I’m Back! And I’m Talking About A Dog’s Need For Leadership.

00:00 — The host returns and introduces the three dogs currently staying with her for board-and-train.

Um, and so hopefully things continue to, to trend that way, but I'm back now and super thrilled to be back. And I thought, um, we'd just break things back in maybe by sharing a little bit about the dogs that I have with me right now. So I think, you know, if I talk about the dogs that I have with me, these are real-life dogs and real experiences. Uh, a lot of you might be able to relate to it and take something away that's useful, um, that you can apply with your own dog. But, um, I have three dogs with me right now for board-and-train, and Alfie, no.

So, and you can hear one of them, he's, uh, no. Good. He's boofing 'cause he can hear people out in the hallway or, uh, which is new. It was very quiet a minute ago.

Of course, the second I start podcasting, I sit down to do the podcast. Everybody just floods the building and starts making all kinds of noise. So it was dead quiet a minute ago. Uh, so Alfie's on place here with me in the office and he's just started boofing. But anyways, I've got three dogs with me right now. So one of which is Athena. And, um, I don't know if you follow my social media, but if you do, you can see her on there, um, as well as the other dogs. And so she is a little Australian Labradoodle, uh, golden-colored.

So she is, she came to me because she was highly, highly reactive to dogs and people. Owners can't take her anywhere. She's this little firecracker. If they have people come over, she goes right off the deep end. Um, you know, barking, growling, just kinda sounding the alarms.

So you've probably seen those dogs that, like, they'll charge right up to people, but they don't want the people to touch them. And they're clearly uncomfortable with the people, but yet they run up to them. Um, and they're trying to kind of get a sniff, but they don't wanna be touched. So they're trying to sniff them, but their back legs are, like, oriented way toward the back. Um, and they're trying not to get too close and then they're barking intermittently that high pitch, right? So that's Athena, uh, just loses her mind, um, apparently when they go anywhere.

So what you might find interesting about Athena, and she's been through lots of training. She knows her obedience. Um, so she knew most of that when she came to me. She didn't know it to the level that I teach it. Um, because to this point, all of her training has been purely positive.

So she knew the commands, she understood the commands, um, but she didn't necessarily always do them reliably and she certainly wouldn't hold them reliably. So that's normal. Uh, but what you might find interesting is I really haven't seen her react to anybody. And she's been with me now for almost three weeks. It's almost time for her to go home. So I have seen her react, uh, once and it was at night in a busy parking lot. So nighttime does throw dogs off a little bit too. Puts them a little more on edge. So a little bit more reasonable, um, for a dog to be a little more nervous.

03:00 — Athena accompanies the host to private sessions, busy parking lots, and parks without her…

Uh, that's pretty typical at night. Although I still wouldn't want them to do what she did, um, which is turn around and stare and bark. So, but aside from that, I mean, she's been going everywhere with me.

She's been participating in my private sessions, we've been working in busy parking lots. We've been going to the park. She doesn't bark at people. She doesn't react to people, she doesn't react to dogs. She's been fantastic. So I pretty easily tied the e-collar into all of her commands and have her reliably doing them. The first time I ask, she'll hold a down, she'll hold her place command, she'll hold it when people come in. She's fantastic, guys. She's been great. And I just, I haven't seen the barking, I haven't seen the reacting. And why, why, why do you think that is?

And I mean, one reason that is almost certainly, and this is super, super common, is because we tend to create more energy, more drama, more of an issue than we need to with our dogs because we, you know, everything becomes patterns, right? And so what pattern are you setting with your dog? And what I see a lot with these types of dogs is that we've created a pattern of this is what we do. We see a stranger, we go focus on the stranger and we react to the stranger. And we usually create that pattern accidentally by trying innocently enough to fix the problem that we noticed.

You know, and maybe the problem was much smaller back then and it's growing because we're approaching it the wrong way. And we're just creating this pattern of when you see a stranger, they're going to come up to you, they're going to put pressure on you, maybe they're gonna try to touch you, um, and you're gonna bark and lose your mind.

