Small Moments Lead To Big Change—No Feedback = Continued Issues

00:00 — Kati introduces Diamond Canine Dog Training and the episode’s focus on practical dog-training guidance.

Speaker 1: Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered Trigger Warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the Truth in Dog Training.

Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I'm Kati Peppe, owner of Diamond Canine Dog training in Biddeford, Maine, and my phone is not on do not disturb <laugh>. So let's fix that right now. Um, we are dog trainers in southern Maine that specialize in eco training. So we do eco training for off-leash obedience as well as behavior modification, helping people, um, with state of mind stuff like separation anxiety and fearfulness and, you know, stopping bad behaviors like resource guarding, uh, digging holes in the yard, aggression reactivity, pulling on the leash, jumping on people, all that stuff.

Speaker 1: So that's who we are and what we do. We also do puppy training, uh, but mostly our, our bread and butter is, is eco work, um, and helping people live amazing lives, um, with their dogs and getting, getting people into a much, much better place with their dog.

Speaker 1: That's what we love to do and that's why we have this podcast so that we can provide you with all of this wonderful information, um, that we're giving to our clients day in and day out and, and we can kind of take the things that we're teaching them and helping them with, um, the stuff we're talking about and we can put it out here, um, for, and make it available for everybody who is looking for that information. 'cause it is so hard to find the Internet's full of crap. Um, and so we're happy to be the voice of truth and reason in dog training, <laugh>, and hoping you guys get some good takeaways from this episode.

Speaker 1: Um, so let's talk about how to really be effective with our dogs because I feel like so many people are genuinely trying and, and putting an effort, um, but the stuff they're doing just isn't the right stuff.

Speaker 1: Um, and they're missing so much stuff, they just, stuff you would never even think of. So whenever I do a consultation, I mean, if I have a dog that's a suitable option for private sessions or a board and train, uh, I always, I always tell the person that board and train is far and away a superior program to private sessions. And don't get me wrong, we have tons and tons of satisfied private session customers who, who meet their goals and do just fine. We have some that have blown us away. Um, and you know, their dogs are just as fancy and reliable as any board and trained dog.

03:00 — Kati compares private sessions with board-and-train programs while acknowledging successful outcomes from both.

Speaker 1: Um, but that's, that's rare. Most of the time, um, dogs that go through a board and train program just come out much, much more polished. Um, and obviously that's because we control everything during the training process, right?

Speaker 1: So if we're doing private sessions, um, all we can do is show the person what to do and, and we can work with the dog a little bit while we have the dog for that hour, right? But then they go home and we're not there. So we don't know what they do. <laugh>, there is no way to know what they do. We can only tell 'em what to do and then hope that it happens. Um, and you know, the truth is most people, even if they're trying, they're not dog trainers, they're not gonna catch all the things that we catch.

Speaker 1: They're not gonna do everything the same way we would do it. And so B train just tends to be much, much more effective and polished. The dogs just come out, um, with a, a broader scope of sharper skills that that's the best way I can put it, I think.

Speaker 1: Um, but there's a reason for that. Um, and I wanna talk about what that is. So maybe people can implement some of that in their own lives every day with their dog. And there's no way for me to sit here and like explain to you every little thing we do with every single dog because it looks a little different with every single dog. But what I can do is tell you what kind of stuff we're looking for, what kind of stuff we're addressing, how we're addressing it. And I can give you a crap ton of examples, which I'll try to do.

Speaker 1: Um, I can just think about, you know, some of my recent cases, I have two cases right now that are actually pretty interesting for board and train, um, very different dogs, but both have their own issues. <laugh>. So, and every dog has their own issues, right?

Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how good they're, they all, they all have something going on. But I wanna talk about why, why, why, why is the board and train so magical? Um, and I can't tell you how much I love when someone comes to a board and train go home session. They are blown away before we even get started just seeing the way their dog comes outta their kennel and we bring them out into the front area, front room where we're gonna sit down and, and we talk to the owner for a little bit before we get started, just the way their dog composes themselves and conducts themselves the way they follow commands, their calm nature, the way they're not straining on the leash, they're not whining most of the time.

Speaker 1: It's not that they never do any of that stuff. Um, again, all dogs are different, but you know, 99% of the time, once we get to the end of a board and train program and we're doing this go home session, the dogs are in a wildly different head space and just behaving totally differently than they would have when they came in.

