Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. It's about... Building trust, creating
calmness, and becoming the kind of leader your
dog truly needs. We do that with our three pillar
method of trust, obey, and perform. Together,
we'll show you how these three pillars shape
every step of training. Thanks for being here.
Let's get started. Episode six, accountability
and tools, collars, leashes, and when to use
them. Welcome to Pawprint Academy. Tonight, we're
going to be talking about accountability and
the ways that we can keep it. So when we are
training a dog, if at any point you lose accountability,
a lot of many, many dogs, they're very, very
smart. And they're like, I don't think you're
going to actually follow through with this. And
so that is what we're talking about tonight.
That is the concept of losing or keeping accountability.
When a dog senses that you don't have accountability,
immediately the conversation changes. Yep. And
now it's, do I really want to do that? Right.
Or... Or am I having more fun over here? Right,
right. This squirrel is pretty awesome over here.
The main concept tonight is that tools don't
train dogs. Leaders do. But the right tool provides
clear communication and keeps fair accountability
in the mix. So when fit correctly, What did I
write down here? I don't give myself enough credit
here. And so sometimes I look at my notes and
my outline and I try to read it off and I'm like,
oh, I messed that up. But actually, excuse me.
This is what happens when you try to record these
in one take. So fit it correctly, condition it
thoughtfully. And pair it with consistent marker
words. And then you have a tool that will do
the job. Yep. And do the job in a fair and ethical
manner. Yeah. So let's address the elephant in
the room before we start here. Because when anybody
starts talking about tools, there is an entire,
I guess, group. of individuals that will immediately
get very excited one way or another. So there
is a very big movement of force -free trainers.
There's a very big movement of positive only
trainers. And there's absolutely nothing wrong
with that. And I would consider myself and all
of my trainers to be reward -based balance trainers.
But the point is to be reward -based. And I think
that that aligns with everyone. When you're using
rewards to get the most result or to get the
compliance of an animal, I don't think that there's
too many people that would argue that a rewards
-based program Works the best. Right. But there
is a definitive group of dogs that at some point
are going to not respond only to treats. Yeah.
Or food. For sure. Or toys or whatever. And at
that point, your hands can be tied. And offering
them more food doesn't always get through on
the communication paradigm or the little triangle.
So what we're not going to discuss today is the
ethical weight of using tools. If tools are not
on your... I guess in, in your repertoire or
you don't believe that they, they can be used
the right way or, or a good way or an ethical
way or all of that. We're not, we're not going
to go down that road with here tonight. So I
just want to address that upfront. What we are
going to do is we're going to talk about how
to use tools to use the absolute relationship
between you and your dog to build your relationship
with your dog to build communication with your
dog and to increase your relationship and and
and also the dog's desire to listen to you that
doesn't come from forcing the dog to do something
it comes from encouraging the dog I can sit here
and I can encourage you to leave the room without
any bit of force. These do not have to be exclusive
concepts. So now that we've got that out of the
way, when we select a tool, we want to do it
based on the dog and the job. And then we want
to fit it properly, we want to use it properly,
and we want to understand the fit and the function
of each individual tool. Now, usually when we
talk about tools for dogs, I like to explain
that there is a line of communication from you,
owner, to the dog. And that is the leash. Now,
there's only so many kinds of leashes that can...
Well, so the actual leash part, the line that
goes from you to your dog, you could dress it
up a lot of different ways, but at the end of
the day, it's just a line from you to your dog.
But what is perceived on the dog side is how,
based on the tool and the fit of it, they're
going to get a lot of different information.
Now we talk about this hierarchy of the amount
of information they're going to get and the amount
of perception that they're going to be able to
glean from any bit of pressure that you put on
that leash or that they put on that leash is
going to be, it's kind of structured. And so
at the very, very bottom, the least amount of
perception the dog's going to get out of any
of these tools is going to be a harness. And
the harness, It is that way because the amount
of pressure that you put on the harness is spread
out over all the surfaces of the harness. That's
the most surface area on the dog's body. And
it's spread out over the dog. And so you have
to put a significantly more or a significantly
increased amount of pressure on that leash to
let the dog feel that pressure. Whereas a collar
is around the neck. There's a lot more nerve
endings around the neck than just like around
the chest of the dog. And so you should be able
to get more information to the dog with less
pressure with a collar than a harness. And so
the next step up from harness, harness is at
the bottom. The next step up is usually a flat
collar. You want to talk about flat collars versus
martingales? Yeah. So a flat collar is the typical
collar that you see everybody have on their dog.
I'm always a big supporter of like leave a flat
collar on your dog at all times. That's like
where their ID tags can go. It's there in case
of emergency collar. Put your Apple tag on it,
tracker, whatever you want to do with the flat
collar. A martingale is a flat collar. combined
with a slip collar. So it basically has a loop
in the backside of it that cinches when the dog
pulls, so it gets tighter. And when they stop
pulling, it loosens back up automatically on
its own and relieves the pressure from the dog.
