Good evening, everybody. This is Ryan, and I've
got Brianna with me. Hey. And we are bringing
you the very first episode of Pawprint Academy,
the podcast where we talk about leadership in
the home and how it relates to dog training.
Specifically, when we talk about dog training,
we... cover things that are sit down stay place
all of these commands these things that we say
to the dog and that we want to replicate and
have the dog replicate over and over but another
way of looking at that that dog training I guess
pattern right is to focus on what makes the dog
want to do it in the first place. And it's not
just because we have tasty snacks, but it's also
because we build a relationship with the dog
that creates the desire for the dog to want to
do these things with you, right? Not just do
them for you, but participate in a give and take
relationship. Yeah, man's best friend. Right.
Absolutely. And so today is the first episode
here and we're going to cover that. We'll go
over some background and some why we why we're
starting this and why I think it's important.
But this podcast is going to be a little bit
different in the fact that we have a we are both.
dog trainers right we have our own clients and
we have those clients dial in uh through zoom
and be live on the call and the basically this
podcast the goal is to record it in basically
a live like format What we do with our clients
is we have them dial in each week and we talk
about these leadership subjects in the house
and this different dynamic to dog training that's
super, super important for home pet dogs. And
I think it's important for any dog, but specifically
we train pet dogs. We focus on in -home training
for dogs. We have our clients dial in and then
we talk about those subjects and we give them
opportunity to ask questions and learn from each
other. And rather than just have guests on, which
we fully intend to as we go on with this, but
rather than just have guests on where everybody
just talks about like their piece of the puzzle,
the advantage is that we try to get other. normal
people with normal dogs involved in these discussions
and so the the way that this will kind of look
is we'll go through three one main topic like
each week and we'll break that down usually into
two or three like sub points uh with kind of
supporting information and we'll talk about those
things uh within all of the trainers uh here
for this podcast then we've got two projects
that are kind of pre -written out that I think
is important for all owners of dogs to kind of
institute in their home. And then the follow
-on to that is that we'll open it up for live
question and answers. If you are tuning in and
you're not a client of ours and you're tuning
in later and you're listening to this on... Apple
podcasts or on pod bean or something like that,
you're absolutely, uh, able to, you know, type
up some questions and send them, leave a comment,
um, leave a like, whatever, no problem with that.
And we'll get to them the next week as we're
able. So that's kind of the ground rules and,
and the, the, the makeup of this and where we
want it to go. All right. So our initial concept
here uh our our overarching topic for today is
uh the pack leader mindset right and and why
dogs thrive with structure so i think there's
an incredible amount of stress over what kind
of dog trainer you are and what techniques you
use or don't use and all of these things And
I'm going to try to just skip through most of
those things. And we're going to talk about things
that I think that we all can agree on. And that
concept is that if you lack any degree of leadership
in the home, your dog will step into that role
for you. That, I think, is pretty universal.
There are certainly dogs that are not going to
fit this mold exactly. Every dog, just like every
human, is going to have a different level of
desire to lead the pack or to just lead an interaction.
It doesn't have to be all about pack. It doesn't
have to be about pack this, pack that, pack drive,
alpha male this and that. It's more of just even
in an interaction where you ask a dog, Hey, lay
down or sit or no, no, don't jump on the couch.
Like go to your nice big $120 bed that I bought
you at PetSmart, right? That's like nicer than
my bed. So there's plenty of things that we ask
our dogs to do, but we're going to kind of focus
in on regardless of how you ask that and how
you train that. The concept that I think everyone
can benefit from is asking yourself, one, am
I leading this interaction in a way that some
another animal would want to follow me? And.
Like, am I am I doing it fairly? Yeah. Right.
Rather than just I will show you. And which I
don't think is ever really appropriate. All right.
So the core idea is that dogs don't thrive in
a democracy. Dogs do not thrive in an environment
where every dog gets to have a vote and then
everyone can disagree and then chaos ensues.
Dogs, that's just not in their nature. They look
for clarity. They look for boundaries and they
crave leadership. And if they don't get that.
From us in this relationship, me and my dog,
then a lot of times what we see as trainers in
the home is that the dog will step right into
that role. And at that point, now the dog, it's
not about whether the dog is in charge all the
time, but in that one moment where the dog jumps
on the couch, just as an example, the dog is
controlling that interaction. And at that point,
now the dog gets to make a decision and the dog's
decision is rarely what we would decide. And
then that creates anxiety between us and the
dog. And that's never what we want. So with without
leadership, without boundaries, our overarching
point here is that without it, they make their
own rules. And usually that's when. When that
continues to spiral, that's suddenly when dog
trainers get the phone call. Yeah, definitely.
All right. So leadership creates safety, right?
That's my main bullet point that I wrote down.
And so let's kind of break this down. Dogs naturally
follow structure. Because it reduces conflict
and it reduces stress. When a dog doesn't understand
the concept of whatever it is, it's not just,
hey, I told you to sit. They might not understand
the concept of not barking at the squirrel. They
might not understand the concept of not jumping
up to get closer to visitors when they come over.
And when those visitors are children. it's not
that the dog's trying to assault them it's just
that they don't understand the expectation they
don't understand the boundary yeah and so how
can we like be more clear with that right um
one of i'm gonna jump a little bit ahead here
because i i want to hit a um kind of a question
right and i i want this to kind of go back and
forth today we've got um Brianna here, which
is one of our trainers and and then myself. So
when we have when we first have a dog and we're
trying to institute some of these controls and
some of these leadership things, Brianna, I'm
going to ask you, what is a leadership exercise
that you can use or that you would give a client
to use like right away? That if they've got like
an insecure or anxious dog, something that they
can use to show leadership in just a very like
passive, relaxed way that can kind of improve
that relationship right off the bat. And why
do you think it works? I think what I would initially
go to. in my thought process is threshold manners
I mean we start with that day one with any dogs
that come in anyways because it's not a big conflict
to have a dog and what I mean by threshold manners
is any kind of entryway doorway whether that
be a crate door whether that be your front door
your back door your car door any kind of door
that we walk through with a dog is a threshold
and Number one thing we typically see when we
do an eval or see a dog just hanging out in the
home is you let it out the back door, you just
open the door, the dog runs out. You open the
crate, the dog runs out. You open the front door,
the dog runs out. And that's usually when people
are like, whoa, whoa, whoa. But every other door,
that dog has been allowed to just. go as soon
as the door opens. So what you see is a dog standing
at the door and it's like staring at the crack
and it's like, open, open, open, open, open.
And that breeds anxiety in a dog. They, they
need to know what's on the other side of that
door. They have to get there first. They have
to get there before you. And it's just such an
exciting adventure. Usually for a dog, it's you
take them out front to go for a car ride. You
take them out front to go for a walk. You take
them out back to play ball. You know, you let
them out of the crate and you're letting them
out of the crate. Everything in that instance
is exciting. But what we have to do as dog trainers
and responsible dog owners is we have to tone
that level of excitement down. So when it comes
to threshold manners and going in and out of
doors and coming in and out of crates, I'm always
looking for a sit. And if we're in a crate, I
typically look for a down just because the...
