Stop Being Such A Human—Get Out Of Your Own Way And You Can Create Real Change

00:00 — Managing a dog's behavior can keep owners from enjoying dinner parties, outings, and family…

Have you ever stood in the doorway of your house saying goodbye to your family and friends after an evening dinner party? Or maybe you're driving home from a picnic or the beach or a camping trip, and after the fun is over and things are quieting down, you realize you missed the whole thing <laugh> because you were so busy managing your dog and your dog's behavior, um, that you weren't really able to engage with what was going on around you. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. So many people are in this position, and there are so, so many simple things that we can do to make it better, even if you're not doing a big fancy training program.

And we're gonna talk about all of that today. Welcome to Off Leash and Unfiltered. Trigger warning. I'm Kati Peppe, delivering the truth in dog training.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Off Leash and Unfiltered. I'm Kati Peppe, owner of Diamond K9 Dog Training in Biddeford, Maine. We specialize in e-collar training, both for off-leash obedience and behavior modification. So helping people stop all those annoying unwanted behaviors from simple stuff like barking and jumping up to more serious stuff like leash reactivity, aggression, resource guarding and separation issues, all that stuff. We also do puppy training, so that's who we are and what we do. And this podcast is here for us to share everything we know and see and do day in and day out with you guys.

Um, so this is stuff we're doing with the dogs every day and that we're talking about with our clients every day. So hopefully you get something out of this that's helpful or it's at least somewhat entertaining, uh, and thought-provoking. That's really what we wanna do is, is, uh, just get the messages out there that are so hard to find on the internet and get people kind of using their brain and thinking through some of this stuff. Um, because, you know, it is hard to find this information and most of the stuff on the internet is garbage.

So, so that's what we're doing. Um,

I hear a lot

Of stories of people wanting to include their dogs, obviously, right, in, in the things that they're doing. Um, social gatherings, family trips, things of that nature. Um, and of course we wanna include our dogs. That's why we got a dog, right? They're kind of part of the family. Um, and, you know, people try to do that, but the problem is they end up having to invest so much emo <laugh> emotional energy and physical energy into managing the dog that it's just not worth it. And so I wanted to talk about that a little bit today because I think number one, and I think I said this on a recent episode, sometimes I think things get so off the rails and honestly just downright dysfunctional and abnormal.

03:00 — Escalating behavior problems can become normal to owners who assume improvement would be too…

And you, you don't even realize it because you just kind of get used to living with it and, right.

And things kind of gradually escalate and get worse, and it just becomes normal to us <laugh>. Um, but also I think some people just think that it can't be better or that it would be too difficult. Um, and that's really just not the case. And so, I mean, for example, when I take a dog for a board-and-train program, a lot of times people are describing living with their dog as just this really, really, um, all intensive, you know, day to day. It just, it takes like all of their energy to, to manage the dog.

Um, sometimes having people over just isn't even an option for people. At least in their minds, it's not an option. And it's stressful, and they're dealing with things that they just don't, they don't know what to do, they don't know how to handle it. They, more than anything, they don't know how to make it change.

And so a lot of people come to me at their wits' end. And I have to tell you in the first couple of days, I mean, even immediately, day one, my experience living with the dog is different. It's way less stressful day one. Okay? So I haven't really taught the dog anything yet, right? Because it's day one. So think about that for a moment. Why would that be, right? It's not like I'm just have some magic powers because I'm a dog trainer. It's not like it's a different dog. Not yet, right? So why is my experience on day one?

I'll tell you what, there's never a board-and-train dog I've taken where I couldn't have company, right? It just, it wouldn't work for me, right? 'Cause it would disrupt my whole life. Um, so right off the bat, that should get people thinking, well, hey, if, you know, she can do it with just random strange dogs that she has no relationship with, continually, pretty much every week of every month of every year, why can't I do that with my own dog? Um, and so I wanna talk about some of the things that make that the case.

And some of these just super, like, there are two big things that are super simple and they make all the difference in the world. And it's gonna sound ridiculous. But if you find, if, if you are in this boat, if you're one of these people and you say, "Oh my God, she's talking about me," you need to do these things.

