I was at a conference and this attendee had a shirt that said “heeling is healing” and it’s one of the truest things in life.  A dog heeling next to you is like the sensation when you’re cutting wrapping paper and the scissors start to glide, or when you get done house work outside in the heat, you’re sweaty and smell like grass and you crack a cold beer. Ahhh. Namaste.  If you read my post about tools, you can deduce that a few types were created for the sole purpose of getting a dog to walk better on a leash.   Why is heeling such a difficult command for a dog?  I cannot answer that question without writing a formal dissertation so I am going to give a couple examples that hopefully resonate.  We aren’t talking about a formal heel or fuse for the sake of this discussion.  Just a nice, loose leash walk on a specific side of your choosing.  Has the dog ever been taught that pulling doesn’t get it what it wants? If you ever let your dog pull you part of the way to the dog park and then let him off the leash to run around as a reward, you have reinforced the #@&% out of that behavior.  The dog has learned that indeed pulling you around is EXACTLY how he gets what he wants.  That’s the number one reason I believe that dogs are poor walkers. They actually think they are taking YOU on a walk, not the other way around. There has never been a communication system that told them the rule is if you walk nicely on a leash then you’ll be able to sniff around and enjoy the outdoors. How’s your engagement with your dog? If your dog doesn’t have a strong foundation where she knows that engaging with you will get her the things she wants, you are dead to her.  Her senses are going crazy, she’s got smells to smell and things to look at and if she isn’t look at you in the slightest, how can she know where you are to walk alongside of you?? Do you have the same path you walk with your dog most days? Dogs are exceptionally routine creatures and they learn to associate things together and create patterns very quickly.  Anticipation can be a great thing when working advanced obedience or sport dogs, but it can be a real pain for pet owners.  If your dog knows where they’re going, where the great smells are, which dog will bark over the fence at them, etc. you are really going on THEIR walk.  They know that space so well and now you are going to be getting jerked around while they take you on crazed smelling spree.  At Magnus we address heeling the same way we start with any behavior, at the beginning. We teach your dog commands, engagement, confidence, and then heeling comes as part of that.

It’s a rainy and cold day and you’re worried your dog is going to go stir crazy and cause a ruckus if you don’t fulfill her somehow.  Fear not, mental stimulation is even more exhausting for dogs than physically exercise is.  Like humans but even faster, dogs increase their endurance with every walk or run they take.  Getting exercise is important for your dog’s overall health but do not write off the power of mental stimulation and everything it does for a dog. Getting your dog to think creatively in your house can demonstrate that the house isn’t just a place to relax, rather it can be an arena of unlimited games and puzzles- both of which dogs love.  Recently I had a client say that their dog figured out one of those treat mazes rather quickly and they were disappointed about how to stimulate their dog next.  I said “why not create your own mazes?”  The thing about us creating the rules is that there is an endless games we can create and what’s better about you doing it is it strengthens your bond with your dog.  You’ll see I touch on that a lot.  When your dog understands that the two of you can go through stress together, or when she sees that you are in charge of a reward for figuring out a game, your relationship will flourish.  Don’t minimize the impact that mental stimulation can have on your dog. 

We cannot command those we cannot care for.  There is a husbandry aspect to dog training that I really like.  It’s another topic that fits under “ways to strengthen your bond with your dog” in my mind.  Also who doesn’t love to be told that your dog is good looking?   Here are some questions to ask yourself whether you CAN do them- does your dog allow you and DO you do them- do you prioritize them:  Maybe you were reading along fine until number 3 and then your heart rate spiked.  Nails, the dreaded nails.  Whether your clipping them or using a dremel, I would say less than 50% of my pet owning clients tend to their dogs nails.  There is a knowledge gap for sure but usually people are uncomfortable because they know their dog doesn’t like it.  Maybe you’ve seen all the videos about wrapping your head in Seran wrap and lathering it with loads of peanut butter so you can trim your dog’s nails.  Working towards a place where you can trim your dog’s nails is a great goal and one that a reputable trainer can help with.  And that goes for all of these numbers.  You might think “why would I need to pick my dog up?”  Well you don’t know until you’re in a situation that is probably an emergency and let me the first to say that in a panicked situation where your dog has never been held, you aren’t going to walk away unscratched.  Everyone in Colorado (where I used to live) hiked with their dogs, so it was imperative people practiced in case their dog got wounded on a trail.  It’s another form of trust and a stress inducing situation where you and your dog work through it together and come out on the other side even stronger.  Your dog should allow you to pick them up without pushback.  You know who does animal husbandry really well?  Horse owners.  If you’ve ever ridden a horse than you know there is a lengthy setup process that involves brushing, looking at the hooves, and the same is said after a training or horse ride.  It’s part of the relationship with the horse and it helps form a connection to this giant animal where you get onto their back.  Why should the same not be true with animals who live in our house and are maybe even sleeping in our beds?