The lower they are to the ground, the more time
you have to correct and get them back into that
position. But waiting for that level of calm
and asking for some obedience before they are
allowed to go anywhere is something that's going
to immediately help you and your dog from having
so much. anxiety around those spaces you let
a dog out the back door and everything's fine
but again the front door is always where people
are like well my dog just darts out the front
door and then it's gone because who has a front
yard fence i don't know um but that's one of
the things where if you have an anxious dog they're
making that decision they're the ones going first
you know where i always see front yard fences
on all of the old caesar milan videos Oh, really?
Yeah. I haven't watched it in so long. I don't
remember them. Right. We don't live in those
type of suburbs. We don't have front fence yards.
And so that's where we always see. And we have
a lot of apartments around here. People all the
time are like, well, my dog, you know, they bust
out the apartment door and there's a dog right
there. Prime example of why your dog should not
be going first. You should be able to open that
door, check your surroundings before that dog
is allowed to go through the door. Do you have
to step through first? Do you have to be like,
no, sit and walk all the way to your car before
they come with you? No. But it's as simple as
asking for that sit, being able to open the door
without throwing all the things in your hands
away to control your dog, and then going through
the door with that dog to let them know that.
hey, we're in a pack drive right now because
dogs switch pack drives. It's prey drive, it's
pack drive. There's all sorts of drives. And
you need to be going through that doorway as
a pack together because if you're not, then the
dog's not with you on that walk or on that car
ride. They're in charge of that walk and in charge
of that car ride, even if you're driving. Yeah,
absolutely. So like without a clear leader, right,
the dog's going to feel pressure to make a decision.
Because they're owning that leadership decision.
And when they do that nine times out of 10, that
decision is going to be something that either
that dog was not suited for or that you're not
going to agree with. Yeah. It's like letting
a toddler decide like what you're going to do
for dinner. It's like, of course, you're going
to have chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. Right.
Right. Good old staples. Yeah. So and and when
we talk when like when we I think the thresholds
are really good example because. When we talk
about leadership, a lot of times people immediately
resort to like thinking about harshness, right?
Like you've got to lead from the front and you've
got to show the dog who's boss and all of these
things. And that's not what we're talking about
at all. We're talking about the nonverbal communication
that you can just show the dog that you are leading
the interaction by just going first. Yeah. Now,
granted, you have to incorporate some accountability
into this, right? Because you may not have a
door that either both of you can fit through
at the same time or that might not even be healthy
for the exact situation. Nine times out of ten,
it's going to be you walking through the door
first and then the dog following you. That's
all the communication that dog needs to know
that you controlled that interaction. Yeah. I
mean, even if you don't say sit, when you get
to that front door, give them some leash pressure
or just stand there for a second, the dog is
eventually going to look at you and go, what
are we doing? Oh, okay. Well, I guess I'm going
to sit down. And so when we apply that to anxious
dogs, right? A lot of times we'll see anxious
dogs relax significantly as soon as you step
up into that leadership role. When you show them
clear. concise like clear communication of what
you're expecting and what you want to accomplish
there's a lot of resolved anxiety that just comes
from somebody stepping up and making a decision
so that's really really important when we're
dealing with anxious dogs especially and we jumped
a little bit ahead with the with the anxious
dogs but i i felt that it was important in that
situation so uh now in multi -dogs homes in multi
-dog homes Clear leadership can also prevent
fights from either removing competition away
from rank. So now the dogs are not in this competition.
No, no, I am here in the pack. And the other
dog is arguing with them. No, no, no. Let me
show you why I'm above you in the pack. Pack
dynamics, which you don't see with one dog very
often. because you don't really have a pack.
But as soon as you have two dogs and you have
a human, you've got a pack. Three makes a pack.
When you have three dogs, it gets even more complicated
because what you can observe, you let them out
in a yard and you've got three dogs running around.
You can actually observe them kind of like making
and breaking alliances like on the fly, right?
Dogs are very, very good at those pack dynamics.
And they don't last forever because one dog could
be super, super dominant one minute. And then
suddenly a real quick switch happens. And now
that dog's submitting to this other dog that
is now like driving this game, whatever it is.
Right. It's like kindergartners and they're like,
you're my girlfriend. No, you're you're my girlfriend.
No, you're my girlfriend. And they have five
girlfriends that day and they get home and their
parents are like, what? I don't even understand.
Yeah. Great analogy. All right. So dogs in a
structured home, dogs will adapt in a structured
home more calmly to new and chaotic environments.
Imagine that dogs have they've got up to 100
percent of their brain power. If 60 percent of
it or 80 percent of it is taken up. By them trying
to process what is expected of them so that they
don't get in trouble. They've only got a little
bit of brain power left to process all the other
things that are going on. And then you put on
them the pressure of like leading and making
a decision. And then you're like super confused
why that dog made a crazy wazoo decision and
ran in the other room, grabbed a sock and tore
it up. Yeah. Yep. Um, so how about, how can a
trainer tell, um, when we talk about like a reactive
dog, right? How can a trainer tell the difference
between dogs reactivity that comes from fear
versus just a lack of leadership in the home?
Like you on the kind of the behavioral side,
do you have an answer for that one? Um, putting
you on the spot right that one is putting me
on the spot right it's kind of a hard question
too it is because now we're looking at like two
levels deep right because you're not just observing
the dog's behavior but we're talking about a
reactive dog that that is fearful and they can
react out of they can react aggressively due
to fear yeah but that can also be formulated
and um That can come from this basis of frustration
as well. Yeah, I think we see that a lot when
we do walks with dogs. And we'll get an owner
that is like, my dog's lunging and barking and
doing all these things at this dog. And then
we'll take the dog out and it's not doing that.
And it's not that the dog notices the difference,
right? It's the level at which you are leading
that dog and being like, no, we're not doing
this. And a lot of times owners have a hard time
telling their dogs no. And they have a hard time
like shutting that down and correcting and doing
things that tell the dog that it's doing it wrong.
And if you don't tell the dog it's doing it wrong,
then they think they're doing it right. So I'm
going to take a hard right here just for a second
because it occurs to me that. We're kind of mixing
a couple of different things. So we have a client
base that are obviously, I explained it at the
beginning here, the client base that are kind
of listening in live right now. And they've heard
a lot of these things before. So we're kind of
talking about these concepts that are, I guess,
probably more understood than someone tuning
in for the first time. So let's go back and forth
real quick with just a couple of examples. What
are we talking about with leadership in the home?
When you're talking about dogs, we're talking
about leading the interactions. The first thing
that comes to mind is that we recommend that
you either hand feed your dog or that you require
something of your dog to earn their food. That
can be as simple as sit. Good job. You sat down.
Here's your food. Here's your bowl of food. It
could be as complicated as doing multiple tricks
or events or performing tasks. Right. And then
getting their food. It could be as time intensive
as you directly feeding from your hand each handful
from you to them to their mouth. Those all of
those things have one thing in common, which
is you are controlling the food and not in a.
not in a mean way you're giving the food to the
dog but you're just changing one small thing
instead of you just scooping it out of the bag
if you're using a kibble or you're using a a
frozen raw diet or something like that that's
commercially bought doesn't matter uh where the
for the purposes of this podcast we're not going
to go down that rabbit hole but you're putting
food into a bowl and giving it to your dog you
just insert one additional step in there, which
immediately raises your value in the mind of
that dog, which is they have the food. I want
the food. How do I get the food? Yep. And by
them then doing something that you've asked them
to do, you are immediately kind of like controlling
that interaction. Yeah. And when you control
any interaction, That is that nonverbal leadership
that we're talking about. Now, another example,
picking up or introducing toys to your dog rather
than letting your dog just pick through a menagerie
of toys in a toy box. Yeah, good word. Nice.
