Our Balanced Dog Training Methodology!!

Hey there!! Thanks for stopping by to read today’s blog post and welcome to the family! As an introduction to our blog, I figured a great place to start would be to explain the training methodology we use with our dogs!

Before we begin, I want to preface everything with saying that this is all coming from my personal experience with the dogs and owners my trainers and I work with!

 

For us we explain our training methodology as using a combination of positive reinforcement (treats, love, praise, toys, etc.) and holding our dogs accountable utilizing corrections for certain behaviors. We utilize e collars in majority of our training programs for dogs over the age of 5 months and older. E Collars are fantastic tools that really help us to communicate with a dog in a way they will understand and also listen to. I can’t even begin to tell you the number of owners I have spoken to that when I ask them how they discipline/correct their dogs they say “Boop them with a newspaper”, “tell them no or no bite”, or spray them with a water bottle. In majority of the cases when I then ask those people how well the dog listens to that/do they not do it again the next time I would say about 90% of those people tell me no. Now, this is not to say you can’t do those things, but for me I am always looking for efficient, simple, and fair ways to train the dog but mostly ways that the owner can be successful. For us we have found that e collar training is the best of both worlds as far as training with majority of dogs! There is always the exceptions to the rule so keep that in mind, but for us e collar training has opened up a world of possibilities when it comes to training!

What Are E Collars?

E Collars are electronic collars! They are not shock collars. There are shock collars on the market that you can buy, but the brand of collar that we utilize are electronic collars operating with stimulation (think a tens unit for people). When you hear me or my trainers refer to any stimulation we are using, we will say the word “stim” not shock because at its core that is what it is. We utilize two buttons, the stim button and the tone button (sound). We always condition the e collar in a way that the dogs understand we do not just slap it on them and begin correcting them for every little thing that they do. We ALWAYS recommend working with a trainer if you plan to use an e collar because like any tool they can be and are used incorrectly all the time!

Why Do We Use Them?

E Collars are nice because we can use them to hold our dogs accountable for listening even with a leash not attached. When it comes down to it there are dogs that are just pushier than other dogs. These dogs are smart enough to figure out when they have to listen vs when they don’t. For example, we hear all the time that it becomes a game for the dog to come back inside if they don’t want to. The owner asks them to come, and they run around like it’s a funny game. In this moment what is the owner supposed to do? If the dog is treat motivated then maybe they will come back for that, but in the future, they are ONLY going to come back if you have a treat. Maybe they could spray them with a water bottle? Well nope that won’t work because they will just run away from it. They could yell at them and give them the “mom” voice which for some dogs will work, but for some that simply won’t do because they are having WAYYYY too much fun! After it has been properly conditioned the e collar is something that gives the dog the ability to have MORE freedoms because the owners can feel confident in knowing that they can hold them accountable for listening at a distance! The number of owners we have been able to help utilizing these tools shows us that this way of training is beyond beneficial for so many dogs and especially their owners!

Look how happy that guy is! ^ This is Jojo-did you know he used to bite people and put holes in the wall reacting out of windows? In this picture he is now off leash trained, wearing his e collar AND smiling all at the same time!

“Real Trainers Don’t Need E Collars”

I would actually agree 95% of the time. Here is the problem with this logic - the dogs we train are owned by people that are not professional dog trainers, don’t have a background education in canine behavior, and their life doesn’t revolve souly around their dog. So maybe us trainers could completely train a dog without any training tools, BUT most owners really benefit from the clarity that the e collar gives to human and dog! We are all about being realistic and looking out for the best interest not only for the dog, but also for our owners as well.

“Do They Have to Wear It Forever?”

The tentative answer is no. However, this really depends on the dog, the owner, and the context. For me I think of the e collar in the same way I think about a seat belt. The seat belt is there just in case you find yourself in trouble and it keeps you safe and saves lives every day. The e collar is there as your plan B. Our dogs are not going to be perfect little foot soldiers. They are going to have off days just like us and sometimes them making choices that we don’t agree with can put them in danger. For example, my two goldens (Nala & Bentley) 99% of the time do everything I ask without a second thought. We go off leash on trails every week. Lets say we just so happened to be heeling off leash past an aggressive dog and one of them decided in that moment to lose their brain and want to go say hi. This would be completely out of character, but I very confidently pass cars, people, kids, dogs, and wildlife KNOWING that my e collar is on just in case they happen to make a mistake. If I had no e collar on and they ran up to that dog they could be hurt or worse. So, for me, when we do off leash in public, they will forever have their e collars on. Now, I tell people especially post board & trains that the more consistent you are with the e collar initially translates typically to how quickly you can fade it out in the house/in the yard at home. If you are terrible about remembering to put it on and your dog gets away with things 50% of the time and 50% of the time you hold them accountable your odds of them listening with it off are low. You HAVE to prove to your dog that they cannot get away with those things! Once the e collar is on and you’re not having to use it then you can fade it out!

Positive Reinforcement

In every training package we are utilizing positive reinforcement. In my opinion if you are not balancing holding your dog accountable with making sure you are actively praise them for doing the right things you are not being fair in training your dog. In the beginning dogs make mistakes and in those moments, we need to teach them what we are and what we aren’t looking for. Naturally later in training there does come a point where our dogs are no longer making mistakes, and they are actively choosing not to do what is being asked. These moments we need to meet our dogs with disagreement, BUT you must positively reward for the good decisions they make as well!

Below is my Instagram if you glance through it you can watch the before and after of the dogs, we are training! Here you will be able to see how much progress we make with the dogs we train, how much their world is opened up to more freedom thanks to e collar training and join a community of people all trying to learn/train their dog to have the best life possible!

Savannah Dean1 Comment