Training Tip from the AKC GoodDog! HelplineIt may seem that play has little to do with training. But the majority of dogs love to play, and you can use anything your dog loves to your advantage in your training program. Play can be used as a reward and also a motivation to enjoy working with […]

That’s right! Big or small, shaggy or sleek, fast or slow, every dog has the makings of a hero. That’s the message from Jennifer Arnold, founder and executive director of Canine Assistants, an organization that trains service dogs. Arnold was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 16 and had trouble obtaining a four-footed helper because the […]

It may look like a fun game of fetch or an obedience exercise, but Labrador Retriever Otis, seen in the video, was giving a lesson in how dogs keep people alive. He was just one of the four-legged participants at Bark at the Park, a special highlight of San Francisco Fleet Week, 2015. Otis is […]

It was all over in a second, before you could even scream. Jennie* and her daughter, Goose, 4, had just gotten out of the car in a shopping center parking lot in Durango, Colorado, when the child turned and bolted. Jennie did not have time to react, but their Newfoundland, Porter, knew just the right […]

Arizona firefighters showed both heroism and heart when they dashed into a burning house in Tucson at around 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, and rescued two dying dogs. They rushed the limp creatures outside, where other members of their team immediately got to work, administering oxygen with the Tucson Fire Department’s (TFD) pet CPR kits. […]

We all know the cliché of the starving stray, wandering around the streets raiding the trash and begging for scraps. A Brazilian homeless dog named Bolinha (one English translation means "ball") has turned that image on its ear by becoming so fat that he could barely waddle. It all started about 13 years ago when […]

If you love Lassie, you’d have been in heaven over the weekend of August 15, when 200 Collies converged on a little town in New Jersey for the annual celebration of the breed at Sunnybank, the home of Albert Payson Terhune. The author of Lad of Sunnybank and dozens of other books featuring unforgettable Collies, […]

In late July, a family in Duluth, Minnesota, got the devastating news that their 11-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Oscar, had an untreatable cancer. He was given three to six months to live. Oscar’s owner, Tom Asbury, decided to help the dog and his family make the most of it. They created a bucket list of […]

Merrick, a 4-year-old black Labrador Retriever, works as guide dog for a blind man. But his career as a savior started when he was just a tiny pup. Lorraine Trapani, the volunteer puppy raiser who took 11-week-old Merrick under her wing in 2011, says that this tiny bundle of black hair, high spirits, and energy […]

The winners of this year’s photo contest created unforgettable images by placing their models in vivid landscapes. A red barn, for example, provides a perfect backdrop to show the range of Newfoundland colors. Seagrass complements the straight, coarse coat of a tiny brown dog. A German Shorthaired Pointer stands on a rock, staring out at […]