So the dog being able to have 24 -7 access to
a toy, is not a bad thing, is not something that
is going to ruin your dog. That's not what we're
saying. But if you are in tune with your dog
and you have all those toys put away and you
come to your dog with a toy, you control that
toy and now you're giving it to your dog. That's
leadership. That is an example of... Leadership.
It immediately increases your value in the eyes
of the dog. Yeah. What's another one? Yep. Right
on the spot. So you talked about thresholds.
Right. You going first on the thresholds. How
about another one? I think dogs on the furniture.
Okay. This is going to be one that's hated. Right.
So dogs on the furniture. There's nothing inherently
wrong with dogs getting on the furniture. But
you inviting your dog up on the furniture. Right.
Yeah. That's leadership. That's where it comes
in. Right. Because you're inviting them. So when
we're talking about that, that's. Probably one
of the best examples because now if you understand
that example, you can apply it to all the other
things. You should be inviting your dog and asking
your dog to partake in all of these things. When
you go for a walk and there's a place on the
walk where you know that there are squirrels
around. My dog goes crazy for squirrels, loves
squirrels. If I know that there's a place where
squirrels tend to hang out, then I'm going to
go into those areas and then I'm going to give
her a break, right? From being in a heel or being
in a, or whatever, right? So then I give her
a break there and invite her to go sniff around
and see if she can find a squirrel. Yeah. That
is the same thing that I would do anyway. But
instead of me letting her lead the interaction
by going and finding the squirrel, I'm inviting
her to do it. Yeah. Same thing with like pushy
dogs that come over for pets and they like nudge
your arm and get like under your armpit. It's
cute until it's not. And you have a full drink
in your hand or a plate of food or something.
But inviting that dog over into your space for
pets is different than that dog coming over and
demanding pets. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I
just wanted to kind of divert real quick and
talk about that and make sure that we were discussing
this in a way that made sense to most people.
When we talk about leadership in the home, these
are the types of interactions that we're trying
to discuss. All right. So major point. No, let's
finish our last question. Last question for the
leadership creates safety point. What is the
biggest aha moment for clients when they finally
provide consistent leadership? And like, how
do you anchor it for them? I think big aha moments
typically come like after. When we introduce
structured walks, right? We have, we deal with
a lot of dogs with reactivity and things like
that, especially on walks. And we work through
a lot of, you know, again with like, I guess
threshold isn't only doorways. It's the distance
from which a dog will not react, right? So when
we're dealing with reactivity and we're talking
about thresholds, it's how. close can we get
without the dog reacting and a lot of times we
see that with you know dog on dog reactivity
um where they're on a leash and they just bark
at a dog as they go by um in that instance when
we get at a distance where where we can work
that dog through it and walk by the dog even
if it's at a greater distance and watching the
owners just be like wow, like that was all it
took was an extra 10 feet over to the left for
that dog to get enough distance to where it could
control itself and understand that that dog wasn't
close enough. And so there's no reason to react.
You are also like positioning is really important
on those walks being, you know, on the other
side of the dog versus not. And those are things
that are hard to think about when it just comes
to, I just want to walk my dog. But when you
go to walk your dog, every walk has to have a
purpose. And it's not just to get out energy.
Because I'll be the first to tell you that a
walk doesn't get out much for a dog. And I know
a lot of people think, well, I'm just going to
take my dog for a walk and they're going to get
tired. I'm definitely going to take some heat
for that one. Right. It's like the traditional
exercise for every dog. You have to walk your
dog. Right. But do you? I bet you if we played
hide and go seek with like three bowls of food
in the backyard, they'd be just as tired than
if they walked a mile. Right. But so would I.
Right. Me too. Because you're finding your food
at that point. But I think really getting that
solidified structured walk or seeing the dog
react and. getting a correction for that reaction,
the owner who's never given a correction before
on a walk and just gets pulled and dragged through
it is like, whoa, they usually bark their heads
off. They barked once, got a correction, and
they're not barking. And it's not because the
correction was so severe. It's because we said,
no, correction, we're not doing that. And the
dog is like, oh, all right, that's not allowed.
It's just like telling a kid when you go out
and they go to run across the street and you're
like, nope, and you grab their hand and you're
holding their hand. At that point, you're not
allowed to do that. Right. When you hold a child's
hand and they try to run across the road and
you don't let them. Right. Chaos can ensue, right?
You're correcting them. And they can start screaming
and crying, but you're still not going to let
that child run across the road. Right. 100%.
Right. Just that verbal no can do wonders if
it's communicated clearly and it's communicated
in a way that the dog perceives and understands.
Right. The clarity is where the dog is like,
oh, it's not the act of the correcting. It's
the fact that you were like, no. And they're
like, oh, okay. They said no. All right. So we're
going to segue into boundaries to find relationships.
So every relationship in the pack. It's got rules.
And the dog expects to know what they are. If
they don't know what they are, that's when some
of these weird things start happening. So dogs
just need to know what to expect, and they need
to understand where those boundaries are. Boundaries
teach respect, and they prevent entitlement.
So behaviors such as jumping or barking for attention.
When a dog takes personal space away from you,
when they take personal space away from you in
order to own that space themselves, that is an
example of one of those entitlement behaviors.
So jumping up on a guest. A guest comes in. That
dog has no personal boundaries or no respect
for those personal boundaries and he jumps up
to, it could be completely friendly. He just
wants pets. But without that boundary, right,
that just gives us, that is just an example of
the entitlement behavior. Just so that we're
on the same page here. So clear boundaries, they
often unlock, I guess. Like freedom, right? Clear
boundaries will unlock freedom for the dog. And
when they know what behaviors are allowed, they
can work within those boundaries. And a lot of
times you see a reduction in anxiety and you
see an increase in the desire for your dog to
be there around you and also like listen to you.
And that's really, really important. Owners who
let their dogs figure it out often create confusion
and conflict. Rules around thresholds and feeding
and furniture usually they can establish by having
those rules. Let me rephrase. By having rules
regarding the furniture, we can establish those
clear lines of respect. No, you can't jump on
the furniture whenever you want. I invite you
to jump on the furniture. Then it's appropriate.
And removing boundaries, here's where clients
typically will end up between a rock and a hard
place, is when we remove those boundaries too
early, we end up with... an increase in, I guess
that, uh, me and the dog working against each
other. Right. So if I get a new puppy and I let
him loose in the house, I can expect to have
things chewed up or, um, to end up cleaning up
a pile of, of pee. And that's because that and
that that would be natural for most people to
to check off in their head. They're like, well,
yeah, of course, because he wasn't ready for
that like level of freedom. Right. That's the
whole point. Removing boundaries from your pet.