So essentially they're the same thing, just one
has a loop in the back that can tighten and loosen,
whereas the flat collar is just one size, whatever
you tighten it down to. Yep. And so I tend to
shy away from collars. Stand by. I'm going to
mute some of these. So I tend to stay away from
collars that slip over the dog's face. Maybe
your pet dog will allow you to do that. Some
dogs don't like it. Some dogs don't care. But
as a trainer, I typically always go for collars
that will just unbuckle and go around the neck.
Martingale collars usually have to slip over
the dog's face. Yeah, head, right. You're staring
at me like. I was like, I don't know what word
he's going for there. I think it's just the body
part. But every collar is different, right? So
then we got a slip lead. So the next step up
from flat collar. Then martingale collar because
it uses the flat collar concept but then has
a martingale loop on it and that just cinches
it down just like Bree said. So the next step
up in levels of communication is going to be
a slip lead. So for slip leads, this is a leash
that just has like a free floating ring on the
leash and you can... You'll move the line around
the dog's neck and then clip it to the free -floating
ring, and then that way it is able to get tighter
or looser based on the pressure that you give
the animal. Right, and they're typically a thinner,
circular style. It's not flat like a flat collar
or a martingale. They're typically thinner on
the thinner side. You can find some that are
thicker. They kind of make all different. sizes
of them but you'll see we typically use the thinner
ones because again it comes down to communication
the thickness of the leash can also communicate
or affect the communication that you're giving
the dog if there's a bunch of like bungee action
going on on that slip lead which I know we've
previously tried like amazon brand slip leads
and things like that and they have a ton of like
stretch in them and if the if it's stretching
the dog's getting like static in the communication
essentially. Right. So after a slip lead, then
we can go up a little further and I would put
probably like a star mark color. just above that.
So a star mark collar is a plastic collar. Some
people will call it like a plastic prong collar,
but it has rounded raised ridges on the inside
and it has a martingale loop on the back. And
so it kind of combines a couple of different
concepts of the different collars so that it
circumferentially tightens with the martingale
loop. And that way your inputs on the leash actually
they don't put as much pressure on the front
of the dog's neck. Right. And so it takes pressure
off of the dog's airway. The other thing that
it does is because of those raised rounded ridges,
it contacts about. six to nine different places
like around the neck, uh, depending on how many
links are in it. And that one, it protects the
airway and two, it mimics the same type of feeling
or proprioception that the dog would feel when
a mother dog corrects a puppy. right when a dog
a mother dog corrects a little puppy they're
going to like put their mouth around the snout
of the dog or around the side of the neck and
hold the dog right a lot of times they just go
and then they hold them until the dog calms down
until the puppy calms down and then they release
well we can mimic that feeling with one of those
collars um and so A lot of times what you see
is a big puller. And then the last point before
I move on is that it is a tool that automatically
takes away the exciting, self -gratifying feeling
of pulling against something. Because it tightens
around the neck, they're not just pulling against
a single point of pressure. And that's really,
really important because dogs generally enjoy
pulling games. That's why tug toys are one of
the number one sellers across the nation and
have always been, right? Dogs love to play tug
of some sort. And so there's thousands of different
toys that are all about tug. Okay. So why is
it confusing when we go out? to walk and the
dog wants to pull to get to something and they
feel that pressure and then they pull through
the pressure and then they get to where they're
trying to go. Right. That's not confusing at
all. It makes total sense why that's going to
be very fun and gratifying. Yeah. So the dog
is going to keep doing it. Yep. So the star mark
collar or plastic prong is going to help limit
that. And then finally, I think at the top end
for really, really strong pullers, we use or
could use or could recommend a metal prong collar.
Now, a metal prong collar is one of those collars
that looks awful. You look at it, and if you
don't understand it, that thing looks like a
torture device. You're like, oh my gosh. But
if you understand it and you look at it and you
break it down, It is not. And all of the prongs
are very highly polished. So we only use one
brand of prong collar, and that's a Herm Springer.
And we just have found that the Herm Springer
brand, it's made in Germany, and it comes pretty
well polished. All of the little tips are very,
very highly polished. So they're nice and smooth.
So I can rub it on my neck, and I don't get any
abrasions or anything like that. Also, I found
that some pet stores sell like a cheaper version
of it where the prongs are not as highly polished.
And I want to remain as highly ethical as I can
while accomplishing the goal of what we're doing.
And so I will spend the extra money on the Herm
Springer in order to get a solid product there.
Um, but these collars, you can look it up on,
uh, YouTube, Amazon, something like that. Um,
we don't have any relation or sponsorship with
any of this stuff. Um, but the metal prong is
a, um, a device that connects each one of the
links can connect or disconnect. So you can make
it bigger or smaller. And all of those prongs
interact with the neck the same way that the
star mark does that the same way that I explained
it. Also has a metal chain martingale loop in
the back. And usually on a rotating D ring so
that you can connect the leash. And regardless
of which direction the dog spins or turns, the
leash doesn't get spun around and tangled. Yeah.
