Proof Your Commands For The Biggest Distractions And Get Your Dog Out Of Kindergarten

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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 incredible day, wherever it is you are and whatever it is you are doing while you listen to me.

Flapping my gums today, <laugh>, things are going well on our end. We just had a couple of boarders come in. We've got Wolfie with us, we've got Sterling with us, and we have several trainees. Uh, Zoe, who was pottying in her kennel nonstop, has suddenly been great.

Um, she did have an accident this morning, but I let her go a little bit longer than I have been, so I take partial responsibility for that one. Um, I mean the, the pee and poop, guys, it was incessant. It, it was absolutely constant. I, I mean, I couldn't leave the room. Every time I came back, there was pee and poop every time. So huge improvement. Fingers crossed, things continue to trend that way. And if I bored you with all of that the last time I did an episode, my apologies, I honestly can't remember. Just had a couple boarders come in.

We've got Wolfie with us, we've got Sterling. Um, what else is new? Bear is with us, and we're just starting to take field trips, and Fletcher came in. Now, Fletcher reminds me a lot of Bravo. Uh, both yellow Labs, <laugh>, and Fletcher is completely out of control.

02:00 — Kati describes a high-energy dog whose retired owners remain at a loss after extensive…

Um, and he belongs to a retired couple, and they honestly are just at a loss and don't know what to do. Um, they've been through a couple of trainers, I believe, weeks and weeks of, like, in-home training, thousands of dollars. The vet said he probably has some screws loose, wanted to put him on medication. The dog is six months old and, as far as I can tell, well within the realm of normal. Um, so we'll definitely talk more about him in the future. I'm gonna post lots about him. We're trying to get caught up with our posting right now.

Um, kind of fell behind with all the dogs that we had and all the stuff we had going on. But, um, definitely want to share a lot about Fletcher because it's just so common when people have dogs like that because he is, I admit he's a lot, like he's a challenging dog.

And you know, I wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't a dog trainer and had a, a dog with that level of energy and that rambunctious and he'll just pull you like a ragdoll and spin his wheels. And he barks really loud and like pretty much all the time if he's, you know, displeased or bored or any, anything like that, he is all over the counters, counter surfing, jumping all over people. Um, pretty much un walkable right now. So, you know, nevermind. If I was an older retired person with a dog like that, I mean, they would, they, they can't keep him.

Like, if this doesn't get fixed, they can't keep him. And I think it's just so common for folks when they have dogs like that to think there's something wrong with the dog. And there's not, <laugh>, there's not. So, uh, if you don't follow our social media, pop in, take a look at it. You're gonna see Fletcher soon, and, uh, you're gonna see how much better things can be, things can quickly. This isn't something that takes months to do, doesn't even take weeks to do.

We get dogs under control right away. So eager to share his story. Um, but let's jump into the meat of the subject today, which is, uh, the thing people don't do. So, <laugh>, it's something I've been thinking about more and more, um, because we talk a lot about behavioral stuff, and I think that's super important. And, you know, when we're talking about behavioral stuff, I think it's common for people to get too focused on obedience. But obedience does play a role, and it is important, right? We use obedience in a lot of different ways. We leverage that to help the dog know what to do, right?

So, obed- obedience is very helpful in that respect. It keeps the dogs safer. First of all, if they know what to do and they listen to you, um, it gives them something to focus on if they're in a situation that is uncomfortable, right?

It's essentially you giving them a very clear path. They know what they're expected to do. So it eliminates a lot of those question marks. Helps dogs develop coping skills and become comfortable in situations where maybe they weren't before. Um, and it gives you also a clear path to walk, right? You know, there's this thing you can ask your dog for this thing, and you can get through this situation, whereas maybe before you were both just kind of a frantic mess. So obedience is awesome in that respect. Um, but even if we're just talking about obedience for the sake of obedience, right?

Just sit. When I tell you to sit, just come back when I tell you to come back, just walk in a heel. When I tell you to walk in a heel, all of these things, um, you know, especially if you're going to have your dog off a leash, your dog has to listen to you. But here's the thing, the percentage of people that actually finish this training, that actually complete it, that actually nail it down, is so minuscule. It's absurd.

06:00 — Kati argues that leaving commands unreliable undermines trust and safety.

