Go Home Day With Your Dog

00:00 — Kati Peppe introduces the go-home discussion and asks listeners to subscribe to Off Leash…

Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered. Trigger warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the truth in dog training.

Hey everybody, this is your host, Kati Peppe. Before we jump in, I just wanted to take a quick second and remind you to hit the subscribe button because that helps us so, so, so much. We appreciate every subscribe and follow and we have so much valuable information we wanna share with you. So we don't want you to miss an episode. Without further ado, let's jump in. Hey everyone, thanks for being here today. You know, sometimes things are just so serendipitous because Joyce and I just did an episode on some of the things that we've noticed, um, a lot of people quote unquote struggle with, right?

Or kind of have a hard time with when they go home, uh, from a board-and-train, or really anytime, but especially when people take their dogs home from a board-and-train. Um, it's just kind of a tall order, right?

You have a ton of information to absorb. You have, um, all these new habits you have to get into, all these new ways of interacting with your dog. And it's really unnatural to some folks and it's just overwhelming sometimes and a lot to take in. And so we were kind of talking about some of the most common things we see people having a hard time with. And that ties really nicely into the episode I'm doing today. Uh, but what's funny is I, that episode hasn't even been released yet and I happened to get a suggestion this morning, um, from someone I consider a friend and a, and a really good customer who had some suggestions for the podcast, um, about that exact thing.

Like people going home from a board-and-train and just how overwhelming it can be and how helpful it might be if we had an episode where we just really broke everything down.

And I think even people that don't do a board-and-train with us can absolutely benefit from a lot of the material that we're gonna cover in this episode. But I thought it was a fantastic idea to have an episode about that exact thing. Um, and we can provide our clients with links to the specific episode, which might be helpful because it is so much information to take in and is such a different way of living with your dog compared to what you're used to. And so it can be, um, really difficult to implement at home if you're not real clear on what it should look like.

So we're gonna talk about that tonight. I'm so excited about it. Um, but so you guys, if you haven't used us before, like you're gonna get kind of an extra in-depth detailed glimpse into what's happening with us and our clients when they do training with us.

What exactly we're telling them. What do we cover? Uh, what are they doing? What are they learning? What are we saying? You're like, you get to you, you get a glimpse into all that today, which is pretty cool. Alright, so I'm just gonna dive right in, guys, 'cause we actually, we have a lot of material to cover, right? That's why we're doing this episode is it's so much material. So I'm gonna get right into it and uh, I'm going to try to keep it as painless as I can 'cause I <laugh> I think that's probably what people need.

Um, but so the first thing we cover when someone comes to pick up their dog from a board-and-train, we don't just jump into training. We have everybody sit down and we talk, okay? And we're out there talking usually for about 20 to 30 minutes tops.

And what we're doing during that period of time is first of all, one of us is usually working on working their dog through their excitement. And that's usually me. And then Joyce will be talking to them about the equipment that their dog is going home with because there are some very, very important habits you wanna get into with this equipment once you start using it. So let's talk about what that is. First of all, your dog now has on an e-collar. That e-collar should be on your dog all the time. I'll say it again, <laugh>, that e-collar should be on your dog all the time.

04:00 — Kati warns that inconsistent e-collar use can teach dogs that rules change when the…

Now we did three lessons yesterday. Um, two of them were board-and-train follow-ups and one was just a private lesson.

All three of those folks weren't doing this. I'm not saying they weren't doing it at all, right? But they weren't doing it perfectly. Now people aren't gonna be perfect and I know that. Um, but it's really just important to understand that this particular piece, if you aren't perfect, okay? If you make any exceptions at all to this piece, your dog is probably going to become what we call collar smart. And that means they are absolutely going to learn that when their e-collar isn't on, the world is different, you are different. The rules are different 'cause they're not enforced, right?

And so they learn that very, very quickly. So it's not like it's the end of the world if you take your dog outta the kennel and they don't have their e-collar on. And like I just said, to be honest, sounds like most of our clients do that at some point, um, to some degree or another.

But if you do, you just need to understand that you might be creating the reliance on that e-collar forever. And to me, in my opinion, it runs a little bit deeper than that. That's not the only consequence, that's the biggest one, okay? So you'll start relying on your e-collar all the time because if you take it off, your dog will just, boom, revert right back to all their old stuff because you've taught them with no e-collar on, there's no enforcement of the rules, right? So that's just normal. But to me it even goes beyond that because what it means is whenever you do take that e-collar off and your dog does revert back, they're rehearsing their old stuff, right?

So it's kind of difficult to put something in the rearview mirror if it's still part of your current reality, right? So if you have a dog that, say, likes to go steal socks and chew holes in them and you for whatever reason don't put your e-collar on the dog that morning, maybe because they were just gonna hang out with you for 10 minutes while you ate breakfast or something, and then you were gonna put them in their kennel and go to work.

So it's just a few minutes you didn't put the e-collar on, right? Because that's us. That's the type of scenario that we hear a lot when people are making these exceptions. And what happens if in that 10 minutes your dog goes and steals a sock and starts chewing holes in it? You really don't have any recourse. And that's not actually true. You could use a different type of correction, right? But most people don't or they're not very good at it <laugh> if they do so. So most of the time what ends up happening is there's no recourse, there's no consequence for doing that.

And now your dog has that file, but not only do they have that file that when the collar's not on, there's no consequence. They also just rehearsed that behavior again. So it's not in the rearview mirror yet, right? 'Cause it's still happening.

And so then let's say you go, oh, we gotta keep the collar on, right? And you do pretty good for a week, but then you take it off again. Well, because your dog has that file up there in their brain, now they're more likely to do that behavior again when the collar's off because they did it once and it worked out fine. So a week later you, you make another mistake. Whatever reason you don't have the collar on, your dog goes and steals sock and chews a hole in it. Well, again, you don't have any recourse, right?