06:00 — Kati says dogs typically return from board-and-train programs with dramatically different behavior and state…

Speaker 1: And owners are just immediately taken aback by that. And it's magical. And I want more people to be able to achieve that. I want more people to understand that their dog is so capable of, of so much more than what they're giving you right now. And it's not as hard to get as you think. So I think also people have in their heads that it's like so much work and it is, I'm not saying it's not work, trust me, it's work <laugh>, okay? Um, but most of the time we're achieving this in two weeks. So it doesn't matter how much work it is, like isn't it worth it?

Speaker 1: Like even if you have to like pour yourself into it for a couple weeks, if you can get that, I mean two weeks is gonna come and go. If you can have this at the end of it, shit, do it right? <laugh>.

Speaker 1: So, and it might take longer than that at home because obviously dog training is my job and that's what I'm doing. Um, and we're pretty good at it because we're doing it all the time and, and we've worked with so many different dogs, so it might take you a little longer, right? And it might not be quite at the same level. It might not be the same caliber, you know, as like a professional dog trainer doing it, but man, your dog, I guarantee you if you implement some of this stuff, um, could be in a way better head space in a few weeks.

Speaker 1: Like totally, totally do it. Okay? So let's dig in. I'm gonna take you through like what a day looks like in a board and train. Um, and I'm gonna break it down first by like what we're generally doing and then what our individual interactions with the dog might look like based on, you know, just what that dog gives us and how we respond. So beginning of a board and train.

Speaker 1: Now here's the thing, anybody can implement if they decide to. Now nobody wants to do this again, this is why private sessions just don't work as well, right? Because I can tell people all day long till I'm blue in the face to go home and use their kennel and give their dog maximum structure and not let them roam around. And you know what, no one does it <laugh>. So right off the bat, they are behind the eight ball. They are not gonna get the results that I get. They're just not like, they're just not because they're choosing not to do this thing that I told them is so valuable to do.

Speaker 1: And I'm not telling people to do it to be bossy or pushy or militant or bully. I'm telling them to do it because this is the recipe that works. I'm telling them to do it because this is what I know to be true. This is what I know to be true. So, you know, do it or don't, right? But the kennel guys, put your dog in the kennel, <laugh>, put 'em in there and do not take them out unless it's time to go potty or go for a walk or to do some training.

Speaker 1: That's it. Not forever, but for now, while you are committing to making progress and training your dog and affecting their behavior, maybe it's two weeks, maybe it's six or eight weeks, whatever, maybe it's longer. But commit to having a period where your dog doesn't run around the house. Use your crate, get your dog their exercise, okay? But your dog pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the living room and dancing circles around you, that is not exercise. They don't need that to be fulfilled. Use your crate for now. Okay? So dog comes in, first thing they do is they go in the kennel.

10:00 — Kati recommends using the crate for controlled rest instead of allowing dogs to pace…

Speaker 1: Some dogs when they come in here, they don't like the kennel.

Speaker 1: Few months ago we had a boxer and you know, the first few days, especially the first day or two when I went to put him in the kennel, it could be, it could be five minutes of fighting with him to get him in there. Um, and there's no magic, there's no bribes. It's just prong and leash on the dog. And if they don't wanna go into the kennel, then we pull them into the kennel, push them into the kennel. Might be a two person job, but they're going in kennel, right? So part of this, and part of being effective is you deciding like this is a thing that just isn't negotiable.

Speaker 1: If you come at everything and you approach everything from the mindset of well we'll see <laugh> maybe if what if I don't know if she will, well if she does, we'll see if I can get him.

Speaker 1: No, this is what we are doing and then we do it, you're gonna be a lot more effective, okay? And it doesn't mean it's gonna look pretty. It doesn't mean it's gonna happen instantaneously. So talking about the kennel specifically, if your dog absolutely hates the kennel, you need to come at this and you know they're gonna fight with you, like physically, they're gonna fight to not go in the kennel. You need to say, okay, today's the day you're going in the kennel. And then you do whatever it takes to make that happen. You don't need to panic, you don't need to rush, you don't need to be mean, you don't need to get frustrated, but they're going in the kennel and that's it.

Speaker 1: There's no other way to see that. So you can't fail if that's your mindset, they're going in <laugh>. Okay? Now the next piece is once they're in there, they are required to be quiet. So ultimately they are going to be required to pretty much lay down and just be calm, right? But if your dog really hates the kennel that much and they're in a panic, you're not gonna get that immediately. And that's okay. But you can't let them be in there fussing and getting worked up.

13:00 — Dogs that resist the kennel may need an e-collar, specifically the Mini Educator, to…

Speaker 1: So if you have a dog that's going to do that, they probably should have a high quality e-collar on. We use the mini educator from eco technologies. I just want to insert a quick little disclaimer here that if you're using a different brand of eco, they are different. They operate different, they feel different. What they do is a little different. So I cannot speak to what to do with other ecos. Generally speaking, other models of eco tend to be a lot more hot. So with the mini educator, we have a hundred levels and it starts out really gentle and we can go up and down as needed, um, depending on the dog and the situation.