Even when they're housebroken, even when they're
trained, even when they're all these things,
but removing those boundaries too early, not
too early based off of your definition, but too
early for the dog's definition. When we remove
them too early, it often causes setbacks in both
our training progress and it causes stress between
our relationship with the dog. All right, Brianna,
what's one boundary you've seen transform a household
within a few days and how did you implement it?
I think we'll go back to like the no furniture
because that's one of the really big ones that,
you know, we have no problem with the dog being
on the furniture, right? If your dog, we've said
it a million times, if your dog has no behavioral
problems an angel 99 % of the time, then that
dog can be on your couch. But if you haven't
invited that dog, I don't expect the dog to be
on the couch. That's me personally. Nala can
get up on the couch. She never has. But if we
invited her up on the couch, I'm sure she'd gladly
climb up there and get straight into our laps.
What you'll notice is like she never even tries
to get on the couch because she just never has
and there's no reason for her to get on it. She
can get as close to us as she wants to. But when
you implement a no furniture rule for a dog where
that dog has been on the bed, right? And it's
taking a little siesta in the afternoon and you
go in and you need to change the sheets and you
ask the dog to get off and the dog is like growling.
right and it doesn't have to be a crazy growl
but the dog like grumbles at you and growls that
dog no longer has rights to that space for me
because that shows me that it thinks that that's
its space and we have to be in control of the
spaces especially with a dog that thinks that
it's going to growl bark and intimidate someone
that's the number one sign that it thinks it's
the leader for sure because it's definitely like
no no this is my space i'm i'm not ready to get
up yet so the number one thing i will tell people
is if you have behavioral problems you control
the space which includes the bed and the couch
for sure and does it mean that you can't invite
your dog up there no but it does mean that that
dog should not be getting up there on its own
accord and making that decision by itself yeah
yeah so that's that's one of the most recent
ones that i saw was um was a um was just a a
woman who was kind of worried about how this
was going to play out because she had the dog
in the bed and was like all right let's go and
the dog was like no no this is my bed you go
and uh and that can be a really scary like uh
that can be kind of a a scary interaction right
um So I think that that's kind of an appropriate
use of those spaces, right? We have to kind of
encourage dogs to share those spaces with us,
but in a way that we control. All right. So why
do some owners confuse boundaries with being
mean? And how do you, as a trainer, reframe that
for them? I think most owners, when we initially
tell them that they have to say no or implement
rules, definitely think that it's some form of
punishment or being mean to the dog. But in the
long run, it's an act of kindness towards that
dog because you're showing them how to maneuver
themselves in the world. Dogs don't know. what
they don't know, right? Just like kids don't
know what they don't know. If you don't teach
a kid certain rules and how to live in society
and do the things that people think are normal
and expected, the dog goes right back to, well,
I'm going to do what I want and what I feel is
right. There's no child or dog that I've met
that doesn't thrive from having a bedtime routine,
a curfew, you know, not being allowed to have
sweets before dinner or right before bed. There's
no child I know that doesn't thrive in that type
of environment because that's what they need
in order to learn how to function and become
an adult, just like dogs need to learn how to
grow from a puppy into an adult dog and how to
handle themselves in society. Yeah, absolutely.
Now that was a, that was a good way to put it.
So when a client pushes back on those rules,
how do you as a trainer show that the dog benefits
from that structure without really escalating
conflict with the owner? I think in those instances,
I just kind of show them that the dog, I can
go back to threshold manners with that, right?
There's a lot of the same exercises that you'll
hear me talk about when it comes to leadership,
that there's, those are such. regular, everyday
exercises that you should be doing with the dog.
And it's not a whole structured thing, but it
is, hey, sit before a doorway, right? And those
things are going to be so important when it comes
down to that. Because if I show up for a training
session and I say, show me how you take your
dog for a walk. And we get to the front door,
you open the front door and we're off and the
dog's out first. and they're telling us which
direction we're going left right are we going
forward are we going backward are we going inside
because i they didn't even want to go outside
when i look at that and i say okay let me show
you let me let me show you how i walk outside
with my dogs and i take that dog and they go
into a sit i open the door they pop up from that
sit i close the door and we will do that just
a couple of times and you'll watch the dog then
go well We're not going out the door because
I keep standing up and she closes the door. So
I'm going to try staying to sit down. You see
a dog elongate that sit to where you can open
that door, keep the door open. And the dog is
looking at you and he's like, are we going out
yet? Are we going out yet? And they're waiting
then for you to give them that cue. And they're
looking to you to tell them that, oh, okay, now
we're going out the door. But that's what I always
look for when I first tell people to show me
how they walk is. How does a dog handle the doorway
and how do you handle that dog in the doorway?
Yeah. So the next major point is owners must
lead in everyday moments, right? And this is
one of my favorite topics because here's some
of the nuances that we really need to talk about
and everybody really needs to understand because
it can influence your relationship with your
dog and so, so much. So leadership is built in
daily habits. It's not just in training. sessions
so um and those who have kids this is uh this
is one that i heard recently that i i like to
relate back to is the people that have kids they
never go hey uh i'm gonna run in the backyard
here for the next 10 or 15 minutes i'm gonna
work with the kid right whatever that is your
son your daughter whatever that would sound very
socially unacceptable but We do it with dogs
all the time. I'm going to go work with Scruffy
in the backyard. Okay. Well, what about the rest
of the time in his whole life? Yeah. They can't
all be training sessions that are like structured
and we're going to do this and this and this
and then we're done and. Right. And so many people
are so focused on the, how long should a training
session be? Should it be 10 minutes? Should be
15 minutes? Should be. Karen Pryor Academy is
a real big proponent of one -minute sessions.
They're a very, very successful company, and
they encourage one -minute sessions. That can
work. Now, your dog can go as long as your dog
can go. That's the problem. It's like, is that
10 minutes? Is that 12 minutes? Is that 11 and
a half minutes? It doesn't matter. The point
is you are missing out. If you're only doing
training sessions with your dog, that dog is
learning all throughout the day. And you're missing
out because that's where shaping, right? Free
shaping, shaping, whatever we want to call it,
whatever in the dog trainer world we want to
say this is or is defined as. The concept is.
Your dog is learning throughout the day. And
so your interactions with that dog on that daily
basis, every time you come in or out of the crate,
every time you tell the dog to go to their place,
every time you go outside to go potty, those
are all opportunities for you to one, show leadership,
and two, enforce and hold accountable your dog
for your expectations that you've set in the
household. I think that's super, super important.
I think it's missed a lot. Yeah, for sure. I
mean, I took a dog out earlier and I was going
to go on a walk and we didn't even make it out
of the driveway. We were like, how'd that go?
And I was like, yeah, we just stayed in the driveway.
But that's such a good example. That's what we
were doing. Because it is what it is. I didn't
need to walk a half mile. That dog was showing
me that he wasn't ready to walk a half mile.
That dog was showing me that he wasn't ready
to make it outside of the driveway. That dog.
was barely showing me that he was ready to make
it off the front porch, but I gave him some leniency
and we moved to the driveway. Right, and so many
people are like, well, I have to walk my dog
or I have to do this or do that. I think there
might be some other options for you. Yeah, I
don't think I've ever read - And when that happens,
by all means, reach out. I've got a whole bunch
of ideas, but - Yeah, I mean, I've never Googled
it, but I've never read an article that tells
me how far a dog should be walking every day.