Nobody, essentially, nobody does it. It's extremely rare for a person to actually nail things down, okay? And that's a mistake. That's a mistake. If you truly want to trust your dog and you truly want them to be safe, why are we leaving things iffy? Why? Why would we do that? And it's not as if people don't know, okay? Because I'm talking about people that have been told, that have been given the information, that are, they, they're doing the programs, they have the tools, they follow the social media, right? And they'll have a dog that, sure, they're doing a hundred times better than they were before.

And you know what? That's great. I'm not poo-pooing that, but at what point do we just say it sucks if you don't listen to me? 'Cause here's the thing, if you don't do that, then it's not trustworthy, it's not reliable, right? You still have to watch and wait for your dog to fuck up because they are going to, and you know it. It's just a matter of how tempting is the trigger.

So if that's you, if you find yourself in those situations, right? It's probably not at home in your living room, but maybe it is. Maybe it's in the yard when the neighbor's dog walks by because your dog has a grudge with that dog. Maybe it's when you go to the park and your dog can see other off-leash dogs or there's a bike and maybe bikes make them uncomfortable, right? I could think of a thousand scenarios, but you know what they are. I want you to stop and I want you to think about, first of all, if you don't practice with your dog, if you haven't taught them any of this stuff, then this doesn't apply to you, right?

Your dog has to be experienced. We have to be fair. You have to give them the training and the repetition. And if you're using an e-collar, they need some e-collar experience.

You can't just suddenly throw in e-collar corrections and think that that's going to work. It might, depending on your dog, but it very well may not. But assuming your dog, dog knows, they know these things, they know the commands, they know the, what the words mean. They know the behaviors. They've done them a bazillion times, okay? Because most people with those dogs, they stay stuck in the same place forever. And usually that's because the dog was so bad before, right? Totally tuned out, paid you no mind, didn't listen. Maybe they'd listen for a second, they'd pop back up, they would listen until, unless, you know, all the conditions, right?

And so then they get a dog that now they've got a remote control to, right? They have the e-collar and they can actually get the things they want.

And most people go, ah, good enough. Okay, if that's good enough for you, fine, but I feel bad for your dog. I know, sounds backwards, doesn't it? Right? Because you won't really punish non-compliance. I feel bad for your dog because your dog is at risk because of you. You put your dog in a down in a park, at the beach, in your neighborhood, wherever, while you pick up poop, while you do whatever it is you have to do. Maybe your kid's riding a bike, they fall down, you go to help 'em, you put your dog in a down, right?

10:00 — Kati asks whether a dog would hold a down command during an unexpected medical…

Any scenario, you see someone having a medical event, I don't know, whatever it is, you put your dog in a down, are they going to stay there?

And I know you can answer this question, are they going to stay there? It's a yes no question. But most people would probably say probably usually maybe. Or she can, unless he will, unless he sees or this happens unless a bike pops up, unless she sees a squirrel, unless someone opens an umbrella and it scares her. Unless there's someone in a wheelchair, unless there's a stroller, unless there's another dog, that'll never happen. They'll never be another dog. You guys, of course there will be another dog. <laugh>, your dog is only as safe as you make them.

They're only as reliable as you make them.

And if you create lots of excuses in your head as to why you shouldn't punish non-compliance, then you just stay stuck. You just stay stuck with a dog that's not reliable. And to be fair, I think a lot of people are fine with that. Okay, fine. I'm not fine with that. I want to know and know. You never know a hundred percent. And I get that 'cause your dog is not a robot. But guess what? They can be pretty damn close to perfect. No one's ever gonna be perfect. Your dog's never gonna be perfect, but they can be pretty damn close.

Okay? So your commands, your instruction to your dog. It is as required as you decide. And your dog will know what that level of requirement is. And for most dogs, where they land, where the people land with them is that the command is required until they can't take it anymore. And then they break and then they'll get a tap and then they go back and we just stay there and we just stay there forever. And let me be really clear, there's nothing wrong with spending some time there. You should spend some time there, but you shouldn't stall out there.

You should spend some time there practicing, going to different environments, introducing your dog to different triggers, different temptations, things that make them uncomfortable, different people, different objects, right? And after your dog has done this dozens and dozens and dozens, hundreds of times, well, maybe it's time to graduate from kindergarten.

