Obedience Training For Dummies: Effective Dog Training

00:00 — Kati Peppe opens 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 joining me for another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. Hope you're having an amazing day. Whatever it is you're doing right now, uh, things are pretty peachy on my end.

I mean, aside from the fact that it's fall, right? So <laugh>, I've been pretty vocal about the fact that fall is not my thing. Um, and it's beautiful and we actually went on a hike the other day and it was amazing. And Franconia Notch, it's perfect time of year to do that.

It was incredible. Um, I just hate saying goodbye to summer <laugh>, but other than that, fall's pretty good. And I do like pumpkin-flavored stuff, so, so we have that going for us. Um, yeah, things are good. We have a lot of dogs. Um, all the dogs are doing well. Um, but we do plan on playing a little bit of catch-up today 'cause things have been pretty crazy. Um, and I feel like we're getting a little bit behind. So we're gonna go hard with the dogs today and hopefully record lots of footage. So we'll have lots of, uh, posts.

Uh, I know some of the owners are probably checking social media constantly for their dogs, and like, there's nothing, nothing, nothing. Because when I get behind, social media just kind of becomes like the bottom priority. Um, as much as I try, I like to, I like to have frequent posts.

I like to have the dogs up there and show everyone what they're doing, but, um, when time gets tight, I have to focus on the dogs. And so the videos kind of go out the window, unfortunately. Um, but hopefully we'll get all that back on track today. And, you know, speaking of being tight on time and, and playing catch-up with the dogs, we are hiring. So we're looking for somebody, um, just to come on a few hours a week and basically just help out with basic stuff and learn about our train. Oops, turn that off.

Learn about our training process and get some experience, um, working with the dogs and then potentially have them move into a more substantial role, um, much like Joyce, where they're helping with private lessons and go-home lessons. And my hope is eventually, um, some day training programs, which I would love, love, love to add, but right now we just don't have the manpower to do that.

So if you know someone that might be a good fit or if you think you might be a good fit, I would love to get a text message from you, um, and set up a time to chat. So this is a great opportunity for someone who might already have, um, a job, a full-time job, or even be in school, um, because it's not a lot of hours and unfortunately it's not a set schedule, so I can't tell you what the schedule is. It would be highly variable, but it's also pretty flexible. Um, so there's that, but that's what, that's it, that's what we have going on.

And we're gonna talk about obedience stuff today. Um, we talk a lot about more behavior-oriented stuff, um, which is our bread and butter, I think, and is what I enjoy the most. Um, but obedience definitely plays a part in that.

04:00 — Kati explains that obedience alone cannot fix behavior problems but can support rehabilitation when…

Like, we don't rehab dogs or improve behavior without using any obedience. Um, so I always say obedience won't fix your problems. A hundred percent true. Teaching your dog how to sit, how to heel, how to go to place, none of that is going to fix your problems. But if you teach it properly to a high level of reliability and use it in a manner that actually helps chip away at state of mind stuff and rebuild your relationship, um, it then it's very, very useful, very, very helpful and impactful. And so obedience does play a role.

And so knowing how to teach obedience is actually important. And we're not gonna go through all the mundane details of how to teach obedience commands, but we're gonna talk about what some of the most common mistakes are, um, and what the things are you can probably do to sharpen up the process with your dog and maybe fill in some of those gaps.

Uh, be more effective, clean things up, and actually have something make, you know, build something useful with your dog instead of going out and like doing the same thing over and over again. And it doesn't, you just never quite seem to get there. Like the, the finished product doesn't materialize because I think that's pretty common for folks. So let's talk about some of the most important things to keep in mind when you're teaching obedience. Um, now at the end of this episode, we are going to discuss the accountability aspect and using negative consequences or punishment to make your obedience reliable.

And I think that's super important, not just because it's always missing, um, and absolutely necessary, but because it's the thing everybody needs help with. It's the thing everybody is afraid of. So definitely stay tuned to the end and hear that piece so that you can feel more comfortable and more confident completing the picture for your dog with those negative consequences and know that, um, you're avoiding all the pitfalls.