08:00 — Repeated opportunities to practice unwanted behaviors without consequences can undermine lasting behavior change.

But also the behavior just got rehearsed again, so it's still not in the rearview mirror, right? So you can see how it becomes very, very difficult to actually permanently, like, long-term change behavior, eliminate behaviors. Because if your dog is collar smart and you keep making exceptions where we don't put the collar on, then your dog just keeps practicing those behaviors you wanna get rid of.

And so you never get rid of them. You just stay stuck there dealing with these simple behaviors that are actually pretty, actually pretty easy to knock out. Um, so lots of problems with creating a collar smart dog and we don't recommend it. And it really blows my mind how many trainers are like, oh no, you just put the e-collar on for your lesson and then you take it off. It's like, okay, yeah, that's fine if you don't care about anything except like your training lessons. If you want it to stick in real life, well guess what?

Real life is 24 hours a day. That e-collar needs to be on. Now, is it actually on 24 hours a day? No, because you have to take it off to charge it. And so usually what we do is we recommend people take their e-collar off at night after the dog is in their kennel and you put it on the charger and then the next morning you take it off the charger and you put it on your dog before you take them out of the kennel.

That's so important, guys, even that one little piece, if you invite your dog out of the kennel before you put the e-collar on them, well now you're opening the door for some monkey business, right? So don't give your dog the opportunity to present with monkey business, especially without their e-collar on. So literally, I like to spell out for folks, your dog goes into the kennel at night, then you take the e-collar off. So you should have to lean into the door into the kennel to remove their e-collar. And then in the morning the same thing, you go through the door and lean into the kennel and put their e-collar on before you invite them out.

They literally do not have a second of time outside of their kennel without that e-collar on. That's so, so important in my opinion. Now because it is on so long, um, and it has to be pretty tight because dogs won't feel it if it's not getting right down to the skin, if they're going to have that on that long.

I think it's important for you to move the collar around a little bit throughout the day. Um, most dogs just moving it once is fine, but if you have a sensitive dog, you might need to do it more. And since it's usually on the side of the neck, we say just put it on one side in the morning and then halfway through your day just move it to the other side because it is really tight. And so those contact points are pushing on the skin a little bit and you can get pressure sores there just from that pressure being right in the same spot.

And if you get pressure sores, um, it's, it's going to make the skin really raw and then eventually scab over. But it also could potentially, like, get infected and turn into a nasty hot spot or any number of things. So really important that if you're going to have the collar on your dog the way we recommend that you do, move it around.

Um, also if your dog gets wet, um, that's an opportunity for those hot spots to develop and they can be really, really nasty. Um, we, you know, we almost never have a problem here. There's been a couple of cases where dogs were really sensitive and and got some sores and, uh, but they heal quickly. You know, if you tend to them and it's not a big deal, but we've definitely gotten some messages from folks, um, you know, weeks or months after they've gone home that their dog is struggling with sores and it's like, make sure you're moving it around.

12:00 — Kati recommends drying wet fur before replacing the e-collar to reduce hot spot risk.

Make sure you're not leaving it on there when they're wet, right? Take a blow dryer and actually blow the fur or put them in their kennel while they dry completely. Um, and then put the collar back on. Um, if neither one of those things is an option, just make sure you're moving that collar around a ton.

Um, even the strap, okay? Because sometimes the hot spots, it's not from the contact points. Sometimes it's actually just from the collar strap because it's not breathable. So usually it's a BioThane strap. Um, and it can really just hold the moisture and the bacteria and everything right there in that one spot. So even moving the collar up and down so that that strap is in a different place, right? But you have to move it around a ton if it's gonna be on there when your dog is, is wet at all. And we really don't recommend leaving it on there when your dog is wet.

I mean, for a few minutes, it's not gonna matter, right? But, um, you don't wanna leave it on there for hours, uh, while your dog has really wet fur, ideally, because they are more likely to develop those nasty hot spots. Um, and that's gross and unpleasant. And then sometimes you end up in a position where you have to take the e-collar off and leave it off because, um, your dog's got hot spots, right? And, and so then you <laugh> then you're not in a good position.

So that's the e-collar, right? And then the prong collar we actually recommend that has to be on your dog whenever the leash is on. Now that makes sense because that's what it's for. It is literally for leash communication. There is no other purpose to the prong collar aside from leash communication. So if your leash isn't on the dog, then they don't need to wear their prong collar. Prong collar is always the highest collar on the neck. The reason for that is that way you have the most control over the dog's head, right? And if you control the head, you control the body.

Now the collar itself doesn't do the work. It's all leash handling. And that's the first thing we cover in your go-home lesson. So we teach you how to use pressure with your prong collar, which basically means you engage the prong collar with a tight leash and you don't relax the collar and loosen the leash until you get the behavior you want.

And that's generally used as a form of guidance to move the dog around or to get them to settle. So when it comes to settling, which is like our nonverbal sit, we apply that prong collar pressure with the leash straight up in the air over the dog's head very gently, okay? And you hold that pressure steady, you don't jerk the leash. It's not pressure on, off, on, off, on, off. It's leash up, steady pressure. I just did an episode on this not that long ago and there's a video in those show notes as well. Um, so if you want to see more of that or hear more about that, maybe go back and check out that episode.

Um, but as soon as the dog's butt hits the floor, we disengage the collar, we relax that leash, right? So that's pressure. The other way you can use your prong collar is pops, right?

So that's called checking the leash. And it actually is kind of a good term to use for this. It's the term I've started using, um, because you could actually think of it as a check mark. So I have found over time that people actually really struggle with that motion. It's really difficult to explain and describe. And even if you show people, um, in an in-person demonstration, it still takes some time for them to, to really pick up, like, how to do that motion. And so I think describing it as a check mark has been really, really helpful because it gets people to release the leash after they pop it.

16:00 — Kati distinguishes a quick leash pop with immediate release from sustained leash pressure.