So now that we've kind of talked about all of
those collars, let's talk about. The length of
the leash. So usually we most owners like a four
or six foot leash. We use a four to six foot
leash for most of our training and most of the
things that we do. And I've had. the a specific
length of 11 feet made specially for for us so
i always played with 10 foot leashes and felt
like they were just a little short and 15 foot
leashes seemed just a little bit big um and i
was going to get some some 12s but i found these
11s and they work great for us so um we like
the long lines when we start working on a hard
pulling dog And I like the long line because
I want the dog to be kind of by themself when
they feel the tightness of the leash. I don't
want the dog to just relate the tightness to
me. I don't want the dog to look up at me and
be like, hey, why are you pulling on my leash?
Because honestly, I'm not. I am letting them
go. And when they get away from me, they're pulling
on the leash. So I really want them to see and
feel and understand that. And if I'm standing
right next to them and they constantly think
that I'm just hassling them, well then that puts
strain on our relationship. And so I like a long
line to be able to very clearly explain to the
dog that, hey, far away from me is no fun because
that's where you feel pressure. And close to
me is good because you're always on a loose leash.
Yep. All right. Anything to add on all of that?
I don't think so. Those were all really good
topics. I think people really go for short leashes
when they're teaching their dogs to walk close
to them or working on recall and things like
that. And I really do want... everybody to to
hear and understand like just try the long line
and i promise you you're gonna see your dog like
excel way faster than you trying to hold them
right next to you on on your side yeah yeah for
sure uh even with reactive dogs i i find it so
much more clear to them when they're able to
take off and go just a few feet away from you
and then they get tightness on the leash, it
is a very different experience for them than
me choking up on the leash because I see a dog
coming. I know they're going to blow up, so I'm
preemptively choking up on the leash. That's
oftentimes not the right call. Okay, the last
management tool that I want to bring up right
now is a crate. I believe very, very strongly,
and in my experience, I believe that a crate
is a excellent tool when you are trying to train
your dog. Because dogs need structure. And we
have talked about this over and over and over
and over. Dogs have to have structure. And a
crate helps to build that foundational structure.
Yeah. It gives you an opportunity to put the
dog away where they cannot fit. let's talk about
it this way. Confinement is a training tool and
it's, it's almost force free completely. Yeah.
If you, if your dog enjoys or goes in and out
of a crate because you have trained them to do
that, you now have a huge leg up on someone who
doesn't use a crate. And this is why when you're
about to do training, you put the dog, Into confinement.
You put them into their crate. You give them
about 10 or 15 minutes. To be in there. And then.
You let the dog out. But not out. Let's say you
have a big backyard or something like that. You
don't just let them out and then out into the
yard. You let them out. And you go right into
training. Yeah. So what you've done is you've
gone from. From complete confinement. To. Teamwork.
You two are working together and you're training
and you're doing it. It's reward based. You're
feeding the dog. You're rewarding the dog. You're
praising the dog. It's a fun experience. So the
dog goes, hmm, as soon as you let me out, then
we worked together. That was fun. Yeah. And then
once that's all done. then you let them outside
then you let them okay break or free or whatever
it is then you give them complete freedom what
so many people do is they take their dog and
they let them outside first and they have complete
freedom and then they're like cool i'm gonna
work with you while you're outside hey come sit
down All of these things. Now you're limiting
the dog's freedom in a time when they could be
free, but instead they are having to listen to
you. That is a downgrade on the freedom scale.
But if you don't have a crate at all, they're
going from freedom inside the house to suddenly
having to listen to you. So a crate is an absolutely
awesome tool. for you to build a step -by -step,
like the ability to, please jump in. I am at
a loss for words today. What am I trying to say?
The building blocks. Yeah, it gives you the ability
to build on the freedoms that the dogs get. So
it goes from most restrictive to less restrictive
to ultimate freedom. But you need to go in that
order. So a dog doesn't get to go just from a
crate to off leash outside to then leashing them
to do a training session, right? Because the
dog is not going to have a fun time doing that.
It's not going to go, well, you brought me inside
from my ultimate play space outside and now you've
put me on a leash and you want me to like do
all these things with you. So I just want people
to look at the order in which they do things
and understand that. The dog's brain is wired
that way. If you go from freedom to confinement,
the dog is not going to be happy about that.
Yeah. All right. So what fit mistake do we most
often see with dogs that either come to like
our group classes or first time like lessons?
What do you often? 100 % collar. collar fitting
and how tight it is yeah some people have their
collars to where the dog can slip out of it and
that is the most nerve -wracking thing for me
that i see and immediately just puts me on edge
because it takes i've seen i've seen it happen
with a dog on like day one Where it's like, no,
no, I don't know who you are. Get away from me.
It always happens with fearful dogs, right? They
get left with somebody and they're like, nope,
and they backpedal. And it takes one good backpedal
and one loop too small for the dog to be out
of a collar and loose. How do you measure a collar?
