Maybe it has nothing — one dog might just be extra fearful for any reason, or no reason.  Could be mix-matched play styles. So this isn’t, you know, see which dog is the good dog and which is the bad dog. It’s just a way to diagnose the healthiness and the happiness of play that is happening. So I wanted to mention this because I think it’s a really easy tool to have in your dog training dog-owning toolbox to use with dogs who are off-leash. And I think off-leash play is very important for most dogs, much better than on leash play. But I also think one-on-one play is often the best kind of play. However, this technique could be used in a dog park situation too, or with more dogs. Another reason why I was thinking about the bully test recently and wanted to mention it was because I was going through some stuff in my mom’s basement recently. And I found a letter. I wrote it to my mom from summer camp when I was nine. And it was about this girl who I was in grade school with at that time. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays. Sign up for the next one at http://schoolforthedogs.com/qanda. Have a question? Visit AnnieGrossman.com/ask or upload a recording at anchor.fm/dogs. In this episode: A young labrador no longer wants to go to Fiesta Island with his walker. Is he being lazy? Peaches the Chihuahua doesn't understand why her human wants her to pee on the patio. Is it wise to get a second dog if a finicky dog seems more interesting in eating meals when other dogs are around?  --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hey everyone. This is a bonus Q and A Episode. I try and answer questions live every Thursday. You can sign up to come to my free live Q and A at schoolforthedogs.com/QandA and you will see the next one I’m doing. I then am trying to take recordings of those Q and A’s and post them here to the podcast feed. If you have a question, you can email me directly Annie@schoolforthedogs.com. You can also go to anchor.fm/dogs and record your question there. Thanks for being here. This is Annie Grossman here. I am doing a Live.  We had some technical difficulties, but you you can join now at schoolforthedogs.com/Qanda. Or you can just hang out here. I have some great questions here. We have Max and Melissa in the room with us right now. Max has a two year old standard poodle named Lolo. I’m not sure I met Lolo, but how is Lolo doing? Anyway thanks for sticking with me. There were some technical difficulties just now. But I have some great questions. I am not sure if those who ask these questions are in the room, but if you are, do say hello. All right. Our first question is from Michelle Adams who has a Labrador, 70 pounds, lives in San Diego. And Michelle writes me this: Hooper has been going to Fiesta Island, a large off-leash park where he can chase a ball and play with other dogs, for about three months now.  He has been going with a dog walker who also has other dogs. He absolutely loves Fiesta Island this week. This week he has decided he does not want to leave the house when they show up to take him.  He is home by himself and simply needs to go out the doggy door. Rather, he sits on the sofa and looks at them through the window. If they come into the house, he will go with them. He then has a blast while he is at the park, pictures to verify (I guess she’s saying they take pictures to verify this). The first time he refused to go, they asked him if he wanted a treat and he went right out the dog door.  The second time he refused to go, they again tried asking him if he wanted a treat and he still refused to go. They had to go into my home to take him. I am not certain if he is just being lazy, it’s not really his style. Or if I should listen to him and realize that he doesn’t want to go? Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Erin Whelan was a professional French Horn Player. Then she adopted a beagle mix named Oliver and enrolled him in Puppy Kindergarten at School For The Dogs. Then she did the School For The Dogs Professional Program. Now, she is a trainer and manager at School For The Dogs. Annie, who was once her dog trainer and is now her boss, is a big Erin Whelan fan.  