Angry Chihuahua growling, 2 years old, in front of white backgro

Small Dog, Big Problems. What Would You Do?

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Sometimes big dog problems can come in small dogs. “Turning around” this little dog proved an interesting challenge. Let’s take a look at this family dog problem, then tell me your solutions below.


Details of the case

 

Julie and Bart are in their late 20’s and have been married for 4 years. Both Julie and Bart work.

They live on the 4th floor in a one bedroom apartment, condominium style with concrete hallways and elevator lobbies giving them access to their project’s public dog run/park or outside for walking.

Bart’s family had a dog when he lived at home. This is Julie’s first dog.

Their dog Mackie is a 3 ½ year old male, Chihuahua that was acquired at 6 months of age shortly after they were married. Mackie is neutered.

Mackie broke his leg when they first got him when he accidentaly fell off their bed and landed wrong on the hard concrete. The rehabilitation time took a while so he was given “extra love and affection.”

Because of his injury early on and his size, Julie and Bart decided to forego dog obedience training. Mackie spends most of his inside time on the couch with Julie or sitting next to Bart in his recliner. He sleeps with them as well.

Mackie was also not socialized around other dogs.


Problems Presented


1. Mackie is very clingy.
2. Mackie barks at dogs and people in hallways, elevator or stairs.
3. He is aggressive towards dogs and people in the project’s public dog run so they avoid going there.
4. He is the same way on walks in public.
5. He is even worse when anyone other than their parents come over to visit.
6. Starting to exhibit some separation anxiety when they leave.
7. Julie and Bart can’t hire a dog walker so Mackie uses a pee pad during the day while they are at work.


Additional Discovery at Their Home on the First Lesson


1. Mackie is actually fearful of dogs and people. His bossy temperament causes him to use aggression as a tactic to scare them away.
2. He will also “perch” on a box seat window and bark at people walking by and charge the door barking when hearing footsteps in the hallway allowing him to rehearse his territorial aggression.
3. Mackie is very food treat motivated and he devours his food.

 

Open Discussion

 

How would you approach Mackie’s training? If you would like, share your thoughts below and let’s get a discussion going.

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 9000+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, dog owners do that influence that dog behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and experience in mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business.

Curated selection

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Dog Trainers and Veterinarians

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Dog trainers and veterinarians are like peanut butter and jelly. They just go together.

 


Even though it is a rather natural relationship, as a dog trainer you still need to understand how to market your dog training to your local veterinarians.

Marketing your dog training business to veterinarians used to be as easy as dropping off a box of Shipley Donuts well before they opened up.

The front desk staff was more than happy to take your business cards, brochures and of course, your box of donuts!


Not Any More


Back then the information you left behind was all about you. Now we need to think more about helping the veterinarian help their client.

While the staff will probably still take your box of donuts, you should leave useable, easy to distribute information like “5 Critical Tips on Starting off Right with Your New Puppy or Dog.”

This is great for your vet to hand out and makes them look good to their clients. Win – win.


How Do You Handle Your First Visit to a Veterinarian?


When I first started my dog training business, I already had a relationship with my own veterinarian, so I decided to start there. I figured I have a better than average chance of getting a “yes.”

Even if you don’t have an established relationship with a veterinarian, there are many ways to plan your marketing approach. Here are 3 approaches I’ve used before.


3 Ways to Get Into the Veterinarian Community


1. Drop in and introduce yourself to the front desk staff and ask to leave your branded brochure. Make SURE you have your website link on there!

2. You can ask to speak with the office manager and offer your branded brochures to her and ask to speak at their next staff meeting.

3. When a vet refers to you, be sure to give the vet progress reports.


Drilling down on these approaches


Dropping in on the front staff:

I’ve never been good at cold-calling on businesses, trying to peddlewares or services but that was before dog training. As a dog trainer you and I are passionate about dogs. Dogs make it easy to begin showing the benefits of the information in your brochures. Don’t you agree?

This is important: some vet clinics are very small with limited space for waiting clients, often just chairs with no tables while others are spacious.

For a clinic with just a few chairs in their reception area and only a very small stand up check in/out station (no room for even business cards) you might suggest your brochures could be good stuffers for puppy packages. Most vets give these to new puppy owners. Or suggest they could be left in the exam room for the veterinarian to give out.


Speaking with the office manager:

If you can sit down with the office manager, talk briefly about the benefits their clients would get from your brochure. As you nourish that relationship offer to speak to their vets on any topics that would be helpful to them. Keep your presentation to 20 minutes.

Offering to bring free pizza or sandwiches/chips would be a nice gesture – depending on what you can afford.


Giving progress reports on a client’s dog to the referring veterinarian:

If you have dropped off brochures and the veterinarian has referred a client and dog to you, keeping the vet up to date on the dog’s progress is a great way to boost their confidence and referrals to you.