Right, not how far. Yeah. Now there's a certain
level or a certain amount of minutes per of like
moderate heart rate activity that is recommended,
but how far, not important. No, never. Good point.
All right, so dogs read, oh, this one's a good
one. So dogs read tone, right? So our posture,
our body language. is so, so important and way
more than words. Dogs don't speak English. So
when you are saying sit or down, down's a good
one. When you are saying down and you are bending
forward at the waist and putting your head just
inches away from the dog's face, you're teaching
the dog that that body language means something.
And in this case, it's... that you want them
to lay down. A lot of people don't ever test
this, but I've seen it firsthand that sometimes
when you are really good at that and you've reinforced
this a lot, you can say asparagus and lean forward
at the waist and the dog will go down. Yeah.
And you can also stand straight up and say down
and that dog is like, huh? Right. They don't
get it. That is a great, great example of your
communication is not clear here. You have not
communicated clear expectations and the dog is
guessing what's expected. Now that is fine right
up until it's not. When it's not, now you suddenly
start seeing these things coming out and anxiety
from your dog that is not clear on what's expected.
And that's why we're harping on this so much.
And with tone, when I think of tone, my biggest
connector there is recall. Because when you are
calling your dog back to you and you go, Scruffy,
come. Nobody's excited. You're not even excited.
What's going to make that dog excited to come
back to you? And if they're sniffing a squirrel
out or a frog, right? Oh, frogs are awesome.
Yeah. Right. Are they? We deal with a lot of
frogs. So many frogs. And so, but frogs are very,
very enticing. Right. Because they jump and they
make erratic extreme movements. Right, and they
try to hide. And they try to hide and they blend
in and they're hard to see. Right, they look
like rocks, but they don't smell like rocks.
But they're not like rocks, yeah. So we have
a lot of issues with frogs. And if a frog that
has way more, like a... much more interesting
demeanor yeah than you yep and you're like come
yeah or here right what are the odds what are
the odds that your dog's going to come yeah probably
zero probably very low right and now you can
easily blame the training and be like well my
dog's not trained well enough right that's fair
but at the same time Whose responsibility is
it like to lead that interaction? It's yours.
If you're not exciting, if you're not fun to
be around, why is your dog going to want to be
around you? Right. And when it comes down to
it, it's like the level of excitement should
match the level of situation you're in. And we've
talked about this similarly in like e -collar
training, right? You dial it up and you're on
like a level two. That's inside. And then you
step outside, you're no longer on a level two
distraction because you've added in all sorts
of things. So of course you're going to have
to dial that up. And we talk about the same thing
when it comes to corrections, right? We're all
a fan of making the lightest correction possible
for the situation that you're in. But if you're
dealing with a dog inside and it's just a tiny
correction for them not laying down, great. But
when you go outside and you're dealing with reactivity
and there's a dog walking by, That's not a simple
we're inside and I'm trying to get you to lay
down correction. And I think when I've explained
that to some of my clients and related it back
to that, it's like you have to think of all the
things that you're adding in. You're not just
going from inside to outside with that distraction.
You're adding in sights, smells, all sorts of
things, noises that are going on. And so you
can't expect the dog to focus. at the same level
outside, one, if you haven't practiced it, and
two, if you're not matching the energy of it.
Yeah, 100%. So what we're getting at here is
there's a difference between teaching the commands
and living leadership day to day. We have to
live that leadership example day to day. That's
what's going to truly build that relationship
with your dog. And silent leadership through
movement and posture and tone, often communicates
a lot more than your individual commands are
going to. The dogs don't speak English. They'll
go off of all sorts of different cues. So it's
really important that we use our body language
and our posture and our movement consistently
to elicit that understanding in our dog. We talked
about how everyday leadership examples. Like
earlier we talked about like structured walks
and like controlling doorways and waiting for
food. We used all of those examples. So we'll
jump out of the questions and then we'll get
to our listener projects. So Brianna, since you
are the only other subject matter expert here
today, the question comes to you. All right.
What small routine change, what small routine
change can an owner make today? that will immediately
boost the leadership in the home? What would
you recommend? Definitely related to feeding.
I think we see a lot of dog owners that don't
exactly know one, dog nutrition, and two, how
to feed their dog, right? Everybody has learned
that you put the food in a bowl and they either
eat it right away or they graze on it as they
want to. Every single person I'm... quite certain
has done that once in their life, if not every
day with their dog. And it's not like I didn't
come from that place as well. But when you adopt
a Hoover vacuum instead of a regular dog and,
you know, they're choking on their food, then
people are automatically like, oh, I should buy
a slow feeder. Yeah, you could buy a slow feeder.
You could also feed that dog from your hand.
You could scatter that food on the ground. You
could put it into a puzzle. There are so many
ways other than the slow feeders that people
have just adopted as the alternate to slowing
their dogs down. It's giving a little bit more
stimulation for the dog to have to work at it
and tiring them out more. But it's not the same
as... as getting into it with your dog I play
hide and go seek all the time like I recommend
that to clients all the time it's like take little
dishes put some food in it hide them around your
house you can walk around with your dog and guide
them it's like they don't have to be an expert
at it and you don't have to tuck it away you
know under a piece of furniture but you could
walk around with your dog and and be like look
let's find it let's find it let's search let's
search I was doing that with Dexter yesterday
because he kept losing the ball in the yard and
I wasn't giving him the answer, but I was like,
search, search, and kind of walking around the
yard and giving him hints. Those are the things
that people don't automatically think about when
it comes to food, but those things are going
to be the most important because you're bringing
them the food, you're playing with them with
the food, you're enticing them to actually want
and have a drive for that food rather than looking
at a metal bowl and being like, cool. There's
that dry kibble again. And I think people lean
towards, well, I need to use a food topper. I
need to add this or I need to do something with
that. But a lot of times if you make the dog
want it in a more fun, interesting way, then
you also unknowingly build that food drive. Yeah,
100%. How do you coach clients? let's talk about
body language so how do you coach clients to
adjust their body language or their tone so that
the dog takes them more seriously without yelling
or nagging or like raising our voice because
one so it's kind of our position here that we
that that yelling will never increase comprehension
with dogs it will only increase anxiety because
the dog is unable to match that type of And so
you just increasing the volume, dog can't even
respond verbally. So now you've started communicating
to them in a language that they don't understand
in a concept in a, in a, I guess a mode that
they cannot match. And now you've just increased
frustration. So we don't recommend yelling or
just like raising your voice a whole bunch. But
I think there's probably a level that you can
still be you can increase the volume slightly
to be more clear rather than whispering to your
dog. Right. And changing the tone has to do a
lot with that when it comes to like corrections
and some dogs we relate it to back to like softer
dogs. Right. We have soft dogs who are more fearful
and more anxiety and and and just don't require
a level that like a working Belgian Malinois.
