My wife has a Maltese who does not listen very well and is very spoiled. Shes does things like put her nose in the garbage when we turn our backs and (“do” use the bathroom) at home once in a while and my wife let her get away with it. We are now getting a Boxer dog and the dog will be very well be my trane as the Maltese is it. I would like to trane more stringent than the Maltese is traned but I am afraid that the Maltese bad habits to pass him. . What should I do?

I live in MI near Flint area, and I want to pursue a career in pet grooming. I’ve been looking at pet grooming schools and found that the animal behavior program to prepare for college has a pet that is a combination of home study and hands. Is this a good school? Besides, what other schools in Michigan would you recommend?

This question is for pet owners who are not animal behavior professionals.

Do you want to understand your pet’s behavior or are you more interested in directly eliminating the specific problems your pet has? I am a behavior analyst and I would like to write a manual to help pet owners resolve many of their own behavior problems, or to prevent them from happening in the first place. Trainers have different opinions- some think pet owners need simple info that applies to the specific issue at hand, while others think they need to understand the science of behavior to some extent to really be able to manage problems.

So I am asking YOU. What do you as a pet owner need or want to know about your pet’s behavior? Would you be interested in understanding WHY your pet does what he does, or do you mainly want to know how to get him to do certain things in certain ways so he’s easier to live with?