And that's, that just becomes your pattern, 'cause that's what you do every time. And you think, well, if they can just learn that this person is good, then they'll stop reacting. But that's not generally how it works, because you're moving too fast, you're putting too much pressure on an uncomfortable dog. And so even if they do get to the other side of that with that one person, you're still creating the pattern of reacting first, right? So what I'm saying is, a lot of times once dogs warm up to people, then they're okay, right? And you don't get the reactivity anymore, the barking or the aggression or whatever you're going on.

06:00 — Warming up to visitors does not necessarily teach a dog to stop reacting when…

But they did do it initially, right? When the first person first appeared or came in or arrived or walked up to them or whatever, the dog did react, the dog did respond in a poor manner. And so as long as they're doing that, the fact that they warm up probably isn't gonna matter much. It might, some dogs might transition to that warmed-up phase faster and faster until it just isn't really an issue anymore. But I think that's really uncommon. Most dogs stay stuck in that, be reactive and gradually warm up, be reactive and gradually warm up.

So you have to get out of that pattern of reacting first and then warming up.

So yeah, they get over it eventually with that person, but they're not learning how to not do that initially. And the way you do that is you have to stop putting so much pressure on the dog at first, okay? So your dog doesn't have to greet people. They don't have to say hi to people. And this is where everyone gets stuck 'cause they're like, they want everyone to say hi to the dog. And it's like, maybe your dog doesn't wanna say hi to them, right? Or maybe your dog can't handle it right now. Spend some time being neutral, teaching your dog to listen to you, which is supposed to be the most important thing.

The most important thing isn't that your dog can go make friends with everybody. The most important thing is that your dog will listen to you and that your dog can go places in public and be confident and comfortable and just listen to you.

That's the most important thing. And if you're not willing to say, my dog doesn't have to be a social butterfly, my dog doesn't have to make friends with everyone right now, then you might never get there. So it's really important to take that first step of teaching your dog how to just not react, mostly by reducing the pressure at first, okay? Meaning if your dog's really, really super reactive, then keep more distance between your dog and the thing they're reactive to and gradually work them up to being closer and closer, right? And if it's people they're reactive to, then you work them up to people being able to walk up, then people being able to walk up and look at them, walk up, look at them and talk to them.

So you gradually increase the pressure while giving the dog feedback about what is and isn't acceptable.

And there's definitely some more detailed nuance stuff that you can do there. Teaching the dog not to be over-aroused, teaching the dog not to track people with their eyes and stare and, and that sort of thing. Teaching them how to relax and lay down and maybe put their head down. Those are all things that are helpful. But the big piece, the big piece is just don't react. Don't growl at people, don't bark at people. And in exchange, I'm gonna control the amount of pressure that's put on you, right? And over time, it just gets easier for them.

Just becomes default to calm when triggers are around. So, but anyway, my point in this little rant was that we usually are creating the pattern. This is just becomes, this is just what we do. We see a dog or we see a stranger, we're gonna try to fix it. You're gonna go crazy while we try to fix it. And then eventually you're okay. But we're gonna do that over and over and over and over again. So that reactivity just stays part of the pattern. So you gotta get outta that pattern, create a new pattern, and teach your dog to just listen to you and be calm.

10:00 — Athena’s transition home will require owner training to maintain clear expectations, rules, boundaries, and…

And especially in this particular case, I can tell you when Athena goes home, like, yes, Athena needed a little bit of work, she needed some training, and we, we've done that. But the bigger part of this case is definitely going to be the human aspect, the human training. So what we're seeing with Athena is one of those dogs that just, she cannot function without the leadership and the guidance and the rules and the boundaries. She needs a clear path to walk. She needs to know what the expectation is. She needs to know what the rules are.

She needs to know who's protecting space. And if she doesn't know, then she does it. And she just does all the stuff that comes naturally. She's not really thinking about it, she's just doing what comes naturally because she's a dog. And so the reason we see this with some dogs and not others is because it doesn't come naturally to all dogs.