It's like. you can tell a chihuahua probably
be like, no, no. And it's fine. A Malinois is
going to be like, no. And it's more of like a,
hey, you told your kid once not to touch that
and they're still over there touching it. Your
tone is going to change. And typically when you
get into that whole mom or dad voice and it's
like a, hey, I said stop. The kid is like, oh.
They were really serious about that one. And
I keep snapping my fingers. That's one of the
body languages I use all the time. And like,
I don't know if that's even related to body language,
but I use that cue a lot because it gets a dog's
attention, right? It relates back to a clicker.
It's like a clicker. It's like, oh, I'm doing
something wrong or I'm doing something right.
And so a lot of times I'll pair no or a ah with
a snap and the dog is like, oh, okay, all right,
my bad. And it just catches that attention. way
better than going nope stop doing that no don't
do that nope quit no stop right in english we
have like a hundred words that we could use to
indicate that you're doing something that we
right don't like and we usually use way too many
we usually use way too many that's the point
yeah it definitely is and if it's like i don't
know i usually stick to like two or three words
and then it's those are my words Yeah. All right.
So last one so that we can kind of stay on time
here and share a story where a simple daily leadership
habit created a major improvement in behavior.
What was the habit and what changed? I think
a big one for that is going to be like demand
barking. So people, when we walk in and their
dogs are usually super demandy and things, super
pushy, super demanding, super just all around
friendly dogs, but they just really are attention
seekers. We will walk into that eval and we won't
even look at the dog. And that's typically like
what we try to do is because we know that that's
the fastest way to calm a dog down is to ignore
it. see an owner and they're like, well, why,
why aren't they, why aren't they jumping on you?
Why aren't they over there like nudging your
hands and why aren't they barking at you for
attention? And it's like, well, cause I'm not
looking at it because I'm not acknowledging the
dog yet. It's not in a calm mindset. And if you
acknowledge that dog when it's not in a calm
mindset and it's barking, I think it's one of
those things where I go back to the saying, it's
like negative attention is still attention. And
when a dog is barking and you are telling it
no even, and it's like, nope, stop, nope, stop.
Some dogs feed off of that and you're still giving
them the attention and energy that they wanted
out of you. And when we're like, well, they're
demand barking, how do I get it to stop? You
ignore it. And I know that that can be one of
the hardest things to do, but there are some
behaviors in a dog where, correcting it verbally
is just going to keep the behavior there. Right,
because that's what they were looking for was
that engagement. Right, they don't care that
you're saying no or stop or whatever it is that
you're saying because they don't know what you're
saying and they don't care. But you're talking
to them and you're looking at them and you're
engaging with them. And a lot of times if it's
like, I want to go out the back door, you're
letting them out. You're giving them water. You're
giving them food. You're giving them something
to try to figure out what it is that they want.
And that's them guiding you and being like, I
need something, figure out what I need. But a
dog doesn't need to go out 12 times a day unless
they're a little puppy. But we see owners all
the time with dogs that are three, four, five
years old. And they're like, well, I let them
out every hour. Do they go to the bathroom? No,
they just kind of meander around and then they
want to come back in. Well, that's because they
didn't need to go outside. They just. They were
bored and they were like, hey, give me something
else to do. Let me go outside and find something.
Right. Right. There is a concept of there's a
happy medium, right? We see clients that they
don't or they don't have the time to like. do
the things that they need to do with that dog
to like keep that relationship growing and keep
it thriving. Uh, but then we also see those that
are, are those, uh, I mean, it's almost the,
the, the concept of the helicopter parent, um,
but for dogs, right. And they're just, I, I,
I want them to have everything. I want them to
never need anything. And that can also, uh, go
South. Now, all of these things, Don't hear us
and be like, oh, got it. So they're just the
perfect dog owners. No, we have dogs and we mess
this up all the time. All the time. We are covering
and going over things that are, in our experience,
best practice. That doesn't mean that you can't
do some of them and be totally fine. Most dog
owners on different forums and different... I
guess groups and things platforms yeah that's
a good way of saying it they inevitably agree
usually that things like dogs in the bed or dogs
in on the couch and things they're not the source
of the problems usually they are not a problem
at all if you don't have these other issues.
So the reason why we're coming out super hard
on some of these things is because if you have
all of those things going on and you have a dog
that barks incessantly or you have a dog that
growls at you when you try to take their food
away or you have a dog that fights with the other
dog in the house or you have a dog that Whatever
the situation is, if you have a dog that possesses
these unwanted behaviors, maybe it points to
a bigger issue. And the way that we get a hold
of and start dealing with that bigger issue is
we take control back from the house by doing
all the things that we've talked about. So at
no point do we just say, oh, well, you just have
to control every aspect of your dog's life and
you can never let them have any freedom. No,
no. You can let them have freedom when they're
ready for it. It is exactly like raising a child.
You cannot take a toddler or a, let's use an
older child, right? A 10 -year -old. You can't
take a 10 -year -old and be like, yeah, you can
drive because they went through a growth spurt
and they can reach the pedals. Just because they
can do it does not mean that they are mature
enough to handle it. And so there's laws and
everything else that's involved. But in general,
this is about dog training. We allow the dogs
to have the appropriate amount of freedom for
their decision -making capabilities. That's the
end state. All right. So let's... roll into something
that I am kind of excited about is the goal of
each one of these episodes right before we open
it up for the live Q &A for the clients that
are dialed into it and listening right now. We're
going to talk about two projects. So we're just
going to title it like listener projects. I've
got two ideas. We talked about both of them during
the podcast, but I'm going to kind of break them
down with performance points. So the first one
is the threshold rule. I'm going to encourage
anyone who's listening to this. They're tuning
in. They're trying to tame the beast that is
running around their living room. Each time the
dog reaches a doorway, such as like the house
or the crate or the car or whatever, I want you
to enforce that the dog must pause and wait.
for a release word before moving. Now, how do
you do that? You can do it on a leash. You can
do it by holding a collar. You can do it by petting
the dog, like nicely keeping them calm. There's
many ways you can do it. Um, and there's a thousand
YouTube videos out there on how to do those things,
but we're going to kind of breeze through them
quickly. Um, cause obviously I don't have the
ability to show you, this is not a video podcast.
Um, So start with a leash on. We're going to
go for the leash approach. Approach the threshold.
You're going to stop. Use real calm body blocking
to make sure that the dog doesn't bolt out in
front of you. You're going to own the space of
the doorway. We're going to open the door very
slowly. And as the door gets open and the dog
continues to sit there. Then we're going to release
the dog. We use a marker word free if we're using
a treat or a reward or something like that. And
we will free the dog by saying free to release
them once they have paused and they are neutral.
If the dog breaks early, we're going to just
calmly reset them and we'll try it again. We'll
just tell them no and we'll reset them, put them
right back in that same position. close the door
slightly so you're still controlling that space
allow them to relax and then slowly open it again
and start working through it so this project's
going to build respect it's going to build impulse
control it's going to reinforce the fact that
you have to lead that interaction and and that
transition from inside to outside or from outside
to the car or from the crate to the living room,
whatever it is. All right. Project number two,
structured meal routine. Before every meal, I
want you to ask for a sit or a down or whatever
task you want, but ask for a task and require
the dog to hold that position while you lower
the bowl. And this is, you can modify this any
way you want, but we're going to require that.
