How to manage a dog in your house

There are barely any hard rules in dog training. This is why a lot of people do different things. My goal with a pet dog is to integrate the dog into society and to be social and defer to their handler for any minor things. This is when I take a dog out into the world and see how they are when it comes to new experiences- objects, people, environments, other dogs or animals. This is important to me because I want a dog who is confident but not aggressive or fearful. I will discuss this training in another article. But today I’m going to be talking about how you live with your dog in your home. Check out my blog post titled “ 6 tools needed for a new puppy” to get started. After that you are ready to start managing your dog. You need rules, a schedule, management skills, and what to do when a dog is acting a specific way.

Rules

You need rules to establish yourself and so that your dog knows what to expect. You shouldn’t hold a dog accountable for something he has not learned yet. Some example of rules is:

1. When Im not around my dog is in the crate

2. no begging for food. when we eat my dog goes to its dog bed

3. no jumping on furniture

4. not allowed in certain rooms

5. my dog will eat in its crate

This is not a full list just a sample. It depends on what you like

Schedule

Being on a schedule makes life for a dog predictable. Which makes life for him easier and in turn easier for you too. Being on a schedule is just doing the same things at the same time everyday.

For instance,

8am walk my dog

10 am - 12pm relax in xpen

1pm feed ( if its a puppy) then walk the dog 15 minutes later

6pm feed and walk my dog

Management skills

It is best to be proactive then reactive. I always recommend redirecting a dog in the beginning stages of a behavior that might be a problem such as barking, staring and eventually lunging at other dogs, digging, biting on furniture, and others. So when your dog is digging and its a puppy or just started doing this behavior it is best to tap your dog on its butt, or get its attention somehow, and redirect your dog away from the digging site. Have the mindset of” instead of digging come play this little game with me over here”. The same goes with staring. Once you notice your young dog staring too long, then redirect them away from the dog. After a while you will start to notice what causes your dog to react whether its another dog, cars, or loud noise from a construction site. Now you are prepare and can begin to proactively avoiding an outburst from your dog. If you see a dog coming then immediately whip out some treats and start playing food games. Same thing goes if you are going pass a construction site or people your dog doesn’t like. Avoid the problem so your dog doesn’t get a chance to practice negative behavior.

What to do when your dog act in certain ways

Hire a professional dog trainer!!! No seriously, I get calls from people thinking they can solve problems that is too complicated for someone not knowing what they are doing. Its not a simple as punish a dog and reward a dog. Sometimes there are psychological factors we have to consider. For example, if your dog lunges at another dog you can punish that behavior. The problem with this and what Ive notice is that dogs who have this happen to them tend to become unpredictable. SInce they are afraid to exhibit their true emotional state they will do it in unpredictable ways.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Let me know if you have any questions

Potty training 101

If you follow this process that I’m going to explain to you then you should have a dog that is potty trained in a matter of time. The #1 rule for potty training is to never take your eyes off the dog. This is crucial and why so many people come home and step in accidents on the foul. If you want to get your dog to understand how to use the bathroom outside then you must have a process to teach your dog.

Another rule of mine is to never punish the dog for making mistakes. I know that old school way of taking him back to the scene of the crime, mushing his nose in it, then smacking him with a newspaper. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!!! It is ineffective at best and damaging your dog’s relationship with you at worst.

Quick note: Notice when your dog has to go to the bathroom. Usually its first thing in the morning. Sometimes they will play and get worked up then drink a lot of water. Next thing you know they are peeing out a river.

For those of you using wee wee pads get off my site and don’t ever come back. If I see you in the street don’t say nothing to me. You are lazy and don’t want to walk your dog and I will not tolerate that. HAHAHAHA Im just kidding. We will talk about wee wee pads later on and how to use them and what not to do with them. But first lets discuss the process to potty train your dog.

1. Feed you dog.

   Put down a bowl of dog food and give your dog 15 minutes to eat. The bowl should not be left down all day. If the bowl is left down your dog will nibble on food throughout the day and this will make it harder to time when they have to go to the bathroom. After they eat or even if they don’t pick up the bowl at the 15 minute mark. and move on to step 2

2. Wait 15 minutes before taking your dog for a walk.

   It will vary from dog to dog, but this will work for most. During the 15 minutes make sure to keep your eyes on your dog and that you can see them at all times. Be proactive. If you see your dog sniffing the ground a lot then they might be sniffing for a spot to release their load. Pick them up if they are small enough and take them outside immediately. If they are big just run with them outside.