I give it like two to three fingers. And that's
plenty of room. for for them to breathe and function
at a normal level it's not going to bother them
it's not going to affect them in any way almost
almost all the time when when we take in a dog
or we have our we see dogs at like our group
class yeah and they will almost inevitably have
a loose collar yeah and it's it's not a It's
not a judgment. Like you want your dog to be
comfortable. Yeah. I totally understand that.
You don't, and no owner wants to choke their
dog. Right. So the thought process is either
I will loosen their collar so that they don't
choke. Mm -hmm. But unfortunately, they're just
going to pull just as hard. It doesn't matter,
right? They're still going to choke themselves
on that. And so then we try to correct that by
putting them in a harness because I don't want
my dog to choke. But when we put them in a harness
because I don't want the dog to choke, nothing
changes with the education on the dog side. Right.
And we enable them to pull more comfortably.
Yep. And so then the pulling just either stays
the same or even worse. It gets worse. All right.
And when we're training dogs, what would be your
process for deciding between a prong collar,
a slip lead, or a different tool? So it really
depends, right? So it depends on what I'm doing.
It depends on the dog. So when a dog first comes
to us, If typically we see a dog just like only
has worn a harness or a flat collar, that's typically
a Martingale is probably the top of what we see
communication wise from an everyday average dog
owner, right? They usually go from harness to
flat collar to Martingale and that's where typically
it caps. If they've had any experience with collars
and things like that, then they may have converted
to a Herm Springer. or a prong collar of some
sort hopefully at least a hermsbringer um so
when i start off with the dog i typically always
i fall into a slip lead almost immediately because
i don't start with a whole lot of structure for
the dog i just want the dog to follow along with
me on the end of that 11 foot long line right
So I'm not pressuring the dog. You don't start
with a heel. Right. You don't start with a, hey,
walk on my hip. Right. Not at all. No. You just
want the dog to walk on the line somewhere. Right.
Somewhere. And if the dog is incessantly pulling,
then I just do turnarounds and turnarounds and
turnarounds. And we'll just end up walking in
somewhat of a circle. Yeah. So typically I will
always, no matter the dog, kind of start with
a slip lead because there's no danger there.
It's just guidance at that point. I'm not offering
any sort of correction. For super aggressive
pullers or dogs that are already familiar with
prong collars, sometimes I will go there rather
quickly depending. Like I know we've had one
dog before that... the owners already walked
him on a prong and he was already way better
on a prong and you know he got to us and he was
on a flat collar and he almost like ripped my
shoulder out in the first like 20 minutes and
I was like where's a prong collar somebody bring
me a prong collar I can't walk this guy so if
it's uncontrollable to that point and they're
already used to it I will go to a prong collar
if needed, but mostly just for walks and things
like that. When I'm doing small exercises with
a dog or if we're inside or in a relaxed environment,
I typically always fall into a slip lead. But
for severe pullers or walks where we're really
being intentional or learning corrections versus...
versus like guidance then i will kind of swap
over um i also will replace that prong collar
with a star mark depending on how i call it like
how soft the dog is but it's really like how
how timid they are how how averse to corrections
that they really are because we get small dogs
we get timid dogs and if those dogs are aversive
already to you know big corrections or anything
like that then I will always start as low as
possible but I always will fall right into a
slip lead because One, it's the easiest thing
for any owner to like control because it's a
leash and a collar all in one and you literally
just loop it over the dog's head and you just
go. And that's my favorite. And then we use the
kind that obviously are like leashes and the
slip leads. So it's like we always just have
a leash on us no matter what. Yeah. So the next
like major point, what I think is really important
to explain here. Because when you get into the
concept of corrections, everybody gets real nitpicky
on like, how does this go down? Well, the concept
is that you have no business correcting your
dog and a trainer has no business correcting
the dog if they don't know what they're supposed
to be doing. And so that is what I think gets
lost in translation is a correction. is not the
same as a punishment. And we have a rule in top
dog training has a rule that we do not punish
dogs. We don't use a punishment that happens
after the fact. But if I have taught the dog
what to do, That pressure and how to manage that
collar and how to manage that leash. And then
the dog bolts forward and gets to the end of
the leash and the leash gets tight. That's a
correction. Yeah. And the dog corrects themselves
all by themselves there. That's pretty fair.
Yeah. Right? Because I've already taught them
how to not do that. I've taught them how to,
if you just walk next to me, you're on a loose
leash. I give you no tension at all when you
walk next to me. And that's why it's so important
for people listening to always try to manage
a loose leash. You want the leash to be loose
99 % of the time. So that the only time it tightens
is because the dog's not. Doing what they're
supposed to do. They're not walking next to you.
They're bolting forward or back or side to side
or whatever it is That's when the leash gets
tight. So by teaching the language of leash pressure
and using markers The dog understands how to
win Before we actually add like accountability
to the picture. Yeah, and I think that's really
really important Right. And I think that's why
like I always start with a slip lead. Right.
Because I use leash pressure. And then if we
need to go into even corrections of the prong
collar or star mark, we will. But if they I mean,
you can also eventually. But if they don't need
that and they don't need that pressure. Right.
