About Dawn Kovell

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So far Dawn Kovell has created 16 blog entries.

Ranch Recalls

By |2023-06-29T11:55:51-07:00May 18, 2023|Behavior & Training|

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings This winter I moved from my adorable, extremely comfortable cottage in downtown Larkspur to live on a 100-acre ranch in Petaluma. A friend inviting me to join her on a Big Adventure initiated this move. As it turns out, it was an act of training derring-do with regard to canine off-leash recalls. Ranch dogs do not use [...]

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Scenting and Shelter Dogs; Doing What Comes Naturally

By |2022-10-20T11:38:57-07:00October 20, 2022|Behavior & Training|

Fun and games at MH What do the following titles “Little and Proud,” “The Girls Have It,” “Four Queens and a King,” and “Handler, Who Needs a Handler?” have in common? If you guessed it, then you clearly follow the antics of the Shelter Scents Team as headed and documented by Burt Greenspan. Burt, Donna Kalal and Peter Ornstein run the most extraordinary canine enrichment program at Marin Humane. The rest of you might be wondering, “What the heck is Shelter Scents and how can I get my hands on some of those session [...]

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Agility!

By |2022-05-10T22:09:36-07:00May 10, 2022|Behavior & Training|

In an ongoing series on dog sports, Behavior and Training Director, Dawn Kovell, sheds light and enthusiasm on Agility! Also available, Flyball, Teaching your Dog to Swim and Dock Diving. As a dog trainer and behavior consultant for the Behavior and Training Department at Marin Humane I tell our clients that one of the first steps toward preventing and solving behavior problems is to ensure that the dog’s emotional cup is full. I know this to be true, I really do! Recently, one of my sports dogs injured his ankle, had to have surgery and has [...]

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Flyball, the Best Kept Secret in Dog Training

By |2022-04-13T13:19:58-07:00April 13, 2022|Behavior & Training|

Velo doing his thing Flyball is a wild and crazy ride. It is unique among dog sports because it is a team sport. This aspect of the game makes it a nice entry level activity. The club trains, practices and camps together at the event so a newbie is able to bypass a lot of the stress involved with competing in a new activity. The other advantage of flyball as a debut sport is that the game itself is relatively simple. Flyball is also family friendly. Junior handlers are enjoyed and applauded. A flyball [...]

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Behavior Puzzles

By |2022-05-22T15:11:00-07:00January 9, 2022|Behavior & Training|

Riff Raff and Izzy have a snooze Happy New Year! Working with animals is both easier and more difficult than working with people, mostly depending on how you feel about people. But, that is another story. Animals are wonderful because they are always thrilled to see you, despite the fact you only walked into the living room and back, and their idea of a good time is often just being with you. However, their non-verbal communication style can make medical and behavior problem solving quite difficult. From time to time we get tremendously puzzling [...]

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