Speaker 1: And so that's what we're using as the mini educator. So when I talk about what to do with your eco, I'm talking about a mini educator specifically, okay?

Speaker 1: Dog is required to go in there and be quiet. So if they start barking or whining or parring at the kennel, I will correct them, right? I might ignore it for a few seconds. Like some dogs are gonna let out a little whimper or even a bark, but then they're just gonna settle down and, and let out a sigh and just accept it. So I will, I'll give 'em a few seconds and see like if that's the case, right? But if it's not, I cannot let that carry on. I cannot for so many reasons. Number one, they're rehearsing something that's going to to escalate.

Speaker 1: I don't want them rehearsing that behavior. I want that behavior to get better and go away.

Speaker 1: Um, and number two, it's annoying <laugh>. So a lot of times here at the training center, we put them in their kennel and then we have other people coming in we need to work with. And we can't have a dog in their kennel going nuts. We have to settle that dog. So if they don't settle on their own right away and they're carrying on, we might bonk the kennel with a bonker, like a rolled up towel. So dogs barking, whining. I say no, I go over, I bonk the kennel firmly and then I walk away.

Speaker 1: And usually if we have to do that, we do it two or three, maybe four times, and then the dog gives it up and lays down. Now if that doesn't work, we have the eco and I'll use the eco to try to settle them again. I'll say no, tap the eco. What level? I don't know

Speaker 2: If

Speaker 1: I've never had an eco on that dog before and I don't know how sensitive they are. I might start kind of low like 10, 15. Um, but if that doesn't work, then we're gonna make some big jumps of at least like 10, 10 points more, right? So I'm gonna say no, I'm gonna tap the eco, I'm gonna give them a few seconds. If they keep carrying on, I'm gonna say no again. I'm gonna turn it up, tap again, right? And I'm gonna space out those corrections a little bit to see if the dog calms down.

Speaker 1: Um, but ultimately I'm gonna look for the level and I'm gonna be consistent so that the dog goes, well this isn't working out. I'm gonna just lay down and chill out. Right? And that's it. I don't expect anything crazy from them, but they need to be quiet while they're in there. So that piece alone, <laugh> is so huge because that is where our dog is going to be and that is what they're going to be doing in between all of our training sessions during a board and train. They're not out running around the house mingling with the other dogs, playing with toys.

17:00 — Kati calls calm kennel time a major part of the program because dogs are…

Speaker 1: They are in their kennel being calm and collected.

Speaker 1: Um, and that's half the magic of the program. I really believe that. All right, dog's in there. They're not making a fuss. An hour, two hours, three hours, whatever. We go back, we take the dog out and it's time to do some training. So we go out to potty, we have a training session, okay?

Speaker 1: Now I just glossed over some stuff. We go to let the dog out of the kennel. They're not allowed to race out of the kennel. We go over if the dog's wicked excited as we approach the door and we can say no and give them a little tap, tap on the e-collar just high enough, just high enough to get them to dial back that excitement a little bit, right? I'm not gonna open the door if they're going bananas. Once they settle a little bit, I'll go ahead, I'll open the door and we are ready. The first few times we go to let the dog out, we are ready for them to try to zip out the door.

Speaker 1: And so we open it, the dog just barely starts to move forward. We slam it shut. Most dogs the first time, but if not the first time, definitely the second or third they're gonna kind of rock back probably on their haunches and sit or at least back up a little bit. And then you should be able to open the door and just pause.

Speaker 1: And the dog will probably be looking up at you. Not always, but I like to see that where you open the door and instead of looking through the door, they're looking at you like, well, what do you want me to do? And then we can reach in, put the leashing collar on the dog, right? Because I'm, I'm using a prong collar, it's worth mentioning, I recommend that, right? But the prong collar can't be on them when they're in the kennel. So you grab their leash and prong you reach in and put it on them before you bring them out the kennel, right?

Speaker 1: So now when you bring your dog outta the kennel, you're not just saying, okay, and then they shoot out like a missile and go running around the house. You're not patterning a calm, collected, engaged, tuned in dog if you do that. So these small details are important.

Speaker 1: So you open the door, the dog doesn't try to zip out, you reach in, put the prong and leash on, invite them out. As soon as they come out, you'll apply pressure upwards on the leash. Not real hard because it depends on your dog. I don't know how sensitive they are. Just gentle pressure. And you will ask them to sit, you will tell them and be patient. You can stand still there for as long as you need to, but do not relax your leash pressure until your dog, it's okay if it takes a minute. They haven't had to do this stuff before.