Right. Why use it? Yeah. Yeah. It just it just
doesn't make sense to go out of your way to use,
you know, a shotgun to kill an ant. Right. But
I will say like a lot of the times for most.
dogs walking a star mark or a Herm Springer are
going to be the safest options just for like
their neck in general, because I don't know if
anybody is aware, but if you let a dog incessantly
pull on a slip lead on a flat collar on a modern
gale, any of that, they can collapse their trachea.
Oh yeah. Without even like giving it much force
that you can think of, but it depends on the
size of the dog and how hard they're pulling.
They can 100 % injure themselves in anything
but a prong collar most of the time. Which is
why when you see a dog just pulling and pulling
and pulling and pulling and they are on a collar
or something like that, it's like, ugh. Right,
it's like try pinching your neck or pushing on
your throat and like breathing. There's no world
where that's comfortable or you can do it for
so long. And that's why it's so important that
we teach them to not do that. And that is why.
I have no desire for any dogs to get hurt. It's
way better to just teach them not to pull. And
if that has to be a little uncomfortable, just
a little bit up front, for them to figure that
out and to feel the difference and to be relieved
by walking next to you, man, that's... That just
makes sense to me. Right. I've really, honestly,
I don't think I could tell you one instance where
I've seen a dog on a prong collar and seen it
like crying, screaming, like yelping, injuring
itself, breathing crazy. But 10 times out of
10, when you see a dog on a flat collar, they're
like, because they can't breathe and they're
just pulling all around. it's always about the
responsibility of the person on the other end
of the leash whether a dog is safe or not it's
not the collar but i think a lot of people see
what they see right And decide what that means.
Well they make pretty colors in homespringers
now. So it might help. They like powder coat
them now. Into different pretty colors. And there's
like a rose gold one. Which I love. So pretty.
But they do. They look like a crazy device. Because
they're metal. Right. And it's shiny. And it's
obvious on most dogs. And so people are automatically
deterred by them. But it's 100%. Like if you
ask any dog trainer. In today's. world that uses
like balance training i'm 100 sure will say a
herm springer or star mark or something like
that is going to be way safer yeah for sure um
all right so you kind of alluded to it like what
what drill would you recommend that like a new
handler use to teach pressure pressure and release
so you were talking about the 180s but i think
yeah there's a major drill that i like to use
before that right you i don't know which one
you use but i'm real big on the like the let's
go or like the silent leash pressure where you
drop back um away from the dog so i always go
to i will go in the cul -de -sac and i will walk
around the cul -de -sac circle with the dog and
i just give a let's go with like some light leash
pressure behind it just teaching the dog so in
in dog behavior world right it teaches them to
kick into like pack drive because You never want
a dog in defense drive or prey drive when you're
out on a walk because it's going to be tuned
into squirrels. It's going to be tuned into,
I need to tell that dog to back away from me,
different things like that. But when a dog is
in pack drive, they're with you. They're relying
on you. You're relying on each other and they're
looking to you for pretty much everything. So
my favorite is we will go out in the cul -de
-sac, do some let's go in just a random like
circle. If the dog starts pulling super heavily
in front of me, I just will turn around and be
like, nope, let's go. And I'm not giving corrections.
I'm giving like little light leash pressure for
them to understand that they need to be moving
in the same direction as me, not within a certain
distance. Nice. One of my go -to drills right
off the bat, and I try to teach owners this in
like their first like private lesson when I do
private lessons for them, is I'll stand there,
let the dog check out. So the dog's on a leash.
Let the dog check out and relax. And then. as
they're sniffing around or whatever, you're going
to just give a slight pull and then you're going
to slowly increase the pressure a little bit
at a time, a little bit at a time, a little bit
at a time. And I'm increasing, increasing, increasing,
increasing pressure until the dog yields. To
that pressure. At the moment the dog takes a
step towards me or turns towards me or shows
that they're yielding to that pressure, I'm throwing
a party, right? So I'm throwing a party. Yeah,
great job. Or I'm going to give them a marker
word. For the words that we use, that would be
free. So I would. pull give a little bit of pressure
a little bit of pressure and when the dog yields
to that pressure then i say free and then i continue
away from the dog as the dog is kind of yielding
to that and moving towards me and then i offer
them that reward so um we're working really hard
on getting some of these like baseline skills
and videos up on our youtube channel bear with
us We're working on it. The other thing I was
going to talk about is the other side of this.