14:00 — Before raising expectations, dogs should know the command, the e-collar, and the environments where…

If so, I, this came up at a recent group class. I want you to remember, once your dog is very well versed in these things, they're well versed in the command. They're well versed in e-collar. They've had the practice, they've been in the different environments. They know the expectation. Even if it's hard for them to do, they do know what it is. At some point you have to bring the hammer down, guys, otherwise you cannot trust your dog. It's one way or the other. They, you can either trust them or you cannot. And I think what's crazy about it is it's so easy to do, it's so easy to do.

We have tools now that give you a safe, effective, efficient, super practical, easy way to punish non-compliance.

And in a matter of a couple of seconds, your dog can go from wishy-washy to solid as a rock, right? It's up to you. So at some point you have to decide, now we raise the bar and we make this just not optional, right? Because if you're still tapping and resetting, you're not there, like I said, spend some time there for sure. But you are not done. You're not done. At some point we treat non-compliance of a command. A command that the dog knows very well. We treat that non-compliance just like any other unwanted behavior, right?

So in other words, if you break place, that's like getting in the trash. Why? Because you know it well enough and it's a boundary now. So it goes from teaching to becoming a rule, right? So with things like the trash, that's just a rule from the beginning and we enforce it and we correct it. The place command, the dog has to learn how to go to place, how to stay on place. And it's expected in all scenarios. That takes more time. But once it's done, it's done. We finish it.

Now I'm gonna make it suck if you get off place. But people don't, right? They don't do that. Instead the dog gets off and they tell 'em no and they tap the e-collar and maybe the dog goes back on their own. Maybe they don't even do that and the person has to go help 'em get back on, right? And then they're good again for a little while until the dog sees this or that or gets too bored or who knows what, you know, whatever the case is, that's not done. That's not obedience, that's semi-obedience.

18:00 — She questions stopping at partial obedience after investing time in training.

That's kind of obedience.

Why go through it all if that's where you're gonna land? That's what I don't really understand. And yeah, there are some dogs out there that they might have to land there. They might just not have the neurological capability to be as concrete as some other dogs, but the vast majority absolutely can. It's just that nobody's told them they have to. So when do we do this? How long does it take? Well, it really depends on how good you are at training and how long you've been at it. So obviously us here, we're pretty skilled at training these things, right?

We're pretty experienced in all the nuances of obedience training, e-collar training, how different dogs respond differently when they need help, how to give them that help and when to raise the bar.

And for us, if we have a dog that's here for a two-week program, we're usually just teetering on that point at the end of the two weeks. So normally when the dog goes home at the end of two weeks, we might only be really properly punishing the place command 'cause that's what they do the most of. And the other stuff, we're holding them pretty accountable for it. But normally we still feel they need a little more repetition, a little more experience. And so it kind of falls on the owners to go home and continue to solidify that and then seal the deal with real corrections for non-compliance when they're ready.

And then the question becomes, will they ever be ready <laugh>?

Um, but at the end of the day, like even if we did do that here, even if the dogs were fluent enough and experienced enough that we felt we could provide that level of correction for non-compliance, the dogs will learn very quickly when they go home that the owners just don't, they don't enforce things the same way, right? Has to come from you ultimately. Now, when we have a three-week dog, we're holding them much more accountable. Usually by the end of the three weeks, dogs are, they're at a level of advancement that we are starting to treat all of the behaviors.

Non-compliance is an unwanted behavior, and there's a very firm correction for that. But guess what? That means we don't need to do it so much anymore.

And it does depend a little bit on the dog, on their ability, and on the level of, uh, exposure and training that we gave them. So there might be areas where I don't feel they're ready for that. Those are things that we communicate to people in their go-home lesson, right? 'Cause it's unique from dog to dog and person to person. Not every dog's go-home is the same. But my point is, it's not anyone's job really to know that or do that but you, right? It's the owner's job to decide this is something I know my dog knows.

22:00 — Owners can enforce one well-practiced command firmly while continuing to teach another.

It's something my dog's done a million times. I know that my dog is capable of it, and I'm going to make them the safest, most reliable dog I can with this behavior, right? And you might be doing that with one behavior and not another, 'cause maybe your dog hasn't done enough, right? You might be properly punishing breaking the place command but not the heel command, or vice versa.

