Dog training and dog trainers are what most clients think of behaviorists as and what they do.  That’s fine… let the ego go and you enter a home to let them know there is a whole lot more to learn than just training a dog.  As I learned from my adventure in life with Ziggy; all dog trainers call themselves behaviorists or at least say they deal with behavior.  Well; again I learned that not to be true.  There is a big difference in teaching your dog to sit-stay when people arrive and teaching a calm mind set or how to properly interact.  One is dog training and one is behavior.  I like to call the latter dog raising.

I raise my human children; I raise my dogs as well.  I teach them how to interact with the world as opposed to watching from a distance… I incorporate obedience commands so if I really need them to sit down and stay then they know what to do; but really they need to problem solve how to interact as opposed to being treated like a robot.

Obedience training is great.  It is psychologically challenging and gives the dog something to learn.  However; once its learned it has to be applied.  That’s the 24 hour application needed to raise a dog; not just taking out some treats or practicing only 30 minutes a day then doing it again the next day.  I don’t raise my children only 30 minutes a day.  It is a 24 hour process that takes opportunistic moments to really teach the world to my children (both 4 leg and 2 leg).

Have you ever wondered why your dog walks on the left?  Probably because you and your dog were taught by an obedience trainer.  Now ask again why your dog walks on the left.  Because those are the rules of the obedience ring; not the world.  There is no reason your dog should walk on the left all the time in real world application.  Only in the obedience ring you will get score lower; not in life.  As long as your dog is aware of your energy walking down the street; as long as whenever you stop… your dogs stop; your all good.  If you don’t have that; regardless of what side they are walking on, that’s what needs to be achieved.  We need to stop thinking about the style and start thinking more about substance.  I love obedience training; just for the ring though.

We need to remember that dogs communicate differently than our human counterparts and  to properly teach them whats going on we can’t parent from the couch anymore.  We need to get up and show an energy that is serious and assertive.  When we see dogs correct each other it is very quick and concise.  They don’t wait until they are frustrated or angry… They correct in the moment and without hesitation, and then go back to a relaxed state of mind.  Stop giving them the benefit of the doubt when you know they are just escalating and you want them to stop; usually we as the human just escalate in anger every time we ask them to stop and they don’t.  If we have escalated to the point of anger or aggression then we will not be teaching the proper lesson and now it is almost impossible to go back to that relaxed state of mind needed to teach in the moment.  Stop communicating in that manner.  They will never follow an aggressive leader; only in fear; and they will never follow a passive leader; ever.  It is a fine line that we must walk when dealing with dogs on a corrective basis.

Blair Diamond                                                                                                                                 Primal Needs Dog Training                                                                                   Sacramento Dog Psychology