So how does one figure out the timing of using
no? Because we can use our positive marker words,
but I tell you what one of the most important
words on that walk is no. Yeah. So when you use
no, we need to pair it with that pressure, that
leash pressure. And if the no is followed by
some leash pressure, the dog will learn that
no predicts pressure. Just like yes or free predicts
a reward. That's an important relationship because
the dog will. always try and as they learn and
get more comfortable they're always going to
try to beat whatever comes next and so eventually
you're going to say no and the dog's already
they're going to jump at the chance to beat you
to whatever it was that you're going to do and
if that's leash pressure if i have taught the
dog that when i say no as the dog like tears
off or tries to like forge ahead if i say no
and then i follow that with pressure the dog's
eventually going to beat that pressure and i'm
going to say no and they're going to take a step
back yeah and that's the gold standard that's
what we want to get to so that we don't have
to put pressure so we don't have to use that
leash pressure that's that's important Um, what
signs tell you that the dog understands the communication
and is ready for more accountability? Like what
would you look for in your dog to know that they're
like understanding what you're trying to do?
Um, I'd say like yielding to the leash pressure,
right? It's like when you, you get light leash
pressure and they are like, Oh, what? And immediately
look to you for direction. There we go. That's
for sure what I was going to say. When the dog,
when you pull using only your wrist, we don't
ever yank. We don't ever pull with our elbow
or our shoulder, all of that. We're just using
our wrist. And when I give them that pressure
and they look back to look at me, that. tells
me that they know exactly what i'm trying to
do for sure all right so i think that it's really
important that progressive accountability stays
fair right and so we want to add accountability
this is kind of our last concept for tonight
our we want to add accountability in layers we
want to keep it proportionate and we always want
to follow it with praise For the compliance,
right? When the dog does what we want, we always
have to reward that. That reward could be food.
It could be praise. It could be a toy. It could
be freedom, right? Just like, well, there's a
lot of examples. So I'm going to try not to go
down a rabbit hole. But rewarding the dog is
paramount. Right, I think that's one thing people
forget to do. It's like they're so used to being
like, no, don't do that, no, don't do that, no,
don't do that. When the dog does something that
they like, they're like, oh, they're doing it.
And they're like trying not to like spook them.
And that's what is so important that I want to
bring up because the other side of the coin here
and the reason why I think people get so passionate
against tools and so passionate against this
concept of like, Any type of pressure or force
on the dog is that I think a lot of people forget
about the reward based part. And then it's like,
cool. Now that I got him walking next to me,
I'm just going to use this leash to control them.
But you're missing out. Yeah. You're missing
out on what is scientifically the quickest, most
effective way to train your dog. Now, there are
dogs. My Dutch Shepherd is a great example. Positive
only training will only go so far with him. Right.
And then he will take your lunch money and tell
you to sit in the corner. Yeah. Because he is
going to show you why he's in charge. But he
was bred to be that person. He was bred to be
that dog. Yeah. So he needs structure and he
needs that like, no, no. Sorry, man. I know you're
a big dog, but you're not that big. But that
doesn't mean that we have to do these crazy concepts
that you see on TikTok and all this stuff, alpha
rolling and all this stuff. We don't subscribe
to any of that. I don't think it's necessary.
I've never even heard of it. Well, then let's
not even get into it. It doesn't matter. I don't
care what it is. The concept is that rewards,
they work. They absolutely work. And so everything
that we do, if you're going to use a leash to
guide a dog, you have to also use what works
the best on the other side of the coin. Yeah.
And that's the reward. You can't forget it. Yeah.
So always start with the least intrusive, effective
tool, and then escalate it only when needed.
Always maintaining clarity. We always pair yes
and free, our markers, to those rewards. We always
pair no to some sort of negative. And by doing
that, we maintain accountability on both fronts.
If you're going to use an e -collar, the e -collar
isn't really the subject matter of today, but
e -collars are getting more and more and more
popular. And we use e -collars very, very successfully
on my Malinois and my Dutch Shepherd go out and
we go on trails and we go on runs and we go on
all these things. And they can go on those adventures
because I can maintain accountability even off
leash with an e -collar. So introduce the e -collar
only after the dog knows the command on a leash
with our three languages. So our three languages
are food luring, leash pressure, and verbal communication.
If the dog knows those and knows what's expected,
then you can pair it with the e -collar to get
even better results. But if you're just using
the e -collar right off the bat without teaching
them what it means and how it works, and you're
only using it to correct or punish your dog,
you're doing it wrong. Right, and I think that's
one big thing we don't talk about either is when
it gets to an e -collar, A lot of times we go
to a knee collar when dogs know that a leash
is on or off. Right. And people don't get to
that phase of training very often where they're
like, well, my dog does great when they're on
a leash. But as soon as I unclip it, they're
like, I don't have to listen anymore. And there's
tons of dogs that can understand that difference.
And I mean, there's tons of ways to execute the
training of that. But people, I think, get caught
up in the fact that dogs. Dogs understand whether
the leash is on or off. Oh, yeah. They know.
And so that's even part of our training is when
we do in -home integration training, we take
a dog and we train it for a few weeks. We do
that. We do on -off drills, right, of just take
the leash off and then put it on and then take
it off and put it on. And one cool technique
is to put two leashes on. So then you take the
leash off and then you have them do a command.
And a lot of times the dog sees the leash come
off and is like, woo, I'm free. I don't have
to listen anymore. But you still have that second
line on the dog. You still have accountability.
