Off Leash And Unfiltered: The Truth In Dog Training

Send us Fan Mail It is hard to argue that the process used should not be the one that gets the best results, yet here we are. In dog training today there is an immensely flawed philosophy that is fiercely promulgated by dog trainers and even "professional organizations" that are looked up to by the average pet owner, and many professionals in the field, today. The result is that people a...

Send us Fan Mail Punishing a dog's behavior is already a controversial topic. Not that it should be. Punishment is literally, by definition, the only way to eliminate behaviors. But what is even more controversial, and shrouded in mystery because nobody wants to talk about it, is punishing a puppy's bad behaviors. The truth is we have a different set of rules we go by when it comes to pu...

Send us Fan Mail So many of the things that we do with other humans are counter productive with our dogs. While many of the basic principles are shared, we tend to use language in a way that our dogs don't really understand and we also humanize them, applying what we THINK or what we FEEL as though it's the same for our dogs. But it's not! I am giving very specific examples of thing...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we get dogs that are "good" most of the time but can exhibit some untoward behavior in certain contexts. For instance, the message that prompted this topic was from someone whose dog will growl/snap if someone pets them while they are on their place bed. There are several things we should be doing to both make our dog as safe as possible and get them making bet...

Send us Fan Mail Prong collars get an undeserved bad rap—mainly because they look scary. Sometimes they are even referred to as spike collars and there are misleading and false photos out there showing grotesque wounds on dogs' necks, but they aren't designed to work by poking, pricking, or God forbid, injuring your dog. They are designed to amplify the sensation of pressure, evenly all...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people will talk like the clicker is magic. It's not. And this is coming from someone that loves the clicker. All the clicker does is link your dog's behavior to a reward.  And that's the thing that is magic. It's not that it's a clicker, per se, it's what you do with it. You can use a clicker very ineffectively, too. Understanding what a mar...

Send us Fan Mail We spend 2-3 weeks with most dogs. We spend 2-3 hours with you. It isn't fair to think you will be confident after just a few hours with us. You need to go out into the real world and do stuff. Seeing is believing!  But we have found that there are 5 specific things that really get in the way of results carrying over to the owners  themselves. Those things are: * The owners n...

Send us Fan Mail This is such an important behavior to teach. Not only can it be a safety issue if you can't teach your dog to stay, but it also helps your dog learn to be calmer, more relaxed, accepting, and more focused.  It surprises people that the dogs we train all learn to stay yet we never even say the word 'stay'. This is called the implied stay, and it's beneficial in...

Send us Fan Mail This is such a grave topic. I never like getting calls like this, but I'm so, so glad when I get the chance to have a conversation with anybody who is in a situation like this because I know how stressful and sad and alarming and scary it is. And I know how hard it is to know what to do or what to expect. Dogs and babies don't mix! And it is so common to have issues blen...

Send us Fan Mail One of the most irritating comments I see from other dog trainers are around "suppression". That's because when you punish or correct your dog's behavior, that is suppression by definition. Suppression is putting a stop to something.  So in reality if you stop any behavior from being displayed that is suppression. Does suppression mean that the behavior will re...

Send us Fan Mail The narrative on the internet, and pretty much everywhere, is that you should never make your dog uncomfortable. If you glance at FB you'll find endless arguments and accusations. The common theme is that aversives are never necessary. Pain, fear, discomfort are all bad and trainers that incorporate any of that into their training are also bad.   Those trainers are also made...

Send us Fan Mail Do you have an excitable dog that hangs up the phone? Or a nervous dog? All the information out there seems to say that during the training process you should keep your dog under threshold. Threshold refers to the point at which your dog starts to boil over and make the decisions that you are working hard to change.  Keeping dogs under threshold may sound great, but unfortunately...