And I think before I talk about what these things are and how to execute them, I wanna talk a little bit about human resistance <laugh>, because that's our number one challenge as dog trainers, um, is not the dogs. The dogs will learn and they will execute if they're properly trained. People, on the other hand, are a little more challenging. So <laugh> and, uh, I fall into that bucket too because I'm a human, okay? So I've had a lot of cases over the years where the solution, even if it's just a solution for the interim and not a long-term solution, the solution to make things way easier and way better was just

07:00 — Owners can resist simple changes because they anticipate failure, difficulty, or disruption before trying…

a lot for the person to consider, even though it was a very, very simple change. And I think the reason for that is we have all these sort of subconscious thoughts. You know, it's not even that we're necessarily opposed to it, like operationally or morally or, or anything like that. It's just, I mean, sometimes people are, of course, but even when they're not, they just, they kind of have this chatter in their subconscious, these sort of emotions that are just attached to it, these or pessimistic outlooks attached to it, right? So they like, they're, they, they're, they don't even realize they're thinking it, but they're kind of thinking to their self, "Well, it won't work," or "It's gonna be too difficult," or "We won't stick to it."

Um, it's too hard or it's gonna make my day for me too unpleasant, right? But the truth is, we don't know because we haven't done it.

And so a good example of that was I had, and these are some wonderful customers, and their dog is just an amazing dog that I absolutely love every time he comes to visit. He comes frequently actually for boarding. Um, but he's a large power breed dog. And they came to me, I believe, because he nipped at someone. He's a little suspicious of strangers. And that's not uncommon for the breed. Um, you know, and people shouldn't be just touching him. They don't know him. But anyway, he nipped somebody and, but they wanted this dog to be out in their yard enjoying the porch in the front front yard because he loves to do that.

And, you know, I couldn't agree more. Like, that's great. Your dog should be able to like be in the yard and enjoy the yard and the porch if that's what he likes to do.

And you're okay with that. However, their particular situation, they had strangers regularly coming through their yard and on their porch to get to their house because of, um, the nature of their work, um, involved a lot of, you know, contractors and such, so people that they weren't necessarily close with, people the dog didn't have a relationship with. And so it doesn't matter how much training I provide that dog with, that's just not, that's not a situation that they should be putting him in because no matter how much work I put in, and even no matter how much work they put in, people are unpredictable.

So we never know what the people are gonna do, right? There's no way to train this dog to make the right choices in every possible scenario of what the other people could do. Um, and then there's nobody there for him to look to.

There's no one there to give him direction. There's no one there to give him guidance. There's no one there to put the people in their place if they're doing something ridiculous. 'Cause people do, they do stupid shit. Um, and so it just was, they had to rethink this whole thing. I mean, something's gotta change. You can't have your cake and eat it too, right? And so in this case, the solution was as simple as like having the dog enjoy the out back, right? Unless we're outside with him. Um, or creating a way that people can't walk right into the yard and up on the porch, right?

So one of those two, because you just can't have it both ways, right? And so that sounds like it's ultra disrupting to their life, but ultimately it's a really simple change that just alleviated all the risk and all the stress, right?

And so I'm not saying, my answer is don't train the dog. We actually did train the dog and he did amazing. Um, he learned to make much better choices. He learned to follow his handler's instruction. Um, he learned to feel less anxious around people he doesn't know, but he's not out in the front yard waiting for a stranger to walk in and do something crazy and make him uncomfortable, <laugh>, that that had to change. Um, and things are great now, you know? And another example is a lady that had three fighting dogs in her house.

11:00 — An owner with three fighting dogs resisted crate-and-rotate despite increasingly dangerous conflicts.

Um, again, wonderful customers, um, but she didn't really use crates for her dogs. And, uh, she would keep them separated sometimes and sometimes not. Um, and these dogs were getting to a point where they were gonna kill each other.

Um, and the thought of crate and rotate to her, um, was just, it just didn't feel like an option. And she did have a crate. So, I mean, it's not that she was like morally or ethically opposed to using a crate. Um, but the idea of doing this crate and rotate operation where she would have one dog in the kennel, 'cause there was a male and two females, and the male actually got along okay, um, until a fight would break out. But it was the two females that really couldn't be together. And, uh, the thought of just rotating one in a kennel, one out, and then, you know, around and around, um, it just didn't feel good to her.