When you get a dog like that, that is sensitive
to that, that's where an e -collar really, really
excels. But what usually I hear as the conversation
is, oh, my dog doesn't listen at all. I think
I need an e -collar. Right. Okay. Well, I think
you might be missing the boat because we might
be able to just teach them to listen regardless,
right? Right. I don't support anybody who just
uses the e -collar for corrections. Yeah. Because
that's not how you train them. Yep. Let's see
here. What else do I have written down? Corrections.
Let's define this a little bit, right? Corrections
are information. It's not the same as a punishment.
A punishment is a message of you did this and
so now I'm going to do this. There's no real
place for that in dog training because the dogs
don't think in that level. They don't think,
because of this, now this is true. They think,
the door is open, so I'm going to go out. But
they don't go, I'm going to go outside, and then
that's going to make my parents come out to get
me. And they're busy on the computer, so this
is what I'm going to do. That's too complicated.
That's not where they're thinking. Corrections
are information. It's not the same as punishment.
Just like if I told you what is five times five
and you didn't know the answer and I never gave
you the answer and I never told you no. So I
say, what's five times five? And you're like,
400. And I just nod my head. Or I say nothing.
Right. How are you ever going to learn? Yeah.
I have to tell you, no, that's wrong. Do it again.
Or else it's impossible for you to just randomly
find the answer. Yeah. There's too many variables.
So. When you do give a correction, though, you
need to deliver them calmly and you need to release
that pressure the instant the dog makes the right
choice. That's really, really important. And
then we're going to proof the skills with distance.
We're going to add duration. We're going to add
distractions in until each step of training is
complete. That is the concept of fair. but still
reward -based dog training. All right. Last few
questions for the trainers. What do you feel
like, from a trainer perspective, Brianna, what
do you feel like the criteria is that has to
be met before you layer in an e -collar for off
-leash reliability? Definitely going to be leash
pressure and markers. So the dog responds to
markers, understands the markers, and I think
you need to teach them on a leash, but then you
need to ensure that the dog knows what is expected.
Right. Whatever that is, right? Do you have to
have the dog on a leash for sit and down? No,
not necessarily. When usually when we're talking
about off leash reliability, we're almost always
talking about recall. Yeah. And so if your dog
doesn't come when it's on a leash, it's sure
not going to come off. Right. Yeah. It's just
not. It's not going to get better. No. So start
on leash. Maintain accountability by being able
to just. reel them in or step on the leash and
walk towards them so that they can't play catch
me if you can right and that's what gives you
that accountability um what uh so i was going
to share a case do you have one i was going to
share a case where stepping down to a simpler
tool actually improved communication um i can
think of one You go first so I don't take yours
on accident because I have a couple in my head.
So we had a dog that we were working with that
was always on a prong collar. And for whatever
reason, we were just getting really low. The
dog was pulling through the collar and was interested
in everything else outside. the prong collar
typically almost immediately limits the dog from
pulling. And this just did not seem to be helping.
I think it was making the dog more reactive.
I think it was making the dog more excitable
and less paying attention to what we were asking
for. And so taking the prong collar off and going
back down to just a regular slip lead. completely
changed our walking experience yeah with that
dog and we were able to go out and the dog walked
perfectly on a loose leash and so what was happening
was we were just getting a lot of extra noise
in that communication line because the prong
collar was was just either uncomfortable it was
over stimulating a lot of times there you go
if it's a dog that's already overstimulated and
it was building frustration in the dog rather
than Not rather than, but we didn't need it.
Yeah. Right. That dog did not need it. Now, we've
seen plenty of cases where going up the chain
up to a Herm Springer like prong collar or up
to a star mark is absolutely the right time and
right place for that dog. But sometimes it's
not. And when it's not, then it's not. There's
no like, oh, well, you can only go up. No, you
can go right on back down. Right, have one of
everything. There's plenty of dogs that walk
just fine on a harness. Right, and we tell people.
They really are. I will tell people all the time.
It's like you have 20 toys in your basket. Buy
a harness, buy a flat collar, buy a martingale,
buy a prong collar, buy a store mark, buy a slip
lead. So many people have an entire toy box for
the dogs. That's like six tools. Right. Buy them.
Right. Play with them. Put them on something
different each time. Right. Whatever. And if
one doesn't work, return it. It's 2025. We just
return things for free. I love that. Right. But
the concept is we are not at any point in all
of this going, no, no, no. You must use more
force. You must. No, sometimes you're already
using too much. Yeah. Sometimes you got to go
back down. Yeah. Now, that's not usually the
case. But never say never. Right. And we've seen
it. Yeah. So that was my example. Nice. Was that
yours? I did have, that was one of mine. So I'm
glad because I almost went with that one because
I thought yours might be another one. But we've
had a dog before that we've seen that was on
an e -collar and it would just like shut down
on the e -collar. you loop back around and it's
because the dog was like never taught leash pressure
or didn't understand the command even verbally
and so you have to backtrack at that point and
you have to go back to teaching the dog leash
pressure verbal all of those things and then
you go back to the e -collar and you have like
half the half the amount of pressure that you
originally needed because they were just like
going up and up and up and they were like he's
not listening to it he's not listening to it
he's not listening to it He just didn't understand
it. And so he was like, well, I'm just going
to lay down. I'm just going to lay down. And
they thought it was defiance and like reluctance
to follow through with the command. But the dog
just didn't even know what they were asking.