Alright? So first and foremost, if you're teaching your dog an obedience command, I think two things that you really need to know is, number one, it is important to motivate your dog. Okay? Your dog just has no reason to even pay attention to try to put in effort, um, if they're not motivated, and the brain has no reason to say, "Hey, let's replicate that behavior," if there's no reason to replicate it. So, you know, people wanna believe that their dog is eager to please and wants to be good. And none of that's true <laugh>. So most of the time what people are seeing is that their dog gets excited when they get excited, and that's pretty normal.

And yeah, some dogs do value, like, getting that kind of energy from you, right? They value seeing you get excited. Um, or maybe they just like getting excited, right?

So that all makes sense. They're like, "Oh boy, time to get excited," if that's exciting. Um, a lot of dogs value being touched or fed, and those are things we often do when we're happy with our dog. So it's not that your dog cares that you're happy, right? They don't really, they don't understand what happy means. They don't have the ability to really care if you're happy. So saying that a dog wants—is eager to please, like, wants to please you, wants to be good. Like, that's, mm, technically even for, for the dogs that are, um, motivated or seemingly motivated by your pleased response, it's not technically true <laugh> that they're eager to please, right?

08:00 — Kati distinguishes rewards such as food, affection, and excitement from the idea that dogs…

They're eager to get the reward for pleasing you, which might simply be your energy, or it might be affection or it might be food, um, or it might be all three.

Um, but it's not actually your mental state that makes a dog happy, right? Because they don't really have the ability to care about that. Um, anyway, <laugh>, neither here nor there. I'm going off on a tangent that doesn't matter, as I do. Um, but you know, you just hear that a lot. And dogs eager please, it's like, mm, no, no, they're not. So your dog needs to be motivated. Um, and so it's important to use whatever motivates your dog. Now, before we <laugh>, before we even cover the other motivators, let's just say there are dogs out there that really aren't motivated by much, um, to attain, meaning reward, right?

There are some dogs out there that, like, until you introduce punishment, they're just not interested in trying, paying attention, or doing anything you ask them to do. Um, it's pretty rare, but those dogs are absolutely out there.

And so if you have one of those dogs, um, it doesn't matter what you do, it's not gonna look good. They're not gonna do it. They're not gonna wanna do it, they're not gonna do it consistently anyway, um, until you get to the phase where you introduce corrections. And when we get those dogs, guys, that's okay. It is what it is. We go through the steps anyway. We go through the motions because we have to, to be fair to the dog, we have to make sure that they do know, they do understand, they do get the repetition, um, and they are taking in the information, right?

So just 'cause your dog isn't doing something doesn't mean that they're not learning. It doesn't mean that they don't know what you want, but if your dog has limited experience, then you owe it to them to give them the repetition and put in the time and work to make sure they do understand what you're asking before you start correcting them for non-compliance, right?

And so it's really, really important, um, that we don't make assumptions and that we do go through the reps with the dog. But if your dog is motivated by attaining any kind of reward, absolutely use it. Okay? If your dog tends to be super, super excitable and they're really food-driven, you can use food, but be neutral about it. So try not to drive up the arousal too much with your reward, right? Now, if your dog's pretty low-key, that's not a big deal. Um, but if you have a dog that's, like, crazy outta their mind, excitable and overstimulated all the time, sometimes food can just make that a lot worse.

Um, so while I still think it's a good idea to use reward and use food, if that motivates your dog, just be careful about how you're doing it, right? Your dog tends to be super, super excitable and crazy.

Then you don't wanna be like, "Oh yeah, die," and, like, making a big deal as you're giving the treats, right? Have a simple neutral marker like "yes," and quietly give them the food. Um, all right, so something that motivates your dog. And when I say that in the beginning, we're talking reward-wise, right? So as we move through the process, we might be talking, and I hate using sciencey terms, but negative reinforcement or punishment. Um, but in the beginning, most of the time it's reward, right? So something that motivates your dog, um, if, if they're motivated by any rewards, <laugh>, and if it's just praise, if it's, um, touch, affection, that's okay too.

So something that motivates your dog and they need to be on a leash. Okay? So those two things are extraordinarily important. And I tend to find out with our private lesson customers that when they go home and practice, they're not using a leash.