She didn't wanna do it. Um, and even if ultimately your goal is to get the dogs reintegrated living together, I mean, there's gonna be a period of time where these dogs need to be crate and rotate. Um, because you just can't, you can't allow them the opportunity to keep doing that 'cause it's just a setback every time. And it's dangerous. Once she did it and tried it, man, a few days of that, and she was like a, a different person because she, it just was so, it was such a different experience than she expected it to be.

And the stress was gone. The burden was gone.

And it was incredible. She was like, "Oh my God, this is life-changing." And again, we trained all of the dogs to a very high level of reliability. Um, and they did amazing. They put in so much work, um, and they did reintegrate their dogs to an extent. She wasn't super comfortable, um, having them together all the time. And I think that's a perfectly fine decision. Um, you know, there's a lot of specific trigger moments where there's high arousal, like when people are coming and going and, and that sort of thing. And so she still uses her kennel heavily, um, for times like that.

But a lot of times during the day, they're out together. They haven't had a fight in years. Um, and they're doing wonderful, wonderful. And when she called me, it was just over for them. They didn't know what to do.

Um, the fights were getting more frequent and they were getting much, much worse, just how those things usually work. But anyway, my point is it was just something she could not see herself doing. She really kind of fought me on it, to be honest, <laugh>. Um, but it really needed to happen. And it didn't take long for her to just realize how incredibly beneficial it was to all of them, right? Her dogs now felt safer and they were safer. She felt better. Um, she felt in control of things finally. And the days started to come off the calendar where there hadn't been a fight.

And, uh, they got through all their programs with their dogs and, and they're amazing. But so sometimes we just have in our head that we can't do these simple things for some reason, right? Maybe there is a big reason, like we're ethically opposed to it.

15:00 — Kati frames initial management as a starting point for building expectations rather than granting…

Um, we think it's mean, we feel guilty, right? But maybe it's just sort of, we have this idea of like why it won't work or why we are not gonna like it. Um, so you have to get out of your own way, <laugh> sometimes, right? And so let's talk about what these two huge, simple things are that I do that just changes things right off the bat. Now it's gonna sound a lot like management, and it is because it is management at first, right? But you can take it and you can build on it and you can make it expected, right?

You can, you can create expectations with your dog, but you have to start somewhere. And so this is where we start, right? And so there's no reason that folks at home can't do this too. So I just wanna share it, right? And this really is the magic of the board-and-train programs because the day your dog comes in, they're not autonomous anymore, right? So the biggest mistake people make, and I say this all the time, is they just give their dog too much freedom. Your dog is making all their own decisions. So what do you expect?

What do you expect? They're going to make decisions you don't like unless you do something to change that, right? And so that involves feedback, both positive and negative, but it also involves management at first and controlling things at first. So the number one thing we do in a board-and-train that's so wildly different from what people are doing at home is we put the dog in a crate <laugh>. So, and I've talked about this a lot in the past. I have a whole episode about Crate Magic, um, or Kennel Magic. But that's the biggest thing we do, guys, because it's not just when we're gone.

It's not just when we're sleeping. It's during, it's all the time that I am not doing something with the dog. They're in their crate. So I'm not saying that your dog needs to live in the crate all the time, but what I am saying is when you are entertaining guests or doing dishes or taking a shower or doing laundry or working on the computer or whatever it is that you're doing, your dog is just roaming around your house, being fully autonomous, wearing all those neural pathways of following all their impulses and doing whatever they want all day long.

And then when someone knocks on your door, or you go out for a walk and there's a dog, or whatever the case may be, your dog, why wouldn't they still continue to be in that mindset of "I'm autonomous, I make the decisions, I decide my state of mind, I look for things to do all the time. I look for things to get worked up about all the time," or whatever your dog's nature is. Um, because we're not doing anything to change that. We're not doing anything to say, "Hey, your life has structure and I actually make the decisions and I control space and we spend our days being calm and I want you to be here doing this," right?

So, and not necessarily forever either, right? Like I said, you can do things to create expectations over time, but you have to start somewhere. And so at the beginning of any good training program that is encompassing behavior and state of mind, there's gonna be some crate time when you are home and awake. There's going to be crate time.