3. Take your dog outside to a designated area

   IN the beginning this is important. Many people have spots all over their yard because they allow the dog to pee everywhere. Its important to take your dog on a leash and allow her to sniff the same spot and pee in the same spot.

   You ever notice how your dog might have an accident in the house but it always that same spot whether behind the couch or in the living room on the carpet.

   We can use this to our advantage. This also saves time. When you are in a rush and you know your dog has to go to the bathroom you can avoid all the sniffing and take them to their designated area to relieve themselves.

4. Once your dog is sniffing and decided to use the bathroom then its praise time

   Give your dog a lot of praise when they use the bathroom. They need to know that they did a great thing. Mark the behavior by saying “pee pee” , “poop poop”, or whatever else you want to use to signal to your dog that its go to the bathroom time. I see some people give a treat but this can cause your dog to fake it just to get a treat.

What if you are struggling and your dog doesn’t use the bathroom?

I would first ask you “ did you get your dog from a pet shop or puppy mill. Those dogs can sometimes have a harder time because they are use to stepping and laying in their own feces. There are little tricks you can do, but lets stay on task here.

If you adopted your dog or brought them from a reputable breeder, then we need to fix this problem.

Remember the #1 rule of never take your eyes off the dog. Well when we step away from our dog we will put them in a crate. If we go outside for a while and we don’t have luck, we will come back inside and put our dogs in the crate and try again in 10 minutes.

My method is if they are never allowed to pee or poop in the house then they wont do it. They don’t get a chance to practice bad behavior.

“SO Donald what about wee wee pads”?

Well wee wee pads are helpful definitely for smaller dogs and especially during the winter months here in NYC.

SOme tips for using wee pads:

Use only one pad. Many people use a bunch of pads all throughout the house, but this can be confusing to the dog. Remember we want her to go to a designated area.

You also can’t get mad if your dog missed the pad by a little. It is not crystal clear to the dog. Using the bathroom inside of the house and outside in the yard is a clear difference.

One thing you can try is elevating the wee pad on something. The difference between an elevated object and an object flat on the ground is also a clear difference for the dog.

You can also try to put the pad in place where your dog likes to pee anyways like the bathroom or down the hallway.

That pretty much sums up potty training 101. If you have any questions email me at fraternityk9@gmail.com or comment below

How to motivate your dog using their natural ability

There are many drives that a dog has there is food drive, play drive, and prey drive to name a few. I will briefly talk about each and then Ill explain the reason for this.

1. food drive is also known as hunger drive. This is your dog’s motivation for food. Usually you will see this with hungry dogs. A dog that has not eaten all day will be excited to do whatever you ask in order to get the reward, which is food. Food drive goes down as you give a dog food and treats. You need a hungry dog to have the motivation for food. There are exceptional dogs that will continue to eat after they are full and puppies have a large appetite for food. However, the average dog will get full and no longer be motivated for food.

2. Play drive is a dog’s motivation for play. A lot of working dogs love to play tug or retrieve. You will see this with dogs who go crazy for a ball or crazy for any toy. They go from normal and casually walking around to being fired up and ready to go. If you are following me on Instagram( which you should be) you can see a little clip of a video of a Belgian Malinois that was so driven for his toy that he was shaking uncontrollably.

3. Prey drive is similar to play drive. The difference is that when a dog is in prey drive he likes to chase things. This same dog could love a certain toy, but when you move the toy away from him the fun really begins. This can be used in pet dog training, but we will mostly use food and play drive.

How to use food drive to your advantage

First I would like to say that most of us Americans feed our dogs like we feed ourselves- too much. When I worked in an animal hospital I heard one of the Vets talk about how its healthier if a dog is a little skinny. That might shock some people as they immediately think of abuse when they see skinny dogs. After that brief form of self expression lets talk about how to help you motivate your dog using their food drive.