Send us Fan Mail I'm a firm believer that heeling your dog can heal your dog. Whatever ails them, heel can help. No, it won't "fix" all the behavioral issues, but we definitely use it as leverage to help with reactivity, anxiety, nervousness, and anything else you can think of.  It can be quite meditative and help dogs really relax in a way that they never can when they are hel...

Send us Fan Mail There's one in every family! That's not always true..but a fair percentage of people struggle with properly disciplining their dog, and this often results in dogs being unruly, needy, anxious, not listening, or demanding, even to the point of aggression. Being too soft can create a spoiled pooch!  We are going to talk about 5 things you can start doing to try to break ou...

Send us Fan Mail Dogs jump. Why? Why, why, why? It's sooo frustrating, right? It might be the most common complaint we hear. Ironically it is also one of the easiest behaviors to stop. I know people are struggling with this. I know owners are trying "everything" and spending months or even years managing their dog (or worse yet paying trainers who don't know how to stop it or w...

Send us Fan Mail This is probably the number one issue we see with the dogs that come to us for training. Almost everybody is dealing with this to some degree or another. Some dogs get mildly excited by other dogs while some are extremely over stimulated and some look like Cujo at the end of the leash, and we strongly suspect they may kill another dog if they were able to get to it.  The thing is,...

Send us Fan Mail We see different dogs everyday, and so we have witnessed a lot, but it seems like every day we still continue to encounter new and strange behaviors. I often get questions that start with "why does my dog.."  And who knows!  Dogs are just weird! Support the show Love the show? Sign up to access our new exciting Xtra content! This content is unique and is ONLY available t...

Send us Fan Mail So many dog owners struggle with dogs that don't do well at the vet's office or at the groomer's. These are some of the most challenging environments, and it isn't usually an easy fix. But these tips can get you on the way to building something new with your dog and helping them (and you)  be calmer and more confident.  We talk about arousal (excitement) playin...

Send us Fan Mail What can you do to help avoid creating a needy, anxious dog? This episode covers the most impactful ways you can alter your routine, your environment, and your relationship to help your dog become the most stable and balanced version of themselves.  Support the show Love the show? Sign up to access our new exciting Xtra content! This content is unique and is ONLY available to our...

Send us Fan Mail Everybody has an opinion on what you should and shouldn't do with your dog, and how you build a "good" relationship with them. But the problem is they don't take into account each dog's specific personality. Also.. most of it is just plain made up garbage with the claimed benefits having no basis in reality. This is because they are missing the thing that...

Send us Fan Mail Dogs guard resources. This is a normal behavior. People often think of their dog as either aggressive or not aggressive as if  they can only be one or the other, but any dog can exhibit aggressive behaviors, even if they never have before.   There is a  lot of advice out there on how to prevent resource guarding, and most of it is just blather, so we are going to parse through tha...

Send us Fan Mail Coming back when called is one of the most important things you can teach your dog. It could save their life! But even people with a well trained dog can find themselves in  a situation where their dog suddenly starts blowing off their recall. So why does that happen? How do you avoid it? And how do you fix it? Support the show Love the show? Sign up to access our new exciting Xtr...

Send us Fan Mail Purely positive  training cannot eliminate reactivity in most cases. Rescues usually can't either because they usually only offer purely positive services. And your dog isn't eligible for them because they are too reactive...so there's that. Often times reactivity and aggression are even covered up so that the dog can be adopted out easier.  Lies, lies, and more lie...

Send us Fan Mail Even after training some folks continue to struggle with their dog's behavioral issues. And sometimes that is because some dogs are more challenging. We are, after all, dealing with the nervous system. All dogs are wired uniquely.  But the vast majority of the time we can see right away why some of these deep set patterns and relationships have not changed.  It pays to rememb...

Send us Fan Mail Doggy daycare and dog parks carry a high level of risk and a very low level of benefit. What has become obvious to me over the years is that a lot of dogs don't actually enjoy themselves in these environments but that it just isn't always obvious. Until it is. And that is often post training because your dog is now used to being in environments where dogs are under contr...