Once you get your foot in the door, monthly visits will keep your face in front of the staff. Try to do mid-afternoon when they are the least busy.

Don’t forget to say thanks for the referral. I’ve used Thank You note cards printed with my business name so that I can hand write a special note of thanks!

 

Here’s a Bonus Tip for You


Refer your new clients to the vet! In fact, I use my “thank you note cards” just for that occasion. If one of my new clients is looking for a veterinarian, I’ll sit right down at the end of the lesson and write a short referral note on the card to the vet I recommend:

“Doctor Cooper ~ This will introduce Mrs. Smith and her new dog Max.”
Sincerely, your name & website URL

I then give it to my client and ask her to hand it to the veterinarian on her first appointment.

Remember, it’s a two-way street. Referring a new puppy or dog client to vets may be one of your most powerful tools along with your Internet marketing.

 

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 10,000+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, dog owners do that influence that dog behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business

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Dog Training Objectives Keeping Clients on Their Toes

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Dog training objectives, or as I like to call them, attainable goals, need to be set immediately after you have evaluated the clients, their dog and other environmental influences.

The key is to guide the dog owner to set their own achievable goals. By doing this, you:

  • Get them to commit to doing the work.
  • You have not set dog training objectives that the owner might feel are unreasonable or unattainable.
  • Help the dog training goals become more attainable for the owner if the owner sets them.

Your responsibility is to gently guide them into setting their own goals.

Let’s take a look at how this could be accomplished up front at the beginning of your first lesson.

Setting dog training objectives

It’s really very simple. You just ask the client to set them – similar to the following example:

Suzie and Dave’s dog Rover jumps on house guests. It might go something like this:

“Now that we have a clear understanding of Rover’s issues, let’s move forward and talk about a solution to his jumping problem.
I’d like to start with you Suzie. Give me a visual picture of how you would like Rover to act.”

Suzie might respond something like this: “I’m not sure. I just want him to be a nice dog and quit jumping.”

To which you could respond, “I understand but what exactly would you want him to do other than jumping?”

Suzie might answer, “You mean like a sit? I really don’t care if he sits or not as long as he just comes up and gets a pat on the head and then went away.”

And here’s where you begin to set your attainable goals by replying, “I think that sounds both reasonable and possible.”

You would cover each and every issue they brought up with Rover in that way – by getting them to set their own attainable goals.

The next step: Setting a Schedule

Once you have established your behavioral objectives (attainable goals) there is one more thing on the agenda: Setting a schedule.

The schedule is based on two things: how much daily training the owner will commit to doing; and, based on your evaluation of Rover and his owners, how long (in weeks) you would recommend they work him to reach their goals.

Example: Rover should stop jumping in two weeks or three weeks.

Each dog behavior problem for which they set their own attainable goals will require a time schedule. The time schedule and the amount of time they are willing to commit in training will dictate the number of lessons.

I find that in most cases involving jumpy dogs, very little structure has been set and even less consistent daily training (beyond a big-box store group class) has been done. This leaves much to do with all the basic commands to be properly re-taught to Rover.

Now you are in the driver’s seat with your client setting their own attainable goals. And with your guidance on training time, they estimate about how many weeks they need to do the work.

You have of course, already laid out a program of leadership (learn-to-earn pets and praise) as well as scheduled obedience training sessions daily as foundation work for all your behavior modification work you will guide them through.

In summary

Hopefully you have been able to form a kind of mental framework on lesson-setting: Attainable goals and schedules set by your client that don’t need justifying.

By asking them the right questions in the correct manner, they’ve indirectly said, “Here’s what I want and I think I can do this in 6 weeks (if that’s your time table for all the issues.)

With a few exceptions, most clients are excited to begin with this new training – and for all the right reasons.

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 10,000+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, dog owners do that influence that dog behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business

Dog Trainer Dilemma: What Would You Do?

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Every now and again I am presented with a dog trainer dilemma, a seemingly overwhelming task to perform. This particular dog trainer dilemma was “turning around” a mismatched owner-dog relationship.


Here are the details of the case


Mr. and Mrs. Smith had had numerous German Shepherd dogs – all males – during their 50 years of marriage.

They were veteran dog owners to say the least.

They were both 75 years of age.

They had been without a dog for some time when they acquired their last male German Shepherd puppy at 8 weeks of age. They named him Buddy.

When Buddy was 4 months of age, Mr. Smith suddenly passed away leaving Mrs. Smith to deal with raising a new puppy.

She decided to keep the puppy for companionship and fulfill her commitment to Buddy.

Additional discovery revealed the following about Buddy as a puppy:

  • Buddy was fed a grocery store variety dog food
  • Buddy was walked on a flat buckle collar and 6’ leash
  • Crate trained and loved his crate.
  • Crated at night and when Mrs. Smith left the house.
  • Buddy was very food treat motivated.