1. Dog must be hungry for food.

   To be honest, some of the dogs I’ve seen can afford to skip a meal. Its not going to kill them Obesity will however. Feed your dog regularly as you do. When you take them out for a training session notice their energy levels. Do they swallow the food whole or do they have a “ i could take it or leave it” attitude? If its the latter then, your dog needs to skip a meal. The next day the should come back ready to work for their food.

2. Feed your dog only from your hand and not out of a bowl. Use training time to feed them . There are no free meals over here

3. Quality of rewards is very important. A major reason a lot of dogs have a “ i can take it or leave it " attitude is because the food that you give them sucks. The treats are dry and not tasty at all. Try giving your dog a cooked piece of chicken and watch how their attitude changes.

4. Size of reward matters also. For a small dog dont give a huge piece and for a big dog dont give a small piece of food. It sounds like common sense but its not. Many people I’ve seen give a dog the size of a German shepherd a piece of food smaller than a penny.

How to use play drive to your advantage

Play drive increases with time unlike food drive. You want to work with whatever your dog naturally likes. I was guilty of trying to get a dog to play tug with me when the dog prefer to chase balls. When I stop doing it my way and did it his way training became much easier.

1. Have a toy you dog likes. This could be a ball or tug or another object.

2. Never let the dog play with the object by themselves. The toy should represent an interactive game with you. All good things come from you. You are like Sana Claus to the dog.

3. Get the dog to bring the ball or toy back to you. This is an indicator that the dog enjoys the interaction and not just self satisfying on the toy alone.

4. Monitor your dog’s energy levels. If your dog is allowed free reign they will use up their energy whenever they feel like it. This may not be good for you as it may be when you are trying to sleep. Instead set up a schedule and know when you are going to train. If its at 1 pm then keep your dog’s energy level relatively low early in the day so that all that bottled up energy can be put into training instead of jumping on the furniture. Use a crate for this.( It is important that your dog is crate trained first.) Take your dog out in the early morning to use the bathroom. Come back home and have your dog go on the place bed and stay or put them in the crate.

By following what is written above you can surely get your dog motivated to do the behavior you are asking of them.

Dog training is boring and exciting

I know what a contradiction. But truth is I personally find this in most disciplined arts. Dog training is no different. I mentioned in a previous post that I box and enjoy forever learning the sweet science. Boxing at first was very boring and robotic.

My coach would also explain concepts to me that made little practical sense when I was first starting out. Now a couple years later in my journey these concepts make more sense. I spent day in and day out working on the same steps. After a while it became boring and I wanted to work on new moves. I didnt realize how important it was to work on the basics.

This idea of doing the basic boring moves over and over transfers over to dog training. When Im talking with a client they always have a end goal in mind, but many don’t know how the road is to get there. It takes a lot of patience and practice. The fundamentals are very important. A lot of the fancy stuff people see dogs do are broken down in basic steps.

Focus heeling for instance has multiple components. You have to teach the dog to hold its head straight up, then teach them how to focus on you while they hold their head up. Next you have to introduce turning to the dog and the heel finish. All these exercises by themselves are not very complicated but together they paint a beautiful picture of the dog. (If you dont know what focused heel looks like go on youtube to see what Im talking about.)

The exciting part of dog training doesnt come until you have mastered those boring moves and you are able to connect the dots between them. A down is very basic. But it looks much fancier when a dog can stay down while 8 people stand around the dog enticing them to get up.

Im always excited when Im training a new dog to do more complicated obedience. Not only is it fun to me to teach it, I love knowing the possibility of what this dog will be able to do when Im done with them. Im guessing thats how coaches feel when their players do great things. I feel like a dog’s coach. I work him/her through any problems they might have, whether its insecurity or uncertainty. This is why its exciting to me. I set up the roadmap for the journey I want to take the dog on and just fall in love with the process.

The process can be lenthy depending on what you want to do. Many dog owners are unfamiliar with how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to dog training. It goes deep! You can become a service dog trainer, pet dog trainer, police k9 dog trainer, personal protection dog trainer. Its like being a doctor with training dogs . You can be a pediatrician, a primary care physician, or a specialist like a surgeon or cardiologist. There is certainly levels to this dog training stuff and just like any discipline, the details make all the difference. Thats what makes it exciting and boring.

