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.

Category: Author Annie

  • You Can — and Must — Speak Up for Your Dog

    Before I was a force-free trainer, I took my own dog out of a bad training situation. There is no reason to let any trainer harm your dog. I wasn’t born a dog trainer. No one is. I have, like many of you, a deep compassion and love of animals — and of dogs in…

  • What Do Outdated Dog Training and a Pit of Spiders Have in Common?

    Dogster resident trainer Annie Phenix explains how Cesar Millan’s fear-inducing methods harm instead of help dogs. Do you enjoy being afraid? I mean really afraid for your safety and well being? Engaging the flight or fight response system is stressful. It takes a toll on the body, no matter if that body belongs to a human, a…

  • Puppy 101: Important Lessons for Your Dog’™s First Few Months

     Follow these tips to help your puppy develop a positive foundation for socialization and behavior. Puppies and dogs do not arrive in our lives already understanding our house rules. If you have a new dog in your life, spend time now laying down a foundation that will serve both of you for the rest of…

  • Puppy 101: Important Lessons for Your Dog’s First Few Months

     Follow these tips to help your puppy develop a positive foundation for socialization and behavior. Puppies and dogs do not arrive in our lives already understanding our house rules. If you have a new dog in your life, spend time now laying down a foundation that will serve both of you for the rest of…

  • Does Your Dog Jump Up? Teach Him to Sit Instead

    Since a dog cannot sit and jump at the same time, teaching this command solves a common problem. One of the most common reasons for pet parents to call a trainer is because their dog jumps up on people. Often I find that clients have been inadvertently reinforcing the “jump up” by yelling at the dog or even…

  • How Can I Stop My Dog From Going Crazy at the Front Door?

    Dogster resident trainer Annie Phenix shares tips for teaching dogs to sit calmly and not bark at arriving guests. Help! My Golden Retriever is perfect in every way but one: She goes bananas whenever anyone comes to our front door. She is never aggressive, but she gets frenzied and jumps all over our guests in…

  • Petition Calls for Cesar Millan to Lose His TV Show ‘” Let’™s All Sign It!

    In a recent episode of “Cesar 911,” the TV personality used one of his own pets as bait for an aggressive dog who had killed pigs in the past. Both the pig and the dog suffered. As a professional trainer and someone who deeply loves animals, I have never enjoyed watching Cesar Millan handle dogs.…

  • Petition Calls for Cesar Millan to Lose His TV Show — Let’s All Sign It!

    In a recent episode of “Cesar 911,” the TV personality used one of his own pets as bait for an aggressive dog who had killed pigs in the past. Both the pig and the dog suffered. As a professional trainer and someone who deeply loves animals, I have never enjoyed watching Cesar Millan handle dogs.…

  • How to Help Your Dog Love Being On Leash

    A leash should be a sign of fun things to come, and it can be if you follow these four tips.   What is the one training tool every dog owner eventually uses? A leash. We also need leashes to keep dogs and humans safe. However, not all dogs understand what a leash is or how we…