But, at the bossy age of 6 months, Mrs. Smith was faced with the following dog behavior problems:

Buddy began to challenge Mrs. Smith which presented the following dog behavior problems:

  1. Being very mouthy with her
  2. Jumping on her
  3. Destructive with couch pillows, magazines and her shoes.
  4. Leash pulling and biting the leash limited him to a short once a day walk

Joining a dog obedience class was a fiasco because she was unable to control him around the other dogs.


Your dog trainer dilemma

Sometimes the dog size, strength and temperament is such a mismatch with the owner’s size, capabilities and intestinal fortitude that you feel obligated to suggest re-homing the dog. On the other hand it’s not easy to come up with the best way to present that option – especially without first working with Mrs. Smith and Buddy.


So, what would you do to help Mrs. Smith?


What would you recommend as solutions to the following 3 dilemmas? Let’s talk about this in the comments section below.

  • A quick-fix to immediately get Buddy under control in the house
  • One thing you would teach her to get better behavior in the house
  • Easier walking solution to increase control and walking time outside

As always, I am interested in in helping you and hearing what you have to say.

Dog Behavior Fix: Pointing the Finger Sometimes Works

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Dog behavior problems like separation anxiety can be extremely difficult to work through, especially if the client is not on board. To solve the problem, the client must understand their role in both causing and solving the dog behavior problem.

 

This client’s journey started like all the others – a phone call to the office with Leila taking the call.

 

I remember Leila talking to me about this lady and her unwillingness to think beyond “putting something on the dog” to fix the barking.

She and her husband had recently moved from a house outside of town to an apartment in central Houston. The dog was now constantly barking and whining whenever she left the apartment.

Her neighbors had already registered complaints with management. The pressure was on to figure out a quick way to resolve the problem.

 

I think it’s because he’s adopted

 

 

The dog owner was convinced the separation anxiety was due to the dog being adopted. Regardless that she had had the 4 year old dog for over 2 years.

Leila explained how separation anxiety developed with her dog by her constant doting when she was there and then no attention when she was gone. She still refused to connect herself with being part of the problem.

Unsure about what to do she hung up to think about it.

The next day, she called back to book a series of lessons. She wanted to understand why her dog was like this and more importantly, how to fix her dog’s separation anxiety.

On the first lesson I could tell that her dog was extremely needy. I asked her to notice how he had placed himself between her feet and pawed at her for attention.

I also pointed out that each and every time he came up to her she felt obliged to pet and stroke her dog.

As I began explaining about the affects of constant doting, I could see that she was somewhat hard-pressed to buy in to this explanation until ….. I said, “What if we do an experiment? Each time Buddy comes up to you during the one hour lesson – and you pet and stroke him, I’ll simply point my finger at Buddy? Fair?

She was amazed at the number of times (even with my forewarning) she touched, stroked and petted Buddy.

I explained that if she factored in the number of days she did this purposefully or subconsciously over the years, can she now see how needy Buddy is for her affection and attention?


Take-Aways


Here are some Take-Aways from Buddy’s separation anxiety case.

  • Sometimes simple works. It took the simple gesture of me pointing my finger at Buddy for her to “click” to the realization that indeed, she was the cause of his anxiety.
  • Granted, not all dogs are as needy as Buddy. But then they probably would be less inclined to develop separation anxiety. Buddy on the other hand is extremely needy and had developed separation anxiety.
  • When she changed her attitude about the cause of Buddy’s separation anxiety and took ownership of her mistakes, that’s when I knew she was on board 100%. The program could actually progress from that point forward.
  • The real work would require rebuilding her relationship with Buddy: a relationship based on learn-to-earn praise (sit for pretty much everything) and creating much more social distance with Buddy. That simply meant consciously not petting Buddy every time he approached for attention.
  • Another phase involved confidence building in Buddy. Buddy didn’t feel as if he had control of his environment when his mom left. Teaching Buddy he can have control of his environment because what happens to him is simply a function of what his does. One of the most effective means of confidence building is positive reinforcement based training in general and, in particular, free-shaping. Have you ever heard of 101 Things to Do with a Cardboard Box?

The last part, and the real time consuming part, is desensitizing Buddy to all the departure cues as well as his mom’s leaving, starting in the home.

The interesting thing is I doubt we could have proceeded at all or with any degree of success without Buddy’s Mom on board by taking ownership of her mistakes.

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 8700+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business.

Dog Behavior Problem: A Case Study

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This is a case study on a dog behavior problem.

Daisy Mae, a 3 year old Golden Retriever (adopted from a rescue group at 6 months of age) was fearful and reactive to people – mainly men

Here is a brief excerpt from my evaluation file giving you some background on the owner and her dog.


