Revised April, 2020. Originally published 2015.
My dogs run agility hard, and agility can be hard on dogs. That’s what got me started in canine fitness. Since then I’ve developed canine fitness exercises to also maximize my dog’s performance in Master-level AKC Rally.
As many as one in five of American Dog Obedience Center clients ask about running with their dogs. It’s a trend gaining in popularity, evidenced by human distance running events that currently include divisions for people running with their dogs. (more…)
July 26, 2014 – By Kris Butler – Dogly behavior has become a popular Rx for affecting human behavior. In hospitals, treatment centers, schools, and in the midst of natural and man-made disasters all across the USA, something really important is happening. Therapy dogs are connecting with people in ways that enhance human healing, learning, self-awareness, and quality of life.
For every therapy dog, there must be a therapy dog handler. The experience of handling a therapy dog involves preparing one’s self and one’s dog to become the best therapy dog team you (both, together) can be. For both the dog and its handler, it’s an ongoing experience of “becoming.”
It’s important for anyone who aspires to become a therapy dog team with a dog to consider how you will prepare yourselves (plural – you and your dog) and how your human aspirations will affect your dog. (more…)
May 18, 2014 – By Kris Butler – Canine communication is perhaps the most important and the least understood dogly behavior. Dogs and people are different species, and so perceptions of socially acceptable behaviors differ, one from the other. Human families tend to limit identification of “inappropriate behaviors” to those dogly behaviors directed toward people, and easily overlook how human behaviors might really be interpreted by your dogs. A dog’s communication must be carefully considered, too, so you understand what your dog is expressing about interactions with its human family members and other people within broader family social circles. 
Part 1 of Self-Space & Expression – Interpreting Dogly Behavior will help you identify dogly behaviors you might have previously misunderstood or not even noticed. I challenge you to take this information and begin to “listen” to your dogs with fresh eyes. (Yes, that is exactly what I meant to write!)
May 18, 2014 – By Kris Butler – Specific behaviors that relate to canine communication and social space were described in Part 1 of this article. Here in Part 2 we’ll discuss why this information is so important to our relationships with our dogs.
It’s up to the human(s) within a dog’s family to advocate for the dog by interpreting and responding to the dog’s important communiqués. A person’s good intentions are not as important as how the dog is signaling s/he feels in the moment.
MAY 2, 2014 – By Kris Butler – It seems there are as many strong opinions out there about which dog foods are best to feed as there are opinions about which vehicles are best to drive. And, lately, the dog food companies advertise about as much as the car companies do. So how do you know what to believe? First, you can believe this article is promoting knowledge rather than any one product.
After making improvements to their dogs’ diets, people often notice differences in their dogs’ coats. We believe more subtle changes occur, beyond appearance. Not only are Team Butler’s canine athlete’s physical performance and stamina surely affected by eating food that is more beneficial to them, but we believe every dog’s mental focus and attention relate to diet as well. Consider the highs and lows (from hyper-active to crash) of human behaviors that result from sugar/glucose and carb-rich diets and how that might compare to canine behavior and performance.
May 2, 2014 – By Kris Butler – In Part 1 of (Dog) Food for Thought we introduced readers to information found on dog food labels so that you might empower yourselves to make food choices for your dogs based on content rather than hype.
In Part 2 of (Dog) Food for Thought readers will have the opportunity to compare and contrast a random sampling of commercial dog food ingredients – taken from the backs of the bags – so that you might be prepared to make your best decisions next time you shop for your dogs. (more…)
Dogs behave dogly – well – because they are dogs! That might seem like overstating the obvious, but it is challenging for most humans to understand canine behavior. In the past hundred years, the primary role for dogs in general has morphed from working for people (hunting, herding, protecting) to living with people as family members. It’s understandable that people today might tend to think of dogs’ behavior only in human terms, while their dogs continue to behave so perfectly dogly. (more…)