So the biggest mistake we see, see is people will pop the leash but then they stay engaged even if it's just for a split second and that's not a pop or it's a much less effective one.

So it's really important for it to be a fast, snappy action. Now we use pops as a way to get the dog's attention to interrupt fixation or even to correct behaviors that are unwanted, right? And so you control the intensity in all of these interactions with your dog. So even if you're using pressure, you start with gentle pressure, but you can increase the firmer pressure if you have to. Um, pops are the same way. You can do a very gentle pop. It's still very snappy and fast, but it can be very, very gentle. Just a little flick of the wrist, or it might be a really big obtuse dog who hardly notices anything and you might have to use two hands, right?

And kind of move into the dog to create some slack in your leash and then very quickly and firmly check that leash, right?

So quick snap and release. It's a very quick leash pop. Um, but you control the intensity. And again, that's a way to get your dog's attention or to disagree with unwanted behaviors. So if you're just getting your dog's attention, it probably isn't going to be as firm, right? It might just be that you're walking with your dog and they start kinda looking at something and they're looking at it too long and you can tell they're getting a little too interested and you might just do a quick wrist flick to get their attention back on walking with you.

Or it might be that they bark at somebody or they jump on somebody and then you're gonna say no and you're gonna give them that very firm leash pop, right? As a correction for that unwanted behavior. So those are the things we cover about the equipment.

Now, your prong collar should also never be on your dog when they're in the crate, okay? Which theoretically it wouldn't be, right, because it's for leash communication, which you're not gonna do when your dog's in the crate. But just important to mention that because we don't want it to get hung up on things. Um, if it did, your dog will panic, uh, and we don't want that. And although the prong collar probably isn't going to injure your dog, um, certainly they could hurt themselves if they panic, um, and get hung up on things. So we don't want that to happen.

Now you could leave the leash on your dog, on the prong collar when you go home from a board-and-train. Uh, Joyce usually recommends to people that they do. I don't think that's bad advice, but I do worry sometimes that people think that's all they have to do when they go home from a board-and-train is just leave that leash on their dog.

Um, and that's not true. So the leash is really, we're gonna talk about structure in a minute, and the leash really isn't part of that. So what the leash does is it gives you a way to control the situation if things get messy, because here's the thing, your dog is trained, your dog knows all of this stuff, but you don't. You are still getting comfortable with it. You are still learning. You still need to get confident with how to use your e-collar and how your dog responds in different situations. And so there might be times where you struggle a little bit and that's okay.

And so having that leash on your dog, having them drag that leash would just give you a way. If you're having a hard time, if things are really messy, um, and chaotic, right? 'Cause life can be chaotic, you now have a physical leash that you can go grab and get what it is you want from your dog.

We don't really want people to do that, right? We want them to get really comfortable using their e-collar, but there might be times where that's difficult for you for some reason, especially at first, especially especially in the first like few days after your dog goes home. So feel free to leave the leash on your dog and let them drag it. Um, but it's really just there in case, right? You shouldn't really be doing anything with it. It's just there in case you are struggling. Okay? Alright, so we're gonna move on to structure, right? So this is what we spend most of our time actually talking about in the first part of our go-home lessons.

20:00 — Kati introduces home structure as a recommendation for board-and-train and private-lesson clients, especially those…

When you take your dog home from one of our board-and-train programs, or even if you're doing a private lesson program, we still recommend this, especially if you have a dog with any kind of behavioral stuff going on, okay? And I love this because a lot of the training stuff we do with the dogs, it's not super black and white. There aren't rigid rules. It's kind of, um, a judgment call, right? And you might do one thing this time and something else next time or depending on what's happening in the situation. And that can be hard for people, and I understand that.

And we're gonna do another episode on that. Um, after this, this is gonna be like our go-home series, but the structure piece that we tell you to use when your dog goes home, this is super black and white, guys. So for you folks that really like to have it broken down and spelled out and know exactly what to do, you're gonna love this segment <laugh>, because there's no judgment calls here. This is as straightforward as it gets when your dog goes home from one of our board-and-train programs. We tell everybody, we want you to live with your dog the same way I've been living with your dog.

Not forever necessarily, there might be some dogs. Um, but for now, okay, now this can be tricky if you have people in the house that just aren't on board with the program. And that's why we really don't like to work with those people. If you are totally on board with this and committed to it and excited about it, it's like, that's wonderful. But if you've got people in the house that are going to undermine you at every turn because they think it's ridiculous, then your results are absolutely gonna be compromised. So it's really important to try to get everybody on the same page and have those conversations before your program.

Um, I also like to say as far as the structured piece goes, and we're gonna break it down for you, but this is something we tell people to, to do when they go home, right?

But here's the thing, you can reimplement this very high level of structure at any time you want to. So let's just say that eight months down the road, your dog all of a sudden starts pushing boundaries and doing all this monkey business, especially if you have a reactive dog or a dog with any aggression issues. Go back to this very high level of structure we're gonna talk about. So this just does a lot for changing your dog's state of mind, for developing coping skills, impulse control, respect, relevance, all these things, right? So do it now and then over time you're gonna loosen up and we'll talk more about that.

23:00 — Kati recommends reinstating high structure when behavior deteriorates or the household undergoes a major…

But at any time, if you feel like your dog is acting up, go back to this and do it again.

Reinstate the high-security prison structure, <laugh>, because that's kind of what it feels like to people, I think, which is why it's not forever, right? But it's for now. Um, and I also recommend you use this when you're going through a major life change. So if somebody's very sick, if somebody passes away, if you have a baby, if you move is a really big one. So if you have any of those major life events happening, use this structure to bridge that transition for your dog. It is going to help you immensely. And we see so many behavioral issues crop up even when they've never been seen before.

Um, when people are going through these kinds of transitions and these kinds of life hurdles and obstacles, we see the dog start to display all the stuff they never displayed before. And I believe a lot of that can be prevented by just kind of battening down the hatches and using this very high level of structure, uh, to keep your dog's mind right.