Background: This includes a snapshot of how owners view their dogs – a critical part in the solution.

Katie’s relationship with her 3 year old Golden Retriever, Daisy Mae, started off to be “a perfect love story” or so Katie thought. But her love affair with Daisy Mae, the perfect dog was about to go south when Katie met Brent, her soon-to-be fiancé.

Katie’s previous Golden Retriever was a near perfect dog. Like most dog owners, Katie naturally set her expectations high for Daisy Mae based on the great dog she had before.

Daisy’s issues had some fear issues: What Katie liked about Daisy was her sweet nature, even though she was a bit skittish around people, especially men. Katie didn’t let that bother her thinking Daisy would eventually grow out of it.

An obedience training class proved useless: At six months of age Katie took Daisy to obedience training and quickly discovered that instead of helping Daisy get used to people, it actually made things worse because it was not a controlled environment – too many dogs and people too close.

Katie noticed Daisy seemed frightened of people approaching to pet and in fact, snapped at them before slinking away behind Katie. This was alarming to Katie so she quit her dog obedience class.

Daisy’s lack of socialization worried Katie but the most troubling concern was Daisy’s fear of people – especially men.

No structure for Daisy: Because of Katie’s busy schedule and Daisy’s picky eating habits, Katie began to leave Daisy’s food bowl down all day while she was at work thinking she would eat when she got hungry.

Katie walked Daisy twice daily and the two of them usually relaxed on the couch watching television until bedtime. Like clockwork after the news it was a quick potty walk and return to the house for lights out and bedtime. Daisy slept with Katie and was usually the first in bed.

By the time Daisy was three, Katie and Daisy were pretty well bonded with lots of love and affection and very lite in the “structure and rules department.”

Then Katie met Brent.

Daisy’s fear hits home: Daisy was fearful of Brent even though Brent was kind, even-keeled and never raised his voice. Daisy began to react to Brent just like she reacted to people in obedience class. She would snap when he came close to her. Date night at Katie’s was miserable. Daisy had to be crated or shut in the bedroom when Brent came over. Since Katie didn’t like doing that she would meet Brent out at his car to avoid any confrontation between the two.

Katie and Brent finally got engaged but avoided the Daisy issue. Katie was worried that she might have to give up Daisy for a happy life with Brent. Their lifestyle was stressed and inconvenient. They couldn’t function like a normal couple with a dog.

The events leading up to – and immediately following – Katie’s call to me, put Katie on the hot seat almost having to make a “Brent-or-Daisy Mae” decision until they decided to give me a call.

Their call to me: I made sure they understood I wasn’t coming into their home to fix their dog. My goal was to teach and guide them to a humane and successful resolution to their dog behavior problem.

I made sure they understood that many dog problems simply don’t get resolved because the dog owner will not make the necessary changes to effect a positive change in their dog.

Some however do. Katie and Brent did. In fact, they did every single thing I recommended and, in time, it worked. They knew it would take time. Their wedding was one year away so they set that as their goal. It did take time. It took about 6 months.

The program that worked for them
(Keep in mind that this is an abbreviated version)

By this time Brent, Katie and Daisy had moved in together so it provided the perfect set up for them to get Daisy used to Brent. I recommended two things:

1. I recommended Katie slowly begin to distance herself from Daisy giving less and less social contact – even petting. With walking, Katie began to start the walks but then turn and go home and then let Brent do the walks by himself. Very hard for Katie to do but she did it.

2. Before Katie’s disengagement from Daisy, I had Brent start off clicking/treating Daisy off and on throughout the evenings and weekends. He slowly became the only source of treats and interaction. Brent eventually took over Daisy’s walking and then began feeding Daisy as well. When Daisy was comfortable with the feeding, Brent eventually put her on an earn-to-learn program (sit for everything) and began teaching her more dog obedience commands. Rules and structure was exactly what she needed.

Change is possible with many dogs with willing participants and a serious commitment to change. Role reversals like this (complete social distance from the original owner) where we diminished the value of Katie while building high value in Brent, works with many dogs.

I also find that some dog owners are not up to the task and find ways to compromise the program. They can’t stand not to interact with their loving pet. It is a personal decision - live with the dog behavior problem or fix the problem so I’m not judging.

While Daisy needed a lot of gradual socialization to Brent and other core family members using desensitization techniques, much could be achieved in confidence building through obedience commands as well. They learned that with Brent in charge of Daisy’s training and walking exercises, her progress accelerated more quickly.

Over time it did fix the relationship with Brent and Daisy. Katie couldn’t be happier. With the proper skills to desensitize Daisy to people, Katie and Brent set that as a long range goal working with core family and friends first and then gradually increasing Daisy’s circle of people she eventually liked.

Daisy is a lot less stressed now having rules and expectations in her life especially where love and affection is earned and balanced – along with everything else.