That's fine. But the other thing is, if you're just not sure, there's only one way to find out: hold your dog more accountable and see if they become more reliable. Because I know, I know dogs are never gonna be robots. Most people don't want their dog to be a robot. But I do want my dog to be as safe as possible. I talked about the underground or invisible fence again recently. And it's a great example because I'll meet folks that tell me they had the fence put on the lowest setting. And I say, why? You know, maybe they have a small dog, maybe they have a sensitive dog.

Well, so what? Why? Like, what is the thought process behind that?

Because to me, I have this fence to keep my dog safe. And if I put the fence level on the lowest possible level, well, there's one thing that I know is true, right? Maybe it will be enough to keep my dog in the fence forever and they never test it. May-maybe, right? But absolutely for certain, if it's on the lowest level, that is the level that my dog is the most likely to test. Again, that's a fact. It is more likely that they will test the fence again if it's lower, right? 'Cause it might be enough, it might not.

Now, if it's on the highest level, that is the level my dog is the least likely to test again. So you can see how it's really easy to fall into the trap of, I wanna use the least possible consequence that works. And it's like, but you don't have any way to know what that is, right? There's no magic. So you find out by trying and then seeing that you were wrong, <laugh>. Well, that could go on for a long time. Especially if we're talking about e-collar corrections and there's a hundred levels and you're starting at like a 13 or, God forbid, like 3, 4, 6, right?

It's not about the number. It's about a serious downside for non-compliance. And the fact is, most people just don't ever add that to their commands. So I wanna be really clear that I'm not telling people to start there. Again, we need to be fair, the dog needs to have the training. But I find, you know, I always say that to cover my butt. Like, I always, always, always throw that in. But the fact is 99% of people have the opposite problem. They never get there. It's always, we need to keep practicing. It's always, well, I tapped and he went back, or I corrected him and put him back, and they just stay there.

You're not meant to stay there forever, guys.

26:00 — She compares early-stage obedience to kindergarten: useful preparation, but not the final goal.

It's like the entry-level job at McDonald's, okay? There's nothing wrong with it. Some great experience to be had there. You're not supposed to stay there forever. <laugh> There's so much more to see. Um, your dog is only as reliable as you make them. And I think I've done that exact episode before. Your dog will be as reliable as you make them. But what's, what creates reliability? So I just got off the phone with someone who blamed herself for her dog's behavior, but she said it was because she's not always consistent. And the piece of wisdom that I shared with her is that it wouldn't have mattered if she was consistent because she described to me her process, and the process was inferior.

It was incorrect.

Well, if you do the incorrect thing consistently, that doesn't equal success, guys. Right? And so tapping and resetting your dog is not incorrect, but it will never get you a polished result. So if what that gets you is a little bit more compliant, but your dog is still iffy and still breaks command sometimes, okay, then now you know what the result is of what you've been doing. If you keep doing the same thing, you keep getting the same result. And this isn't something that takes years, okay? If you're out there with your dog every day, this might not be more than two, three weeks.

If you don't work with your dog much, maybe it's months, okay? But kindergarten has to end eventually or not. I mean, it doesn't have to, right? But then you have to accept the fact that your dog might listen, might be able to complete the task in the face of extreme temptations. I think I got off track too earlier when I wanted to talk about the conversation we had at group class, which is when you correct your dog for breaking a command. Let's say that you're practicing in the backyard and your dog hears a neighbor or maybe even sees a chipmunk in the distance or something of that nature, okay?

But your dog's very familiar with the yard, the chipmunk's kind of far away, that, like, that sort of thing. If you correct your dog, let's say you put your dog in a down, they break it when they see this distant chipmunk or when they hear the neighbor approaching, if you say no, correct the dog, dog goes back into the down. Okay? But did you correct them at a level that gets them to hold the down in your backyard with a distant chipmunk? Or did you correct them at the level that gets them to hold the down

30:00 — A correction that works near a distant chipmunk may not hold a down in…

in a busy park where there are other off-leash dogs running around and kids running around and bikes whizzing by you, where there might be an aggressive dog walking by? Did you correct them at a level that will convince them they have to hold the down when some kid loses their ball, the ball goes bouncing across the street and there's a car coming? Did you, are you teaching your dog that they absolutely positively have to listen in all situations? Or are you using a correction that is just enough to keep the dog at a simmer, just enough to get them to barely be able to do it in the current setting?

