How Far Can You Take This Dog Training Thing? You’re Not Reaching Your Potential!

00:00 — Kati introduces Off Leash and Unfiltered and asks listeners to subscribe.

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 everybody, thanks for being here today. I hope wherever you find yourself while you're listening to this, if you're doing your dishes or going for a jog or on your way to work or whatever is happening, I hope you're having an amazing day.

Um, and well, if you're ha not having an amazing day <laugh>, I hope it changes. Um, I hope you are graced with luck and success and good fortune and motivation. And if you're like, whatever, Kati, shut up.

It's just not a good day, that's fine too. Go have some chocolate, have a cheeseburger pizza, and just get back in the saddle tomorrow. <laugh> cheeseburger pizza sounds amazing right now, <laugh>, um, I might have to do that later. Um, okay, today we're gonna dig into how far you can take your dog training because here's the thing, guys, like dog training, dog training, dog training rights. Like it's all I talk about. Of course, it's all I talk about, it's what I do. But I feel, I definitely feel like not, I feel like, like I know that the vast majority of people, well actually really everybody, right?

If you wanna be technical about it, I like to be precise in my speech, you guys, so I get wicked pedantic about it. So, um, just write me and tell me to shut the fuck up. <laugh>,

Nobody takes their dog training as far as they could, right? It's like you could always do better, you could always take it farther, but I think what I'm trying to say is the vast majority of people, they don't take it as far as they should, right? It's like they always stop a little bit short. It's like they, they sell themselves short. It's like they almost, I'm not even gonna say they get just enough because I don't think it is enough. Um, or I wouldn't be talking about it. Um, but they get almost enough. It's like things do improve, right?

They just see an improvement and they're like, oh, that's it. Things are better, we're done. Um, but usually they're not better enough and no fault of the dog or the dog training really. And I mean, it's, it's that we don't, um, we don't enforce it is the biggest problem or we don't, uh, rehearse it, right?

03:00 — She identifies inconsistent enforcement and insufficient rehearsal as major training problems.

We don't set up, we don't take the time to set up the scenarios that we want our dogs to be able to handle. And I think, you know, if you, if you want your dog to be fancy, then you have to put in the time and go make them fancy. Um, but even if you don't want like super fancy stuff, I mean, the truth is real good dog training with just basic commands to most people is really fancy, right? It's like if your dog can actually lay down when you tell them to the first time, whoa, pretty fancy.

Like that blows people away because it's so uncommon. Um, but especially if you want your dog to hold that down until you tell them they can get up. If you want them to be able to do that in different environments, in busy environments, in stores, in parking lots at the beach, um, it doesn't, there's no magic, right?

You always hear me say, there's no easy button. You have to go out and you have to set that up. And the funny thing is, no matter how much we do this training and how much time we spend with our clients, they often still don't think of that. Like, it just, it doesn't come naturally. It doesn't occur to people to like set up the things you want your dog to be able to do, um, and go out and rehearse it, right? So it is something even as simple as like, I want my dog to get in the car, right?

Some dogs don't like to get in the car, they're anxious in the car, whatever. It's like, okay, well if you, same thing with nails. Nails is a real good example too. If you only practice it when you have to take the dog somewhere, like to the vet twice a year, right?

Or the one time a year your family goes away camping, that's the only time you put the dog in the car. It never gets better. If you want your dog to get in the car, go outside to the car and practice getting in and out of the car, and people go, oh, that's a good idea. <laugh>, right? It's like, yeah, take the things your dog's not great at guys in the real world and just say, okay, we're gonna set it up. We're gonna do it, we're gonna do it 20 times. We're gonna do it 50 times.

We're gonna do it 20 times, but we're gonna do it four days in a row, five days in a row. Um, and make it better.

Make it better, right? So your dog jumps on people, well tell your neighbor or your mom or whoever to come knock on your door and come in. Now, if you don't do that and you're in a real world scenario where something catches you off guard and you have to do it in the moment, that's fine, that's fine. But if you really wanna get traction and you really wanna see improvement and you wanna really get things solidified and just be able to check the box, right, it's done. Doesn't mean it will never change. Doesn't mean it's done necessarily forever.