 

Reference article: http://www.petiquettedog.com/dog-behavior/loving-dog-truth-consequences/


Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 8700+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business

Dog Trainer Lesson Make Sure You Do Your Part

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Here is a dog trainer lesson for you. In doing dog training for 30 years, some things are obvious, but can be taken for granted, causing problems. I’m sure you will agree that it just makes good business sense to be sure you do your part towards helping your client resolve their dog problem.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

You should go into each and every dog training lesson with a positive mental attitude about the dog owner and their dog.

We both know there will be challenges with both to overcome, especially with the owner.

I have learned over my almost 30 years, that owners have certain expectations.

I have also learned these expectations might not and probably will not always be realistic when it comes to fixing their dog behavior problems.

Bear in mind that your client and their concerns about their dog should always come first. The last thing you want is a disgruntled owner that is dissatisfied with your efforts.

That’s why you must make sure you do your part on paper and in what you do on each and every dog training lesson.

I want to share with you what I do with each dog training lesson. This can help you make sure you are doing everything on your part and not have to learn the hard way.

 

First the challenges

 

I mentioned that there will be challenges with owners and their dogs. Here are just some of the challenges I’ve mentioned before and you’ve probably heard them too:

Owners believe:

  • The dog problem relates only to their dog (something is wrong with their dog.)
  • You will straighten out the dog and the problem for them.
  • The behavior modification program will center on their dog’s behavior.
  • Older dog owners are simply not able to physically handle their powerful dog

As unrealistic as these may seem, these owner expectations are very real in their minds and you must be prepared to handle these challenges.

It’s all part of working with people and helping them be as successful as possible.

In other words you will have to deal with these unrealistic expectations sooner or later.

Realize it will take consideration, thoughtfulness and a sincere desire to want to motivate the owner, your client, towards a humane solution to their problem.

You will find that many owners believe it’s actually the dog’s problem – not theirs. A good example of that would be how insecurities in an older dog that has now created a house soiling issue.

Many times the owner never understands how house soiling could possibly be connected to their constant doting on their dog. That is part of what builds their unrealistic expectations. It can be a challenge.

If gone unchanged, a dog owner’s interactions with their dog will perpetuate the very behavior about which they complain.

Covering your bases

 

Making sure I do my job always begins with the phone evaluation where we generally explain how my dog training program is set up. We don’t do in-home evaluations – never have, never would. That’s a discussion for another time.

We explain that The Program is set up in a series of step-by-step lessons. It outlines exactly what they have to do each and every day so that each lesson builds on the previous lessons helping them to reach their goal.

During the first lesson I reiterate exactly what they need to do. I physically show them how to do it. I critique how they do it as I observe how they train their dog and work on the problems of concern.

At a point during the first lesson I also mention the importance of daily progress and weekly reporting to me via email with questions if needed.

I end the first lesson by reviewing what we did during the lesson and leaving a written lesson plan specifically for them with related addendums as needed.

Follow up is important

 

The next day I send an email to my client summarizing steps to do which include sending progress reports to me and encouraging them to ask questions that may come up along the way. A gentle reminder of what I went over in the first lesson.

 

Brick walls

 

At times, work or personal related things that tend to hamper progress, do come up with a dog owner

You really do not want to get to the second lesson after not receiving any updates only to find that no progress at all has been made— it happens.

You may find that one or both of the owners have been out of town on business or worse they just didn’t do the work.

Sometimes owners decide to pick and choose what they feel comfortable doing and leave the most important work undone.

For example, if they have a jumping problem, they may choose to do obedience training on sit but fail to invite people over to do daily set-ups at the front door.

Your job is to develop creative alternatives for them to make it easier for them to succeed in resolving their dog behavior problem.

 

Some do, some don’t

 

Some dog owners pay you and do the homework, dog problem resolved. Others pay you and don’t do the homework then complain that the program didn’t work or that you didn’t fix their dog problem and want a refund.

This brings up my entire point: Make sure you do your part.

Do the best you can. Show up 5-10 minutes early and be prepared to stay a little over the hour showing genuine concern in helping them resolve their dog problem.

You will come across clients now and again that simply won’t do the work. These are the folks that potentially will complain. They are the ones that cannot or will not connect the problem with them. They will think it’s just a dog problem and don’t want to go to the trouble to do what it takes to create daily set ups to work on their dog problem.

These are the same dog owners that will reserve time on your calendar, cancel at the last minute not giving you time to rebook that billable hour. Contracts are important. Time is money. Make sure you do your part.

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 10000+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business

Dog Trainer Lesson: Out of Control Dog and the Power of Six

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As a dog trainer, you’ve seen an out of control dog before. You know, that bossy dog with no house manners.