All dogs are individual. This is what comes naturally to Athena is to just kind of freak out, um, and get a little nervous and barky and be unsure of things and just sound the, the intruder alarm. That's what she does. That's what comes naturally if she doesn't have instruction coming in. So, you know, people talk a lot about how your dog needs leadership. And I say that all the time, and some dogs function okay without that. I'm not saying I'd recommend it. Obviously, the way I prefer to live with a dog is to know that they're going to listen to me.

Um, but not all dogs present with behavioral issues when they don't have strong leadership. But some dogs do <laugh>, so they're all different. Um, and she's just a really, really classic example, um, of a dog that is a mess, just an absolute mess without leadership.

But if she knows that she's with somebody who is calm and assertive and who has standards and they are very clear with her about what the standards are, she's golden. I mean, she's fantastic. She's a fantastic dog, can take her anywhere. She's practically service dog material, frankly. Um, so really night and day difference just by providing that leadership. Like I said, I didn't even have to address her reactivity directly really, um, until that one night in the Hannaford parking lot there where she went a little loopy, but no big deal. I reeled her right back in.

Um, and we continued to walk around a little while so she could get that rehearsal, but, um, she just didn't do that stuff because she didn't feel the need to. So it really does make a difference how you live with your dog. So I highly, highly, highly recommend e-collar training because I just think it's the most practical and efficient and effective way for most people to develop that relationship with their dog.

13:00 — The host promotes an introductory e-collar course covering equipment setup, conditioning, and teaching the…

And that's really what it does. It facilitates that relationship with your dog. It gives you a way to tap them on the shoulder. It gives you a way to whisper, it gives you a way to yell, it gives you a way to correct them. Anything that you need to do, you can generally do it with an e-collar and you can do it at a distance and you can do it up close, you can do it on a leash, you can do it without a leash. So I highly, highly recommend it. And I have a new course that just came out, uh, right at New Year's, and it's called 10 Days to a Great Place.

You can buy it on my website, www dot Diamond K9 dot com. And that's D-I-A-M-O-N-D-C-A-N-I-N-E.com.

And that particular course will basically help you get your feet wet with the e-collar. So if you've been nervous to try e-collar training, highly, highly recommend. It's a very thorough course with lots of videos, uh, lots of direct instruction. Uh, you can reach out to me if you have questions. I'm happy to answer anybody's questions. But this particular course will take you through just all the basic stuff you need to know about e-collars, what you should know before you start. You know how to set up your remote, how to put it on your dog, what habits to get into, um, and how to start conditioning your dog to it.

So they start to develop a relationship with it. They start to understand it, and then it will take you through developing a place command from start to finish, which is an amazing command and everybody should have it.

So highly, highly recommend this course. Uh, buy it at Diamond K9 dot com, that's C-A-N-I-N-E, and uh, shoot me your questions. Um, but I'm excited for people to start trying these courses, um, and get the feedback on how it goes. And, uh, I think it's a really, really great budget-friendly way for people to start to get some traction and control with their dogs. And don't worry about being a master at it or achieving miracles. It's like, get comfortable with it. Get your dog to start understanding it and start teaching the place command. It's gonna build your confidence, it's gonna build their confidence.

Um, and then you can take it as far as you want. And the sky is the limit. So, you know, nothing wrong with getting a trainer. I think that's a great idea, especially for people who can afford it. Uh, or maybe even board-and-train if you just don't have a lot of time to put in, you know?

But for, for people who want to do this, it's not that hard. You're not going to mess up your dog, okay? Even if you make a mistake, it's okay. You're not going to mess up your dog. Even if you make a serious mistake, you can undo it, but the chances that you're gonna do that are pretty slim. So I highly, highly recommend, give it a try and, uh, let me know how it goes. And I will be back real soon with another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. Thrilled to be back, guys, and I'll see you next time.