Speaker 1: This is a new routine. But you get the dog to sit, then as soon as they sit, you will relax your leash and you'll say, let's go. And you will go walk outside to take the dog potty. Okay? Next thing is we get to the door, the front door dog's not allowed to zip through the door.

Speaker 1: Dog's not allowed to crowd the door. Okay? So do, do you see what's happening here? This is so much more than just go practice. Some sits practice some place. This is real behavioral feedback all day for your dog. And that's why a board and train is so amazing. And there's no reason you can't do this at home yourself. If you know what to address and what you address is going to be just about everything, every interaction with your dog should be feedback oriented. There's almost never a time in the beginning where you're not giving your dog feedback, right?

21:00 — Kati emphasizes giving feedback during nearly every early interaction rather than only practicing formal…

Speaker 1: And your feedback could be no correction or it could be good and a pat on the head or a piece of food.

Speaker 1: It could just be leash guidance, it could be pressure like I just talked about by applying gentle pressure upwards on your leash to get your dog to sit. It could be any of those things, but it's feedback, feedback, feedback, feedback. Right? And so, and I wanna point out too while we're talking about this, that if you don't have your dog in the kennel and they're just running around the house, they are following impulses and running around and they're not getting any feedback. So can you see why one is just infinitely, infinitely better than the other one is just run around, do whatever you want, follow your impulses and keep doing your old stuff and feeling your old way and being in your old state of mind.

Speaker 1: And the other one is, we are gonna rebuild everything from the ground up, from the ground up. We are gonna rebuild your whole state of mind, your brain chemistry, how you interact with me.

Speaker 1: Uh, we're just gonna wire you to be your best version and we're gonna be very hands-on and committed and invested and we're gonna put in the time and we're gonna show you everything instead of just expecting you to do it right? 'cause that's kind of, that's kind of where a lot of people are at. It's like they just, they just want it to happen. But you actually have to say, okay, I'm gonna jump in the deep end and I'm gonna show my dog every little thing and how I'd like it to look. And by the way, this is great bonding time with your dog.

Speaker 1: You are gonna get to know your dog in a, in a much different way and you're gonna develop a much deeper bond with your dog. But so we get to the front door and right away I just stand there. I might reach for the doorknob, but I'm not gonna open it 'cause I wanna see what the dog does, right? And if they're moving toward the door, you know how dogs do that thing? Well, they'll stick their snoot in between you and the door, or they'll stick, stick their snoot right up to the door 'cause they're just waiting for you to crack it open so they can just squeeze their little nose in there and pop it open and run out.

Speaker 1: There is none of that. No crowding the door at all. Give me space at the door. It's my door. Okay? So dog moves forward toward the door, which they shouldn't do. We will say no, pop the leash or tap the e-collar on something moderately high.

Speaker 1: So basically there's a, there's a moderate correction here just for being too forward at the door. Okay? You can also, after you do that, if your dog doesn't move away from the door, 'cause they might not be sure what to do with it. So you've corrected the act of getting too close to the door. Now you can turn and face your dog and just kind of bump them with your knee like you're trying to walk right through them. Like you're marching and you're gonna walk right through 'em. Like they're not even there, right? And that'll just sort of bump your dog backward, just gently, right?

Speaker 1: I'm not telling you to like stomp on your dog, which is what people will turn this into. I'm just saying. Bump 'em with your knee and be very forward about it. So you're just using your body to tell your dog move back. And that's a very powerful conversation by the way. So those moments are also a big part of our training. It garners a lot of respect. You become an entity who matters.

Speaker 1: You have standards now and you're communicating them clearly. Now you have expectations. You're using touch, which is very, very important, uh, means of communication with your dog. Um, something besides just stroking <laugh>, right? So bump your dog back after the correction. If they don't move away, then you will with a nice loose leash open the door. And if your dog starts to move forward again, that's another no. And a correction, right? But it's important your leash is loose. That's another huge mistake. People have a tight leash because they're just holding the dog back. Well, guess what?

26:00 — Instead of holding dogs back at the door, Kati uses feedback to teach them…

Speaker 1: Your dog isn't learning how to make choices when you do that. You're just managing them. You're just sweeping everything under the rug. So we, we don't use any commands at the door and we do not pull the dog and hold them back.