Before you purchase a piece of equipment to put on your dog, think about what you are trying to communicate and what you’ll most likely use that piece of equipment for. Are you going to be going on walks where you want your dog to walk with a loose leash?  Is your dog pulling you on a bike?  Will your dog be walking alongside your stroller?  Different tools were invented for different purposes, many of those biological.  And seeing that I want to relieve all dog owners of stress created by their dogs, let’s unpack each one as to not add unnecessary confusion and frustration to your relationship! Flat collar- Form of identification, things like name tag, rabies vaccine.  Also tells a dog they can pull into this collar.  Back clip harness- Originally created for sled dogs, these harnesses were made to tap into the oppositional reflex of a dog – when you pull back, the dog wants to go forward.   Front clip harness- Created to stop dogs from pulling on the leash.  Unfortunately, the long term effects of a front clip interrupt the dog’s gait (walk) and often leads to joint and muscle damage.  Imagine every day of your life you had to walk with someone pulling your right arm slightly behind you.  My back hurts thinking about it.  Gentle leader- This is the leash that goes around the dog’s nose and neck to prevent them from pulling.  This leash is fairly effective, but I personally do not like interfering with the dog’s most precious sense, their smell.  I don’t like that we are taking the part of their body that sticks out in front and yanking them around instead of teaching them how to walk appropriately.  Slip leash – A proper slip is fit snugly against the top of the dog’s neck and has a stopper so the slip leash cannot come down from a certain position.  It still needs to be loose enough for the slip to tighten once pressure is applied from either the dog or the handler.  Slip leashes when trained properly allow us to build an incredible communication method with our dog.  Prong collar – Above I mentioned that some tools were developed with science and biology in mind and the prong is one of those.  Have you ever seen very young puppies engaging with their mother while eating?  She picks them up with her teeth by their scruff and moves them around.  Occasionally one might pinch the mom’s teet a little too much and she gives them a swift correction with a snap of her teeth against their bodies.  They learn from day one what a “correction” feels like.  The prong has the ability to mimic that sensation. Tools are not the communication device.  Tools need to be taught to a dog via a communication system.  There is no tool in this world that I use with a dog where I put it on them or bring it into the training space and say “Well, here you go!  Everything will work perfectly now.”  That’s why I often disagree with any collar or leash that is supposed to work well by just “putting it on”.  Do people abuse prong collars?  Do dogs choke themselves out on regular flat collars?  Absolutely.  I have seen dogs in distress with every collar in the book.  The KEY TAKEAWAY is Does that dog understand what that piece of equipment is for and how to work harmoniously with it.  Do they understand what is expected of them when the owner pulls on a leash in a certain direction? Can they make that annoying sensation go away??  Often, the answer is no. 

Not long ago I had an opportunity to observe and train with a litter of Malinois puppies in Colorado.  These pups were getting sent around the country to participate in various jobs and hobbies: some personal protection, some sport, some pet dogs.  At 6 weeks old, they were starting to develop personality, at 8 weeks they were showing their individuality and personality and they were eager to start working.  So we got to work. A clicker is a device that makes a consistent loud “click” every time a handler presses down on it, no matter how firm or how long, the sound is the same.  It’s a solid tool for any pet owner to introduce to a dog that eventually will mean “good job, come to me for food.”  It can be used in a variety of ways for advanced obedience but for puppies at 8 weeks old, they are learning that every time they hear that sound, it means food is on its way.  Any dog being introduced to a clicker has a very easy week ahead of them: click, food, click food, rinse and repeat.  That is a form of Classical Conditioning:  when an unknown marker is paired with a known marker.  At the beginning of clicker training, the click doesn’t mean anything to a dog, so we teach it through a fool proof process that each time you hear this noise, it means something- in this case food.  A clicker is also known as a marker, something that “marks” a behavior was done. When I work with clients, we interchange a clicker and the word “yes” so owners have a way to say to their dog, good job, come to me for food, without having the clicker in hand.  Trust me, when learning to train a dog, it sometimes feels like patting your head while rubbing your belly with all the coordination and timing that’s needed.  But good training takes time and with an expert trainer, you soon gain confidence to feel like an expert owner!  I tell clients to think of dog training like learning a second language, both for you and your dog. It takes commitment and constant practice but once you have the basics down, it’s easy to “form sentences” and start building strong behaviors in your dog. To introduce the clicker and show the pups that it’s valuable (“loading the clickers”) I would Click then give food, click food, rinse and repeat.  3-4 times a day with their meals for a day is all it took these smart pups.  I was trying to build a reflexive response where once they heard that noise, they immediately turned to me with the expectation of getting food. Once they demonstrated that behavior, I moved on to shaping.