12:00 — Keeping a leash attached lets handlers guide the outcome when a dog makes a…

Um, and that is a huge mistake because I don't care how well your dog is doing, they're not gonna be a hundred percent. And if you don't have that leash on, you cannot control the outcome. You have to have a leash on your dog. Now, if they're doing great, they can drag the leash and you don't have to hold onto it, right? But you need to have a way that if your dog does screw up, if your dog does blow you off, if your dog does make a mistake, that you've got something you can grab and say, no, that's not the right behavior.

This is the right behavior. Super critical, guys. Um, and a lot of people will say, well, isn't it off-leash training? Isn't it e-collar training? It's like, yeah, but e-collars aren't magic, right? So your dog, until they're experts with the e-collar, you're going to have to give them guidance sometimes.

Um, that's the process of teaching them how to respond to the e-collar. Um, and so that leash is really, really critical in the beginning. Whether you're using an e-collar or not, makes no difference. Okay? So first two things we've covered. You need to motivate your dog, right? Something your dog wants to work for. So hopefully you can find something like that. And guys, you know what? We get lots of dogs that they're just not, they just don't care. Like, and even if it's not that they're, um, defiant, it's not. And I've had those dogs too who just are not interested in us or what we're trying to teach them or show them or what we're doing.

They don't want any part of it. We get those dogs, but we also get dogs that just, they're just not that into anything. They're not that into touch. They're not that into food. Um, so we, we get all kinds.

And so if that's your dog, that's okay. If they'll take a reward, use it. If not, all right? You're gonna go through the motions anyway, okay? But motivation and a leash, super critical. Uh, all right. Second thing I'll say that you need when you're obedience training your dog is you need to understand the sequence of things. So it's really, really important when you're teaching your dog words. 'Cause guys, dogs pay a lot more attention usually to like body language, um, and physical cues, environmental cues than they do verbal words. And that's why when most dogs come in, people think that their dog knows the down command, but they really don't.

They know this or this. Um, they don't actually know the down command. They don't know what the word means. They're just following the hand gestures. Um, and I don't have a problem with hand gestures.

15:00 — Kati prioritizes verbal commands because dogs will not always be looking at their handlers.

If you wanna teach your dog hand gestures, we don't usually do it here. Um, but we do want your dog to know what the words mean. And part of the reason for that, guys, is because your dog is not always gonna be looking at you. So I can't tell you how many times we've done private lessons with folks and they spend so much time trying to get their dog to look at them, trying to get their dog to make eye contact. And you shouldn't have to do that if your dog knows the words. You shouldn't have to do that because your dog has ears <laugh>, they can hear you.

Okay? So if your dog is in your general vicinity, you should be able to give them a command and they hear you and they do it, right? If you have to make all kinds of stupid noises, um, or yell your dog's name over and over again, or touch them, poke them, or population to get them to pay attention, um, then maybe your dog just doesn't know the commands. Maybe they're just following your body language and your body cues. Uh, or maybe you just have a bad habit, right? But either way, we want your dog to know and understand the words.

And that way it's not a big deal if your dog's looking at you, we don't spend time trying to get the dogs to look at us. It doesn't matter, right? If a dog is halfway across the room paying attention to something else, I might say their name to get their attention first, okay? Instead of just randomly yelling out a command.

'Cause who knows if they'll even hear it, right? But if the dog is up here with me, especially on a leash, like I'm not gonna say their name every time I give a command and I'm not gonna do jumping jacks to get them to look at me. 'Cause it doesn't matter, right? But you need to know the sequence of things and the sequence. If you want your dog to learn a word, guys, then guess what comes first in the sequence? The word <laugh>. So if you want your dog to learn a specific word, you should say the word and then you should wait.

Now, this is really hard for people. It sounds super easy, uh, but most people actually have a really hard time with it. So after you say the word, count to two or three in your head before you do anything else, and it's so unnatural to people. 'Cause we want everything to be bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. We think we have to, we're always rushing. We think our dog, in order to make associations, everything has to be fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. But the fact is, the associations actually sink in faster if your dog has a couple seconds for things to land. All right, I'm back.

I just had a massive sneezing fit.