19:00 — A trained place command can replace some kennel time while dogs remain near family…

<affirmative>,

Right? And then we really, really love our place command around here. Um, and once your dog has a good place command, like you can absolutely use that in lieu of the kennel a lot of the time, right? Especially if you're watching TV, working on the computer, cooking dinner. Like those are times your dog can be included, right? They can be in the area with the family, um, but they can still be contained on their place cot. And so that's a big part of the program. And right off the bat, that's why my life isn't chaos when the dog comes in because they go in their kennel and that's where they are until I'm ready to deal with the dog.

Then I go get them, we do our thing, we go out to potty, we do some training, maybe we're doing a walk, and then we come back in and the dog goes back into the kennel, right?

But at the very least, at the very least, if I've got contractors coming, if I've got guests coming over, right? If my dog's not trained and I need to spend all kinds of time trying to manage them or worrying about what they're gonna do, put 'em in the damn kennel. <laugh> I mean, you gotta get outta your own way. Um, but really making that kennel just a bigger part of your day. Yes, we want your dog to get attention. We want your dog to get exercise. Roaming around the house doesn't give them either of those things, okay?

Just for the record.

Those things are things that have to come from you where you are focused on the dog, right? So if you're doing other stuff, then you're not doing those things. So there's no reason your dog can't be in the kennel. Um, but it starts to also just teach the dog coping skills. How to be inconvenienced, how to be still and calm, how to be separate from you, how to not go inject themselves in everything. How to stop checking the window a thousand times a day. How to stop looking for shadows or lights on the floor or whatever neurotic behaviors your dog has, right?

The kennel helps to stop that stuff. It's just such an amazing tool for so, so many things. Um, you know, but even right now, what are you thinking? Are you thinking, oh, no, I can't do that. I don't wanna do that, right? You gotta get out of your own way, um, because you, you can't create change by just doing the same thing over and over and over again. And like I said, the key to really creating change is you have to control everything, at least in the beginning, right? Not necessarily forever, but so that crate will help you do that.

And then on top of that, when your dog comes out of the crate, you put on that leash and prong.

So you don't just call your dog out of the kennel and let them go haywire. So this is the other big thing, right? So these are all mechanisms that we use to control what's happening, which is so important early in any training program. If you don't control the outcome, then you can't teach what you wanna teach. So the way we control outcomes is we use our kennel heavily, and when the dog comes outta the kennel, they are on a leash and prong. That's important. Lots of good videos out there on how to use a prong collar.

22:00 — Kati describes closing and reopening the kennel door when a dog rushes out, then…

Mine included—videos on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook. Probably easiest to find on YouTube.

We bring the dog outta the kennel. We expect calmness, so they're not allowed to rush outta the kennel. If they do, I slam the kennel shut and then I reopen it. And if I have to slam it again, I will, right? And usually after a couple of times, the dog kind of sits back and looks up at you, nice and polite, and that's when I invite them out. And then I use a little leash pressure to get them to stay with me. Maybe they go into a sit with that leash pressure. Okay? Again, these are things, there's videos on these.

We make videos all the time. In fact, I'm overdue to do another one on the prong collar because it's been a while. Um, but it's important to have that level of communication. If you put your leash on a flat collar, you are not going to have the same level of communication with your dog.

You are not gonna have the same level of control. It's just not as effective. You guys, I'm sorry. You get, you gotta have that prong, uh, that's my opinion. Now, do you have to have a prong? No, but it's so much easier. It's like, why would I wanna do it without one? Um, it just doesn't make any sense. Um, and most people love, love, love them once they learn how to use them. So dog comes out calmly, maybe I get them into a sit or whatever when they come out using the leash. So I'm, I'm being quiet during all this too, so I'm not blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like yelling at the dog. People tend to be super verbal. Um, and dogs just kind of, it's just noise, noise, noise. Um, which is why I like the prong because then we can have that silent physical communication that's really, really clear.

And we develop like, just a whole different bond with our dogs and a whole different way of communicating with them that I think is so important. And it's, they pick up on it so much easier than us just quacking stuff at them all day, 'cause they don't know English. Um, so they come out, they're calm. Maybe they go into a sit. That's great. Then we walk outta the room. Now, if we go into the next room and the dog is plowing me over or trying to pull me, that's a good firm leash pop. That's not allowed.

