Training Through Emotions

I was talking with a seriously great and committed client recently about the ongoing education I do to ensure that my training skills continue to progress. Stagnation leads to decay, as the saying goes. Her response was something along the lines of "How deep can dog training go?" The answer was "pretty deep." It's my job to simplify the process, but training "under the hood" or "between the ears" of the dog can be a never-ending journey of understanding.

One piece of the puzzle of successful dog training isn't so much the techniques we use to develop a behavior, such as leash pressure for a sit or luring into a down or heel position, but the emotions around the behaviors we want, and especially those we don't want.

Like my guy Harvey, who had come in for some reactivity issues, we improved his feelings and got him on the right path pretty quickly. It's easier with a dog that's got interests, but we can usually bring some of that out of a dog that isn't into much, and then we're onto better things.

It's important to remember that our dogs aren't robots, and they are far from simple creatures. They're simpler than we are as humans, but they're more complex than an Abrams A1 tank, which is one of the more complicated pieces of machinery within the United States Military.

When we fail to account for the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of our dogs, we stifle our results. Dog training shouldn't rely on suppression of the dog. While we often do need to suppress or correct certain behaviors, it needs to be a part of the program, not the entire program.

If you've trained with me, you'll know that I focus on bringing the whole dog into focus, motivating the dog, and forming a bond that will carry into so many other things.

Struggling with leash walking? Place an emphasis on the "togetherness" of the walk, and get your dog to want to stay with you, which should be a pretty uptempo and happy thing to teach. Then you can focus on those relaxed and easy walks.

Leash reactivity and aggression? You guessed it. We often need to build the dog up a bit and develop focus, obedience, trust, and then we can affect the dog's perception and emotions around their triggers.

And lastly, this all takes into account the dog's natural genetic tendencies so we can have a happy, fulfilled, and stable dog. This makes everything easier, from potty training your puppy, to working on those pesky behaviors I get called for a lot.

Just some food for thought as you head out to do some training with your dog.