Um, your dog is going to process better and you're gonna be more effective and efficient with teaching your dog these associations if you leave a gap in between each, um, cue and behavior. So what we do is we say the word and then we wait a few seconds before we do the behavior. Now, you probably hear me saying that, but are you actually going to do it? It's hard. So you might think you're doing it, but I want you to really slow down and pay attention to that pause. I want you to sit in that pause and make yourself wait a full three seconds before you do anything else.

It's so unnatural.

For instance, you say place and then you wait 1, 2, 3 before you guide the dog over to place. Guys, nobody's doing that <laugh>, nobody does that unless they've practiced it because it's hard, it's not natural. So what will happen is that sequence will help your dog make the association between the word place and the behavior of going to place, right? Because one happens, it lands, it sinks in, they hear it, and then they go to place, right? Because if they don't, you give leash pressure and bring 'em over there. And so these two things happen in order over and over and over and over and over again, right?

19:00 — Practice repeated sits, downs, or place commands from one spot instead of walking around…

You do rep, rep, rep, rep, rep, one after another. Don't walk halfway across the room, right? Just stay right there. If you're doing downs, you stay in one spot. If you're doing sits, you can stay in one spot.

If you're doing place, you can stay in one spot, right? People, that's another thing people do. They walk all over hell. And so you're, what you're doing is you're just muddying the waters. When you do that, you're trying to build muscle memory, you're trying to fit in lots of reps. Stay in one place. Doesn't mean you can't move at all, right? But people do a whole lap around the room to do a repetition of place. It's like, okay, you'll be there all day. You'll get in five reps and your dog won't learn anything because they're just walking circles around the room, which is not part of the place command.

You wanna teach your dog something, you wanna really break it down. You want to narrow it down to the simplest behavior possible, right? So yes, you can teach your dog to go to place from across the house because that's not what we're doing right now. We're just teaching your dog. I say place, you get on the cot, right? Or I say sit, you put your butt on the floor. I say lay down, you lay down, you put your elbows on the floor.

If I'm injecting all kinds of additional behaviors in there, like walk in circles, that makes it harder for your dog to make the associations and they get fewer repetitions, 'cause you're busy doing all kinds of stuff that you don't need to do. All right? So the sequence matters. Word, pause, behavior. Now, when your dog completes the behavior, you need a marker, a reward marker of some kind. Uh, with puppies, we like to use clickers. With adult dogs, we usually just use a verbal marker because we're gonna move into e-collar real fast and it's too much to juggle.

Um, I love the clicker. You can absolutely use a clicker with an adult dog. Um, but if you're gonna jump into e-collar training with them on these commands real soon, um, it might just be too much to juggle. So I'm not real coordinated. So we use a verbal marker like yes. Right? So dog completes the behavior, even if you had to help 'em, it's fine. You say yes when the behavior is complete and break and you give them their reward. So yes is actually what predicts the reward. So you could say yes and reward them and then break them.

That's fine too. Doesn't matter.

And I usually will change that up, to be honest. I will do yes, feed, break in the very, very beginning and then I will move into yes, break, feed. So yes, feed, break, yes, break, feed really doesn't matter, but the yes always comes when the behavior is complete and the reward is coming. All right? Um, yeah. So that's the sequence. Sequence is important. If you do things simultaneously, if you give a command as you're guiding the dog to do the behavior, it will take them forever to make that connection, right? So if I'm saying place and I'm already starting to pull the dog over there when I say it, then my cue is actually pulling the leash, not the word place.

23:00 — Moving toward the cot or tugging the leash before speaking can become the dog's…

So that will take the place of your command, right? Your command is actually the leash tug or the step you're taking toward the cot instead of your command being place. So what I mean by that is your command is whatever comes first, right? So if you're not paying attention and you're being sloppy and you start walking toward the cot or pulling on that leash, the word place just gets lost. Your command is whatever you're doing, it's the first thing that happens. That's the cue. So whatever you want your cue to be, that needs to be first, then there needs to be a little gap.

Ideally, then the behavior. So if you use that sequence, guys, not only does that make it easier for your dog to make the connections, but it also gives you a chance to see, does my dog understand the command yet?

