Training with compassionate Knowledge

Phenix Dogs Canine Behavior Experts

Work with award-winning author and trainer Annie Phenix. She helps with all behavioral concerns and never uses force, fear, pain, or intimidation.

Author: Annie Phenix

  • Are You One of the Few Who Train Their Dog?

    Less than five percent of owners attend a training class with their dog. We offer resources for the majority who don’t. As a professional dog trainer, I find it tragic that less than five percent of owners take their dog to a class. I don’t find it tragic for business reasons, as I live in…

  • Ask a Trainer: What Makes You a “Responsible” Dog Owner?

    It’s Responsible Dog Ownership Month, so we’ve made a shortlist of 10 things that make a responsible dog owner. Do all these apply to you? So, September is Responsible Dog Owner Month, at least according to the American Kennel Club (AKC). I guess it is nice that an organization making millions by championing dog breeding…

  • Meet Paul Owens, the Original Dog Whisperer

    Are you surprised to learn that there are, in fact, two dog whisperers? And that their messages are at opposite ends of the dog-training spectrum? Professional dog trainer Paul Owens first called himself the Dog Whisperer more than 17 years ago. He has helped more than 10,000 dog owners train dogs using a nonviolent and compassionate approach. Owens has…

  • Why Are People Spending Thousands on Bogus Allergy Alert Dogs?

    “Have you ever seen a child go into anaphylactic shock?” Christine Clifford, the mother of two sons with severe peanut allergies, asks me. (I haven’t.) “You are literally watching your children begin to die.” READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE:  http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/peanut-sniffing-dogs

  • Freedom-constrained Fido: Off-leash dogs in Durango are OK only at Dog Park

    By Sarah Mueller Herald staff writer Annie Phenix, dog trainer with Phenix Dogs at the Durango Dog College, answers questions about dog etiquette:What should a good pet owner know about picking up after his or her pet? “First of all, with the city, it’s illegal not to. Rule No. 1 if your dog goes to the bathroom,…

  • Dog Owners Say the Wackiest Things to Trainers

    A good dog trainer loves humans as much as she loves dogs, because she knows that it was the human who called and scheduled a private consult or signed up for a class for Fido. We train humans to learn to train their dogs. I love dog people, and many of my clients over the…

  • Dogster Interviews: We Chat with Dog Trainer Pat Miller

    From her home base on 80 acres she calls Peaceable Paws and Pastures in Hagerstown, Maryland, dog trainer and behavior consultant Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, has reached into every area of the training industry, including punishment-based training (we’ll get to that in a minute). She’s a respected pro who trains other dog trainers; a highly successful author…

  • 8 Ways That I’m an Admittedly “Soft” Dog Trainer

    A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. — John Wooden I won’t ever forget the back porch conversation I had a few years ago with a punishment-based dog trainer. “You’re a soft trainer,” she informed me. “That’s the difference between us.” I smiled wide and agreed with her, even though I…

  • This Psychologist’s Border Collie Can Put Away Her Toys by Name — All 1,022 of Them

    Blind and deaf Helen Keller needed her teacher, Anne Sullivan, to learn to speak. It happened when Sullivan ran Keller’s hand under running water and then repeatedly spelled out w-a-t-e-r on her palm. Learning to communicate the way all other humans communicate — through language — changed Keller’s life. Chaser with Darwin, one of her…