Annie and Erin discuss switching careers, Cesar Millan's best book, what it means to teach dogs virtually, human body language, and more. Sign up for a session with Erin, at our studio or virtually, at https://www.schoolforthedogs.com/erin/     Sign up for our master class at http://anniegrossman.com/masterclass Get invited to our new community app at http://schoolforthedogs.com/podcastcommunity  The Like Switch https://amzn.to/2I5LVkl Cesar's Rules https://amzn.to/3p4hBrn --- Partial Transcript: Annie: If you work at School for the Dogs, you might, at some point be approached by our boss, with your boss, asking if you would be willing to be interviewed for the School for the Dogs podcast. In this scenario, I am the boss and the person I’m interviewing today is Erin Whelan. Erin started out with us as a client and ended up doing our professional program and is now a trainer and a manager with us. She is wonderful. I asked some of her coworkers to find adjectives to describe Erin. They said gregarious, honest, humble, fearless, compassionate, down to earth. Witty, Innovative, zealous.  Funny, loyal, team player, empathetic, warm, goofy, creative. I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with Erin. You can book a session with Erin, either at our studio or virtually at schoolforthedogs.com/Erin. [Intro and music] Annie: Hello. I am here with Erin Whelan. Did I say it right? Erin: You did. That’s very good. Annie: I know the H has to be sounded there. Erin: It doesn’t have to, but as long as it’s not wheelin, I’m happy. Annie: Whelan. And I am super psyched to be talking to you. I’ve known you for quite a while now, actually. Erin: Yeah it’s been over six years. Annie: So I, gosh, there’s so much to talk about, but why don’t you just kind of tell the story of how you ended up at School for the Dogs? And we can go from there. And actually, why don’t you start off by just explaining what you’re doing now at School for the Dogs, because you’ve been on both sides, the client and staff side, and you’ve worn a lot of hats on the staff side too, so. Erin: Well, yeah, so right now at the moment, I am both an associate trainer and interim day school manager at School for the Dogs. So I work at day school, puppy day school. I do private sessions for puppies and basic manners, adolescents, and day training. I also teach prep school and puppy kindergarten. Annie: Oh my goodness.  Describe what day school is for people who aren’t familiar. Erin: So for day school and puppy day school, those are drop-off training programs.  We have day schools for adult and adolescent dogs, and puppy day school. It’s in the name guys, it’s for puppies. And during both of those programs, the dogs go through some relaxation.  They have the opportunity to play with other dogs... Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays. Sign up at http://schoolforthedogs.com/qanda. Have a question? Visit AnnieGrossman.com/ask or upload a recording at anchor.fm/dogs. In this episode, Annie answers questions about how to deal with a young puppy who is scared to relieve himself outside when it is pouring, suggests how to keep dogs occupied inside, and discusses why dogs lift their legs when they pee, and more.  --- Partial Transcript: Annie: So I am going to be answering some questions. I have at least one that’s on my agenda. Hi Lily. Hi Yolanta. But I think I’m probably gonna keep this pretty short because I’m not feeling great, but I took an aspirin, and I had a drink.  [Laughs] And then I have another drink here that I’m sipping. So this isn’t a drinking problem, I have, it’s a drinking solution. Lily, where are you joining from? Yolanta as we know is in the borough of Staten Island. Yolanta, I’m curious, if you–last week we talked about you paying your neighbor to help you. I’m curious how that worked out. And I’m curious if you saw the movie The King of Staten Island.  Cause I thought it was kind of like a sweet ode to Staten Island, but then I wondered how actual Staten Island people felt. Oh, Lily is in Kips Bay. Well then we are neighbors. Okay, Lily, since you’re here and you’ve already asked me a question, let’s start with you. So Lily asked: My puppy is six months and hasn’t learned how to pee with his legs standing up. Will he ever learn? Great question. I don’t know. Some dogs are always going to prefer peeing in a squat. My dog, sometimes squats, sometimes lifts his leg. Some female dogs prefer lifting their leg to squatting. I think there will probably be a day where all of a sudden out of nowhere he’ll lift his leg and you’ll feel very proud, but I wouldn’t worry about it. I think that I think that one of the reasons, I don’t think I’m making this up. I think I’ve read about this, but I think one of the reasons we think dogs lift their leg is so that they appear bigger.  