My #1 favorite command

I love a lot of commands- when a dog comes to heel, down from a distance, come. But there's one command I love the most. This is the place command and I will tell you why.

What does the place command do?

I use it with most dogs I train. Whether an aggressive dog or a well behaved dog. The reason being is because place has several benefits

1. It gives a dog a place to go in the house so they don't get into trouble

   Many hyper and unruly dogs have a lot of energy and lack of boundaries. They have no place to go and it shows. They are the dogs that when everyone else is still, they are still moving around. Whether its sniffing the ground or just looking around looking for some mischief to get into like a bored kid. When you teach your dog place and get her to stay on place you will notice something. Your dog might start shaking like its going through withdrawal symtoms. This is your dog learning impulse control.

2. They give a dog there own space

   Dogs don’t like to be underneath us all the time. Even the dogs that do, you need to know that this is not healthy. You have to teach your dog to not panic while you are away from them. Some dogs develop seperation anxiety because they can’t stand when their owner leaves them. Believe me, if you incorporate the place command you are minimizing this problem. The bed is also like the their crate-a safe space.

3. They help a reactive dog learn how to be a passenger in the world

   This command is especially useful for reactive dogs. Once they learn the 4 steps to the place command you teach your dog to ignore the world around them and just relax. For example once the dog learns to stay on their place bed then I can add distraction like kids shouting from 20 feet away and have the dog remain on the place bed.

   Now comes the steps to the place command

   it seems so simple yet to achieve great results you have to put in effort.

   Step 1

   Send the dog to place

   Lure dog onto place bed with a piece of food. Get them comfortable going on the place bed. Then walk up to place bed and stop abruptly a foot away from the place bed. Remember to pull the dog back as they are likely to just keep walking due to forward momentum. Next say PLACE, then guide the dog onto the place bed.

   Step 2

   Distance

   Same as step 1 but you increase the distance where you stop

   Step 3

Get the dog to stay on the place bed.

Once your dog is on the place bed move around them in a circle. If they try to get off, Say uhuh or nope and repeat PLACE.

Step 4

Correction

Once your dog understand how to stay on the place bed then its time to add correction for failure to comply. Be careful not to move to fast to this command. Make sure that your dog understands the command. You will know your dog knows because you would have performed it hundreds of times correctly.

Thats it!!! My favorite command in a nutshell. Its many used and benefits and how to implement it.

Thanks for reading and comment to let me know what dog training question are giving you problems or if you’re just curious .

The obession with dominant alpha dogs

Ever watch Cesar MIlan and start doing the hissing sound while abrutly touching your dog? if so, Why were you doing it? Most dog owners don’t truly know. There has been an obsession with dog owners who think everything their dog does him trying to dominate them. I will explain why this is false and the trouble with this thinking(the owner is being reactive out of fear) what a truly dominant dog is like.

Many dog owners seems to think their dog is trying to take advantage of them by not listening. I challenge this idea and ask them. Does your dog really know what you are asking of them? Has he/she demonstrated that they understand? Just because us humans realize something quick doesn’t mean your dog can. Your dog is not being alpha when he jumps on you. He’s not being alpha when he is not listening. I understand that many people want to have their dog under control. Sometimes this idea goes to the extreme.

I watched someone give their dog a correction because he didnt come when called. In fact the dog was sniffing a spot where a previous dog had just marked. The dog was distracted not trying to alpha the owner. This reactive behavior puts the owner on the defense instead of being proactive about training their dog. Being reactive in a sense means the dog is controlling you. To avoid this I have rules that the dog must follow and their are consequences no matter what. This is an example of a proactive approach.

Dogs are like wolves!!! I hear it all the time. Many people assume that this is the case. They even quote the study about the whole alpha wolf to plead their argument. It was a study done in the 1970s. I cant remember the study but I do remember a key fact about it. Those wolves that were studied were born into captivity not the wild. It like being born in jail. Of course there’s going to be an alpha top wolf. You have a bunch of wolves fighting over limited resources. An alpha wolf in the wild is actually just a male wolf who is responsible and head of his nuclear family. He lets his children win in fights sometimes and plays around with them but is serious when its time to get to business. Wolves are predators.