You have to walk calmly, okay? Even if there's like people in the room and they're excited, nice short leash too, right? Short but loose. And if the dog starts yanking me or plowing me down, that's a good firm leash pop. You gotta learn how to deliver that leash pop.

25:00 — Kati avoids verbal sit commands at doorways because she wants dogs to respect boundaries…

That isn't something I can teach you on a podcast. But again, lots of videos out there. Um, so we expect calmness coming out of the kennel, walking through the house to the door, right? We get to the front door. It's the same thing. I never tell the dog to sit at the door. I do not give verbal orders at the door because I want it to be automatic. And that is so critical. I want the dog to know what the expectation is and to do it on their own. And my expectation for the record is not for them really to do anything.

It's just for them not to do the things I don't want them to do. Um, and that's huge, huge, huge. Hugely different than like, I want my dog to sit. Um, who cares if the dog is sitting? The truth is people just don't want their dog to plow them down, to pull them down, to run through the door.

Um, so just tell your dog not to do those things. And I know I've recently done an episode on that as well. Um, people tend to be very, very, very command heavy. And I, I love commands. We teach commands, we use them, right? But if your goal is to stop a behavior, if there's something you don't wanna see your dog do, you shouldn't be using commands for that, okay? That's gonna create a whole different mindset. So this, that sort of, I guess if there were a third thing we do in a board-and-train that makes a huge difference.

That's, that's it, right? We don't manage the dog with all kinds of verbal commands. We let 'em make choices and we give them feedback. And then in the end, what that does is it creates a dog that's on the same page as us. It's on the same wavelength, is very clear expectations, and is automatically very polite without being told to be, right? If I have to tell the dog to sit every time I go to the door, stab me in the face. Now, management, management, management. And the first time you go to the door and you don't say sit, they just run through the door.

<laugh>, no. Like, no, I wanna teach my dog they can't run through the door. So we're just gonna have that conversation, right? So we go to the door, they're not allowed to crowd the door. So I'm describing to you this whole process in detail. The big takeaway is the dog's on a leash. I'm controlling everything, right? But if you want the details, these are the details.

We go to the door. The dog is not allowed to crowd the door. So the second the dog walks up to the door and gets too close to the door, I say, "No." Firm leash pop. I walk the dog away from the door and we approach the door again. I will have the conversation again if we need to. Sometimes we have to do it a couple times.

And then the dog will not approach the door, but instead will usually look up at me. I don't care if they do or not, but that's usually what happens. So then I can open the door and this is the next step where we might have to have that conversation again. 'Cause the dog goes, oh, now I know not to walk up to the door when it's closed, but once she opens the door, I go through the door. No. So we, we're letting them make that choice at every step along the way. So as we walk away from the kennel, they're making choices.

And if they start pulling me, that's a correction. We go up to the door. If they crowd the door, that's a correction. If they don't crowd the door and they make a better choice, that's a good. Okay, I open the door. We let the dog make a choice. If they start to go through the door or they're too forward, meaning they're thinking, they're expecting, they're excited about going through the door, that's a no. Followed by a leash pop, a firm leash pop. One that actually gets the message across,

29:00 — Kati praises patient waiting at an open door and emphasizes giving feedback after the…

Right? If I open the door and they don't make a single move and they're being totally patient, just waiting, that's a good, right? So letting the dog make a choice and then providing the feedback, huge, creates a totally different dog. And I really believe just doing the things we've talked about here, people would have a completely different life with their dog. And the only tools required are a $40 prong collar, a leash, which presumably you already have, and a crate, which hopefully you already have, but you're never using it because you feel guilty. <laugh> Doing those things is going to alleviate a lot of stress for you because you're removing the opportunity for your dog to do the things that annoy you or scare you or irritate you or piss you off, or whatever the case may be.

Um, but it's gonna do more than that if you can do it effectively, right? 'Cause your feedback to the dog does have to be effective. If you don't know how to use a prong collar or you don't know how to give a leash pop that actually matters, um, then you're gonna be stuck more in a naggy zone. So it's important and it's a skill set. It'll take a little practice, and that's okay. Um,

What, you know, look for those videos and just practice and you'll get better. Um, it, it is a skill set set. It is a little bit of an art, but it will start to rewire your dog's brain to just have like a calmer wavelength, right? Going through the world. They'll just be a little more attuned to you and a little bit less nutcase, <laugh>, if you will, right? It just starts to wire. I'm a little less autonomous. I'm a little less crazy, right? I'm a little calmer. My owner is a little more relevant. Now, we have a different relationship now where I know my, well, who knew, who knew that my owner actually had some expectations.