Speaker 1: It is only feedback, right? Let your dog make a choice and you tell them good or you tell them no and correct them. That's it. It's very simple. Loose leash guys. Once you can open the door and the dog just sits there and doesn't move back, sorry, the dog just sits there and doesn't move forward, <laugh> or stands there, it doesn't matter what they're doing. Do, do not ask for a sit, okay? But once you can open the door, the dog is polite, they don't crowd the door, they don't go through it, then you can say, let's go and invite them through the door.

Speaker 1: Once you get through the door. We don't want the dog taking off like a missile. If they do that again, you'll say no. Give them a little pop on the leash, right? So they learn to hang out with you. Now, you can use more guidance at this point if you want, but at some point, just like everything, you will need to correct the dog for that or they're gonna keep doing it. But pattern what you want, which is after we go through the door, I still want you to stay with me. I want this leash to be loose.

Speaker 1: I don't want you straining at the end of the leash to go somewhere else. Hang out with me. We start patterning that right away.

Speaker 1: And then when you're ready, then you can say, let's go or break or whatever your release is to say, okay, go potty, right? I'm gonna let out the leash, let you sniff around. Go potty, do your thing. And then we're gonna have a training session, right? I'm not gonna go into great detail with the training session, but we're gonna do some obedient stuff. Maybe it's just leashing food. Maybe it's with the e-collar. Depends, it depends on what we're doing with that dog at that moment. But we're gonna have a training session, it's gonna be 10 minutes to 30 minutes.

Speaker 1: And then after that training session, the dog's going back in their kennel. Guys back in the kennel, okay? Now the dog's rotating all day between the kennel and potty and training. As the dog moves through their program, the training sessions tend to get longer and less frequent. So they're spending less time in their kennel and more time training because we move away from training where we're doing quick reps, you know, sit break, sit break, sit, break, place break, place break. We move away from that and we start moving to lay on place for an hour and a half, two hours.

Speaker 1: Or we're gonna get in the car and go to the park for an hour, right? So the, the training sessions become longer because they're doing duration work or we're going on a field trip. But in the beginning we're doing shorter training sessions that are frequent. They come out of their kennel, you know, we do 30 reps a place.

Speaker 1: Maybe we introduce them to laying down on command or whatever it is. We do some reps of that and then it's back in the kennel and then they come out again a couple hours later and we do it again. And so what the day looks like in that sense changes as they move through the program, right? And the good news about that is once your dog has a good solid place command and or a good solid down command, you can now use that in lieu of the kennel. And you can have your dog kind of hanging out with you in a room if you're doing something else, right?

30:00 — As obedience improves, dogs transition from short repetitions to extended place duration and outings…

Speaker 1: And they're still training, but it's kind of passive training. 'cause you don't have to engage with them. You just need to keep an eye on them while, and you can do other stuff, right? But the next thing I want to talk about is every moment that I'm interacting with the dog, I'm giving them feedback, right?

Speaker 1: So this is less about what the actual obedience training looks like and it's more about what the behavioral feedback piece looks like because that's the piece that's missing. Because when people come in here for private sessions, we show them the obedient stuff and how to do it. And that's a little more cut and dried and black and white. And I can write it down, I can put it on paper and send it home. And they have notes they can look at and, and that's fine. But the behavioral piece is much, much more difficult to pass on to people for them to really implement effectively at home.

Speaker 1: And so that's what I'm trying to do here.

Speaker 1: Let's say I take a dog out for training lesson and while we're standing there or I'm sitting down or whatever it is I'm doing, the dog bumps me with their nose or mouths at me. Let's say they, like I have Mila right now. She'll, she used to mouth at me when I would put her collars on. What's a correction guys, right? And she's defensive. Um, which is probably why she's mouthy, right? She's kind of jumpy and defensive and I didn't have to give her a huge correction, right? And it's important for me to be neutral.

Speaker 1: So it's just no. And then I tied a moderate correction, just a little tap, tap on the e-collar. Wasn't wicked high, didn't need to be. If it needed to be fine, I'll do that. But it didn't need to be after I told her a few times not to do that, she's gotten much better. And then we've been rehearsing, just taking her collars off and on. But they need that feedback. If you just struggle to get the collar on and they mouth you and there's no feedback about that. And I wanna be clear that just saying no to your dog is not feedback.

Speaker 1: There has to be something tangible attached to that,

Speaker 1: Okay? They need that feedback all day about everything consistently. And then you'll see it start to change and then you just start cementing the new habits and then everything gets really easy. And that's where we want you to go with all this. Um, if you have a dog that picks things up off the floor, steal socks, right? Choose shoes. You need to give them feedback about that. And this is where the structure really helps too, because you can't give your dog feedback about something that you don't even see happening, okay? But if you have your dog in the kennel and then you only take them out when you're with them to do something, you see everything they do.

