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Training Tips

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Wait... my name isn't no?

​Teach your dog to look at you when you call their name by showing them that good things are about to happen when they hear it. Give them a treat for making eye contact when you say their name. Now, you can get their attention and they are ready to listen to your other cues such as “sit”, “down”, “stay” or “come”.

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​Level Up

Is your pup a doggy Einstein? Keep up the challenge for your smarty paws by increasing the duration, distance and adding distractions to your pups known skills. Go out in public and practice your training in as many places as possible. This will create a stable dog who will listen to your commands in any environment no matter what is around!

 

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​ Pay Time

It's incredibly important to maintain a positive relationship with your dog. One way we do this is by using a reward based training system to teach new behaviours. This is a fun way to keep your dog engaged and a willing participant. After all, would you like to work for free?​ Treats are phased out slowly and are often replaced with toy rewards for more advanced training.

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​​That was FUN!

Training doesn't have to be a stressful experience for you or your dog! It is scientifically proven that all mammals learn and perform best when trained using motivational methods.  Keep your training sessions fun, stimulating, and engaging for both you and your dog by keeping training sessions short and motivational! If you are feeling yourself becoming frustrated, end on a positive note then come back to it a bit later. 

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​Marker Training

Train a marker word or sound to signal to your dog when they get it right! Always follow your marker with a reward. Your dog will quickly get the hang of things and learn that when they hear that sound, good things are coming. Get ready for your dog to learn all kinds of cool new behaviours! Gone are the days of needing to train a forced fetch!

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​He wants to please you!

Dogs are considered man's best friend for a reason. If the dog is not successful during your training session,  the dog is not necessarily being stubborn, vindictive or disobedient. Often, you are simply asking your dog to do something that they are not quite ready for. Generally the dog will become successful if you simply go back a few steps to where your dog was last reliably performing a behaviour and work your way up in smaller steps from there.

 

Positive not permissive

There is a lot of disinformation out there regarding the use of Science based training techniques by trainers who prefer to use harsher training methods. While you may be able to teach new behaviour without the use of rewards, we prefer to train our dogs in a way that makes them want to learn and perform. We are LIMA compliant, which means we use a Least Intrusive, Minimally invasive approach. While we feel that teaching new behaviour is best done with food, we understand that each dog is unique and has unique needs. We also feel it is extremely important to phase out the reward soon after the dog understands and is reliably performing the behaviour. We are not treat pushers, and you will not have to walk around with treats forever. Training a behaviour and maintaining a behaviour are two separate things, however, and we do feel that all dogs need boundaries. We will correct a dog where necessary, but not before exhausting all other options. Most of the time, you can correct unwanted behaviour simply by training an alternate behaviour. The pack leader theory was debunked many years ago, yet many people still believe that they have to prove they are the "Alpha" to achieve training success with their dogs. This is simply not the case, and your dog is not trying to compete with you over dominance. This line of thinking is problematic because it stops you from understanding why your dog is doing something, therefore limiting your ability to truly get to the root of the problem and fix it. Every time you correct using fear, pain, and intimidation, you are breaking your dog's trust. You are the provider of all things, and your dog naturally sees you as their leader. Allowing your dog to jump up on the bed or couch isn't going to make your dog think he's suddenly the leader of the household. This is what we mean by dominance theory has been debunked. If you want to build a strong relationship with your dog, be fair be kind, and only be as firm as you need to be. Come check out our training classes to achieve real success in a positive way with your dog.
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