Because you'll give a command. For instance, we'll, we'll stick with the place command. You'll say "place," and one of these times, as you're waiting in that three seconds, that long, painful three seconds, your dog's just gonna go on their own and you're not gonna have to guide them, right? And so then you get to see it, oh, hey, look, my dog responded. I didn't have to do anything. So now, you know, they're starting to catch on to what the word means, right? If you don't have that gap in there and you're just dragging your dog over every time without giving them any time to respond on their own, then you'll never know if they know it.

So that gap, um, serves multiple functions, but mostly, um, it's to help your dog learn the associations, um, by making sure we're doing them in the correct order and we're leaving that little gap in there, uh, for things to sink in and to make sure we're not melding everything together too quickly. Okay? So, so far what we've covered is something that motivates your dog as a reward. Leash on the dog, pay attention to your sequence, right? Word has to come before we do the behavior, before we have the dog do the behavior. Now, if you're using a food lure, right?

Like holding food over a dog's head to get them to sit or putting food to their nose and bringing it down to the floor to help them lay down, um, then it's really important, guys, that we're saying the word before that food lure appears. I'm serious when I say the word needs to come first. You can't be, um, moving a muscle before you say that word. And if the food is the first thing that appears, you lose your dog at the very beginning of the sequence a hundred percent of the time. Because all they care about is your hands and what's in them and when they're gonna get it.

And they're not hearing you, they're not paying attention. Things aren't sinking in the same way because they're just fascinated with your hands.

If I say "down" and then I reach into my pocket and grab the food and lure them down, now we have a sequence that's more effective than if I say, than if I present my hand with food in it, and then I say "down," right? The dog never even hears me. <laugh>, the word just goes out the window. So sequence, sequence, sequence. Also not moving far from your post, right? If you're just teaching an obedience command from the beginning, then you start with the simplest form of the command. Now you can add bells and whistles later, right?

27:00 — Teach the command's meaning before adding distractions, duration, or distance.

We do, we do distraction training, we do duration training. You can do, um, the command at a distance. You can all kinds of fancy things you can do. But first you have to teach your dog the word and just stay put. Don't do laps around your living room.

Don't walk back and forth. Don't mix in other commands, for God's sake. Keep it simple with high numbers of repetition. And once your dog starts to get good at it, then you can start to diversify a little bit. So for instance, back to the place command, what we usually do is we are just standing next to the cot doing place over and over and over and over again. And as the dog starts to become a little more fluent at it, we just start doing it from different sides of the cot, right? It's a very small change.

We're not going far. We're still right next to the cot. We just doing it from different sides. And then we might take a couple more steps away from it. So it's a little bit longer of a send-away, right? But don't go crazy in the beginning. Like if you wanna teach your dog something fast, keep it simple with a high volume of reps. And then once they know that, you can build on it, okay? And get them to generalize the command more.

So that stuff's all very important. Lastly, you need a way to enforce the command once your dog knows it. Okay? So let's talk about that. 'Cause <laugh>, that's the piece that's usually missing for folks, right? I mean, all this other stuff is often missing too. Um, but generally speaking, like people can teach their dog stuff, right? They do it all the time, even if they're not perfect, even if it's a little sloppy, they get there, they teach their dog these behaviors. But ultimately, almost everyone that comes to see us, there's no, um, accountability for any of it.

There's no requirement that the dog doesn't, right? It remains optional because there's no negative consequences for not doing it. So let's talk about how we get there.

Now, this is where things get a little more complex because it depends a little bit on the dog, but also just the, the strategy you're taking, right? So there are different ways that this can be done. Now I'm gonna gonna talk about the way we do it because that's what I know best. Um, I will say the better your dog is at a command, the longer they've been doing it, the cleaner it is, the more fluent they are. If your dog is an expert at a command, you probably can just swoop in with a negative consequence for non-compliance and it's gonna clean things up pretty fast.

But that's not how we do it here.

If we had a dog for six weeks, maybe we would, okay? But we usually don't. We usually have dogs for two or three weeks. Um, and so that's less repetition. And so in that case, we find it best to use conditioning and basically negative reinforcement to really clarify what the behavior is and to help the dog understand the e-collar so that when a correction does come down the road, they're already versed in that and they have, they develop an understanding much quicker of what to do with it. Okay? So the way we do that is we use our e-collar on a very low setting.