I was on a coaching call with a new dog trainer who wanted assistance with putting a training program together for a client with a young, bossy out of control dog.

Here’s a list of some behavior complaints she got from her client:

  • Barking at the doorbell when it rings
  • Jumping on guests when they arrive
  • Jumping on their guests when they’re on the couch and,
  • Barking for attention

What her client needed was a dog training program to work her dog. This dog trainer needed a way to help her client organize and set goals for her dog’s training that she knew the owner would do.

The age-old question always comes up: “How much time is this going to take?”

This usually brings up a challenge for a dog trainer: Finding a way to motivate your client to want to do the work, wouldn’t you agree?

This trainer’s goal was to show her client how this will not take the time she thought it would take. And it will actually be fun! I thought I would share with you the tips I gave her.

Here’s what turned out to be part of her training program and ultimately her client’s roadmap to success with her dog.

The Power OF SIX

I told her to help her client discover the benefits of the Power of Six. I told her if she taught her client the value of developing these training attitudes, they would provide a fresh start and more quickly achieve their training goals. Her client would soon see just how quickly they could have a happy, obedient dog.

Let’s take a look.

 

6 Weeks of Training

 

Six weeks of training sets your client up for a lifetime of enjoyment with their dog. Let them know that it only takes 6 weeks of training to get their dog to learn any command and commit it to permanent memory.

Now I know what you are thinking, anyone can teach a sit in just a few days to a week, right? But their sit command will begin to break down as they add distractions or change locations or both. It’s the proofing or distraction work and weaning off food treats that takes time.

This is the one area where most of your dog owners will get stuck.

 

Train 6 Minutes a Day

Have them obedience train their dog 6 minutes a day…but break it down into three, 2 minute “rapid fire” training sessions daily (weekends included) on the commands of come, sit and down.

Training this way will prove to them, that it doesn’t take a lot of time to train their dog – just daily consistency. Tip: Always remind them to train on leash, even in the house. If they are motivated, they can certainly do more than 3 sessions a day. This makes what they want (a well-trained dog) an achievable goal.
Ask them - who doesn’t have 6 minutes a day for their dog? Watch the bad dog behavior problems disappear!

Teach 6 Principles of Dog Control

Teach your clients to implement the following 6 principles of control:

  • You can teach them that a simple sit will fix many dog problems like jumping and running out the front door.
  • Have them click and treat train their dog to give them an unquestionably great sit.
  • Their dog has probably already learned to sit, but may only sitting on his terms, or for a treat. Help them understand a clicker produces a consistent, clear, non-emotional sound that resonates with dogs. And it can only mean one thing: “Yes! That’s what I want!” Properly conditioned, their dog will become more focused on them than ever with clicker training.
  • Help them teach politeness and calm. Calm is good, noisy is not, especially at mealtimes. If your client projects calm energy, their dog will learn to be calm. Make sure they require their dog to calmly sit before he gets fed. He should also sit calmly to get leashed up for a walk.
  • Have them ignore their dog for 6 minutes before they leave and 6 minutes upon arrival when they get home. Then have them calmly call him to them and get a sit. This will tend to level out the dog’s emotional highs that contrast too sharply with his alone time.
  • Get them to require their dog to respect their personal space.

Explain this simply means that their dog should not just get up into their lap or on the couch (their personal space) without being invited. You should have them require a sit before he gets up. Explain that they are not denying their dog anything – just putting structure to what they are already doing.

Stress exercise for their dog’s mind and body. When their dog’s mind and body is tired, he’s less out of control. Make sure they take him on walks and do training every day to accomplish this. It’s a great way to relieve stress and anxiety.

Show them how to control their dog’s food. Explain that food has intrinsic value to their dog. Have them eat first, and then feed their dog. Make sure they require a calm sit first. Even with dogs that are finicky eaters, they will recognize the order in which they are fed.

6 Different Locations

Next step. Have them teach their dog sit, down and come at home in a distraction-free environment. Once he knows the commands, then they train their dog in 6 different locations for their distraction work.

Make sure that these locations are relevant to the owners and their lifestyle. If they frequent Starbuck’s, and need a good down/stay, make Starbuck’s one of the locations where they practice.

By the time they finish, they should be able to sit and down their dog as well as call him to them 6 times around distractions in each of these appropriate locations.

Of course they should require good manners from their dog everywhere, but these first 6 locations will get them started, right?

Emphasize the other benefits of doing this: A dog that listens.

Do this and you’ll have raving fans for clients!

 

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 10,00+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel t dog training, grow their dog training talents and their business.

Dog Training Clients Blind to the Role They Play

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As a dog trainer, how do you get dog training clients to “see the light” when they are blind to the role they play in their dog’s behavior problem? Have you thought about that before? It’s often been a challenge for me and for other dog trainers I coach.

