> Is your puppy barking all night?

> Are you asking how to get your puppy to stop barking?

> Are you losing sleep because your puppy is keeping you up? 

> Or anything along these lines? 

Puppies sure are cute.

But...

When the barking starts, it can cause questions to arise...

- Was this a good idea?

- What have we gotten ourselves into?

- Will my pup ever stop? I don't think I can take this!

- How do I stop my puppy from barking!?

My wife and I recently brought home a new puppy, and we decided to call her Violet. 

Even though puppies barking and playing at the breeder's can be cute, it is not something that many want to bring home with them. Neither do we. Now, even though Violet is the quiet one out of the litter, we're not immune to barking. None the less, there's always the hope that the pup will be quiet. 

At the time, we lived in an apartment complex, and with her being the quiet one, we thought to ourselves, "This is perfect!...

Are you and your dog in a training “rip-current?”

If you’ve been to the beach, then you’ve probably walked past the rip-current warning signs. You don’t think much about them until your actually caught in one.

What is really crazy about a rip-current is that if you’re caught in one, you may not even realize it until your tired of swimming. If you swim against it, then you are doomed to swim until exhaustion sets in, and you have nothing left to give. If you recognize it early on, you can take immediate action and swim with the current (not against it) to safety.

A lot of times training your dog can be very similar. You are training and working hard and making progress. Then all of a sudden... It’s like you’ve hit a wall. You can’t seen to make any headway, and you start to become exhausted trying to make progress.

If this is you, then keep reading to learn what steps you can take that will allow you to get out of the...

At what age should my dog be learning each skill?

My dog perfectly performs this skill at home, but it's like he knows nothing when I go to a new spot. What do I do?

My dog was amazing at the trainer, but now, she acts like she doesn't know how to retrieve.

How do I know when my dog is ready to move on to the next skill?

You may be asking yourself some of these questions. Surprisingly, your dog doesn't need to learn a specific skill by a specific age. It needs to learn according to the 4 Phases of Learning. Think of these as dog training stages. These stages of learning will also answer questions on why your pup may do well in one place but not in another place. 

4 Phases of Learning

One of the key things we have learned since we began dog training is understanding what phase of learning our dog is in. To retrieve in any scenario, your dog will need to work through each phase of learning with each skill that you teach it. Knowing what phase our dog is in connects...