31:00 — Once dogs know a command reasonably well, Kati pairs it with low-level stimulation from…

We only use e-collar Technologies collars. So this is gonna be a setting that people can't even feel. It's under a 12, okay? And once the dog knows the command pretty well, they're not an expert at it, but they know it pretty well, we start tying in that low e-collar. We turn the e-collar on when we give the command and we turn it off when the dog does the command. And we do the reward, yes, reward. And people are like, oh, right? 'Cause they thought that you had to choose between the e-collar, which is bad and hurts.

It's negative, right? They thought you had to choose between the e-collar and a reward. Well, no, you don't. We use both.

And I find that this really facilitates learning. And the more the dog works with the e-collar, the more it facilitates learning, they get better at it and they learn faster because it really gives us a, a, a clear physical means of communication with the dog and really highlights the behavior that we're looking for. So now, instead of just a yes and food, I also have physical feedback coming in, in real time that tells the dog, I asked you for something. I asked you for something, I asked you for something. And then when they do it, boom, it shuts off.

You gave me what I asked for. Yes. Reward, right? So the dog now has double the feedback coming in and a physical of layer feedback, no, a layer of physical feedback, <laugh>, it's too early. Um, and so that really facilitates the learning process. It really helps to clarify things and it really helps to develop that line of communication with the dog.

Okay? So that's how we start to inter, now that's not a negative consequence, but that's how we introduce the tool that we are going to use for accountability down the road. So we do hundreds of repetitions with that low-level stimulation from the e-collar, turns on when I give the command pretty much simultaneously to the command, but it shuts off the moment I get the behavior from the dog. And then if I'm using food, I can still use food. All right? And so now once you do tons of that, guys, and the dog understands it, you have to graduate from kindergarten at some point.

34:00 — Food rewards become less frequent only after the dog knows the command.

So we start reducing the food every other time we get the behavior, right? One in three times, one in four times, and then it's just here and there. It's like for fun, right? So we do like to wind down the rewards, but not until the dog knows the command, okay? So then we have constant e-collar for every command. Um, but we have variable rewards, okay?

And then what happens is we're going to expect the dog to respond to the word. And if they don't, then the e-collar will turn on, right? So that's the second phase. So the first phase we call conditioning where there's e-collar every time, but it's very, very low. And then once we've done that and we're, we're confident the dog's understanding everything, responding the way they should, then we're gonna move to what we call non-compliance. And we're just gonna turn that e-collar on if the dog doesn't listen to our verbal cue, and at that point we start experimenting with our level, okay?

And it can look wildly different for every dog. So I'm not gonna try to walk you through every scenario that can happen. All I'm going to say, if you have trouble with this, then then reach out, ask me. I'm happy to answer questions.

Um, or hire somebody, work with somebody, do your research. There are some good videos out there. You have to dig for 'em, but they're out there. I've got plenty on there. Um, and there are other trainers too, but ultimately in the end, guys, if, right, and this is once the dog's an expert with everything, they understand the word, they, they know how to do the behavior, they understand the e-collar 'cause we did all those low-level repetitions I was talking about, ultimately in the end, if you don't do a command, a known command that I asked you to do, it's uncomfortable.

And once dogs believe that that's always the case, they listen pretty good, right? And like I said, all dogs are wildly different. If you're dealing with a different type of dog with a different type of nervous system who has issues going on and you're in a challenging environment, things look different, right? But for most people who have a pretty average dog, a dog that just likes to get excited, a dog that just likes to kind of give you the middle finger, like, I'll come back later, I'm busy doing something else. Um, what's missing is a consequence.

Now, the last thing I wanna add when it comes to this consequence piece, because it's not, it's just not really realistic for me to walk through what that whole process looks like, um, on a podcast, especially when so many dogs respond so differently, right? That's where you have to, um, work with the dog in front of you. And they're all different. So I can't tell you what I do because it looks different depending on the dog, but I can tell you the end result is there's a negative consequence and it's a negative consequence you care about if you don't listen to me.