'Cause that's the thing, guys. I use that simmer analogy all the time. If you let your dog simmer, they will boil over later. Maybe not now, but they're going to, right? So you're not just correcting your dog for this behavior in this environment in this moment. When you decide it is time to nail it down and make your dog truly reliable, you are correcting your dog for the biggest future temptation there could be, the biggest triggers. Okay? So if I have a very insensitive dog who generally tends to be very high on the e-collar, right?

We have Fletcher here right now who sometimes doesn't even blink in the sixties.

And he is just learning. So we're not punishing any of this stuff. But down the road, if he breaks a down, okay, in the training center in these four walls where he has spent weeks <laugh> and he has done this hundreds of times, if he breaks a down here and I correct him at a 30, and that's enough to get him to lay back down, okay, that's great. I have not proofed my down. So don't be foolish enough to think that just because you correct your dog and they go back into command, that that means you're done.

That that means you've proofed your command. You haven't, you just gave your dog some information and they went back into the down, but you have no proof <laugh> at this point that they'll hold it when it matters.

And again, maybe it doesn't matter, maybe you don't care. Maybe you never intend to do off-leash stuff with your dog in unfenced areas or areas where there are other dogs or, you know, whatever. It's fine. But what I hate is hearing the stories of the people who do take their dogs to the park, who do take their dogs to the beach, who do wanna bring their dogs everywhere with them and their dogs end up in trouble because they broke command. But why were we trusting them not to if we have not punished non-compliance, right?

And to be clear too, one and done, that, that's not how it works. So after you actually proof it, right, you bring the thunder, you say, okay, you've done this now so many times, like we're gonna bring the thunder and we're gonna seal the deal, right? So that I hardly ever have to correct you. And you know this is not optional. And you know there's a serious downside if you don't listen to me, right? And that's gonna keep you safer. I'm ready to do that.

34:00 — Kati suggests setting up a controlled opportunity to test whether a dog respects a…

So let's say you set it up, you get the dog makes a mistake, you bring the thunder. The first time you do it, it might be a little messy because your dog isn't used to that, right? As they shouldn't be. If they're used to it, it's not gonna work. So if you have to help them go back, that's okay. Help them go back. Doesn't mean you did anything wrong, doesn't mean they're gonna make that same mistake next time. The next time it happens, if there's a next time, they'll probably respond a lot better to it, right?

See, if you have to help 'em, help 'em. It's normal for a dog to panic the first time they have a big correction, guys.

But so you do it, you bring the thunder and you go, okay, hopefully that does it. But you can't just assume that all it's going to take is that one correction and now your dog is gonna be reliable forever. You have to then continue to set it up and challenge them so that you can see if it actually looks different. And guys, you can learn so much this way by observing your own results. Put a long line on your dog. Go out into the environments that are really, really hard and find out: did it stick?

Does he believe me? Does he make different choices? Can he do it when the hardest distractions come along?

And if your dog struggles, then either your consequence was still too mincy or maybe there was something lacking in our process. Maybe the dog isn't as well trained as we thought they are. Maybe we do need to go back to square one or to basics. I don't know, right? 'Cause I don't know you, I don't know your dog <laugh>. But this information is for folks who have a trained dog almost. They do know the words, they do know the commands. They have done hundreds of repetitions, they have done it in different environments. They have tons of experience with the e-collar, right?

Maybe we've even been doing this for a year, two years, three years, four years. But we still find ourselves saying no and tapping the e-collar when the dog breaks a command. No tap.

Okay? It can be better than that, but only you can make it better than that, right? Because you're what? What that tells me if that's you is you're operating at a level where sure your dog doesn't really like it, but it's not a particularly huge deal either. So it's not going to really cultivate permanent change, and take the word permanent with a grain of salt. Again, your dog will never be a robot. If I put my dog on place in the office while I'm doing a go-home lesson, he is not going to get up.

We have strangers coming in, we have their dog running around. We have people drop off dogs, pick up dogs.

I could throw toys. We do that a lot during the go-home lesson. He is not gonna get up. I didn't achieve that by nagging him at a moderate level on the e-collar. Okay? We did lots of training, lots of repetition, right? And here's a good point too that I don't know that I've ever really articulated this way. But the more fluent your dog is with the command, the more time and repetition you give them, the more the command sinks in. Okay? You should spend time there doing that. Guys, the more you do that, the more fluent your dog is, the more effective the punishment will be when your dog breaks the command.