33:00 — Structure helps trainers notice and address behaviors such as stealing socks or chewing shoes.

Speaker 1: So you can give them the feedback. People shoot themselves in the foot because they insist on giving the dog freedom they haven't earned. And we perpetuate these bad habits that we hate because no one's there to see it happen. You can't be consistent. You can't give feedback if you don't see it happen, right? But if every time I take that dog out of the kennel, I am with them to do training, they pick something up off the floor, I can say, Hey, you're not allowed to do that. And I can attach a consequence to that.

Speaker 1: It's huge guys. It's huge, right? So the way your dog comes outta the kennel, the way your dog goes through the door, the way your dog interacts with you, if they're mouthy, if they're pushy, if they're bumping you with their nose, if they're swatting at you with their paw, if they're jumping on you, feedback, feedback, feedback, feedback.

Speaker 1: And most of these things we attach corrections to, but that can look different depending on the infraction and the dog. So for instance, I had a, a puppy, it was an older puppy like five months, um, couple months ago. And she, what was she doing? I can't remember. I think she was mouthing at me a little bit. Um, but I would just say no. And then I just poked her in the side with a couple of fingers just like my pointer finger and my middle finger gave her a firm poke, right? And sometimes that's enough.

Speaker 1: It's like not everything has to be the, like the sky is falling type punishment, but it's like you need to just send a message that you are an entity that is worthy of some respect and does not like that behavior. And a lot of times that's it. In this case, for this puppy, that was it. And I think it might've been that same puppy. I can't remember for sure who always was looking for things on the floor to put in her mouth. Not just food, just anything.

Speaker 1: Um, so I would watch for her doing that. If she started looking for stuff, I would tell her no, right? And she's got a leash on it. Give her a little leash. Pop, stop looking for stuff to put in your mouth, right? Doesn't, you don't have to wait until they actually find something if you know they're looking right? It's just like Zeus, the little chihuahua that we just had at his owner's house. He'd get up on the couch and look out the window and he'd bark like crazy at people. And he did this like all day.

36:00 — For a dog repeatedly jumping onto a couch and barking, Kati would correct the…

Speaker 1: Okay? My correction, if I, if I lived in that house, the correction would come when he jumped up on the back of the couch and looked behind the curtains. 'cause he'd moved the curtains and looked through.

Speaker 1: Just the act of getting up on the couch and looking out the window would be a correction because we know what he is doing. He's looking for somebody to bark at. Don't do that. So you to give your dog this feedback, and there's a variety of ways you can do it. Eco is really great for stuff. You want to provide a correction for like a real proper correction. A dog can drag a leash on a prong collar and you're able to give them a, a leash pop at whatever intensity is appropriate. Might be gentle, might be firm, um, sometimes just a poke, right?

Speaker 1: If you have a dog that's just getting a little pushy, um, a muzzle squeeze for like mouthy puppies sometimes is, is really good, right? You can kind of curl their lips under and squeeze a little bit. So instead of mouthing you and getting their teeth on you, they kind of bite their own lips a little bit. So there's a variety of ways that you can offer a safe, you can administer a safe correction, but sometimes it's not even a correction. Sometimes it's just assertive feedback that says, Hey, you know, come on, don't do that to me.

Speaker 1: Don't crowd my space.

Speaker 1: Don't swat at me with your paw. Right? Sometimes just requesting and claiming your space from your dog is huge. Your dog will view you differently, right? But if you let your dog do all these things all day and then you just go practice obedience, you're not gonna have a well-behaved dog at the end of it. Does that make sense? It's like I can teach you how to sit and how to go to place and how to heal and all those things, but what do you do when you're not doing those things? So I don't wanna have to put my dog on.

Speaker 1: I love place by the way, but I don't wanna have to use place to avoid being jumped on or to avoid my dog jumping up on the couch and barking out the window.

Speaker 1: If you have to use place to fix behavioral issues, then you're missing something. And what it is, is feedback. So when you're using this really structured way of living with your dog during this training period, when you take your dog out, focus on giving them feedback about every little thing. And sometimes that feedback will be good and that's fine. You can tell your dog they're good. If they do something that you really like, reward them, feed them, that's fine. But everybody rushes to that. And that is way, way less important than telling your dog what not to do.

Speaker 1: 'cause that's where everybody's struggling, right? If you've got a dog that's pushing you around, jumping on you, mouthing you, nipping you growling at people, uh, resource guarding, you know, or even just simple stuff, it doesn't matter. Like what you are missing is telling them not to do that.

