Doors to Fear to Freedom course are closing TONIGHT!!
Whatâs your perspective?
Itâs so funny the stigma around tools.
This dog would look the same whether she was on a slip lead, martingale, prong or e collar.
Body language is body language. State of mind is state of mind.
Itâs interesting how the same video can have totally opposite emotions around it⊠just depends on the filter youâre looking through.
Do what works for you and your dog. Period. Donât let the social media bullsh*t scare you from finding success.
Fearful dog tip đĄ
Not every dog needs or wants to be pet by strangers.
Fearful dogs especially need to be advocated for, as forcing interaction with people only makes things worse in most cases.
Instead, what we do is focus on existence and showing the dog that they actually donât need to worry, because we will keep them safe.
This allows them to relax and not be so âon the defenseâ when out in public, because they know we are showing leadership.
The less decisions a fearful dog needs to make, the better it is for them overall.
If youâre struggling with a nervous, fearful or reactive dogâour Fear to Freedom course is open for enrollment!
But doors are closing in THREE days! 6/22
Donât miss your chance to see exactly how we rehab and train even the most extreme cases of fearful dogs.
đComment âFTFâ and weâll send you the link đ
Listen, thereâs a time and place for reward based training. Whenever youâre working on new behaviors, wanted behaviors, and obedience. Itâs thousands of reps positive reinforcement to pattern it. But if youâre trying to STOP/eliminate bad or unwanted behaviorsâbarking at the door, jumping, counter surfing, poop eating etc. itâs going to require more than distracting your dog in the moment. In fact- if you introduce food at the wrong time, like WHILE the dog is reacting or doing the unwanted behaviorâŠyouâre going to get more of that behavior đ (the reward reinforces it)Corrections inhibit behaviors. Rewards reinforce behaviors. Itâs pretty simple stuff. So if youâre trying to stop an unwanted behavior, you first need to correct it. THEN you can introduce food and pattern the desired behaviors you do want. Thatâs step two. Keep it simple! It can be so much easier than you think to have a well trained and behaved dog.
That really got out of hand fast đ
Listen, thereâs a time and place for reward based training. Whenever youâre working on new behaviors, wanted behaviors, and obedience. Itâs thousands of reps positive reinforcement to pattern it.
But if youâre trying to STOP/eliminate bad or unwanted behaviorsâbarking at the door, jumping, counter surfing, poop eating etc. itâs going to require more than distracting your dog in the moment.
In fact- if you introduce food at the wrong time, like WHILE the dog is reacting or doing the unwanted behaviorâŠyouâre going to get more of that behavior đ (the reward reinforces it)
Corrections inhibit behaviors. Rewards reinforce behaviors.
Itâs pretty simple stuff.
So if youâre trying to stop an unwanted behavior, you first need to correct it. THEN you can introduce food and pattern the desired behaviors you do want. Thatâs step two.
Keep it simple! It can be so much easier than you think to have a well trained and behaved dog.
Pack work and body language we keep an eye out for
Dogs have rules of engagement.
We usually can tell right away if a dog is going to be a problem within a pack dynamic or not, so here are some key indicators we look for to avoid having fights break out during social interactions:
đstiff body language and dominant posturing. Like a dog putting their neck over another dogs neck with a stiff tail. some dogs perceive this as a threat, and itâs flat out rude. We correct this and have the dogs create space at the first sign of it.
đnose to nose greetings arenât necessarily a definite pre-fight behavior, but again, some dogs consider it extremely rudeâespecially if one dog lingers too long or approaches fast and strong head on.
đhumping. This goes without saying, itâs RUDE, we correct it. And we donât leave it up to the dogs to sort it out.
đif thereâs going to be any chasing going on it needs to be fair. Meaning, if one dog is being chased by all the others, and thereâs no equal amount of chase, chances are the dog being chased will eventually have enough and could try correcting the other dogs. Instead, we step in and tell the dogs when enough is enough. Play should be consensual, not all the dogs piling on one player.
đif a dog is sniffing genitalia for too long, we also address that behavior. 3 seconds of sniffing is usually enough. Anything more is annoying and most dogs will correct the âlingerersâ.
The reason we correct for all of the above is because most dogs will correct for all of the above! Unfortunately some dogs are not very fair at correcting and can take it overboard. So instead, we step in before anything escalates to keep the peace.
Itâs all part of leadership and advocating for the dogs who are in your pack.
Weâre hosting a LIVE pack work workshop inside of our Community this Friday at 1pm EST! All members get access for free đ„ł
And if youâre not part of the community yetâwhat are you waiting for?!
Monthly membership just opened, so you can j
Struggling with reactivity? Check out our new fear to freedom course where we show you exactly how to stop it! Comment âFTFâ for the link!
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đ» ainât nothinâ to it!
When you know how to stop reactivity, situations like this donât faze you at all.
Shelby (dog in video) came to us HIGHLY reactive and out of control. Sheâd even been to a trainer prior to us and still couldnât keep herself together when out in public.
So howâd we get here? Read belowđ
Step 1: we stopped her reactivity immediately. Yes, you can stop unwanted behavior by correcting it right off the bat. We didnât wait to build a relationship with Shelby before telling her certain behavior (lunging and barking) were unacceptable. We stopped that her first day with us.
Step 2: spent five weeks patterning behavior we DO want. We did thousands of reps of heel, down, recall, place, etc and proofed the hell out of her obedience so sheâd be prepared for the real world. We utilized high distractions and exposed her to things we knew sheâd most likely struggle with. And every time this grew her confidence more and more. She learned new coping skills and how to be a much more neutral dog.
Step 3: we role played all her training in the real world and just lived life with her over the last month. Every day she become more comfortable with her environment and learned to follow our leadership instead of stressing out about everything going on around her.