While you're going through all these trials and tribulations or transitions. Um, even if they're positive transitions and they're exciting, they're still stressful and there's still a big change and a big shift in the household for the dog. And this can really prevent a lot of issues. So what do I mean by structure, guys? What does it look like? Because here's the thing, and again, on on the episode we just recorded, we were talking about this. No matter, no matter how much we talk about it in the go-home lesson, um, it still just doesn't seem to stick when people go home.

And I know there are some folks that just don't wanna do it and they're probably choosing not to do it. And, and that's fine. There's nothing I can do about that. But I do think there's a good portion of people that just don't really understand exactly how to implement it.

Like it's so unnatural and foreign to them that they just don't, they're not getting the picture. They don't see it. Um, they don't understand what we mean, what it looks like. So we, we really now are making more of an effort to break it down for folks, um, and be very clear about this is exactly what you do when you walk through your door this afternoon after your board-and-train and you get home, when you go to bed, when you get up in the morning, all day. Um, so that we can really help folks understand, because the people that are committed to it, they still can't do it if they don't understand it, right?

So let's break down what the structure means. Love the show? Well, I have great news. We are offering an inexpensive subscription to our new premium content. This is content that isn't available to the general public.

We make it just for our subscribers. We're gonna cover a variety of new topics in these episodes and I think it's gonna be a ton of fun. So you can jump right down into the show notes to get that website address and then skip over there and sign up for this premium content. Just wanted to take a second to let you guys know about that. Thank you so much for your support and now on with the show. So let's start with the structure inside the house, which is obviously the most important. All right? You get home with your dog, your dog should be on a leash and prong.

And before we even get to the structure, let's just say your dog should be holding a down in the car on the way home. When you open the door when you get home, your dog shouldn't stand up.

27:00 — Kati describes resetting a dog that breaks its down when the car door opens…

If they do, you should say no. Tap your e-collar and get them reset in a down, shut their door, reopen their door, say good, okay? If they stay down, if they don't, then obviously you have to do it again and you might need to tap a little bit higher. But the idea is teach your dog that. That's a boundary, that's an expectation. I want you to just stay laying down. I don't want you to pop up just because I open your door. We do that everywhere all the time. I think it's especially valuable in this specific context because the dog has all the arousal and the history and all the monkey business already tied to this environment, to this person, to this house.

And so you drawing that line in the sand and and keeping that boundary very first thing when you get home is a really good way to kind of set the tone.

Um, and get off on the right foot. So your dog is on a leash and prong, you walk, maybe let them potty or something and that's fine, but you're hanging onto the leash and then you're walking up to your front door and you're going to implement the door manners we covered at your go-home lesson, which is I'm gonna open this door and you are not gonna crowd the door, you're not gonna go through the door, you're not gonna get spring-loaded and super excited about the door. If you do, I'm gonna tap the e-collar to get you to dial it back, to get you to exhale a little bit, to get you to fully resign and just be in acceptance that you don't respond to the door.

These little things, guys, are not little things because these are the things that actually comprise your whole day.

They're important, okay? Then once your dog is fully in acceptance that they need to just ignore the door, then you can say, all right, let's go. Right? And you both walk through the front door and you go into the house. Same thing on the other side of the door. Your dog should just be hanging out with you calmly. They're on a short leash still, your dog should not be running to the end of that leash, all excited. If they do, that's a no. And an e-collar correction, right? You could also pop your leash if you're good at leash popping.

But a lot of people aren't, especially this early in their training, <laugh> with the dog 'cause it's a skill, okay? So usually a tap on the e-collar. We're not looking for your dog to do anything or to do anything fancy. We're looking for your dog not to get really excited and just run off on you or try to.

When your dog is on a short leash, they should always stay calm and be paying attention to you instead of making their own decisions. So these small moments are critical and this isn't something you're gonna have to micromanage all the time because once your dog knows it's an expectation, they're just gonna do it. So most dogs are doing the stuff for us automatically with no feedback required by the time they go home, right? But they're not gonna just automatically do that with you. They have to see that you have the same rules and that the feedback is going to come from you.

30:00 — Kati directs owners to kennel the dog after entering the house, then remove the…

Now you, you get through the door, your dog's being calm, they're sitting near you, or they're standing near you. As long as they're calm and they're not taking off, great. That's what we want, right? Again, I don't want anything fancy. I don't want you to tell your dog to sit. That's a mistake. Why? Because this isn't about giving commands. It's about having expectations. And the expectation is when you're on this leash, you stay calm and you stay near me and you wait for instruction. Simple. And if they don't do that, you give them a correction.

Now, if they do do that, you can absolutely tell them they're good, right? You don't need to have a party, but you can just let them know, hey, good. This is the big one. They're all big ones, but this is big. You're not gonna take the leash off and let your dog go.

Take your dog over to their kennel, say kennel up, put them in their kennel. Once they're in their kennel, take off the prong collar, which will stay attached to your leash. And then you can set that wherever it's convenient for you, right? But now your dog's in the kennel, the prong collar is off. e-collar stays on. Now with your dog safely secured in the kennel, you can go, as Joy says, go have a glass of wine, have a margarita, because that go-home lesson was a lot <laugh>, right? And then when you are ready to deal with it, you can go take your dog out, probably you're gonna wanna set up their place cot.

That's what I would do. So I'd have myself a glass of wine, I would put the place cot together, and then when I felt like it, I'd say, all right, let's see how this goes.

I'd go open the kennel. We show everyone how to do the kennel when they're here. Your dog should not be overexcited when you come to get them out of the kennel. It's not just about going through the door, guys. They shouldn't be super forward at the door, at any door, including the kennel. If your dog looks too excited about the door, if they're too forward, if they are crowding the door, if they're whining, if they're jumping, if they're pawing, if they're staring hard and you know they want to bolt through the door, even if they're not doing it, you can tell it's simmering under the surface.

