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I am a huge fan of crate training for dogs. I think the ability to spend an extended amount of time in an enclosed space quietly and calmly is a valuable life skill for dogs. And it certainly has dozens of benefits for us, too. A crate and crate-trained dog ensure that you and your dog will be welcome at most friends' and relatives' homes. I recently stayed at a friendS' house over the holidays, with my foster dog! She doesn't have enough training or self-control to abstain from chasing a strange cat, eating the cat's food, chewing on the furniture, or stealing food off the table, but none of these things happened, because she was happy to spend all of her unsupervised time in their home in her crate.

Occasionally I’ll get a call from a client who is having trouble getting their dog to go up or down stairs – a frustrating dilemma when you want your canine companion to be able to accompany you wherever you go. First, be sure your stairs are covered with a traction-providing surface, so he doesn’t slip and scare himself if he tries to use them. Next, here are some tips for overcoming this challenge.

Owners of herding and sporting breeds – Border Collies, Aussies, Kelpies, Labradors, Goldens, and others – often cheerfully talk about their dogs' obsession" with tennis balls. What they really mean is that their dogs are very reinforced by the opportunity to chase a ball. That kind of intense interest in a ball or toy can be useful for training and management purposes

When I was a kid, nobody talked about “socializing” their dogs, and most of the dogs we knew were just fine with kids. What’s the big deal? At risk of sounding old, when I was a kid, it was a different world. The only dogs I knew who weren’t free to run around my rural neighborhood were either hunting dogs or watchdogs; kids knew not to fool around with any of those dogs. And all the ones running loose in the neighborhood were extremely “good with kids.” That’s because they were constantly exposed to kids! I want my dog to be as rock-solid with kids – and every other type of person – as he is at resisting the urge to chase cats. So we’re going to have to practice.

Are the classic plastic cones really all that bad? It depends on which dog you ask. Some dogs seem to accept the weight of the heavy plastic, the restricted visibility imposed by the opaque material, the need for increased clearances around the house, and even being gouged by the thick plastic tabs that are supposed to be belted by the dog's collar at the base of the cone. Today there are a number of alternatives to the classic Elizabethan collars to prevent a dog from licking a wound, aggravating a hot spot, tearing out his surgical stitches, or removing a bandage. The alternatives offer a dog greater comfort, better mobility, and improved visibility.

Those last few minutes of sleep before the alarm goes off are a treasured sanctuary where we hide in dreams before the reality of the world intrudes. Few dog owners appreciate their canine pals robbing them of those golden moments. But some dogs seem to have an uncanny knack for anticipating the alarm by 15 or 20 minutes, and manage to routinely do just that. Of course, puppy owners expect to be awakened by their baby dogs – or they should. It's unreasonable to think a young puppy can make it through the night without a potty break.

You contemplate taking your dog for a walk with mixed emotions. You love the idea of going for a companionable stroll through the neighborhood together, but it's a major hassle to get out the door. When you pick up his leash he becomes the Tasmanian Devil – body slamming you, racing around the foyer, and bouncing off the plate glass door with such intensity you're afraid he'll crash right through it.

We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about two newer features in Whole Dog Journal. The first is “Action Plan” - the column that appears opposite this page, which features five things that an owner can do to solve any given dog behavior problem. The second is “Canine News You Can Use.” Our annual dry dog food review, published each February, is such a monster that it ate the space for these two columns in last month’s issue, but they have reappeared this month. We did give the “Good Sports” column this month off, but author/trainer Terry Long will be back in the next issue with an installment on the sport of competitive herding.

A training friend suggested that I read Low Stress Handling, Restraint, and Behavior Modification of Dogs and Cats, by applied animal behaviorist Sophia Yin, DVM, MS. As an owner whose dogs have taken their fair share of visits to vet clinics, I really liked what I read. Dr. Yin's text takes a critical look at how our pets are often handled in veterinary clinics – and it's not pretty, as you may have seen yourself. Fortunately, she also offers common sense advice on approaching veterinary care so as to make it as stress-free as possible for our pets. Popular myths abound that force is needed to get animals to behave. Instead, Dr. Yin focuses on how to modify behavior quickly in a veterinary setting using a systematic and positive approach. Her methods involve classical conditioning to change the pet's emotional state; setting up the veterinary environment to ensure the pet's comfort; teaching us how to handle animals with appropriate, rather than stronger, restraint; and how to behave around animals so as to avoid creating problems.

Growling is a valuable means of communication for a dog – something that dog owners should appreciate and respect rather than punish. Of course, we don't want our dog to growl at us, but neither do we want him to fail to growl if something makes him uncomfortable; that's very important information in a successful canine-human relationship. It's very common for dog owners to punish their dogs for growling. Unfortunately, this often suppresses the growl – eliminating his ability to warn us that he's about to snap, literally and figuratively. On other occasions, punishing a growling, uncomfortable dog can induce him to escalate into full-on aggression.

A Labrador leaps into a pool in a Splash Dogs contest, one type of dock jumping.

There was once a time when you rarely encountered the word socialization" in dog circles. Today it's the new training buzzword; if you haven't heard it at least three dozen times by the time your dog is a dozen weeks old