Who knew that my owner would actually draw boundaries? Who knew that my owner had a spine of any kind? <laugh> That's what your dog would be saying. Um, but it doesn't, you know, people are like, oh, it's, you know, I don't wanna be mean. I feel guilty. It seems harsh. I don't wanna crush my dog. It's all, it's just, it's all imaginary harm. It's all the boogeyman.

It's all it is. Your dog is unruly and nobody is showing them a different way or drawing any real boundaries. And those things can be done very, very simply with a crate and a leash and prong. And you actually taking the initiative to do those things, to participate, to change your own habits, right? Because I think a lot of people even hearing this, if they start to think about it, they're like, oh no, I'm not gonna do that. Right? It's just, it's too much of a pain in the ass, or I'm not gonna enjoy my day.

Or that's not why I got a dog. Or it's like, okay, but you're not enjoying things now. That's, that's kind of the point. <laugh>, right? And I'm not saying everybody, right? But there are so many people in that boat, um, where their dog does things during the day that are, are either unsafe or they're just irritating and annoying, or they're contributing to the dog's own neuroticism and discomfort. Um, and we just, we just don't take these simple basic steps that can make a huge, huge difference. Um, and if, if you're doing these things effectively, um, it will start to change your dog's baseline, right?

And once you do that, then you can start to give them a little more freedom.

34:00 — Kati introduces an e-collar after leash work to extend trained behavior into off-leash situations.

Now, usually obviously with us in our training programs, we're adding an e-collar to all of this, which then gives us the ability to do a lot of these things without a leash after a little while, right? We always start with a leash. Um, that's really important because the dog isn't gonna know what to do with the e-collar right away. But we do recommend, um, layering an e-collar over this stuff, um, because it's just really practical and effective and efficient, right? But there's no reason you can't also just do it on a leash if you know how.

Um, and you can be effective enough to get these behaviors with just a leash and prong, um, and actually move away from it and be able to give your dog freedom, right? You have to know how to do that. Um, and most people don't. So it's like learn, you know, learn. The stuff's out there.

It's hard to find, but it's out there. Like I said, we have lots of videos out there. Hire a trainer, a, a trainer who actually understands, you know, the benefits of structure and the necessity of correction, um, with unwanted behaviors. So, so important. Um, we all, all make our decisions based on consequences. There, there is no, it's not just kids, right? I get that a lot. It's, oh, it's just like kids. It's like, yeah. And it's just like you and me too. Our decisions are all based on consequences. A hundred percent. We don't think of it that way, but it's true.

Um, I'm sure you can think of lots of things that you did today that maybe you didn't really wanna do, right? But you do them anyway, because if you don't, the consequences of that decision would just, wouldn't be tolerable. It's not worth it. So you do them, right? And vice versa. There might be lots of things that you wanna do but you don't. Right? Maybe I wanted to eat a whole chocolate cake <laugh>.

Um, whatever the case may be, right? Maybe I wanted to, uh, steal the Lamborghini parked at the end of the road or something. I don't know. But you're not gonna do that because the consequences would not be tolerable. Um, and also there's this thing called a, a moral conscience, right? But your dog just doesn't have that <laugh>. Your dog doesn't have that. So, but even that is still a negative consequence. It's like, well, I wouldn't be able to deal with the guilt. I would feel bad because I know, um, that somebody else's car and it belongs to them and they paid for it and it's important to them.

And, um, you know, if anyone found out, it would be frowned upon. Obviously I would be, um, ostracized from the community, all these things, right? It's like your dog doesn't have that. Your dog doesn't have that.

Um, so when we're talking about consequences, they have to be consequences that actually matter to your dog, right? Which is why people get into trouble with like dogs and babies. I was just having this discussion with someone the other day. It's like, your dog doesn't understand the gravity of hurting a child. And your dog doesn't love your baby. I'm sorry. I don't care how much he licks her face or, um, how he protects them from, you know, other people when other people come in, which by the way is not cute. Um, your dog does not love your baby <laugh>.

