Off Leash And Unfiltered: The Truth In Dog Training

Send us Fan Mail Everybody knows dogs are gross. Everybody knows they like dirty socks, dead animals, and even eating poop. But this is the first time I've heard of a dog eating so much poop that they are pooping about 4 or 5 times more than normal.. If you have a dog that eats poop, this one is for you! But honestly, if you have a dog with any objectionable behaviors like jumping, barking, c...

Send us Fan Mail If there are behaviors your dog is allowed to do sometimes but not all the time, you might wonder if you are confusing them. And you might be. But if you've listened to me long enough, you know that the key to reducing confusion is to have a clear pattern. The problem comes in when us humans change the pattern (ironically, usually because we are worried about confusion).  You...

Send us Fan Mail We are talking about the icky dirty word PUNISHMENT today. You guys, I talk about this for a reason..it's what EVERYBODY needs. It's what EVERYBODY is missing. It's what EVERYBODY is worried about. Or..they're doing it, but very badly. Ironically, avoiding aversives is THE THING that will result in a bad relationship and small life. It's a self fulfilling...

Send us Fan Mail Separation anxiety is a common problem but exists on a pretty broad spectrum. When you have a dog at the extreme end of the spectrum you are unable to live your life. It is all consuming. Every little mundane thing becomes an issue. Everything from showering to going to work, to going to a dr.appointment or a friend's house..because if you can't take the dog, someone nee...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I'm talking about a topic that comes up in almost 100% of our go home lessons. Once you teach your dog what the word no means, they tend to be very responsive to the word. No. This leaves people thinking that they can use the word no stop behaviors without needing to use any kind of tangible correction.  And although we might all do that every once in awhile,...

Send us Fan Mail I get lots of great questions from our clients and listeners. Here are a few that I get asked a lot.  Have you ever had a dog you couldn't train? Answer: not a normal dog. We have had a few that didn't have much hope, but it's extremely rare. Maybe 1 out of 500 has a very poor prognosis of being able to get to a point where they are "safe enough" to stay i...

Send us Fan Mail Are you worried about inadvertently creating negative associations if you correct your dog? You're not alone. We hear this a lot. Especially around fussing in the kennel, but there are hundreds of contexts this can be a concern, and luckily, they are all mostly handled the same way. It's really important that your dog understands that consequences are in fact tied to the...

Send us Fan Mail When we get dogs with behavioral challenges, especially if they are anxious or nervous dogs, a huge piece of the rehab is the human. We often get dogs that have struggled for years, and the environment is always a factor in the path that the dog is on.  It is imperative that we change the environment and change the interactions. That means rewiring the humans so we can rewire the...

Send us Fan Mail I love this episode, guys. I'm talking about all the amazing things you can do for you and your dog through training. This might be as simple as teaching sit or it might be using sit as a way to help your dog overcome fear or it might be as in depth as using e-collar skills to help your dog avert their gaze from a trigger that makes them uncomfortable. This is the whole reaso...

Send us Fan Mail We are talking about the physical feedback necessary to actually maintain the control end of the leash. We see folks relinquish control to the dog all the time for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we tend to treat certain moments like they are unimportant because they are brief in nature (like walking to the car) but the fact is ALL moments are important, and all moments are learni...

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Send us Fan Mail Okay. This is the most common question, at least after "when can we take the e-collar off?"  Neither question has a straight answer, either. But I think the most succinct response is you can take it off when you can take it off (might be never) and the right level is the one that works (in most cases). Most people don't realize that we can use our e-collars (aka big...

Send us Fan Mail Here is a list of 5 rather random things that I hear people say they are doing VERY frequently. And they are things I wouldn't recommend. These things are usually not helpful and often even make things much worse.  5- Tethering your puppy or dog to you all day This is supposed to strengthen your bond and "reduce freedom" but really it helps create a needy dog with p...

Send us Fan Mail Puppies! We've been talking about them a lot lately. One thing I hear over and over again is people justifying behavior as "puppy" behavior. And although there might be some truth to that in a way, the dangerous part of that is attached to that statement, logically, would be that once the puppy isn't a puppy anymore the behavior goes away naturally. And THAT co...

Send us Fan Mail Food! Most dogs love it. But some dogs couldn't care less about it. Some dogs are too reactive or too nervous to take it. So what do we do to motivate our dogs with food if they aren't the most food motivated?  There are ways to make food more desirable. One of which is to use it when the dog is hungry. This might mean training before a meal or it might mean skipping a m...

Send us Fan Mail I hear it all — the—time ! You should never punish a growl because that's how dogs communicate they are uncomfortable. This argument is complete nonsense, and in this episode I break down why and what we have seen with the hundreds of dogs we have addressed growling with. By putting more emphasis on why something is happening than on how to change what is happening, people st...

Send us Fan Mail Everybody wants results, naturally. Does this training really get results? I'm talking with Joyce today about her journey through training her own dogs. We met when she needed help with her reactive labs. And now that she works here she gets to help clients through all of the trials and tribulations on the way to the finish line. And she's living proof that it's wor...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are breaking down exactly what we recommend you do when your dog goes home after a board and train. It's a lot of information covered at the go home lesson, and you're not going to absorb it all. For that reason, we do send you home with a go home packet and respond as promptly as possible to texts and emails. But we thought it would be a good idea to have this...

Send us Fan Mail If you adopt a dog from a shelter you don't know for sure what you are going to get. In this case the person ended up with an intense and drivey dog with clear hunting instincts. These were getting in the way of them ever having positive interactions and affecting their ability to bond and live life. The human is covered in bruises and is at a loss as to what to do. She can&a...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of folks get stuck in training "lessons" with their dog and they never graduate to just having a trained dog that can do the stuff in real life.  There are a few reasons for that. The biggest thing is you can't ask your dog to do things in real life and expect that to be easy until A-they've practiced and know it and B-there is real accountability for not...

Send us Fan Mail Dogs don't live that long. How many years do you want to struggle or have to manage your dog just to avoid a correction that is typically a split second? That's what people do, though. And there's a reason. It's all the bologna that is out there on the internet. That's why people are better at building behaviors (which is much more difficult) than stopping...

Send us Fan Mail These are things we do with client dogs right off the bat. Sometimes we forget that it's not just about teaching your dog words or commands. It's about behavior . It's about teaching your dog how to slow down, how to process, how to prioritize you, how to resist impulses, even if those impulses are out of fear, nervousness, anxiety, or extreme over stimulation. All...

Send us Fan Mail So common! Dogs are all individuals! But also, as a culture we seem to think that "normal" dogs like playing with other dogs. Nope. They often don't. And If yours falls into that camp and they are forced to play with other dogs, how do you think that will turn out?  If that is the case you have to recognize that your dog might not actually be the problem. No level o...

Send us Fan Mail "When can we take off the e-collar?" This is our favorite question. NOT! It is actually a very good question. And the answer is simple for most dog owners, especially since they aren't dog trainers—you can take it off when you don't want your dog to listen. Can you teach your dog to listen and behave all the time regardless of whether or not the ecollar is on?...

Send us Fan Mail I see it all the time. People are trying. The dog owners I meet are often trying very hard and are very committed. But! They are making a huge mistake. The mistake is that they believe they are holding their dog accountable for their behavior, but they are missing the things that truly need to be addressed because they are more subtle. By the time they are trying to hold their dog...