New York...No one argues the fact that there are far too many dogs surrendered to shelters. But what is often underreported is that approximately 70 percent of them are brought there for behavior problems. We looked for an answer and found a dog behavioral specialist in New York who might have one: learn how to speak canine.

According to Ron Taylor, founder of Dog Almighty on Staten Island dogalmightytraining.com, good communication between dogs and owners has proven to be the key to improving relationships.

“Many dog owners have concerns about the children in the house. If we can improve children-dog relationships, we’ll see fewer dogs surrendered to shelters,” says Ron, whose ability to house-train dogs, socialize dogs to people and eliminate problems like nipping and jumping is appreciated by dog owners throughout New York City. “We have to get more people to learn how to speak canine and more dogs to learn how to hear human.”

There are several ways to do that, most of them having to do with positive reinforcement, consistency—and not neglecting the human equation. “Successful dog training is 20 percent training of the dog and 80 percent training of the people,” Ron adds.