And that is important. You cannot clean up and solidify your obedience. You cannot train it to a highly reliable level without that piece. It is necessary. And if it wasn't, excuse me, I wouldn't have so many people calling me that say, oh, my dog's really good. He listens. Oh, except when, until, unless he sees, right? And that's everybody. And it's because, because there's just no accountability. Like there's no reason to prioritize my owner and the things they're asking me to do.

Because guess what? Your dog doesn't actually care if you're happy <laugh>. Your dog doesn't actually want to be good. That's silly, right? And it doesn't make them a bad dog. It is just normal. They weigh their options. That's normal. And by the way, we all do it, even you and me, <laugh>, okay? So it's not the dog's fault, like this is just normal stuff. Um, but yeah, the accountability piece is huge and necessary. But one thing I wanna add to that, um, even though we're not walking through that whole process in detail, is when you start introducing that accountability, when you start introducing negative consequences for not listening, it's really important that you still have that leash on, um, for all your commands, but especially recall.

39:00 — Kati warns that correcting a distant dog during recall can cause it to run…

So I think the biggest mistake people make teaching their dog a recall is thinking that their dog's gonna be a hundred feet away from them and they're just gonna correct their dog for not listening. And the dog's just gonna come back. And guess what? They might not. They might turn tail and take off.

They might run for the hills, especially if your dog's in drive. Super, super important that you teach your dog how to respond to corrections. So again, even though we're not going into detail, I will say a big part of that phase of training is teaching dogs how to respond to increasing accountability, right? If I'm gonna start experimenting with my level of stimulation and what my dog is motivated to avoid and what they care about and what influences their behavior, as that level starts going up and it starts potentially making the dog a little uncomfortable, I'm right there to show them what to do.

Because at first some dogs don't know, right? They kind of panic, even if they know the command really well, right? They blow you off. That e-collar starts going up, all of a sudden they forget. It's like they get amnesia, right?

They don't know what to do, they can't remember what they're supposed to be doing or what you asked for. Who knows, right? But you gotta be right there to say, hey, this is what you do, right? And so it's a huge mistake to have your dog at a distance from you, especially in an unfenced area, and just push that e-collar button or turn it up and give them a high correction. Um, and you don't know what they're gonna do. So you should already know how your dog responds to corrections, guys, before they're off leash. Like that's just a huge mistake.

Don't do that.

Um, but my goal here isn't to scare anybody away from e-collar training. Um, there's so, so much fearmongering out there about that already. Um, I will say it's extremely forgivable. So there are trainers out there that almost, almost make their entire living off from even e-collar trainers, right? They make their entire living off from putting down other e-collar trainers and saying they're all doing it wrong and they're all ruining dogs and like they're just the e-collar authority and they're like the savior and you need to go to them and listen to them. And all other e-collar trainers are bad.

It's interesting, right? 'Cause you, you've got the purely positive crowd who puts all the e-collar trainers down, right? And calls us all like compulsion trainers or whatever. Um, whatever it terminology it is they're using nowadays. Um, and at least I can understand that.

But then we've got these e-collar trainers who have found their own little niche putting down other other trainers using, using tools, um, which is interesting. Um, but it's forgivable. Uh, yes, I get dogs in that have had e-collars on previously and it is more work, but it's not, uh, the end of the world, right? I've never had to like extend their programs. We've come close a couple times I guess, but, um, your dog, and I think, I think I said this on the last episode, it was recent. Your dog can make new associations. So even if you screw something up and you teach them the wrong thing, right?

It's the opposite of what you were trying to teach them. Totally fixable.

It's totally fixable, guys. You're not gonna break your dog, I promise. So don't be afraid of it, right? I'm just saying leash on until you know, you know, not just that your dog knows the command, but you know that your dog understands the e-collar. You know that they know what to do with it. Even when you start turning it up, even when you give them a high correction, even when there's a distraction, even when they're scared of something, even when they're at a distance, right? If you don't know those things, if you haven't seen those things, if your dog hasn't done those things many, many times, then you shouldn't be taking your leash off. Leash on.

43:00 — Kati closes by inviting listeners to submit topic suggestions through email or fan mail.

And I will leave you with that. Happy obedience training, guys. 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.