That's too much. So no. And an e-collar correction. Now, tomorrow morning, when you go to do this, if they don't have an e-collar on, because you do take it off at night to charge it, and when you go to first get them in the morning, you're gonna have to put the e-collar back on.

So it's not on yet, right? Instead of an e-collar correction at that time, you could just slam the crate door, right? And that just kind of sends the message, just use a firm tone. Say no, slam that crate door, right? And that just kind of says, gets them to go, oh, that's right. Kind of reminds them there's rules. They have to control that level of arousal and they're, they're being too much, right? And what you're looking for, again, isn't for your dog to do anything fancy, but to just take it down a notch and kind of settle a little bit and just accept the fact that they need to pay attention to you, not the door, and just wait for instruction.

Okay? But so at this point in time, your dog should have the e-collar on. You could use an e-collar tap to help them settle a little bit. And you're gonna open that crate door. Then you're going to put the prong collar on the dog. You're gonna reach in, put the prong collar on the dog, and the leash should already be attached to your prong collar because you're gonna leave those put together. Now, here's a big one. After you put the prong collar on your dog, they shouldn't just fly outta the kennel. If you have a dog that's used to being overexcited with you in your house, they're probably going to. They don't do that here, right?

34:00 — Attaching equipment does not grant permission to exit the kennel; Kati expects the dog…

'Cause we cure them of that pretty quickly.

But that's not okay yet. Even though you're taking your dog out, it's still not okay because you are supposed to decide when they come out, not them. And I think these are the things that get missed that are so, so critical. I say, they're so, so critical. It's like maybe there are dogs where it doesn't matter. And if you're happy with how things are going, fine, great. But this is the recipe we see for the best success. Especially if you have a dog that struggles with excitement or struggles with any kind of reactivity or aggression.

These moments, I don't feel like they're dispensable. Like, you, you should do these protocols in these moments.

Acceptance and looking to you and responding to you. Not the environment, not the door. Because later in the day too, it might not be a door, it might be a squirrel, right? So everyone wants their dog to behave a certain way when they see a squirrel. Well, right now what? When you're taking your dog outta the kennel, right now, that door is the squirrel. So if you want your dog to rehearse standards around impulse control and responding to the environment, don't wait until there's a squirrel. Do it now while you're taking your dog out of the kennel.

So you open the door, you put the prong collar on. If your dog decides that means it's time to come out, they—then you'll just say no. And you'll correct your dog with either a firm leash pop or an e-collar tap at something a little bit higher. Don't grab your remote and tap at a five, guys. Something a little bit higher. What level? I don't know, whatever level your dog cares about. And then here's what I want you to do. Put them back in the kennel. Do the whole thing over again. So you could take the collar off and put it back on, or you could at least reach in and just snap the clasp on the leash, right?

Because that sound is very triggering.

And let's see if your dog makes a different decision this time, and they usually will. So then your dog, you clasp the leash, you get the collar on, right? Your dog does not try to fly out of the kennel. You can say, "Good, let's go," invite your dog out of the kennel. Now this is just like the front door that we talked about a minute ago. Once they come out of the kennel on the other side of the door, we're not looking for anything fancy, we're just looking for calmness and respect, right? So they shouldn't try to take off on you.

37:00 — After a calm kennel exit, Kati describes leading the dog to its place cot…

They shouldn't be jumping around, jumping on you, bolting to the end of the leash. They should just come out of their kennel and hang out with you calmly and wait to see what's happening.

And then usually it's, you know, let's go, and you walk them over to their place cot and you say place and they get on and they lay down. Now we're starting to get into the training piece, which we're not gonna cover because this episode would be a million hours long. But I'm gonna do another episode on that. But if your dog doesn't lay down automatically on place, we teach everybody, just tap your e-collar. Doesn't have to be real high, but needs to be high enough that they feel it, right? And most dogs, they've had tons of practice, guys, they know this stuff.

And we're gonna talk about that too. Tap the e-collar. Your dog should just lay down. Okay? So if they don't do it automatically, you tap, they lay down and now that's it. Your dog's on place.

Okay? And so let's talk about what, what is your day's going to look like tomorrow? What's your night gonna look like tonight? What's your day gonna look like tomorrow? What is an example of this high structure? So let's talk about that. So number one, as a reminder, it's not a bad idea to leave the leash and prong on your dog, okay? Yes, you can only have it on when supervised, but they're going to be supervised all the time for now, just until everything gets established, guys. But that takes some time. Your dog needs to grow these training roots in your house.

So leave the leash and prong on. They can have it on while they're on place and when you're doing stuff with them. And then when they go into their crate, you're gonna take it off. That's the only time it's gonna be off, okay?

And that's gonna enable you, if things get messy, you still have a physical thing you can grab onto and control the situation. Hopefully you don't need to. Lots of people don't, right? It's just there as a safety measure in case. And it's also gonna enable, enable you to have a tieback, which we're gonna talk about in a little bit, right? So if you need a tieback in certain situations, that leash will be there for that. So here's an example of of your day. Now, it might not look exactly like this. This is an example, okay?

You take your dog outta the kennel in the morning, right? So what's gonna happen is you're gonna take that collar off the charger, your e-collar, you're gonna reach in, you're gonna turn it on <laugh>. It doesn't work if it's not on, I've tried. You are gonna reach in, you're gonna put it on your dog.

40:00 — The morning routine includes equipment, kennel-release protocols, door manners, and a potty break with…

Once the e-collar is on securely, you're gonna put on your prong collar, then you're gonna invite your dog out of the kennel doing all those protocols we already talked about a minute ago. I'm not gonna go through them all again. Okay? You get to the front door, you expect door manners from your dog, you get outside, then you can say break and let them potty, right? Preferably hanging onto the leash. Now, if your dog was already pretty good in this context before training, and you have a fenced-in yard, maybe you let them off leash to go potty, that's okay.