Although it may be right, but it's done. We saw a problem, we fixed it. Boom. Done. That's how I'm feeling today, guys. Boom, done. Check the box. We're checking boxes around here today. Um, so what is it with your dog?

06:00 — Choose one nagging issue, such as recall, and deliberately fix it.

What is the thing that you still have to nag your dog about? Go fix it. Is it recall? Do you still need to keep your dog on a long line because they're not reliable? Go fix it. Put them on the long line. Take them into the environment where they're not reliable and fix it. If you don't know how to fix it, you haven't listened to enough of my stuff. But in that particular scenario, I will say, if I'm trying to fix a recall, we're gonna start at home by just attaching gravity to that recall. I'm gonna call the dog and I'm gonna immediately attach a consequence to it.

And people go, oh my God, it's so mean. Oh, you know, the dog's not gonna understand why it doesn't matter. It's not something we do all the time, guys. It's like a one time thing, right? I'm just attaching gravity to that recall.

And so then when you get to the beach, you get to the park, you get to the trail, wherever it is you're going, fixing it is gonna be pretty easy because when you might have already fixed it, first of all. Um, but having that experience under their belt is just gonna make it easier. But you go out with the intention, we're gonna fix this thing today. If I need a long line on the dog when I'm fixing whatever I'm fixing, then I'll put it on and 'cause safety's always first. And we're gonna focus on what do I need to do with this eco to convince my dog to listen to me the first time I ask for something, even if there's another dog over there, even if there's a squirrel over there, even if there's a bike going by, I'm gonna figure out today, what do I have to do to change my dog's behavior long term?

Um, and I can tell you, you don't do that by just tapping real low on your eco to five, 10 times to get the dog to listen to you. And here comes the broken record disclaimer that I always do. <laugh> on the show, which is the training has to be in place. Your dog has to know what you want, right? You can't go out and give commands that your dog has no previous patterning and just correct them and think that's gonna work. But most people have already done that. They've already taught their dog what the commands mean.

09:00 — e-collar-conditioned dogs may understand expectations but still fail when owners do not enforce them.

And my clients have already done eco training with their dogs. They're conditioned to the eco, they know what it means. They know why it turns on and off. They know how it's tied to their behavior. They know what they're supposed to do with it, they just don't do it. 'cause no one enforces it.

And not always, a lot of my clients are in great positions and their dogs are wonderful, right? But there are just as many that it's like, yeah, their dog will listen, but it takes a few tries and it doesn't have to be that way. Your dog can be better, but only if you decide, Hey, we're gonna go out, we're gonna make this better. If you keep doing the same thing, doesn't get better. And for me, I want things to be better. I want my dogs to listen to me. I don't wanna be constantly scrambling for the remote.

I don't wanna be nagging them. I don't wanna come in just enough so that it's a close call. I don't want close calls. I don't want that.

I wanna go out and be confident. If I call my dog, they just come back, right? And every once in a while, in the event that something extraordinary happens, or my dog's just having an off day, it's there, right? But I'm not constantly come, come, come here over here, here come, right? I don't, I don't wanna do that. That's not what I wanna do. So you set it up. If you have any scenarios like that with the drug, go out and make it better. But here's the thing. Even if you don't perceive that you're having any issues with your dog training, even if you don't perceive that you're in this position, your perception might be wrong.

By the way, you should evaluate that <laugh>. I think, I think I have some customers who they're in this exact boat that I'm talking about, but they don't necessarily think of it that way. I don't think they realize it. I think they think they're in a great place because things are so much better than they were before.

And that might be true. And right at the end of the day, if they're happy, I'm happy, it's fine. Um, but I think also they would be blown away if they knew just a little bit more effort could make things, um, things potentially exponentially better yet, boy does life get easy when your dog just listens. It's incredible. Boy, your relationship with your dog, it's a lot better when they just listen and it becomes almost effortless on your end, right? And I think that's, that's the underlying thing I'm really trying to get, get to. That's the thing beneath the thing we're talking about, which is, yeah, their dogs listen now, but they still have to put in a lot of effort, right?