And if the dog breaks the position, just do,
we don't have to correct the dog. You don't have
to do anything. Just lift the bowl, quietly reset
the position and then try it again. All right.
This would be another case where I would use
the word free to release the dog because they're
being freed to go to a food reward. So I would
use free. In our training makeup, you're welcome
to use whatever word you want. Make it consistent.
But that's all that matters because dogs don't
speak English. Give them the permission to eat
with that release. And then over time, this is
going to teach them patience and impulse control.
And it's going to reinforce your role as both
the decision maker and the controller of the
resources in the home. All right, so those are
your two projects for the week. Until next week.
At this point, we are going to open it up for
question and answers from the clients that are
dialed in here. If anybody is listening, this
is your opportunity to unmute your microphone
and throw out some questions about anything we
talked about or if you guys just have questions.
Hey, Ryan, it's Cliff. Hey, Cliff. Hey, Shanoa
is doing really well. She does have her moments
where she is wanting to be stubborn as bulldogs
can be. She does jump on the furniture and I
immediately, get her off is there anything else
that i should be doing to discourage her from
get on the furniture so at her age right and
um what is it when she's when she's jumping up
on the furniture do you not want her on the furniture
at all or you just want her to wait uh just refresh
me what your your individual rules are if if
we're invite her up Then that's fine. Okay. But
I don't want her just getting on the furniture
and thinking that she can lay on the furniture
on her own. Yep. Because she always wants to
be chewing on something, which is going to cause
a stain on the furniture. And when she was a
puppy, she actually peed on the couch. I got
you. I don't want to inadvertently have an accident
on the couch. So I just would like, I'm not a
person that wants my pets on the furniture. Okay.
If. Unless they're invited up. Okay. Gotcha.
So, um, in that case, so typically does she,
and does she get off if you tell her off? No,
she, I have to end up going over there and pulling
her down. Okay. All right. So, um, and she wears
a flat collar, right? In the home. She has the
flat. What we've been doing is, um, we have the
pronged collar. I take it off of her at night
when she's sleeping, but then I put it back on
her in the morning. And then just so she wears
it throughout the morning. okay throughout the
day um as as there's not uh necessarily an issue
with that uh as long as you know you're just
being cautious with it um so the right so i would
just go to um i would just go to correcting her
on the collar right um does she if she's wearing
that do you just have her like wear a drag line
or does she usually not wear anything do you
have like a She is not, but I can put it back
on her. I've been lazy about keeping that on
her. Well, so if the behavior is increasing,
then I would encourage you to just have the tab
leash or the little traffic handle connected
there. So that way, if this is a behavior that
she exhibits with increasing frequency, you can
break it down a little more by just being verbal
first. then going and offering her a slight correction
and encouraging her to get off the couch. At
that point, we really need to reinforce that
the behavior off of the couch is what you want.
And so that is where you need to reward her.
You need to give her attention. You need to give
her affection. Give her the attention. Limit
the attention that she gets. from the interaction
of her getting on the couch because what you
can do is you can strengthen that desire because
if she's just trying to get your attention she'll
she can do things that she knows will make you
interact with her does that make sense yeah and
so what you don't want to do is you don't want
to encourage that too much we want to make her
jumping on the couch Very dull, bland, and boring.
And we want to make her experience on the ground
with all four paws on the ground very gratifying.
Right. And so there's not a magic button to do
that, but it's repetition. I will say that it
will make it more difficult if she's allowed
to get on the couch sometimes and not others
because she's also going through a maturity.
level right of her growing right and and learning
what's allowed and what's not and so that will
blur the lines a little bit however i don't think
that that is uh inexcusable right you can obviously
invite her on there i would also try to reinforce
making her get down rewarding her for being on
the ground and then At the point where maybe
you control that space a little bit for just
a minute or two, and then you could invite her
up, right? So that you're reinforcing the pattern
that you are inviting her. And when you invite
her, it's fine. But when she takes it, no, no,
that's not allowed. Right. So start doing those
little training sessions with her. Come up with
your word for what it is when you invite her
up on the couch, whether it's up. We use climb
a lot because it's an uncommon word, right? And
we really only use it when we're asking them
to climb on something like getting in the car
and stuff like that. So I think one of those
things that's important is because she is maturing
and she needs to understand the clear difference
is going into some training sessions with her
or something throughout the day where it's like,
hey, climb, having her get on the couch. You
don't even have to use a food reward there. I
wouldn't when she gets on the couch, but when
you do off. And we a lot of times see clients
confuse down and off. We use down as a lay down
command. We use off to ask the dog to get off
of something so that they're not confusing those
commands. But having her get off, tossing that
food reward onto the ground so that she knows
that that's where she gets rewarded. Building
that while being on a leash with her so that
you can kind of just give her guidance. And I
would just use a flat collar for that. But teaching
her the up, Or whatever your word is for that.
To get on the couch. Good. And then you can give
her a pet. Off. feeding her when she jumps off
of the couch and just dropping it onto the ground
to let her know that that's the that's the highly
rewarded location getting on the couch good we
we get some pets here it's it's okay but when
you get off you get a food reward or something
of higher value that way she understands the
difference and it becomes an exercise that she
can be clear on so that when you're asking from
across the room eventually and it's off she will
then get off the couch again you're going to
want to reward her for quite some time while
she's learning those behaviors but eventually
you get a dog where it's like hey off um and
and you see them go oh okay all right i'm gonna
get down right i gotcha i do notice through the
day that she seems to when she has the prong
collar on versus when she doesn't she seems to
be more aware that she has this on and she seems
to be more obedient right it's that accountability
factor right so when you switch to an off -leash
dog with like an e -collar there's this accountability
period where they're like can they really get
me from over here and if you don't have a long
line on and and you don't have the e -collar
set right they're like oh they didn't they they
don't have me on a leash this time and that's
where you see the dog go oh they they lost their
accountability and I got away with it. So that's
where the prong collar really comes in, especially
when you're using it on walks and things like
that, where it's like, well, they have accountability
to still correct me. And that's also where that
drag line really can come into play, that tab
leash, drag line, traffic handle, whatever, because
the more times that you drive that pattern in,
the more her brain is going to accept that, oh,
this is normal. I have to listen because I always
have to listen. And at that point, once that
trigger is like tripped, that's where you finally
see that breakthrough and you don't have to be
as active in that. Right. It turns into muscle
memory for the dog. Right. Yeah. I made the mistake
once of not having her prong collar on for a
walk and it was a hot mess. But every walk that
I've taken with her with the prong collar, she
has been so good. One day, actually it was just
yesterday, we were walking and there was a cat.
And Genoa just stopped and sat and watched the
cat. Oh, I love that. And so she was, she was
very, she didn't try to make a run for it or
bark or anything. She just observed. And I let
her sit there and watch the cat for a couple
of minutes. And I was like, that was like, you
know, come. And she just came with me. Awesome.
So she's got her moments. She's, you know, she's,
you can tell she, she's, uh, she's not used to
the constant, but she's right. With that consistency,
right. You have a puppy, you have a bulldog puppy.