But if you had struggled in any context, if your dog, um, was naughty in the yard or you don't have a fence and they take off on you, or they don't come back when called when you're going back in the house, then don't let your dog off the leash yet. Okay? It's too soon. Let's get all the basics nailed down first. But if none of that stuff was ever a problem in the past and you wanna send your dog out there without a leash to potty, that's fine. I just wouldn't leave them out there unsupervised for any length of time.

All right? So after your dog potties, you bring them back in, you put them on the leash again, manners at all the doors. Then maybe we go back in the house and we go back and we kennel up again and we take the prong collar off. Maybe we give the dog breakfast in their crate. Highly recommend feeding your dog in their kennel.

So they get their breakfast in their kennel, all right? And maybe you go about and you do your breakfast and your shower or whatever the case may be. Then you go back, you take your dog outta the kennel, right? So you have to open the door, put on the prong collar, all the same protocols. Dog comes outta the kennel. And if you think they need to potty again, go potty again. If not, maybe wait a little bit. Okay? Then you come back in, bring the dog over to the place cot. Place, dog gets on place, they should lay down.

Now they're on place for a while, right? So if you work from home or you have housework to do or whatever it is, maybe they're on place for an hour, maybe it's two hours, maybe it's longer, but they're on place for a while. Now you have to watch them because you can't trust them yet.

Even if I can trust them in my house, <laugh>, you can't trust them. Now we tell everyone, I'm not gonna get into the training piece again 'cause that's gonna be the next episode. But we tell everybody all the scenarios you wanna set up and how to respond to your dog making mistakes so that you can get them trustworthy. But they're on place for a couple of hours or so. And then it's all right, let's go or break to get them off their place cot. Maybe it's back outside. We're gonna let them potty. Now, at that point, maybe you're gonna take them for a walk.

Maybe you're gonna throw the ball around and that's okay too. Um, just don't put your dog in situations where you think they're gonna misbehave if you don't feel prepared to deal with it.

Okay? So maybe you're gonna go for a walk, you're gonna do some exercise or something, then your dog's gonna come back in. They're gonna go back to the place cot, guys. Maybe they're gonna be there for an hour. Maybe it's gonna be three hours, okay? Or if you want a real challenge, maybe instead of place, you're gonna do a long down and the dog is going to have to lay down and hold it. And two, tell them it's okay to get up. Same amount of time your dog can lay down for like really any amount of time you want them to, right?

44:00 — Kati rotates dogs through kennel time to provide opportunities for water and naps between…

I mean, obviously it gets to a point where it's like you wanna let 'em get up and stretch their legs, right? But most people are way too anxious and concerned about how long their dog is stationary. It's like get them their exercise, but they don't need to get up every 20 minutes.

You can ask your dog to be stationary, okay? And then they're gonna go spend some time in their kennel. So you're gonna take 'em off place, go put them in their kennel for a couple of hours. Why? Just because maybe you have stuff to do where you can't watch them, or maybe that's the only place they can really get water right now, right? So you wanna make sure you're rotating them through their kennel because your dog can't just get off place and go get a drink. They can't get out of a down and go get a drink.

So rotating them through their kennel will enable them to have a drink and take a nap, okay? And then maybe they come out of their kennel, it's back outside to potty, then maybe they come in, it's back into the kennel for dinner. We always feed dogs in their kennel.

Then they come out of the kennel, they go back to place. So do you see what's happening here? At no point in time did I say, take the prong collar off your dog and just allow them to go play in the living room or put a gate up and stay in the room with your dog. Like none of that. Not because it's bad, but because it's too fucking soon. Pardon the English. <laugh> Could say pardon my French, right? But it's not French, plain English. Um, so that's why I think it's so unnatural to people. It's very, very structured.

It's very, very controlled. It is like high security prison. And it's not because your dog is bad, it's because A, it's going to help them transition everything we taught them over to your house. It's practice. That's what it is, guys. It's practicing the hard stuff. And number two, it's you getting a chance to practice, okay? Because you just learned all this stuff. Your dog knows it, they've been doing it with me, but you don't know it.

So this forces you to go home and practice how we come out of a kennel, how we put the dog in place, how we, how we respond to mistakes. When your dog ignores you or gets off when they're not supposed to. How your dog goes through the door, door. All these things. You have to go home and rehearse those things. You are now immersed in the training during this high-structure period where every single interaction with your dog, you have to think about it. But it also is just changing your dog's state of mind and how they view you and what their associations are with that environment.

So your dog is now starting to experience that even at home in your house with you, that they're not fully autonomous and that they have to actually listen to you and that they actually have to look to you for guidance. All these things, you know, whatever it is your dog struggled with, this period of time is going to help immensely to temper that and get them into a different state of mind. Zero freedom, not to be mean and not because your dog is bad, you guys. It's not forever. But this is a marathon, not a sprint.

We already know your dog can play, your dog can snuggle, your dog loves affection, your dog loves treats, your dog all the, we know your dog can do those things. That is not what you paid us for though. So can you do those things? Sure.

Minimally right now, right? But you can play with your dog and maybe in some cases it's not appropriate to do that. And we'll let you know if that's the case. If you have one of those dogs, right? But then when you're done, your dog goes to place, your dog goes in their kennel, your dog holds it down, whatever it is, but you don't just go, okay, be on your way and do whatever you wanna do. No, that's not how it works. And I know that most people miss this because I'll get videos, I'll get messages and people will say something like, well, she gets on her cot by herself, um, and hangs up there, she likes it.

And it's like, I'm glad. But that tells me that the dog had the option to make that choice. The dog was free. That's not the structure. The structure is no freedom in the house.

