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1 week ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies. I’ve been impressed by their optimism and commitment in taking on a dog who may live 10 or 15 or more years as well as their dedication to training and improving the dog’s behavior. And almost all of these clients bought a purebred puppy.
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2 weeks ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
I came to the dog world from the horse world. I mean, my family had dogs before we had backyard horses.
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2 weeks ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
The increasing number of glass-fronted freezers appearing in pet supply stores is a clear indication that frozen diets made of fresh, whole-food ingredients are increasingly popular with dog owners.
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3 weeks ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
A couple of days ago, I received a text from a dog-training client, wondering about a video she had just watched—and which she linked in the text. “Is meat meal bad for dogs?” she asked.
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
You’ve gone to the shelter, excited about the photos they posted on social media of a big litter of pups that look like just the kind you’ve been waiting for. It’s near closing time—you couldn’t get there until after you got off work!—and the shelter staff is clearly buttoning things up for the night. It turns out that the litter was popular; there are just two puppies left from which to choose! As you approach their pen, you see that the littermates are entwined in a small single dog bed.
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
In the past few days, I’ve exchanged dozens of texts and phone calls and one FaceTime session with a long-time friend regarding his dog Leroy. Stephen and his partner adopted Leroy from my local shelter in September 2011—and in the 13½ years since, we’ve probably exchanged hundreds of texts and emails and phone calls about the happy, clever little dog.
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
Whenever there is a high-profile dog attack, it seems everyone with a dog weighs in with their opinions about the dog, the dog’s origin, the owners, the specific situation, and the resolution of the event. People share their opinions, variously blaming each party (again, the dog, the place where the dog came from, the owners, the situation…), with almost no useful or accurate information about preventing or dealing with canine aggression resulting from the account or coverage of the event.
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
It’s a sad fact (but a fact nevertheless) that sometimes people adopt a dog or buy a puppy that turns out to quite unsuited for life with those people.
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
Mosquito Season
Grain-Free Diets
Best Family Dogs
Snuffle Mats
Separation Anxiety
Unhealthy Nails
Natural Pain Relief
Daily Training Tools
Crate Training for Pups
Ireversible Blindness
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1 month ago | 
whole-dog-journal.com | Nancy Kerns
I’m infamous among my friends and colleagues for asking people if they are aware that their dogs are overweight. It’s because I have seen firsthand how fat dogs suffer in their senior years when they are too heavy to exercise without pain! And their burden of carrying extra pounds makes the ordinary aches and pains of arthritis even worse. AND YET, I have to give myself a stern talking-to from time to time about helping my older dog stay trim.