Yeah. So jumping to an e -collar doesn't work
for every dog. Right. Sometimes you have to go
back. Sometimes they know one command on the
e -collar and they don't understand the other
one. So you have to attach that leash. Don't
be afraid. To put a leash on the dog, even if
they're on an e -collar. Yeah, you can do both.
Right. When we go to e -collar, the dog doesn't
just go from a leash to an e -collar. The dog
goes from a six foot leash dragging it to a long
line dragging it to an e -collar still with a
long line dragging it. And then they will stay
on that phase for quite some time before you
unhook a long line and give your dog total freedom.
and and show that they are 100 off leash but
have to come back to you no matter what because
i will tell people all day long let your dog
drag a long line because that gives you 10 feet
of room to catch that dog if you need to right
it gives you 15 feet it gives you however much
but they make lightweight ones and they make
heavier ones and just because your dog is smaller
Or thin and whatever. It doesn't mean that you
can't find a long line that's plenty lightweight
for them to drag. I have one of my favorite light
ones that I got from PetSmart. And I got it because
it was lightweight. Not because it was fancy.
But I just wanted one that was light enough for
small dogs to drag around and not be like, oh,
this is really inconvenient. Right. And it's
2025. They make Biothane long line leashes. They
make everything. Every material. But Biothane
is nice because it just wipes clean. Right. And
so you can drag it around. Right. I'm not a huge
fan. My hands get sweaty. It's slippery. I don't,
I just, I don't know. Right. It is slippery when
it's wet. Yeah. Right. But that, that's kind
of the point is that you can have them drag it
around the backyard or wherever the trail or
whatever. And when at the end of the day, you
just wipe it with a wet cloth and it just comes
clean. Right. And so you don't have to like throw
it in the washer or anything like that. It is
easier to clean, but. Yep, just an option. Right,
there's like 15 different materials. There's
so many different. You're right. So we're going
to open it up for questions for the clients that
are on the line here. I'm going to... You guys
should be able to unmute yourselves. But I'll
open it up for questions at this time, and then
we'll go over our listener projects, and then
we'll close it out for tonight. Anybody have
a question? No questions tonight. Or everyone
is stuck on mute somehow. Alrighty. So I will
finish it up. If anybody does think of a question
before we close this out, just jump in here.
Project number one for our listener projects
tonight. We usually come up with two projects.
Each podcast are just exercises and things that
owners can do at home. Project number one, fit
and pressure release check. So check your dog's
collar. Make sure that it fits using the two
finger rule and then adjust as needed. So attach
your leash and then in a quiet room, Apply that
light forward leash pressure. And the instant
the dog yields, say yes or free or whatever your
marker is that releases, release all the pressure
there and then offer them a reward. Repeat 10
reps, 15 reps or so, and then finish with a nice
solid free or break or something like that. And
then just... Reward your dog, pet them, give
them praise, go outside with them, throw a ball,
something like that. But make it fun. Make sure
your dog's collar fits. Make sure they can't
pull out of it, things like that. Those are just
responsible things to do as dog owners. Project
number two. So long line recall. So use like
a 20 or 30 foot long line and let the dog kind
of drift away. But still on slack, right? Slack
on the leash. And then what we want to do is
we're going to say, come here, whatever your
recall word is. And then we're going to guide
them lightly, mark it with a reward as they start
to move, and then free to release. Make sure
that you are not like we don't want to play catch
me if you can. Right. And we also don't want
to encourage the dog to do the little half moon
patterns around us. So increase that pressure
a little bit and give them come or here. And
then as they yield to that. make sure that they
stay in that straight line. You can also kind
of move away from them to kind of like turn on
that prey drive in the dog's mind so that they
want to follow you. And use that movement to
be part of the fun and the reward, right? We
move and that creates excitement. If the dog
plays keep away or the dog does a little half
moon thing or the dog's like, nope, you catch
me, then we're just going to be like. know and
we're going to give them a little bit more pressure
on the leash or on the long line we're going
to reaffirm come and then guide them in and we're
only going to reward them if they actually like
arrive right so there's your two projects to
practice um for our listeners and at this point
we have covered all of the subject matter that
i've got for tonight All right. So with that,
we are going to start signing off tonight. We
talked about some of the different tools and
different options that we had to work with our
dogs tonight. Thank you for tuning in. I really
appreciate you being here. Just a reminder, I
would absolutely love it if you guys left us
a comment, leave us a like, leave us a review.
Let us know how we're doing and how we can improve
because this is always going to be a work in
progress. Thanks, guys. Have a good night. Good
night. Good night.