You are always telling your dog where to be and what to be doing. So unnatural. I know, I know. Um, but so, so worth it. And then the next question, of course, is always for how long? And so, we'll, we'll address that. Um, and that looks a little different for every dog. But while you're in this high-structure period, guys, leave the leash on. You don't have to, especially if you're already very comfortable just using your e-collar, but leave the leash on just in case things are sloppy or something catches you off guard and you're struggling, like that leash will be there and that's helpful.

Um, and I really like the idea of the tieback. So if you're going to put your dog in a really challenging situation, right? And it's the first time you've done this since they've been home, tie them to something if you can. Okay? So probably hook the leash on their flat collar instead of their prong if you're gonna do this. Um, but tie them to a heavy piece of furniture or a doorknob. Say for instance, when people are coming in, right? If you know, like, my dog is terrible with this and they're probably gonna make a mistake, put them on a tieback.

50:00 — A loose tieback during guest arrivals limits the dog’s movement and makes mistakes easier…

Make it nice and loose, right? So they don't feel the tension and they can still screw up and they can still make mistakes. We want your dog to be able to make choices, but they're tied back, right? So they can't run across the room and accost the people coming through the door. And what that's gonna do is it's gonna enable you to keep things less chaotic and less messy. So when people come through the door, if your dog does say, oh, I don't do this in this house, right? I did it at Kati's, I'm not doing it here.

And they fly off the place cot, your dog is now contained. So it makes everything easier for you. And you can say "no," appropriate correction. And then if your dog doesn't go back on by themselves, you can go help them reset. Okay?

But you can see how that would limit the chaos. Whereas if you didn't have your dog on a tieback and they made that mistake, they're gonna be flying up to the people. The people are gonna be saying, "No, it's okay. It's okay." Dog's gonna be me. You know, maybe they're jumping, all this. And then you're like, "Oh, how do I address jumping? I can't remember. And what do I do with my remote?" And, and you don't wanna be rude to your company and all this stuff's going on. This will just really simplify it for you.

So using a tieback is a great idea. Should you have to use one? No, not really. Should you have to use it forever? No. But in the beginning, why not? And I mean, really, forever. Why not if you need to? But you know, ideally, if your training's in place, you shouldn't need to.

99.9% of dogs, you shouldn't need that. And if you do, there's probably something lacking in your process. But in the beginning, you are just learning and it's hard. And your dog, they might know this stuff, but they've never done it for you before. And so they're gonna try all the monkey business maybe, right? Not all dogs. Um, but it, it's more likely that they're gonna push all these boundaries at home and pull out the monkey business. And so just at least the first few days or the first few challenges like that, I'm on a tieback.

Guys, there's no shame in that. And that just makes it easier for you to address it, right? And you don't have to panic so much. So that's why we like the leash on, um, at least at first when your dog goes home. But once you're super comfortable with everything and like you know exactly what to do and you're ready to say "no" at the right moment and you're ready to go get your remote and turn it up to whatever level you need and provide the correction and you know how your dog responds to that and you're comfortable, then fine.

You don't need the leash, right? But a lot of people are really nervous about this in the beginning. So having that leash there is helpful, um, for both of those reasons, uh, to reduce the messiness and for potentially use as a tieback.

53:00 — Kati cautions owners against leaving dogs unsupervised on place before they demonstrate reliability at…

Here's another piece. Do not trust your dog until they've proven they can do it. Okay? So that's more of the training piece that we're gonna dig into next, next time. But I think it's really, really important for people to at least know when you go home from a board-and-train, I can train your dog all day long. I can train them to jump through hoops of fire for me. It doesn't mean they're gonna do it for you until everything's established at home. Not until they believe that you're gonna enforce things the same way I did and the same way Joyce did.

Okay? So don't put your dog on place and go outside and mow the lawn because they're gonna fuck up and you are not gonna catch it. And so you are literally teaching your dog that there's no accountability in your house. Don't put yourself in that position. So we're gonna talk more about that in detail in the next episode I do, um, in this series, which is the training piece.

But I think if I was going to just give you that one highlight from that episode, it's probably going to be that if you don't know that you can trust your dog, in short, it'll never be like a hundred percent reliable, right? But if you don't know it's like 99% reliable, if you don't know that yet, then don't trust your dog to do it and not supervise them, okay? Because you don't wanna shoot yourself in the foot, you don't wanna go backwards, you don't wanna teach your dog there's no accountability in your house. So how long should you implement this really high level of structure?

Well, we used to give people a specific timeframe and I decided that was a mistake. And it partially depends on what your dog is like and what they're struggling with. So I would say the more your dog is struggling with things that are nervous system related, if you have a dog with severe separation issues, um, severe obsessive-compulsive behaviors, um, severe anxiety, nervousness, fearfulness, severe reactivity, aggression issues, bite history, like this kind of stuff, then you should be doing this high level of structure much, much longer.

So for you guys, I don't want your focus to be on when can we stop doing this? I want your focus to be on how far can we take this thing? How big can I build this thing? How good can I get my dog at the stuff? How fluent can I get at the stuff? That's really what I want you thinking about, right? Can we get this down to being like a well-oiled machine where everything gets really easy, the behaviors become really reliable? I see less and less of the bad behaviors or the unwanted behaviors, right?

Or the things my dog was struggling with. I'm seeing less of that. I'm seeing less arousal, I'm seeing better coping.

57:00 — Kati recommends introducing freedom through ten-minute supervised periods after behavior becomes consistently reliable.

And once you get to a place where that's true and it's been true for a little while, maybe you start filtering in a little bit of freedom a little bit. Guys, don't just shut it off, right? So what I mean by that is give your dog 10 minutes where they're not on the place cot and they're not in their kennel. They're not holding a down—10 minutes. But watch them, especially if they have sneaky behaviors in the house. 'Cause that is going to enable you to watch them and catch them doing those behaviors. 'Cause just like we talked about a minute ago, if they do it and you don't catch them, you're going backwards.