39:00 — Kati argues that dogs pushing, mouthing, guarding, or growling need clear information about what…

Speaker 1: I don't care if you ever give that dog a piece of food. Well, I mean obviously you have to feed your dog, but as far as a reward goes, right? It doesn't matter what your dog is missing is being told in a way that matters to them not to do that. It passive leash handling is another huge one. So when you take your dog out for a walk, or even just anywhere, like even if you're going to just have a training session or you're going out to potty, like if your whole thing is you just hold onto the leash and the dog does whatever they want or worse.

Speaker 1: So what I see a lot is people put their dog on a leash and the dog wants to go check out this person or go out this door and the person kind of leans forward with the leash and then they follow the dog, right?

Speaker 1: So they, they go way out of their way to avoid that leash getting tight. Like it's gonna kill the dog. If, if <laugh>, if the collar constricts on the neck or, or something. Um, they go way out of their way to avoid the dog feeling any discomfort pulling on the leash, right? Why everyone buy har buys harnesses too and then they follow the dog. So the dog is just walking the person that is literally what's fucking happening here. The dog is walking the person over to this person, over to that person, over to this dog out that door, and they're just following him around.

Speaker 1: And I'm going, what the fuck? <laugh>

Speaker 1: Not trying to pick on anybody here, but dude, use your leash, right? Not just to hang onto talk to your dog with your leash. That is probably the second biggest piece. Second or third I guess it ties in, it ties in with the feedback piece 'cause the leash should be used for feedback, right? But number one is like, use the kennel, use the structure. Number two is give your dog feedback during every interaction whenever your dog is outta the kennel. Feedback, feedback, feedback about everything. And then the leash. Don't be a passive leash handler. Don't let your dog walk you.

Speaker 1: Okay? Again, it doesn't mean you have to be mean, doesn't mean you have to be a bully, but use your leash. Learn how to deliver a leash. Pop. Put your leash on a prong collar. 'cause I'll tell you what you put it on a flat collar number one, dogs can slip out a flat collars.

Speaker 1: Number two, dogs can choke and un flat collars. It constricts the throat in such a way a prong collar is raised off from the surface area of the neck. So they can't choke. Doesn't mean they'll never cough. Some dogs will cough. Um, but they, they really can't, can't choke. It does not press the throat down like a flat collar does. Um, and now you've got a tool where if your dog starts to pull you right? Or just totally tunes out and says, see ya, you know, give them a little pop pop. That's something you gotta learn how to do.

Speaker 1: I can't teach you that over a podcast.

Speaker 1: And then go back to a relaxed leash, right? Shorten your leash up so everyone insists on giving their dog the full six feet of leash and the dog's just out there, they don't even know you're there. Like, you're just like an inconvenient Anil <laugh> at the end of the leash that they're tied to. They, you know what I mean? Shorten up your leash and use it to give your dog feedback. Meaning use pressure, use pops, right? Tell your dog with pops and pressure what you do and don't want where you want them to go, what you want them to be doing that you want them to settle, that you don't wanna go in that direction.

43:00 — Kati recommends leash pops and pressure to communicate direction, boundaries, and settling expectations.

Speaker 1: So you should be the one walking your dog, right? I like teaching dogs a heel. Maybe you do that even if you don't, if you put your dog on the leash, you give them all six feet and they're just at the end of it, frantically sniffing around, looking for stuff to stay busy, looking for stuff that's more interesting.

Speaker 1: You're not building the relationship that we build in a board and train. So when I put a dog on a leash, the expectation is that they just hang out with me. Settled. I don't really care if they're sitting. But a sit is good. A down is good standing is fine as long as they're calm and they're just hanging out waiting to see what's happening next because they're on a leash. So obviously we're doing something together. Why do they need to be frantically sniffing around, pacing, whining, wrapping me up. No, we're not gonna do that. They can sniff things later on, right?

Speaker 1: They get some training under their belt, they get some off leash time when we go potty, like they can sniff things in. They don't need to sniff right now.

Speaker 1: Just hang out, develop some coping skills. And again, everyone feels guilty. They want their dog to have fun. They want their dog to have a good time. Good time. Okay, well, do you want your dog to behave? Do you want your dog to be more comfortable in their own skin? Do you want your dog to learn how to shut off excitement, arousal, anxiety? Do you want your dog to learn how to just be with you in the moment and not be frantic and looking for something to get into and something to stay busy and something to bark at and something to chew on?

Speaker 1: I do. So that's what we teach. Put 'em on a leash. They should just be with you, right? So if you're, even if you're standing still, you got your dog on a leash, they shouldn't be pacing back and forth, sniffing all over the place. Learn how to use your leash. Tell that dog to settle. Learn how to use leash pressure, learn how to use. And then when it's time to walk, you say so. And when it's time to stop, you say so. They don't get to make those decisions. You do.

