Training a Dog

Training a dog must be a lot of fun otherwise you and your dog will not look forward to training. There will be times that training is a bit boring and tedious but you can look forward to the progress you made. I love hearing the excitement from clients as they have achieved new milestones.

There are principally two differing sides to training a dog and they are:

Reward based
Force based

Training a dog with either extreme will each have its own problems. Reward based can be an excellent way to begin training a behaviour but many dogs are not motivated by treats or at least not in high distractions. Training a dog with force based only can stress your dog out and break spirit in extreme cases. However force based training is necessary for safety. Such as when you walk your dog on a leash, that is force based training. You are forcing your dog to stay with you. If you went for a walk with an untrained dog near a busy road having only treats, then you have to pray they want to stay close as opposed to running out into traffic. Relying purely on rewards can be extremely dangerous.

We teach clients where to use each method when they are training their dog.

When you are training your dog, you must be clearly identified as their leader otherwise they will not listen. Some dogs will automatically view you as the leader, some will test you a bit, some will literally fight you for it. Once your dog sees you as the leader, training becomes much easier. It is funny watching some dogs that just thought their owners didn’t want to be the leader. Once I show the owners what to do and the owners show some leadership the dog gives this look as if, “I had no idea you wanted to be the leader! Thank goodness, it was stressing me out. I am glad to be a follower!” Then those dogs just breathe a sigh of relief and relax. The owners state that they have never seen their dog just lay down and relax. They say the dog is always pacing and whining.

We have the fastest and most effective methods of training your dog to just be happy and listen.