But because your dog's only free for 10 minutes, anybody can watch their dog for 10 minutes, right? You can't watch 'em all day, which is why they got away with it before. But you can watch them for 10 minutes. So if you have a dog that chews your furniture, pees on your rug, steals your socks. You can't just go giving them four hours of free time and think that they're not gonna do those things because they probably will. And you're gonna miss it half the time and you're never gonna get rid of those behaviors. But if you give your dog 10 minutes, you can watch them.

And if it goes well, maybe the next time you give them a half an hour, but you continue to watch.

Okay, so small periods of free time and then maybe every few days or every week you bump up that free time a little bit. Okay? So maybe you start doing a couple periods of free time that are a half an hour long and if that's going fine, maybe the next week you give your dog an hour. Unless you're catching them doing this naughty stuff, you have to make sure that stuff is knocked out before you start increasing free time. So everybody wants to put the cart before the horse, right? But guys, again, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Do not rush to freedom. You can take your dog outta the kennel and off place as much as you want, as long as you are doing something with them. If you are training them, if you are walking them, if you are taking them outside, that's fine, but if you're not doing those things with them, they should be on place or in their kennel.

And then over time, like I said, things are looking really good, short periods of free time that are supervised. And then you start moving into a little more free time, a little more free time as you see your, hey, she's not sneaking in there and stealing socks anymore. Like I corrected it and she's had six opportunities since then to do it and she hasn't. Okay, increase your free time. But if you put the cart before the horse and you don't know that that behavior has been inhibited and you give them too much free time, they're gonna do it again.

You're gonna miss it and you're basically back at square one.

So gradual increase of free time, don't rush it. And then what I tell everyone is you're gonna strike a balance where things work for you, right? Where it's like we're using structure, but my dog also gets to just be free and be part of the household and the family and kind of lounge around and like find the nice sunny spot on the floor where they wanna lay and play with the toy they wanna play with. And like, that's fine, as long as everything's working for you and everything looks good and you feel good, but you'll still use some level of structure because you should, right?

You should occasionally tell your dog, I want you to be here, I want you to do this. I want you to respect this boundary. So we recommend you continue to do place and use long places occasionally 'cause it's a great passive training tool and kind of maintains that level of respect.

01:01:00 — Kati recommends retaining some structure long-term and increasing it again if anxious, pacing, or…

And um, just that sharpness where it's like, I take instruction, I respect boundaries, I can be calm, I can shut off mentally, all these things. So continue to do it, right? We never wanna shut it off completely, but you'll strike a balance that works for you. Now, if you have a dog that tends to be anxious and paces around and follows you, or you know, does the obsessive things, chases lights or shadows, that kind of stuff, it's like you're gonna be doing this structure much, much longer. If you see your dog starting to exhibit that stuff when they're free, go back to more structure, you're moving too fast.

And it might be that some dogs can never really handle it, and it might be that there's something missing in their daily life that they're not fulfilled with enough exercise, right? And so I don't like people to rely on exercise, but that is part of the equation for some dogs. But you shouldn't rely on exercise to fix your problems.

Absolutely not. Most people do the opposite and they're relying on exercise and they're keeping the dog as busy and as exercised as they can, and they're just building a dog that is more fit to be more anxious and more pacey and more frantic. Um, and that's not helpful, more destructive. Um, so yeah, if you feel like there's opportunities there, absolutely, maybe that's something you need to iron out and find a way to fit more exercise into your routine. Uh, but that alone doesn't solve the problem. If you find that your dog is still too anxious, still too pacey in the house, or has any kind of neurotic behaviors, I would absolutely recommend taking a step back and using more structure.

Now for those folks that don't have any real behavioral stuff with their dogs, um, and their dogs were more or less in training just to learn to come back when called <laugh>, I still want you to do it.

I still want you to have that high level of structure for a little while. But once you're comfortable with using your e-collar, um, getting behaviors with it, stopping behaviors with it, and you're seeing all the stuff you wanna see, your dog is coming back when called, um, you know, they, they're not making mistakes on place, they're staying there. It's pretty solid, right? This period of very high structure, it helps your dog just get used to being inconvenienced, doing hard things, following instruction, um, paying attention to you, following your lead, all these wonderful things. But then it also makes things easier for you because it immerses you in the training and it gives you a ton of practice giving your dog instruction, enforcing the rules, addressing mistakes, addressing arousal, right?

If you just let your dog roam around and you don't challenge them, you don't ask them for anything, then you're not rehearsing anything that you learned. That's not valuable.

So stick to that high structure period while you are getting comfortable with everything, and when you're really comfortable and confident and you can see that you're getting all the things you want, then we're gonna give you the same instructions. Start giving your dog short periods of free time. I still recommend you take it slow and you can gradually increase that free time, you know, every couple of days or every week until you strike a balance that works for you. But the more freedom you give your dog upfront, the more you will struggle regardless of what your dog's issues are. Even if they were just here for obedience, things are going to be easier across the board if you immerse both you and your dog in the training when they first come home.

Use the structure, do the hard stuff, right? Practice the calmness, practice shutting off, practice asking your dog for things, control everything. You'll start to relinquish some control and give your dog a little bit of freedom and autonomy over time. But it doesn't have to be right now. You're gonna take it slow and you're going to let your results dictate whether or not you can start working in a little bit more freedom. A little bit of furniture time, right? More affection, all that stuff is fine, but let your dog earn it and take your time.

01:06:00 — Kati closes by framing short-term structure as an investment in lasting training, greater freedom,…

It's not a race, guys. This is about solidifying all the stuff you paid for so that ultimately you can go on to live the happiest possible life with your dog, the fullest, freest, most fulfilling life, and have the best relationship possible with your dog. And that's totally worth a little sacrifice now. Hey guys, thanks for joining us today. I really hope you enjoyed the show. If there's a specific topic you'd like to hear discussed, you can send that to me directly via email or fan mail. Just jump down into the show notes. That information will be there for you.

I really look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for supporting the show and I look forward to next time.