Taryn Blyth

On just about every post concerning puppy socialisation these days, you will find comments or advice such as, “remember that socialisation means teaching your dog to be neutral about people and dogs – it doesn’t mean encouraging them to interact.” These comments have started to really bother me, as I don’t think they reflect the reality of how living creatures respond to the world around them and set impossible requirements for dogs, especially for young puppies. I sometimes

The use of antidepressant type medications for treating behaviour problems in dogs seems to be increasing significantly. It is quite common now to come across people asking for help with their dogs’ behaviour and to find that the dogs have already been prescribed an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or TCA (tricyclic antidepressant). Even puppies as young as 3-4 months are apparently being prescribed these drugs quite readily by some vets. On the other hand, I hav

With the latest pit-bull related fatality in Cape Town, I have been contacted by numerous people asking for my thoughts about various statements and posts on the subject. I have written a few articles about Pit Bulls over the last 10 years, including an educational article that I wrote for the Pit Bull Federation last year. However, I wanted to add a few things in light of what has been said by various organizations and parties about this specific incident and the giant eleph

When I came back from a meeting last night, my husband relayed a conversation he had with someone from our neighbourhood on the beach...

There are many videos doing the rounds at the moment of people playing "catch the carrot" with their dogs. This "game" where a carrot (or...

I have delayed writing this post, because I think it is a bit of a minefield and I don’t really feel like being blown up with everything...

I was asked to write about this subject, as it is something that comes up fairly frequently in the South African context, where crime is...

A video that I saw a while ago is doing the rounds again on social media. I often just try and ignore these things, as the points made...

I have written several posts on why you cannot reinforce fear (because fear is an emotion, not a behaviour), but it really became very...

Whether it is a discussion about shock collars, citronella sprays, prong-collars, choke chain corrections, “bonking” a dog on the head...

You may have heard trainers talking about creating “optimism” in dogs through training and games. This may sound like a strange concept...

A while ago, on the support group page of a training course I was enrolled in, another trainer posted a question looking for advice about...

As the New Year gets underway, we have many enquiries coming in for classes for adolescent and adult dogs. It's really great that people...

Behaviour that is reinforced grows stronger. That's pretty much what we base training and behaviour modification on as positive...

For over 10 years we have been hanging our bathroom towels on the pipes sticking out of the geyser - simply because we had no towel hooks...

We always ask on our intake forms for both adult and puppy classes: What do you hope to get out of attending training? We ask this,...

How to set up your learner for success! 😊 How and where we deliver reinforcement makes a difference in the learning process and can help...

Something I read recently has been bothering me and I think it is important enough to address, even though it may be a confusing subject....

A client was asking me about another dog in the class they attend who is doing so well in training that it stands out obviously to anyone...

We are all learning all the time and our dogs can be great teachers if we are willing to listen. A while ago, Cruz ran into a sand dune...