If you work with Magnus K9, and many other professional trainers, you will hear that crate training your dog is a requirement.  So you’re saying that you will not work with clients who do not put their dogs in a crate? That is what I am saying.  Let me explain why and hopefully you will be convinced! Safety This is above and beyond the most important reason for crating your dog.  Dogs can get into just about anything in the house- we know they are stealthy creatures.  Dogs’ behaviors are also constantly ebbing and flowing day by day.  There is almost no guarantee in this life that just because a dog hasn’t done something, doesn’t mean he won’t.  I could never with full certainty say to someone “Well he knows he isn’t supposed to counter surf so I will leave him at home for hours with a few steaks on the counter because I know him.” Absolutely not.  He is still a dog!  Our homes are full of objects that are deadly for dogs and throughout my career I’ve seen and heard of some totally unassuming murder devices dogs have gotten into.  Things that have seemed harmless, like a water bottle for example, dogs have digested and either it was fatal, or the owner now had a few thousand dollar bill on their hands.  Where is your dog when it travels with you in the car?  This topic gets sad pretty quickly so let’s just remember that if we as humans are buckled up in the car because we care about our lives, why are we not treating our dogs the same? One other note about safety that I like to remind owners.  If your dog has to go to the vet for any sort of procedure or extended stay, they are putting your dog in a kennel/crate.  If the first time your dog has to be in a crate is also during a traumatic and highly stressful situation, you may have a long recovery ahead of you.  They actually like it!? When our son was first born and everyone in the house was starting to realize that crying was now part of our lives, I’ll never forget this one day that Onyx just got up off the floor and went to the other room to lay in his crate.  It still makes me laugh.  He was like “yeah, I’ll see you guys later but I would prefer some peace and quiet.”  He wanted a place that was all his own and he had that established. There was a study conducted that showed where dogs go organically when there is an extreme disturbance like an earthquake.  Do you know where they go?  The bathtub.  A tight, smaller space that provides them a feeling of some sort of security or comfort.  They like that feeling and it’s exactly the environment we want to create.  Management This is critical for your success as a happy dog owner!  We cannot supervise our dogs all the time and seeing that you’re spending lots of time and money on dog training, I don’t want your progress to go backwards!  The fastest way to kill dog training is lack of management.  If you are working on your dog not scratching at furniture but you leave her out when you go to the grocery store, how could you ever keep her from doing just that?  A lot of clients come in trying to break their dogs of bad habits.  Let’s say for example that you are a cigarette smoker, you are trying to quit, and your partner is very supportive of doing everything they can to help you.  Each afternoon your partner leaves you alone in the house and they put a fresh pack of cigarettes on the counter in plain sight.  How are you supposed to not indulge?!  There is no accountability and you’ve been provided the exact source that’s problematic.   That’s what leaving your dog out to wander the house freely is to them.  “Why would I NOT” do that bad behavior.  Enjoying Life  A mental health professional told me this quote I’ll never forget:  Boundaries exist to strengthen a relationship, not to weaken it.  That has really changed my perspective about the way I go about many things, one of them is training dogs.  If you haven’t experienced it yet, there will be many times in your life where it is for the good of everyone around you to have your dog put away in a safe and comfortable environment.  It might be when guests are over, it may be when a friend wants to bring their dog who isn’t super friendly.  If you’re like me, it might be at the end of a long and exhausting day when I put my son to bed and I think, “I just want to be completely left alone right now.”  Those boundaries make it so I don’t get frustrated at my dogs for a silly reason.  It is great balance and equates to a long and happy relationship for you all.   It also means that I get to bring my dog tons of places because as long as I have a crate for him, he gets to visit new spots and I don’t have to worry about any safety concerns.

Why does my dog sit by the back door perfectly and then when I tell it to sit, it doesn’t? Why does my dog carry its food bowl to me but if I ask it to hold something, it looks at me like I am crazy? Why the barking? Why the leash pulling?  Why? Why? WHY?? We as humans do this thing where we create stories and try to rationalize our dogs behavior when we don’t know what’s actually going on.  “Oh he is whining because I left the room, he must miss me.”  It’s natural and we fill in the blanks because many of us have no idea, but we think we might know what’s going on in our furry friend’s mind.  “Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals.”  It’s where we as humans make up stories to explain why the dog does what it does.  It’s a topic that’s discussed a lot with scientists and advanced dog trainers. It’s an important point I discuss with my clients because once you break yourself of this habit and understand actually WHY a dog does what it does, your training will excel. Here’s the real answer: a dog does what it does to better its situation and to find its advantage.  It wants to feel good, it wants to avoid stress. It’s that simple. In any behavior your dog taught itself, it did it to better its situation or to find better, more positive feelings.  An easy example of this is when your dog comes inside from playing on a hot day and lays in a specific spot in your house.  Maybe it’s in a room with a fan or near your AC vent.  That dog taught itself that when I pant a lot, I can get relief from some air source and that made her feel good!  Once you start looking at every annoying behavior your dog does from this angle, you will start to feel a lot less frustrated.  Next time your dog grabs your shoe and takes off for the back bedroom, instead of getting instantly angry, try to think what’s the cause and effect that’s making that dog think it is bettering its own situation to make off with your shoe?  What’s your usual reaction when things like this happen?   Now the big question in dog training is HOW do we help a dog find its advantage?  That is the secret sauce and where I start with all clients who train with me.