And dog training is effort. But then there should be, you should be able to reap the fruits of your labor, right? There should be, uh, light at the, the end of that tunnel, right? It doesn't mean the accountability doesn't go away, the effort doesn't go away, but it's dramatically reduced because the training should produce a dog that listens to you. You shouldn't have to do gymnastics, you shouldn't have to yell. You shouldn't have to be tapping the remote constantly. You shouldn't have to do that. If you do, maybe you're not actually quite done. Maybe you need to take this a little bit further.

Maybe you need to do a couple drills. Maybe you need more accountability for your dog.

Maybe you've been afraid to tie the accountability to the thing that's still a problem that you're still nagging about. Uh, but like I said, even if you don't perceive that you have quote unquote a problem or that your dog doesn't listen to you, it's like we can still go have fun with your dog, you can still challenge them. Why not? Right? Put them in the car, take them to Cabela's, take them to Tractor Supply, take them to Home Depot, go to the park, wherever, and just ask them to do stuff that you wouldn't normally ask them to do.

13:00 — Challenge apparently reliable dogs by taking them to stimulating places such as Cabela’s.

It's like all dogs that go through our program, they learn, sit, they learn down, they learn come when called place, heal. Um, and if the dog's here for more than two weeks, then they learn an awfully heel. All the dogs learn that stuff. But the, the thing is, that can mean a lot of things, right? If someone tells me, yeah, my dog knows the down command. Okay, well I can have two people say that and one of their dogs, they have to say it five times or they have to bribe 'em and then they might get it.

Or they might, the dog might only lay down halfway, right? Or they might lay down all the way and then just spring back up. And the other person might say down, once the dog lays all the way down, stays there, the person can walk a hundred feet away, come back. Dog's still there, right? Maybe they can go get groceries and come back and the dog is still there. Exaggerating. But you get my drift, my drift. Um, so two people can say the same thing. They're not the same.

So if you are in the boat where yeah, your dog knows it and you can get them to do it, it's like, okay, well go out and have some fun and polish that up. So not everything has to be about, um, not everything has to be about control. Not everything has to be about, I need, it's like maybe I want to, maybe I wanna go out and practice with my dog. Maybe I wanna see how, how far I can take this thing, how, how much can I challenge my dog? How much can we accomplish? What can my dog really do?

And that's fun guys. It's fun. Um, you actually can bond with your dog doing this, right? This is, um, this is a great exercise in sure. It maintains a healthy relationship dynamic, right? Because it continues to instill that like, Hey, I take instruction from this person. I listen to them, I prioritize them over the environment. Um, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. Doesn't mean it's not a good time. I think people feel like there's just no need to do that. And first of all, the first time there's an emergency and you wanna put your dog in a down and know you can trust them, boy, it's gonna be a lifesaver, right?

And that might never happen, but it might. Especially if you take your dog out a lot or maybe you don't take your dog out a lot, but maybe you would if they were a little bit more reliable.

So we tell everyone when we send them home, it's like, this is a foundation. No matter how good your dog is doing at the end of the three weeks, it's a foundation. It's nothing more than that because we have no control over what happens with it when they go home. If you maintain the same level of training we give you, when you leave here and you go home, that's great. But what I don't want people to miss is that you can keep it going. You can keep building on it. It's not quote unquote done, right?

There's no way for us to expose your dog to every environment, every scenario, every energy level, every different type of dog, every, we can't, it's three weeks, right? And we're only going on field trips for a couple of those weeks. The first week we're inside, we're laying a foundation in a low, low distraction environment.

So realistically, there's only so much, so many ways we can challenge your dog while they're here. Take it and go out into the world and make it as cool and fancy as you want to. So I would challenge everybody to pick one thing, whether it's something that is quote unquote problematic, whether it is something you have to nag your dog about or maybe it's not, maybe it's just something you think would be neat. Maybe it's just something that you think would challenge your dog that they wouldn't be able to do. At least as thing stands right now, they couldn't do it right?

18:00 — Kati challenges listeners to choose one problem, weakness, or new skill to develop.

And it's like, go out and do it. And if your dog already has an eco foundation and you're going out and you're building on things they already know, this is something you can do today, right? Your dog can be infinitely better today in one day because you just took the time to go out and do a few reps.