Speaker 1: So every moment of every day is an opportunity for you to wire things to be. I make the choices and you follow my lead and that's it. And everything needs to be geared that way consistently all day. And it's magic guys. It's magic, okay? And once you get the obedience training piece, right, you're doing your sessions periodically throughout the day, you get the obedience piece under control and they start learning some stuff, you can eventually start to give them more freedom,

Speaker 1: Right? But everyone wants to give the dog the freedom before they know that stuff, before they've been given the feedback on their behavior and before they've learned the obedience. And they need both of those things before they can be free. So you put the horse before the cart, that's trouble. That's trouble. And again, private sessions, people wanna do that. They wanna put the cart before the horse. Um, they don't wanna do all this non not so fun stuff. But man, you can accomplish stuff pretty fast if you pour yourself into it. Just feedback all day.

Speaker 1: Clear feedback. I like that thing you did. I don't like that thing you did

Speaker 1: Right? Watch some videos. Learn how to use a leash and prong help learn how to use an eco. We have a great course. Diamond Canine dot com and that's canine, C-A-N-I-N-E. The course is called 10 Days to a great place. It will get you started on eco training. It's very thorough in terms of teaching, um, what kind of habits you should get into and how to put the equipment on your dog and introduce them to it. And it will take you through teaching the place command start to finish. So ultimately you'll have a dog that will stay on place no matter what for a long period of time.

47:00 — Her 10 Days to a Great Place course teaches e-collar equipment, habits, and foundational…

Speaker 1: Great, great way to get your, your feet wet with the eco. Highly, highly recommend it's a $99 course. Um, but learn how to use the tools. There's plenty of free videos out there. Um, it can be hard to piece it all together.

Speaker 1: If you wanna actually thoroughly train your dog on an e-collar, I'd recommend just getting a program if you wanna do that. Um, but especially just learning how to handle your leash guys is so huge. And, and just learning how to use spatial pressure. Use your body language, you know how to be a little more assertive, calm and fair, but assertive, right? We, you don't wanna be a psychopath with your dog. We don't want your dog to think you're unstable. We don't want you yelling at your dog, right? But we do want you claiming your space and disagreeing with things and that's what everybody's missing.

Speaker 1: And then at the end of the day, the dog goes in their kennel again and then the equipment comes off. So we don't take their e-collar off until they're in there. We don't take their prong collar off until they're in there. Either dog goes in and then we take it all off. Why? 'cause you have to control everything in the beginning. So if you have the dog outside their kennel without the equipment on, you're just opening up the door for trouble, for trouble. Hopefully there was some tidbits of helpful information in here. Um, it's just, it's really hard to explain, but it's like your dog is immersed in the training in a board and train program.

Speaker 1: And you can do this at home is my point. And it might not look exactly the same. It might not be, you might not be as effective as a professional dog trainer, but man, are you gonna get some major, major traction if you do some of this stuff? Use your structure, use your kennel. Require your dog to be calm and quiet in their kennel. Don't let them race out when you open it. Put the leash on them before they come out.

Speaker 1: Teach them. They can't crowd the door when you go out the door when you open it, they can't go through. Disagree with it. When they bump, you paw you mouth, you address it. If they're whiny, address it. If they're looking for stuff on the floor to put in their mouth, address it. If they bark at someone or you know they're looking for someone to bark at and what you're gonna find, see it sounds exhausting, but it goes away so fast. A lot of times people will ask me about their dog's bad behaviors that go home and I forget they ever had them.

Speaker 1: And I've only had the dog two to three weeks and I don't even remember it. But once I really think about it, I go, oh yeah, they did used to do that, but we knocked that out on day one. You know, or day two or three. But it's like they haven't done that in weeks like I have. I forgot they ever did it. Stuff goes away and every day gets easier and easier and before you know it, the stuff starts to become natural for your dog and you build a better relationship.

51:00 — Kati concludes that teaching commands alone is insufficient when frantic behavior continues without consistent…

Speaker 1: And that's it guys. If you wanna be effective, you can't just focus on teaching your dog to sit, teaching your dog to lay down. Those are skills your dog needs. But just teaching that stuff and letting all the frantic behavior occur in between that you are not gonna get the traction you want. You're not gonna see the change you want. So you gotta do both. You gotta do both. Use the structure, give the feedback, teach the obedience, and then it all culminates in just a beautiful, beautiful, um, transformation. It gets your dog into a better head space, man.

Speaker 1: Makes life so much better. Alright guys, that's it for today's episode. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to the next one.