For years I looked at prong collars with suspicion and disapproval. I knew they were bad. I looked at the people using them. They weren’t awful people. You could see they meant well. How could they be so wrong about the well being of their dog? Now, I understand that my herm sprenger round tip prong collars are the most brilliant and humane devices I could put on a dog. I would say 90% of the dogs I see in the hood who, from afar, look the happiest, the most engaged with thei

You ever have one of those dreams where you can’t get anywhere? You walk, but you don’t move. You’re trying to catch your plane, but you keep getting stopped on your way to the gate. You get hopelessly lost on streets you know well. That was a recent Sunday for me. I had come to the realization that my dog, Charlie, his training was stalled. He needed more challenge from his surroundings. For instance, he knew to stay in place when I directed him to, but we’d mostly done th

Ugh, my dog wants to sleep on top of me in bed. Here’s the thing, I love that. It makes my morning. Well, it makes my morning stall out a little too. It makes me burrow down into my blankets. It makes my eyes roll back into sleep mode. It makes time disappear. It makes the next indulgence a little easier. It also makes Charlie, my dog, a bit of a baby. I mean the dude’s connected to me by an invisible umbilical cord at all times. If he could, he’d be carried in a sling acros