And with that consistency, she will continue.
to build that uh and look to you for that direction
right right and we did take her out in the public
yesterday to our chiropractor and she did really
well in their office awesome yeah i had her most
of the time with me and um people was asking
if they could pet her and i said yeah you could
pet her and and then i would let make them come
to her instead of letting her go to them And
she worked really good with that. Awesome. And
then she walked perfectly with me, knowing that
I'm on my cane and I can't walk very fast. She
stayed right by me. I love that. And then there
was a couple of times where people were coming
in and out of the chiropractor. And she would
literally get up. from where she was laying and
go to the opposite side of me. Cause she wasn't
comfortable with them going, coming towards her.
Right. Right. Right. So I thought that was interesting.
Right. So she's, and she's looking to you. Yeah.
She's looking for that. Right. Yeah. Giving herself
some space. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she was, I could
have asked her to have done any easier for me
to take care of in a, in a, um, open environment
like that. Awesome. Awesome. Nope. I love that.
Anybody else have a question for this evening's
episode? I guess we call it now. Hey Ryan, this
is Heidi. Hey Heidi. How are you doing? Doing
good. Do you have any suggestions? We still struggle
with Maverick really doesn't have any food drive.
I know we had been feeding him by hand, but we're
really not seeing a lot of difference with that.
Sorry, were you trying to talk, Michael? He just
has no... No desire to eat. He might go all day
long and decide to eat a little bit before he
goes to bed at 5 o 'clock, 6 o 'clock. Is he
losing weight? No. So then he's eating something.
Is he ever left alone to be in the backyard?
Is he eating anything in the backyard? Anything
he can get a hold of. But he eventually eats
his food. Does he just graze throughout the day?
No, not really. He'll just pick a certain time
of the afternoon to go and eat. But the food
is always there and down for him? Correct. So
that's where we see like a lack of food drive,
right? Because a dog knows that it's available
all the time and they can just eat it when they
want. So when we pick feeding times for our dogs
and we limit the access to it until it's feeding
time, that's where you kind of see a dog that...
stops waiting to eat their food and they will
eat it when it's put down because they know hey
if i don't eat it now like now now's my eating
time i have to i have to eat so it's just like
breakfast and and lunch and dinner for humans
we you know at school especially they have a
lunch hour right if if the kids don't eat during
lunch hour lunch is over we're back in school
now so We do see typically a lot of the time
if dogs are allowed to graze and have access
to as much food as they want all day they will
like nitpick here and there and they're like
well I'll eat a mouthful now and then later I'll
eat one more mouthful and I don't really want
any right now but maybe later because they know
that it's just there all the time. Yeah. So,
so I guess where we're going with this is there's
two pieces to the hand feeding puzzle. One is,
is the actual act of hand feeding. But the other
part is that the dog shouldn't be able, they
should have water available to them all the time,
but they shouldn't have food available all the
time. And so what that does is, yeah, maybe at
first and the first day, maybe he decides, no,
no. I'm not going to eat from your hand right
now. Well, that's fine. But then, then that the
next feeding time you try again. And he's like,
no, no, I'm not going to eat from your hand.
And you're like, okay, then tomorrow we'll try
again. Now we don't ever recommend that we go
like multiple days without making sure that they
eat something, but you can make it at least.
semi uncomfortable for that for a day or two
the dog is not going to starve they've got water
available available to them 24 7 they're um if
you're monitoring their weight and they're not
eating things like large amounts of things in
the yard then they're getting food somewhere
right like and it sounds like they're getting
food from the rest of the day that that he's
able to just like graze and and uh secure that
food when he wants and so that's the other half
of that leadership part is it needs to come from
you rather than him deciding when he gets it
he loves brassics he loves broccoli and cauliflower
and but he'd rather have that than his dog food
Right. Frozen broccoli is a great. And that's
right. It's not even bad. Right. And if he would
if he likes that, that's great. But so we're
not we don't really recommend a specific food
or we're not nutrition experts or anything like
that on the dog training space. If you if your
vet is on board with the food that you're eating,
then we just kind of like give the thumbs up
to that. It's totally fine. It's up to you. It's
up to the individual owner. But as far as controlling
the food, these are the best practices that we've
found. And by controlling the food and you giving
the food to your dog on your schedule, you will
build increased value in your dog's eyes in you.
Well, should we just set a specific time to feed
him? Yeah, I would say most dogs do just fine
with two times a day. So if you set a breakfast
time and you set a dinner time and at breakfast
time you offer them food right out of your hand,
especially so when we're talking about Maverick,
Maverick is going to embark on his training journey
here pretty soon, but he's still trying to figure
some things out, right? I think hand feeding
is a great, great thing for you guys to institute
to increase your value in his eyes before he
goes into his training program. And so breakfast
is here. Here's your food. And he either eats
it or he doesn't. You give him about 10 minutes
to kind of decide. And at that point, then you
put the food away. And at dinnertime, you do
the same thing. We've done this very, very successfully
for multiple different clients, all who have
told us that their dogs have no food drive and
that has completely turned around for them. We
have yet to have this fail. Yeah. And the dog
will typically not choose it the first time,
the second time, maybe the third time. But typically
by the fourth meal, they're like, I'm really
hungry. I'm going to go ahead and eat my food.
And then you'll see them gobble it up. And they're
like, man, they usually don't eat that food like
that. But it's because they know that if. they
don't eat it, it's going to be gone. And that
doesn't change once they start eating. Like,
so cool. They, they, what you're not doing also
is you're not just adding up all the food that
they didn't eat so that you make sure that they
like get those calories. No, if, if they, if
they skip a meal, they skip a meal. Just give
them their next meal at the next meal time. Yeah.
They'll catch up. They'll be fine. Okay. Does
that make sense? Yes. Cool. It's like medication.
Talking about the animals being on the furniture.
How do you want to let Maverick get on the furniture?
When I come in here, he sees me. He just jumps
down. That right. That sounds, that sounds like
something that you two need to discuss. I don't
know that I can't jump into the middle of that
one. That sounds like you might have two sets
of rules. I'll be sitting in the lounge chair
and she's on the couch and he'll get on the couch
and he'll look at me and I start to get off the
chair and he gets halfway off the couch. Right.
He's like, yeah. I get a little bit further off
the chair. He's a little bit further off the
couch. If I get up, he's off the couch. He's
like, nope, he's going to come over here and
make me get down. I'm going to go in and get
down. Exactly. Yeah. That's like he knows you
guys' rules and who has different ones there.
Smart dogs. Right. I like it. But this is how
it goes. Any additional questions for tonight?
No. Awesome. All right. And I'm going to... kind
of start to close it up here. So thank you for
tuning in tonight. Thank you to all of our clients
for joining the call. Really appreciate you guys
being here with it being the first episode and
such. We definitely are going to make some mistakes
along the way here. But I think the goal is to
just kind of push dog training in a role or in
a way that doesn't just focus on the commands
and the tricks, the sit, down, stay, come. What
we want to do is we want to really focus on the
relationship between us and the dogs. I think
that that's super important, and hopefully everybody
got a chance to learn something tonight. With
that, I'm going to say goodnight. It's been a
pleasure, but I appreciate everybody tuning in.
So good night from us. Good night. Good night.
Thank you. Thank you. Good night.