Training — Dog Care Articles

Training articles and guides from The Chow Dodo Blog — real experiences from raising two stubborn dogs.

• Leash Reactivity in Dogs: Why Your Dog Loses It on Walks and How to Actually Fix It — If your dog barks and lunges at every dog on walks, here's what's actually happening in their brain and the step-by-step training protocol that fixed it for my Chow Shepherd.
• Puppy Adolescence: When It Starts, What Changes, and How to Survive — Dodo hit puppy adolescence at seven months and forgot every command she ever learned. Here is what the regression looks like day to day, what helped, and what I wish I had known sooner.
• Your First Month With a New Puppy: Schedule, Potty Training, and Keeping Your Sanity — The first month with a new puppy is pure survival mode. Here's the exact schedule, potty training method, and basic training approach that got us through Dodo's first weeks without completely losing it.
• Crate Training a Senior Anxious Dog: How I Did It With 9-Year-Old Alice — Alice is 9 and I never crate trained her. She's always been a nervous traveler and now she's afraid of fireworks too. Here's the step-by-step process I used to crate train my anxious senior dog.
• How to Potty Train a Puppy in an Apartment Without a Yard — Potty training a puppy in an apartment is a unique challenge. Here is the real timeline of what worked for Dodo, from navigating elevators to managing
• Dog Won't Come When Called: How to Fix Recall Training — After weeks of being ignored by my chowdoodle puppy, I tried a completely different recall strategy. Here's the honest breakdown of what failed and what clicked.
• 15 Dog Enrichment Ideas That Cost Nothing (or Almost Nothing) — Keep your dog busy without spending a fortune. Here are 15 easy, low-cost enrichment ideas using things you already have around the house.
• The Puppy Biting Phase: When It Ends and What Actually Helps — Surviving the puppy biting phase takes patience. Learn why puppies bite, the timeline for teething, and practical tips like reverse timeouts and froze
• How to Socialize a Puppy: What Most Guides Get Wrong — Challenge the common advice of exposing your puppy to everything. Learn why quality matters more than quantity and how to read your puppy\'s body langu
• Crate Training a Stubborn Chowdoodle: Week by Week — Dodo screamed for 45 minutes the first night. Here's the full timeline of how we went from chaos to calm crate naps in under three weeks.
• Best Training Treats for Dogs That Aren't Food Motivated — If you have a dog who turns their nose up at standard kibble or spits out expensive store-bought treats during training, you know the strugg...
• How to Leash Train a Puppy That Pulls and Eats Everything — Dodo treats every walk like a buffet. Here are the three techniques that actually reduced her scavenging without making walks miserable.
• Crate Training a Stubborn Puppy: The Honest Timeline and What Finally Worked — Learn how we finally crate-trained our stubborn mini chowdoodle puppy, Dodo. Get the honest timeline, the mistakes I made, and the practical tips that worked.
• Potty Training a Puppy in an Apartment Without a Yard: What Actually Worked — Learn how to potty train a puppy in an apartment without a yard. Practical tips on washable pee pads, grass patches, and crate schedules from a real dog owner.