Dogs on the other hand are oppurtunist. They were scavengers. This is how dogs evolved. They first used to go after human scraps when humans would leave the area. When humans would come back some of the dogs would scatter away, but some of them stayed even though the humans made them nervous. Those were the ones that survived by being close to humans. They learned that humans would feed them if they get close enough and stick around. Now these are in my own words about what happened, but you get the point. Wolves and dogs are different.

What is a true alpha dominant dog? In my opinion , this is a very calm dog. This is the dog that doesn’t bark or lunge at people just because theyre in his space. These very rare dogs are good by themselves. In fact, the only time they have a problem is when you force them to do something they dont want to do.

I remember a rottweiler I met who seemed to be in his own world. He would lay down in his section. When you walked by him you could feel his eyes piercing through you. I felt what he was saying with his eyes. He said “ you better walk around me or there will be a major problem that will need to be solved”. He wasn’t reactive. I didn’t even notice him giving me much thought. But I felt his gaze.

Like I said. These dogs are incredibly hard to come by. Most dogs who are reactive are insecure. A dominant dog is secure and doesn’t need to showboat. But if you cause problems for him your life will be a living hell. I can bet that most dog owners don’t have a dog like this because genetics play a huge factor and most people are looking more how the animal looks rather than doing a background check on what were the dog’s parents and their parent brothers and sisters temperament like.

So ease up with this whole dominant dog thing. Your dog just wants something and its your job to teach him the rules to get what he is allowed and how to behave.

The “WHY” behind your dog barking and lunging at people and other dogs

Reactivity is an issue that I see a lot of in dogs. I even have to constantly work with my own dog and hold him to a certain standard to deal with this issue. I used to wonder why my dog was so unpredictable with his lunging. The reality is he was NOT unpredictable. I just wasn’t paying attention to what he was telling me. He was letting me know that he was uncomfortable but I missed the signs.

These signs are known as cut off cues. A cut off cue or calming signals can be when

• a dog looks away from the trigger,

• starts sniffing the ground profusely

• starts sniffing the air, etc.

• lip licking

• Freezing in place

• yawning

  Cut off cues are important to a dog’s social repertoire. This is the dog’s way of saying I’m not in a social mood. When the dog is lunging or barking it is because somewhere in time they learned that got them what they wanted: SPACE. These are the 3 ways I see it.

1. Dog is aggressive - wants the person or other dog to leave.

2. Dog is fearful - wants to leave

3. Dog is frustrated - combination of both

Without boring you guys with dog training terms, space is used as a functional reinforcer. To make things simple, look at it like this.

Dogs and humans learn to behave a certain way because it gets them what they want.

A dog barks at the mailman, then the mailman leaves and gives the dog what it wants: space. A boy acts out at school and his parents start to scold him or yell at him. He received what he wanted: attention. A woman nags and complains to her husband about getting her car fixed. He complies and she gets what she wants. These are all negative behaviors, but they achieved a goal.

Reasons why dogs stop using cut off cues

Dogs stop using cut off cues when they don’t work. When your dog is signaling a cut off cue like turning away and another dog attacks them, they learn that cut off cues dont work.

Another problem that a lot of people do is punish cut off cues.

Ex: You are walking your dog in the park and you see someone walking their dog. You stop and talk with them for a moment and want the two dogs to meet and sniff because you heard that its important to socialize your dog( your a right by the way). Your dog proceeds to start licking his lips and sniff the ground. Instead of rewarding that behavior and giving the dog space, you try to force your dog to interact with the other dog. This increases the social pressure and makes your dog not trust your judgment.

Another reason dogs won’t give cut off cues is because the dog is too stressed out. When I work with reactive dogs it is important to keep them under threshold. Threshold is the point before a dog explodes and charges at someone or something. In a stressful state a dog can’t think

. Are you afraid of heights? I dare you to climb Mount Everest and say the alphabet backwards. That is a difficult tasks because it is hard to think if you are too stressed out worrying about what will happen if you miss one step.

What we want to teach our dogs is that there are more appropriate ways to express themselves. We want to build their confidence in us to trust that we will handle the situation.

There are a bunch of drills I do that I wont get into here but that helps us earn that trust back. When our dogs are showing positive behavior that we want then we need to reward them. We need to let our dogs know that they did good.