38:00 — She contrasts her approach with trainers who use hotter e-collars and less low-level stimulation.

Okay? So we don't train this way, but there are a lot of dog trainers who will use a different brand of e-collar, which is much hotter than the one we use. And they don't do all the low-level stuff that we do. They do lots of food work, which we do too. But lots of repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. And then ultimately in the end, boom, punishment, like a high level of punishment for non-compliance. They often use like a SportDOG collar, which is a great collar, but it's just a lot hotter than the ones we use.

Um, doesn't really have the low stimulation that we use. Okay? That type of training, it won't work if you haven't put in the time and the reps because your dog isn't fluent enough with the commands and the behaviors.

Now it does work very well for the people that do it, right? And because they do put in the time and the reps and the dog is fluent with the commands and the behaviors, right? And it's reward, reward, reward, very heavily. Reward, reward, reward. And then punishment cleans it all right up <laugh>. Um, we take a different approach. Neither one of these approaches are wrong. I prefer ours. But I have had some dogs that were so well trained when they came in that they really flew through the initial stages of our training and we were able to correct non-compliance very early in their program.

'Cause there's no point in spending all kinds of time doing something the dog already knows.

Neither one of the approaches are wrong. But our approach is usually to teach the dog the language at a very low level and to teach it. You know, not to be, again, I don't like getting into super sciencey terms, but negative reinforcement and teaching them how to shut it off by doing the behavior. It just enables us to do some more nuanced things with the e-collar. I'm a big fan of state of mind work. I love chipping away at state of mind. I love helping dogs settle. I love helping them avert their eyes. All these subtle, subtle things that require lower levels on the e-collar.

Um, and that is all much easier when we have built that kind of relationship with the e-collar. And so that's how we do it here. And honestly, it is the gentlest, in my opinion, form of e-collar training.

Um, so it's very fair and it's very gentle, right? But at some point you do have to kind of bring the thunder and say, okay, I'm gonna make you safe and reliable now. And then once you do that, you need to set it up over and over again so that you can observe with your own eyes that you actually got some traction and your dog is much more reliable now, especially if you've been very, very soft for months or years, right? Because your dog might go, oh, that was a fluke, <laugh>. But we always say never trust your dog more than you've seen.

42:00 — Kati wants repeated successful tests—roughly 20 in a row—before trusting a behavior.

They can be trusted, right? If you haven't set something up 20 times and seen your dog do it right 20 times in a row, then you don't really know.

And I'm just pulling a number out of a hat. But I would say that's the minimum. So let's say I have a dog that wants to chase and kill the cat or chase and hurt the cat or whatever. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put the dog in the vicinity of the cat and I am going to bring the fucking thunder when he goes after the cat. But then I'm not done, guys. Then I'm going to put him in the vicinity of the cat over and over and over and over because I need to see that we're done here.

And we might not be after one correction. And until I've seen it at least 20 times in a row, I don't feel real comfortable.

And the more serious the behavior is, the more that should be true. But very well-known commands, you can think of the same way. Once it's time to graduate kindergarten, once it's time to punish non-compliance, do it. And then after you do it, make sure you're done, 'cause you might not be. And for everybody out there who's like, oh, so mean and don't, shouldn't I pay my dog? No <laugh>, no, you're literally doing this for your dog, guys. This is so that your dog can come with you. This is so that your dog can be trusted.

This is so that your dog doesn't get hurt. That's why we do it.

And if you look at the big picture, right? You can hone in on the one command, the high correction and how uncomfortable it is. Or you can zoom out and you can look at the big picture that says I'm building this thing with my dog, where we have a relationship nobody else even comes close to. I am my dog's universe. They care very much what I have to say. I'm extremely relevant. They do want to listen to me 'cause it's absolutely in their best interest. I can trust my dog fully. I can do things with my dog.

I can ask my dog for things. I don't know anybody else that can do that.

It's amazing. It's like this dark subject nobody wants to talk about, right? It's like the unfun, terrible, horrible, torturous part of training nobody wants to do. But the fact is, it's actually the piece that sets us free. You don't have to nag your dog anymore, you don't have to worry anymore. Things get better. But it's all on the other side of the correction. 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.

46:00 — Kati directs listeners to the show notes for contact information.

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.