It's so cool guys. It's like don't let that go to waste. You know, like your dog will never reach their full potential, right? Unless you're committing like all of your time to dog training, which is silly. Nobody does that. We don't, we don't even want you to do that. <laugh>, right? Your dog is always gonna have room where they could be better. Um, but I think such a high percentage of people are not really utilizing their training in a way that really optimizes reliability and fun, recreation, bonding, um, and success and accomplishment. Like that's 'cause that's the flip side.

If you go out and you do the drills and you do the training and you do the work, right? Work with your dog, you get to reap the benefit of that. You get to enjoy the success. You get to be proud <laugh> and so does your dog. So we talk a lot about behavioral issues and unwanted behaviors with dogs. And there's definitely some overlap here. Like if your dog doesn't listen to you, yeah, that's a problem.

Um, but really what I'm talking about here is just sharpening up your obedience training, making a little more reliable, filling in the holes, filling in the gaps, right? Because that's the thing. Training always has gaps. It's never perfect. Your dog will never be perfect. There'll never be a robot. There's nothing that will, it will never be a hundred percent right? But it doesn't have to be Swiss cheese either. And I think that's where a lot of people are. Unfortunately. It's like their dog can do it, but it's like the bare minimum. They do the bare minimum.

Well, it's no fun. We're not bare minimum type of people around here. <laugh>,

21:00 — Increase difficulty by testing sits, recalls, and heels around progressively greater distractions.

Make it, make it better. Make it bigger. How is your dogs sit? Can they hold a sit while you walk away? Can they even hold a sit while you do a circle around 'em? Most dogs can't, you know? And if your dog is the type to like lay down when you put 'em in a long sit, I mean, you can fix that. You can clean that up, you can make that sharp. It's not my favorite. I don't find it particularly important. I'm more like the type of person who wants my dog to hold a down.

Um, if they hold a sit and go into a down, I don't really care. I don't really care. So I will correct it in a board and train most of the time, depending on the context, sometimes I don't. Um, but I don't really care, right? But I do want my dog to stay in a down when I put them in a down, right?

Or if I put them in a sit, I want them to stay as well. I don't want them to just leave. Um, I want them to stay on place. I want them to walk in a proper heel, not eight inches in front of me. Not staring at the squirrels over there and tuning out. I want them to walk in a proper heel. I want them to come back the first time I call them. Even when there's distractions. Those are things I want. Whether I need it or not. I, I want that, right? But even if you don't, it doesn't mean don't do it.

There's some benefit to doing it. Like I said, it's fun. It's bonding time. It's, it can make your dog safer.

It'll make your time with them more enjoyable. It's not always a matter of like, do I have to do I need to, it's like if your training is Swiss cheese, clean it up a little bit. Pick one thing. I find downs are one of the easier things to go after, right? But it might be heal. How does your dogs heal? Look, if you go out and you walk in a wide open space with nobody around, it's just a new environment. How does it look when you go and you walk through a really busy environment downtown with lots of people around and other dogs and fine tune it, right?

Like maybe your dog's walking pretty nicely on the leash, but are they really in the right position? Are they mentally really paying attention? Are they getting cues from your leash? They shouldn't be getting? Are they lagging way behind? Are they way off to the side because they've kind of forgotten about you in their on autopilot doing their own thing?

Use your e-collar to pull them back mentally, get their attention back on you. Get them back in position. Whatever the thing is that they do and polish it up. Why? Why not? Because why not? Because nobody does. That's why in a world full of people with badly behaved dogs in a world full of people who don't really spend any quality time with their dogs, right? They spend time like throwing them in the dog park and scrolling the gram. This is a thing you can do with your dog. That's why do it guys. You won't regret it <laugh>.

Um, that's it for today's, guys. Thanks for being here. Um, sharpen up your dog's obedience and hey, send me the videos. We wanna see your dogs doing awesome things. Um, so send that to me and let us know if there's something else you want us to cover. Happy to talk about anything on this podcast. You know, me. Anything goes, uh, just need those suggestions to come in and we'll, uh, we'll cover it. All right guys. Bye. 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.