Reactivity is a symptom of a greater problem in your dog. Don’t let it go unchecked or it will get worse. This is just the “why” your dog behaves like that. Be mindful that I have never seen your dog and your dog could be displaying predatory aggression, resource guarding, territorial aggression amongst others issues. We don’t have enough time to go down that rabbit hole but feel free to contact me if you have any issues.

If you guys have any specific questions you can comment or email me at Fraternityk9@gmail.com

Why you need a dog trainer

Today I was at EQBC boxing gym and I just finished working on some kinks in my defense when a question came up about dog training. Now I am a dog trainer so I had to ponder this question. The question was “Why do I need a dog trainer”? . I was stumped at first so I had to think about it. I went home, ate a salad(Im trying to get back in shape), and thought. As I reminscien a few thoughts came to my head. There are some main statements that I hear dog owners say that I want to address

Statement #1: I read books on dog training and I watch Cesar Milan theory on dominance on his show so I can train dogs myself.

First off, did you also watch Cesar Milan get bit by a dog. Before you think it can't happen to use remember he is a professional. I have watched his show on tv. In the beginning of the show it is in writing: Warning This is for entertainment purposes only. I mean when I was a kid I used to watch kung fu movies and practice the moves , but I never thought i was a fighter. It was just fun. This stuff is serious business.

Most owners want a puppy so they can raise it to grow with them. The issue is that nobody is perfect. Sooner or later most dog owners tend to slack off after a while and the dog ends up picking up bad habits. You have to constantly stay on top of the dog. They are like a child that never grows up. The training never stops. Most people think that after they go to a 6 week dog obedience class that the dog is trained for life. Not true! They are always learning and its your job to teach them the right things.

Think about this for a moment. Do you work? If so, for how long? Most people work 9-5 or some variation. You might work even more if you have your own business. You also have to count travel time. How long does it take you to get back and forth to work? Also, do you have a strengthous job or a desk job? If you are tired its going to be even harder. Do you have kids? That is also time consuming. All of these things take up your time and even more important it takes up your energy. After a long day most people want to relax.

If you do have all this time ( you don’t work, or you are not in school, etc) then you really don’t need me and you should become a dog trainer yourself.

Another reason is that there are many details to dog training. This is especially true when it comes to a phobia, fear, or aggression. These issues are not so cut and dry or black and white. Its like being a psychologist.

Imagine you went to see a psychologist who read a few books and watched a few dvds. Would you trust them to solve your problems? Or would you go to a professional who studied hard for years and understood psychological problems and how to solve them like the back of her hand.

WHat I have also found is that most owners are part of the reason why their dog behaves this way. They contribute to this behavior yet they dont understand why the dogs act out.

This is simply a communication problem. You have to learn the language fluently if you want to have a full blown conversation, or you hire a translator. I have learned a few words in spanish, but put me with a native speaker who only speak spanish and we would both be totally lost.

When I first started dog training I made a lot of mistakes. I read a lot of books obsessively, but what I learned was that every situation was different. You need someone with a plan to give you piece of mind and assurance. Sort of like a personal .You can read a few books to get in better shape. But then you will get “ i only read a few books results”. Or if you are serious you can hire someone who takes it serious. If you dont know something hire someone who does. I know a lot more now but I am still learning more and growing.

Statement #2: I had dogs all my life and know how to train them.

In my experience these people do know something about dog training and it worked for their dog. That doesn’t mean it can work for their next dog.

Genetics play a huge factor in dogs behavior. Sometimes an owner takes credit for training their dog when the dog just had an easy going personality and a willingness to please. The problem is that even if a dog starts out like this things can change. Environmental factors can cause the dog to display traits outside of its genetic disposition. It's this love affair between nature and nurture.

Now what happens when a dog owner adopts a dog from the shelter and don’t know where the dog came from. The dog starts to exhibit bad behaviors only in certain environments.

What do you do? Do you avoid that environment altogether? But what if you need to go there and it stresses you out because you can’t bring the dog because you know she would freak out. Most people avoid the problem simply because they dont know how to deal with it. This is why a lot of rescue dogs get adopted and then sent back to the shelter. It is a lot of work helping some of these dogs.