Thatâs really how simple it can be.
And if you want to see Shelbyâs entire rehab journey from start to finish, zero editing, you can still grab the Fear to Freedom course where we documented it all.
Doors to the course are closing 6/20, so donât sleep on this one!!
Comment FTF and weâll send you the link!
Free live training for community members this Friday!
PSA computers are dangerous đ poor Jeff will be limping for a while.
But weâre doing some name recognition work with our board and trains, Shelby, Pantera and Nicky.
Pack work and controlling the energy with a pack is so important.
And weâre hosting a LIVE training on this inside of our community membership this Friday.
If youâre not already a member, you can jump in for a monthly rate of just $99 through the end of June! No contracts.
The membership comes with our premium courses, live trainings not available to the public, and live coaching calls.
Your one stop shop for a fully trained dog!
Comment âmembershipâ to join!
How to build a relationship with a dog
You canât build a relationship without effort.
Thereâs a reason why when dogs come to us for training, we actually donât coddle them or give them a ton of freedom right off the bat.
We build our relationship through work AKA teaching them obedience and stopping their unwanted behaviors.
We work on trust first, then the fun and play followâŠbut youâll often hear the opposite online.
âBuild your relationship with your dog through love, affection, praise etc.â except the majority of dogs who come to us already have all of that going on at home, and theyâre struggling with major behavioral issues.
So instead of giving the dogs what they already have (it isnât working) we just get them in a routine, we hold them accountable, we make a lot of their decisions for them until they can be trusted more and more.
Usually within a couple of weeks we have what you see in this video. Off leash freedom, play, and dogs who are HAPPY to follow us and do stuff with us.
And we get here through being consistent with the work.
Sounds boring af, and a lot of it is mundane âworkâ and reps. But thatâs exactly how we get incredible trust and reliability with the dogs we train. We put in the effort so they can reap the benefits for a lifetime.
We hold them to a higher standard, and so they become better for it â€ïž
This dog used to bite kidsâŠnow heâs hanging out with them
Your dog doesnât have to be best friends with kids (or anyone they meet for the matter)
Yep we said it!
In fact, dogs are better off just learning to exist around people and other dogs, as forced interaction often leads to trouble.
Take Nicky here for example.
Hes with us for aggression rehab since biting an 11 year old kidâand meanwhile heâs going everywhere and doing lots of stuff with our 11 year old kid.
So what changed?
We corrected Nicky for any outward display of nonsense behavior like barking or growling at Angelo when he first arrived.
And ever since weâve just taught Nicky to control his impulses and learn to *exist* around his trigger.
We also donât force him to interact with Angelo and vice versa. Angelo isnât trying to pet Nicky or âshow him how nice he isâ
Instead, we just show Nicky kids are no big deal. He comes to the park with us, cafes with us, he lays down by Angelo while heâs getting schoolwork done etc.
Existence is always the first step of getting dogs over their issuesâand if it never leads to acceptance, we really donât care.
Existence is what keeps dogs safe and out of trouble, and in their homes for the long-term.
Calm does not equal bored. Get access to dozens of our premium courses for just $99 through June 30th! Read the caption to see how!
Youâve likely heard the phrase beforeâŠ
âCalm on commandâ
many people ask us how we get this state of mind in dogs, and the truth is, itâs not anything âmagicalâ that we do. đȘ
It all starts by teaching the dog a stationary command like âplaceâ and building in more and more duration over time. â°
We get the dogs to the point where they can hold the command for extended periods of time, around all kinds of distractions, and then we pattern that behaviors to pretty much any indoor + outdoor scenario that we choose. đ
Once a dog has enough practice and youâve been consistent with your follow through, it sort of naturally becomes their default behavior. đŻ
Our personal dogs know that inside the house = be calm. Outdoors is for play and excitement. And thatâs also why we build in a ârelease/breakâ cue to every command. đđ»
When the dog hears âbreakâ it means theyâre now free to do whatever they want. Go play, go walk around, go sniff etc. đČ
But commands are commands are commands. There is no grey area. đ
Commands mean you listen and be calm, while break means go have some fun and âbe a dogâ if thatâs what you want your dog to do. đđ»
Calmness on command, though, all starts the same way. With a basic âplaceâ or âdownâ, and then we build upon it from there. â
đąOur Green to Graduate program teaches this process step by step, and right now you can get access to the course for just $99 plus DOZENS of premium bonus courses and live coaching calls when you join our community!
đ”Comment âmembershipâ for the link! Doors close 6/30!
Does your dog panic with loud noises or storms? Keep reading đ
Does your dog panic with thunderstorms and loud noises?
If so, youâre not alone.
The best way to help them get past it is NOT by letting them flee and hide in a closet and shake.
Sure, hiding under a bed for a while isnât the worst thingâŠbut what about the dogs that try to break through walls, eat sheet rock and escape from the house?
Sounds extreme but we have seen and worked with the dogs who do it.
So what to do?
Teach your dog to COPE!
Work them through the fear. Utilize known obedience like place, down, and crate. Desensitize them to the noise and donât wait until the last minute to find yourself saying âoh sh*t! Wasnât expecting this to happenâ
There is a very specific protocol we use to help dogs overcome their fears of loud noises, and itâs so effective we got most dogs off medication once they go through this training.
đ„ And thatâs why this week weâre making the course where we teach it just $55! ($100 savings)
We want you and your dog to be able to ENJOY your summer, not dread every storm or firework that pops off.
đ„ If youâre ready to be proactive with your dogs training instead of reactive, comment BOOM and weâll send you the link to the course!
Offer expires 6/17! đ đ„
