Our Blog
Dog Barking at the Doorbell: How to Keep Your Dog Calm on Halloween Night
Quick answer: Dogs bark at the doorbell because they’ve learned it means someone is arriving, or something exciting is about to happen (like pizza delivery!). Halloween turns one ring into dozens, with strangers in costumes added. To reduce the barking, start weeks...
Canadian Thanksgiving Dog Training Tips: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Dog for Guests
Quick answer: To prepare your dog for Canadian Thanksgiving, practise calm door manners before the day, decide how greetings will happen, manage access to food and garbage, schedule exercise followed by real rest, and give your dog a quiet space when they've had...
You May Know More Than You Think: When Are You Ready to Become a Professional Dog Trainer?
By the time I decided to leave the competition world and start training pet dogs, I'd spent nearly twenty years training my own Labrador Retrievers, earned numerous Field Trial Championship titles, and travelled extensively to compete and learn from some of the best...
Socializing Your Puppy: Building Confidence on the Street
Taking your puppy for a walk isn't just about exercise. In fact, with a young puppy, exercise is probably one of the least interesting things happening. The street is an entire classroom. Cars go past. People appear from driveways. Garbage cans weren't there...
Back to School With a Puppy: How to Prevent Separation Problems When the Routine Changes
If you brought home a puppy this summer, September can come as a bit of a shock. Not necessarily for you. For the puppy. During June, July and August, life may have been pretty wonderful from your puppy's point of view. Kids were home. Vacations happened. People came...
National Dog Day: Celebrating Dogs by Becoming Better Owners
Every August 26, social media fills up with dog photos, bandanas, and "best day ever" captions. That's fine — dogs deserve the attention. But according to Ontario dog trainer Karen Laws, National Dog Day is a good excuse to ask a better question: are you actually...
The September Back-to-School Puppy Problem: Why Every Puppy Should Master Independence Before the Household Routine Changes
Quick answer: Puppies raised through summer or during busy holiday seasons often get near-constant human company. Then September hits, or the holiday season ends. Schedules snap back to normal, and the puppy who's never practiced being alone starts showing it: barking...
Puppy Training Progress: What Real Results Look Like, Day and Night (Tala’s story)
Quick answer: Real puppy training progress isn't a puppy that knows 20 commands — it's a puppy that waits at doors, doesn’t jump up when excited, settles without a fuss, sleeps through the night in a crate, and can recover after getting overstimulated. This is what...
Puppy Training: The 3 Things That Matter Most in the First Few Months
Bringing home a puppy is exciting. It’s also noisy, messy, exhausting, occasionally ridiculous, and often a very quick reminder that puppies do not arrive with an operating manual. One minute they’re sleeping peacefully. The next, they’re chewing the table leg, peeing...
Is Your Dog Really Protected Against the Migrating Tick Invasion of 2026?
Ticks are no longer a problem limited to a few wooded areas or an occasional spring hike. Across Canada and the United States, ticks are being found in more places, remaining active for longer periods and exposing dogs to several potentially serious diseases. For...
Dog Overheating and Wildfire Smoke in Ontario: What Every Owner Should Know
Ontario summers now bring more than heat. In July 2026, wildfire smoke once again spread across parts of the province, changing the air quality from hour to hour. The clear sky you see at breakfast might not match the smoky air by supper. Most owners check the...
When Your Dog Meets a Porcupine: What to Do, What Not to Do, and How to Prevent It
Porcupines are not looking for a fight. Unfortunately, some dogs interpret a slow-moving woodland animal as an invitation to conduct a full investigation—with their face. The porcupine usually objects. The result can be dozens, or even hundreds, of quills embedded in...
Ontario Dog Trainer
Copyright © 2022 Ontario Dog Trainer.
