Nicole Wilde

Nicole Wilde is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) who specializes in behavior issues. She is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), the recipient of the prestigious Ian Dunbar Member of the Year Award for 2006, and a popular speaker at the organization’s national and international conferences. Nicole is also an Instructor and on the Advisory Board for the Companion Animal Sciences Institute, the educational branch for the International Institute for Applied Companion Animal Behavior.

Nicole is an internationally recognized author and lecturer. Her 11 books include So You Want to be a Dog Trainer, Help for Your Fearful Dog, and Don't Leave Me!. She has presented seminars both domestically and internationally for APDT conferences, training clubs, and other groups.

Nicole writes training and behavior articles for various newspapers and magazines, including an ongoing training column for Modern Dog Magazine. She co-stars in the DVD “Train Your Dog: The Positive Gentle Method,” co-hosted the “Dog Talk” radio show, and was featured in the Paul Owens DVD “The Dog Whisperer.”

Nicole’s experience includes a position as Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles’ Animal Services, where she instructed volunteers in canine handling and behavior, handled hundreds of dogs, and served as adoption counselor. She served as Executive Director for Villalobos Rescue Center, a sanctuary for rescued wolves/wolf hybrids, pit bulls and exotic animals. Nicole’s specialty was socializing fearful wolves who were to live out their lives at the center. She also trained wolves and other canines at the center, and presented seminars for animal control officers, schools and specialty groups. Nicole’s experience is rounded out by having worked at a doggy daycare (supervising 40-50 off-leash dogs daily!), a veterinarian’s office, as Editor/Chief Writer for a Get-A-Pet magazine, and teaching group classes as well as private instruction.

Nicole owns and operates Gentle Guidance Dog Training in Southern California. With warmth, humor and positive techniques, she trains owner to train their dogs. Nicole continues to teach seminars for professional dog trainers, rescue and shelter workers, veterinary groups and others, and to educate the public on canine behavior issues.

Nicole's books and DVDs can be purchased through Phantom Publishing

You can find Nicole on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NicoleWildeAuthor

and follow Nicole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NicoleWilde

Nicole's Upcoming Seminars & Appearances

Products from Nicole Wilde

Blog posts by Nicole Wilde

The Things We Do For Love

Forget romantic love. I’m talking here about the over-the-top, I’ll-do-anything-for-my-fur-kid insanity that so many of us dog moms and dads are prone to. There are the serious things, like spending the better part of your life savings on a pricey operation for your dog—whether he’s 4 months or 14 years old. There are things that fall into the “I can’t believe I’m doing this” category, like finding yourself outside doing tracking with your dogs in sub-zero weather because it makes them so darned happy.

 

Be Prepared...But Leave Some Expectations at the Shelter Door

I spent a large part of the 90s as a volunteer and then Volunteer Coordinator for an L.A. city shelter. One of my duties was to show dogs to prospective adopters. Over and over, I would see a curious thing happen: a family would be interested in an adorable, wriggling, friendly-looking dog. They’d pet the dog through the kennel bars, and perhaps even let the dog lick their hands or faces. It was clear that they were smitten. The mother would then call me over, point to the kennel card, and ask what kind of dog a “Staff X” was.

 

Less Judgement, More Compassion

One day at the dog park, you observe the following:

1. A woman you know to be a local dog trainer is being dragged on leash toward the play area by a wildly out-of-control dog.
2. A man’s dog has just left a large souvenir in the middle of the grass and he is not making a move to clean it up.
3. A woman is off to the side attempting to train her dog. She continually jerks the leash and yells at the dog.

 

Zen and Now

I recently sent out a joyful announcement about our new dog "Zen". Unfortunately, he will not be staying in our home. Nothing tragic has happened, other than a mismatch that did not have to be, and a lot of sadness at this end. When we decided to rescue a dog, our criteria was that he would be a young adult (2-3 years or so, past the adolescent stage), be good with people and other dogs, and have a medium but definitely not high energy level. The rescue and I talked at great length about these things. Super high-energy dogs are wonderful, but are not a good fit in our particular home/lifestyle. Because the couple who were giving Zen (a 2-year-old German Shepherd mix) up elected to show him themselves rather than giving him back to the rescue and having them re-evaluate him and show him at adoption days (the rescue agreed to this), there were things about him the rescue was not aware of.

 

Creative Rewards

Living in southern California, it’s essential to have a working vehicle. Because my much-loved Jeep Cherokee has over 200,000 miles on it, I’ve been forced to begin to consider alternatives. I did research online. I talked to friends. I test-drove everything that was highly rated for mileage, safety, and amenities. Know what I found out? I like my beat up old Jeep. Short of a miracle (that is, Chrysler resurrecting the discontinued Cherokee), the search goes on.

 

Holiday Hazards: What Every Dog Owner Should Know

Yep, it’s that time again. The stores are filled with holiday decorations, we all wonder how the season could have snuck up on us so quickly…and dog trainers like me feel the need to warn everyone about the things that can harm dogs at the holidays.

Between planning family gatherings, decorating, gift-buying, and preparing way too much food, it's easy to get overwhelmed and forget about the needs of our dogs. But the holidays are also the busiest time of the year for veterinary emergency clinics. Take a moment to read over these simple tips for keeping your dogs happy and safe during the holidays:

 

Bush's Barney Bites

A dog biting someone on the finger isn’t normally newsworthy. But when that dog is Barney, the Scottish terrier who belongs to President Bush, the world is bound to hear about it. Apparently, Reuters television White House correspondent Jon Decker was bitten yesterday by Barney when he reached down to pet him.

 
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Living with Wolves

My last and dearest wolf, Phantom, passed away last week. But rather than making this piece yet another eulogy, I’d like to share with you a bit of what it’s like to live with wolves.

Before I begin, you’re probably wondering why anyone would live with wolves—or have wolves living with them—in the first place. Some people get wolves as “pets” because they want a piece of the wild, or feel connected to wolves on a spiritual level. Some simply love them and want to share their lives with them. In my case, I had been working with a wolf and wolfdog (wolf hybrid) rescue for many years, and I fell in love with a big, black, green-eyed wolf named Phantom.

 

Responding to Fear

There is an old misconception about canine fear issues that responding to a dog’s fear by interacting with the dog in any way will “reinforce” or “reward” that fear, and possibly make the dog even more afraid.

Let’s look at a human example of a potentially frightening experience. A child falls down and skins his knee. His mother becomes visibly distressed and makes a fuss, nervously examining the child while repeating in a high-pitched, worried voice, “Are you okay? Are you alright?” The child, taking his signals from his mother, realizes there is something wrong, and bursts out crying. Now imagine instead that the mother calmly examines the scraped knee, ruffles the child’s hair and says, “It’s fine, kiddo, nothing to worry about. Go play.” In the second scenario, the child is apt to have a much calmer response.

 
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Mojo Breaks on Through to the Other Side

Mojo, our beloved German Shepherd-Rottweiler-Malamute-wolf mix, came to us in February of 1994. We had gone to New Mexico to escape the relentless aftershocks of the L.A. earthquake, and ended up snowed in in Albuquerque. Looking through the pet section of a local paper, we saw an ad for wolf hybrids. Out of curiosity and a lack of anything more exciting to do, we went to see the pups. They were very low wolf content, and extremely adorable. The breeders had named each little black and tan fuzzball in the litter after a character in the Addams Family.

 

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