Get Dog Smart

A dog trainer can help you discourage unwanted behavior in your pet and encourage desirable behavior. They teach the basics: house-training, crate training, and correcting behaviors like digging, barking, chewing, jumping up on people and pulling on lead. Trainers generally don’t have medical knowledge or enough expertise to deal with serious behavior problems, but they […]

5 Reasons Why You Need to Train Your Dog Our dogs should bring us joy, companionship, and a sense of pride. But when a dog continually disobeys or exhibits behavioral issues, dealing with them can be a constant source of stress for both us and them. Making sure your dog is properly trained is the […]

January is National Train Your Dog Month! Training is a very important part of being a dog owner; it teaches discipline, provides mental stimulation and bonds the two of you. But we know training isn’t always as simple as snuggling up with your pup…it takes time and energy from both you and your dog. Thankfully you’re […]

The Top 5 Benefits of Having A Pet May is National Pet Month! While we celebrate pets every day, we’ll take any chance we can to talk about them. There are plenty of reasons to bring home a pet. Sure, they come with their own challenges just like anything good, but if you’ve ever owned […]

Are you considering a career as a dog trainer, but not sure if it’s a good fit? Here at the Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Training and Behavior, we’ve worked with thousands of dog trainers across the globe to help them build successful dog training businesses that help dogs and people live better together. We […]

Once you bring your new dog home, it’s smart to begin training immediately. But where should you start? What’s the best way to train a puppy? And how do you train an adult dog? There are a number of options for training your new pet. Whether you opt to train your puppy or dog yourself, […]

Psychological Benefit of Owning a Dog Anyone who owns a pet understands that there are many important benefits to that pet and owner relationship, and researchers have long known that there are some profound psychological advantages. Studies going back almost 30 years show that there are many physiological changes that occur when you interact with […]

There are lots of objectives when it comes to training your dog, but beyond the obvious skill and relationship-building aspects to training, another advantage is that it challenges your dog and ultimately makes them smarter. And who says it can’t be fun? Beyond basic obedience training, there are also plenty of fun games for dogs and interactive dog toys that […]

A pet is certainly a great friend. After a difficult day, pet owners quite literally feel the love. In fact, for nearly 25 years, research has shown that living with pets provides certain health benefits. Pets help lower blood pressure and lessen anxiety. They boost our immunity. They can even help you get dates. Allergy Fighters “The […]

After thousands of years of practice, you might think that training a dog would be a natural, almost intuitive, process for us humans. But, too often, we make honest errors in training that result in nagging misbehaviors and strained relations. Owing to the dog’s resilient nature, minor mistakes rarely result in catastrophe. But major errors […]