Some dog owners received their puppy from a breeder. These days anybody can say they are having a puppy litter. These backyard breeders are the reason why a lot of dogs are in shelters. You should make sure your breeder knows the breed standard for the particular breed of dog you are buying. Find out if they breed dogs seriously or if they are trying to make a quick buck. I am so against the latter type of breeders. They do a disservice to the dogs and the world due to their greed.

I have had clients that say that their current dog is stupid because he doesn’t listen like their last dog. I do my best to explain to them that every dog is different. Just like humans learn differently. Im a hands on guy. A friend of mine is more auditory. This is why he did good in lecture class while we were in school. Some people are visual learners. Dogs don’t quite learn like that but every dog is different. Some dogs you need more patience with. It can be frustrating as an owner to deal with everything else in life and have to figure this dog training stuff out too. If you want piece of mind, hire a dog trainer. It can be fun and open a new world for you.

The attitude you create in your dog goes a long way

When I first learned about dog training, I focused mainly on the technical aspect. I get the dog to sit, I click the clicker, then reward with food. This is a foundation and is important, yet as with anything it becomes more complicated when you go down the rabbit hole. Many dogs I worked with would perform the command I asked but would do it on their own time. They just didn’t care enough about me. I was not meaningful enough for them to pay attention. This was a valuable lesson for me later on. I noticed that many people are excited to teach their dog how to sit, down, stay and all other commands. Let me tell you: If your dog has the wrong attitude it can be the hardest process to teach. On the flipside, when a dog wants what you have and is engaged with you then you have a dog who is easy to teach. There is a process that I teach my clients to proof behavior to reliably get your dog to do it all the time. This is beyond what I am talking about today. What I am talking about is creating a positive attitude in your dog when it comes to training. How does that saying go. “If you love what you are doing you will never have to work a day in your life (something like that). This is true when it comes to training dogs. When I first start training a dog I spend a lot of time working on his motivation levels and creating a dog that wants to learn. Now this is sometimes difficult with clients who want a quicker fix. Some do not seem to understand that if you spend most of the time engaging your dog with you in different locations then he will listen with enthusiasm. Instead they try to force the dog to want to listen to them by shouting commands and giving him a treat when he finally does comply after 7 times of asking for a sit. How do you know when your dog has the right attitude? He/she will be staring at you waiting for you to give them direction. When you ask them to sit, their rear end will hit the ground faster than you can get the treat out. So how do I accomplish this? Engagement.

Training sessions go like this:

Engagement sessions 1-2 minutes

Most people spend 10 -15 minute training sessions which are usually too long for many dogs. I spend 1-2 minutes of keeping the dog motivated. When she starts to show that she is extremely distracted or just not into the activity anymore then I crate them and bottle that energy up. I don’t want a dog going through the motions. You want every repetition to count.

So a day would look like this:

7am

12pm

3pm

6pm

8pm

Now this might not be convenient for someone who works all day so I would do 2 training sessions before and 2 training sessions after work.

7am

8am

6pm

7pm

I want you guys to really focus on your dogs attitude. You will reap the benefits of your investment later on.

NYC dog walker/dog trainer

I am a NYC resident and I love walking dogs. I love it when a dog is enjoying the walk yet still is listening to me. I, nor anyone else, likes to be pulled down the street by a dog. This is why leading from the front is important. I also love even more to train dogs. This is my passion and I have spent countless hours reading about, training, and observing dogs. After a while I began to see a pattern. I hear some people say they watch youtube videos to solve their problem. The probably can fix it depending on the problem, but there are missing pieces that a good dog trainer can troubleshoot on the fly. You can learn the basics, but who has time to spend all day watching youtube videos?

 I know how important it is to understand our dogs as they are part of our family. I seek to help humans better understand how to motivate, engage and live a fun life with their dogs in the areas of Queens and Manhattan NY. I want to give credit to all the other dog trainers who are educating the world and making it a better place for dogs and humans. What can a person expect using my services? You can expect to see a dog that is calm around other dogs and a dog that wants to be with you. I am going to be attending the Michael Ellis school of dog training and a lot of my concepts I get from him or other popular dog trainers in the dog training world. Get ready as I teach you what I love to do.