Isn’t that interesting. Like, you know, one reason probably why little dogs have big ferocious barks is because they want dogs that are far away to think they’re bigger than they are. And one way to make dogs who might never meet you think that you’re more ferocious and should be treated with respect is if they smell you, and they smell your pee way up there. I should also apologize. My husband is also on a call right now for work. He is helping wealthy kids get into expensive colleges in the other room.  So if you hear that in the background, apologies. So yeah, I wouldn’t worry if he isn’t lifting his leg, but I’m curious if maybe he will. I don’t remember when my dog started lifting his leg, but six, seven, eight months. It sounds like it might be happening. And then we have a question here that came in from Mary Jane who is in Concepcion, Chile. She has a dog named Kenny, a mixed breed about 30 pounds. And Mary Jane says: I am having trouble teaching my dog to wear a harness and collar. I put a plate with bits of chicken to lure her as soon as she puts her head through it and the harness rests on her neck, but then she backs off. She is very touch sensitive. We’ve been four months together, and just a month ago she allowed me to pet and touch her across her body. Full transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/podcast

Sit in on an initial virtual private dog training session with Annie Grossman and NYC resident Kari. Kari lives near School For The Dogs with an 8-month old Shepherd mix named Yoshi. Yoshi likes to jump on people when they're walking down the street, and he is quick to rollover on his back when people greet him. Annie gives Kari tips on keeping his attention while walking outside, suggests how to set up practice sessions with people approaching him, and gives Kari some fun and easy exercises she can work on with Yoshi in their home.  Book a private session: schoolforthedogs.com/services  - Get a free thirty minute private session when you purchase our Good Dog Training Course: schoolforthedogs.com/courses - Liquid Treat Dispenser: SchoolForTheDogs.com/ltd --- Partial Transcript: [Music] Annie: This is a recording of a private session we did with a client. You can book a virtual or in-person private session at schoolforthedogs.com. And for a limited time, you can get a free 30 minute virtual consult when you buy our Good Dog Training course available at schoolforthedogs.com/courses. The trainer in the session is me, Annie. The client is Carrie who lives in Manhattan with her adolescent rescue dog, Yoshi. Hi. Hi Kari. Nice to meet you. Kari: Hello. Hold on. Let me just adjust the volume. I don’t use zoom so I know nothing about this. Okay. Hi. Annie: Hi. So is this Yoshi? Kari Oh yeah. I gave him an antler to keep him busy, so he’s right behind me. Annie: Oh, yummy antler. Well, that sounds smart.  So tell me a little bit about how Yoshi came into your life and then let’s figure out how we can deal with… Doesn’t sound like you’re having major issues, but maybe a couple of things that we can improve upon. Kari: Okay. So we adopted him early August. He was an instant foster fail. Annie: And remind me, do you live in New York city? Kari: I’m literally three blocks south of School for the Dogs. Annie: Oh, awesome. Okay. Where did, where did you adopt him from? Kari: True North rescue.  So we’ve always wanted a dog for a long time, but I’ve never really pulled the trigger. I’d scroll Petfinder for a long time. We decided to, but you know, pandemic happened and I was home a lot and I’m like, I think it’s time. And we decided to foster at first because I wasn’t really sure or 100% ready to commit to a dog. So I said, let’s start fostering. The rescue that we got him from said that they were getting dogs from Puerto Rico. So that’s where he’s from. He’s from Puerto Rico. They flew him to Florida. He saw a vet there and then they loaded them to a truck and ended up in New York. So, I picked him out of a bunch of photos.  I knew nothing about him. He was six months when we got him and all they told me that he was a shepherd mix. We don’t really know what kind of mix he is. I don’t know if that matters. I wasn’t really keen on finding out right now. So we got him, he was six months. He didn’t really have any problems. apart from, of course within the first week he was sleeping a lot. He was probably really exhausted. And of course he was scared. I think he was more scared of us than anything else. So I had very little trouble. I didn’t even have to crate train him. He would go into his crate, no problem.  Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/podcast