He just doesn't. He doesn't have that ability. He's a dog. Um, you know, lots of people with fighting dogs will say that, well, they love each other. It's like, no, they will kill each other. I'm not saying that they don't enjoy each other's company, um, or that they don't even have a fondness for each other, right?

But they don't love each other like a person can love another person or a dog. It's, they, they don't have that, right? They, everything is kind of in the moment. Um, and they just don't, they don't have that cognitive ability, that emotional ability, um, that humans do. So when we're talking about consequences, you need to use consequences that are appropriate for a dog, right? Which is why time-out doesn't work with dogs. I'm sorry, <laugh>, but that's, that's a human thing. That's not a dog thing. <laugh>. Um, yeah. So those are, those are the big things, guys.

Use your kennel. Use it when you're home and awake. Use it a lot more. Use a leash and prong when you take your dog out of the kennel. Put it on them, actually give them feedback with it. Using pressure and release, right? Guidance, using leash pops where necessary.

Like if they're pulling you down or crowding the door, jumping on people, you have to somehow start giving your dog constant feedback. I think that's the big thing here. So I'm giving you the specifics of how we do that. But the truth is, do it however you want. But effective feedback needs to happen. And the reason people struggle day in and day out is because that feedback isn't happening. The only thing they're doing is just yelling and blah blah, lying at the dog. And it just doesn't matter to the dog. Again, because your dog is a dog, right?

They don't understand English and they also just don't care. Most of the time. Some dogs even think it's fun to get a rise out of you. <laugh>. They'll do it on purpose. Um, you gotta make it matter to the dog.

And for behaviors that are unw, we're talking a lot about corrections because obviously for anyone that's struggling at home or wants things to change at home, it's because they are dealing with things that they don't like. They're dealing with things that they do want to stop or that they wish were different, behaviors they do want to eliminate. And the only way to do that is with a correction, is with a consequence that is intolerable enough that the dog changes their behavior. And that just isn't happening, which is why people get stuck in a rut living the same day in and day out.

40:00 — A dog tore at owners' clothing before walks and jumped on strangers after being…

I had a dog not that long ago who, um, every time his owners would like get ready to go outside and, you know, they'd put on like their winter jackets and everything and the dog would be all over them tearing at their clothes.

And then they'd take him out on a walk, take him off leash and he'd run up to people and jump up and tear at their clothes, jump up and took, took a lady's hat off her head. Um, and these are all things that are happening. One, that dog had too much freedom, right? He hadn't earned it. If he's gonna do stuff like that, he certainly can't be off leash. Number two, there's no, no feedback. Now, if you had asked them at the time before their training, I'm sure they would say that they were giving the dog feedback, but they were not.

They were just getting mad. That is not, that is not feedback that is going to work. That is not effective.

There needs to be a tangible consequence attached to that stuff. And that is why we have a different experience with dogs on day one. 'Cause we're controlling everything and we're giving the dog meaningful feedback, um, as the opportunities arise, right? So we're absolutely attaching negative consequences to all of those things when they happen. And then we're absolutely giving the dog praise or reward when they make a different choice, right? So we have that stark contrast, which is really, really important. Um, control everything and provide that contrast for your dog. Tangible negative consequences for unwanted behaviors, praise and/or rewards for better behaviors.

And you start to, that'll snowball over time, right? And before you know it, you have a dog that's just such a pleasure, such a pleasure, but that's it. So get out of your own way, <laugh>, get out of your own way, execute some of these simple things at home, um, that can make a huge, huge difference.

And, um, even if you can't or won't, I should say won't because there's no reason that anybody can't. Um, but even if you aren't going to do this to the full extent like we would here in a board-and-train, um, cer—almost certainly you can do more. You can do more. It's amazing how much people insist on putting themselves in the same situation over and over again, even though they know it's gonna be terrible. Like if they know their dog's terrible when company comes over, but they just keep doing it over and over and over again.

The crate's right there, man. Just put your dog in it. Um, and yeah, if you don't wanna do that forever, then that feedback has to be, has to be a part of things so that you can actually change things. And that's it. That's it for today, guys. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to next time.