My bets are it’s probably a significant and frequent question that comes to mind with some of your clients. I think there is a huge “gap” with many dog owners, between what their expectations are and what they think their dog should realistically be able to do in any context around distractions.

In order to better understand these dog owners, let’s try and break them down into different types of owners. Now you may be able to add more types but here’s a quick list of owner-types.

  • A first time dog owner
  • An owner whose first dog was a perfectly compliant dog and now has a dog that has a multitude of issues
  • An owners who gets a companion dog for purely selfish reasons
  • An absentee owner

If we can understand each type of owner and how they approach living with their dog, perhaps we can better understand how to help them see the light. Let’s take a look at these owner types:

A first time dog owner Many people get a dog and don’t know the first thing about dog ownership much less begin to read and learn about their dog once its home with them. Because they haven’t educated themselves, their approach is so unstructured, dog behavior problems surface. Their only logical explanation is that it is the dog’s fault. There must be something wrong with their dog.

An owner whose first dog was a perfect dog These owners get a second dog with the only thought in mind that the next dog will be, must be, as perfect as their previous dog. It never fails that when they raise the bar with these high expectations, they are setting their new dog up to fail. They forget that every dog (like children) is different and requires a slightly different approach to training. Their thinking stays with the logic of: “There must be something wrong with the dog.”

An owner who gets a dog for purely selfish reasons This naïve and selfish owner gets a dog to satisfy “only” their own personal needs of love and affection. Other than short, required potty breaks, their only needs are for their dog to love them. The dog becomes their couch cuddle buddy, television viewing buddy and sleeping buddy. They become inseparable. Dog behavior problems inevitably surface and once again this dog owner’s thinking turns to: “There must be something wrong with the dog.”

An absentee owner This owner takes no personal responsibility with providing structure in the home for their dog, training or solving the problems that inevitably surface when the dog tries to provide leadership in his own way. Their dog is usually sent off to boarding school for training with the thought: “That alone will fix everything.

Once my dog gets back home, he’ll be good as gold.” When behavior problems occur, the absentee owner will once again call the trainer in to fix the dog because, “There must be something wrong with the dog.”You can now see a common thread with each of these types as each looks to blame their dog for the problem. Regardless of the owner-type, getting them on a program doesn’t always guarantee they will work the program.

 

Reasons why dog training fails with clients


More often than you like and as hard as you try, dog training programs with your clients will fail for a number of reasons:

Failure reason #1: The dog’s behavior has not produced enough pain, embarrassment, frustration or stress to motivate the owner to fix the problem.

Solution/explanation: This is one of those sticky situations where dog training fails “even before it begins” because this owner makes excuses like, “He’s just a puppy. He’ll grow out of it.” Your job is to try to help them stop it before it gets worse.

Failure reason #2: A dog owner is not truly committed to keeping the dog and fixing the problem. There is only a “conditional acceptance” of their dog meaning: “They will only keep the dog if the problem gets resolved.”

Solution/explanation: Their dog can read them like a book and knows by their energy how they feel about him. Instead of saying, “I’ll only keep him if he stops soiling in my house,” or “If this doesn’t get fixed, he’s out of here!” They should make the commitment to unconditionally keep their dog – no matter what.

Failure reason #3: As far as the owner is concerned, there is something wrong with their dog, and the program will be centered on the dog’s behavior.

Solution/explanation: All behavior problems exhibited by dogs are stress-related and can usually be traced back to the relationship between the owner and the dog. It’s always something the owner “is” or “is not” doing. The more you understand how the owner’s emotions influence their dog and how stress is created in their dog’s mind, the more information you will have to motivate them to be a part of the solution, not the problem. They will also better appreciate the value of a good plan to fix their dog problem.

Failure reason #4: No consistency in working a plan to resolve their dog behavior problem. Many times I find that owners get lazy, put it off to the last minute or just don’t do the work at all. Sometimes owners tend to take an “ala carte” approach; that is, pick and choose the easy parts and avoid the challenging and critical work.

Solution/explanation: Teach them to be true to their selves and fair to their dog. Stress the importance of working the entire plan. Usually each part of the plan relies on the cumulative work done on all parts in previous weeks. Consistency and repetition breed habit in dogs. They should consistently and repetitively work the plan – all of it.

Failure reason #5: Not enough one-on-one exercise and obedience training with their dog. Dog walkers and big back yards tend to be more convenient.

Solution/explanation: Today time seems to be an even more precious commodity than even last year. We have less of it and often times are selfish with the free time we do have. If your client has made a commitment to own a dog, he deserves his fair and equal share of free time with his owner. Some owners will understand this and change. Now they can use it wisely to consistently exercise with their dog and do regular obedience training as well. Dog training and resolving problems in dogs for clients is no more or no less like anything else in life; results are directly related to the amount of time, attention, and perseverance your client is willing to understand and put into it. You can only do what you can do.


Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 9,700+ clients, and trained 20,000+ dogs, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business.

Dog Trainer: Why Do Your Clients Really Seek Your Help

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As a dog trainer, you know that your client’s dog behavior problem is emotionally upsetting to them. In fact, 99% of what goes on between your clients and their dogs is emotional.

Remember, your clients do not call you just because they think you can help them. On an intellectual level they know or hope you can fix what they think is the dog’s problem.

They are really looking to you for help because they are very emotionally upset about what their dog is doing. This is their motivation to call for help to fix their dog behavior problem!


Take the case of Ernie, the miniature Poodle


Every time Ernie nudges his mom’s hand, he gets picked up and doted on constantly. He also sleeps with her. Ernie really stresses out when she leaves the house to run errands or worse yet leave for work all day.


Here’s how is usually goes with Ernie


The stress and anxiety when “mom” leaves, creates tension. Frustrated by her absence, Ernie relieves his tension by chewing on a sofa pillow or something else with her scent.

This bad dog behavior then gets him punished when she gets home.

Since the punishment started, Ernie has also started to pee in the house.

You can certainly see why Ernie’s mom is emotionally upset when she finally calls you.

Ernie has become very insecure and unable to cope with being alone which is a very common problem. Ernie’s owner doesn’t understand the real reason why Ernie does what he does. How angry, emotional and frustrated she is, triggered the call to you.

She will eventually need to understand why because she will play the lead role in your program to put things right.


Fact-finding is really important at this time.


A good dog trainer will listen to Ernie’s mom talk about her dog. This will give you more information into how she might feel about putting a plan into action to correct the destructive behavior and the house soiling.

Fact-finding questions like these would reveal good information:

  • Where Ernie sleeps and how much time he spends with her on the couch during the evenings.
  • Does she require Ernie to earn anything like food, love and affection or getting on the couch with her?

 

These important facts will help you build a reasonable plan to help her achieve her goal.


You may find that during the telephone interview, she runs the full range of emotions talking about everything Ernie is doing wrong!

It may seem like a waste of time listening to her complain about Ernie. Some of what she repeats may even seem unrelated to the actual problem.

It is sometimes difficult to tactfully interrupt and get clients like Ernie’s mom back on track when she says something like, “When I got home and saw that couch pillow chewed up and scattered all over the house, I could have killed the little devil!”

At this point, it’s important for you, the dog trainer, to make sure she knows that you understand how she feels.


But it would be even more important for you to find out what she actually did about her feelings.


If you can politely interrupt, you could say something like, “I can certainly appreciate how you must have felt but how did you actually handle the situation with Ernie?”

Making sure she knows you understand how she feels is important. Keeping her on track with your fact-finding questions should be your main agenda.

You will fill your questionnaire sheet with facts of substance allowing you to put together a program to eventually fix her dog problem. Be patient as you very carefully separate her emotions from the actual facts.

Reassure her with comments like, “I can see how you felt, but what specifically did you do when you saw the chewed pillow and urine?”

You may find that you will have to repeat your affirmations and redirects continuously throughout your evaluation interview. But by doing this, you accomplish two things.


Let me explain

  • You will keep your client on track for further fact-finding and,
  • You will build an emotional rapport between you and your client.


I find that not all clients reveal their intentions during your initial evaluation so it’s a good idea to ask them what courses of action they have considered.

Using Ernie’s owner as an example you might say, “Have you thought about doing anything else to fix Ernie’s problem?”

Her answer to this question will better help you understand her level of commitment.

Some owners will glaze over everything you say with something like, “I just want to get it done in the fastest way possible.”

Owners seem to want to only fix the symptom and not worry about why.


Treat the cause – not the symptoms


Your client needs to know that it’s very important that you find the cause of their dog’s stress and anxiety and not just treat the symptom(s). That’s your fact-finding mission.


Let’s take a closer look


Here’s a good example of why that’s important: A dog has been put in the back yard because of a house soiling problem. Being separated from the family causes the dog much stress and anxiety.

This causes him to relieve his stress of being alone by barking. Putting a bark collar on the dog to quiet the dog is only treating the symptom. Not being able to bark to relieve his stress and tension might even cause him to find another way to find relief like being destructive.

But curing the house soiling (root cause of the barking) gets the dog back in the house and reunited with his pack. No bark collar. No barking. No dog behavior problem.

Remember, clients call you, the dog trainer, because they are emotionally upset about what their dog is doing. Understanding how they feel emotionally will better give you an idea of their commitment to working on their problem and how the problem got started in the first place.

Find the root cause of the existing dog behavior problem, treat it and create a lasting solution with a much happier client.

Jim Burwell, Houston dog trainer for 25+ years, serving 9000+ clients, has a profound understanding of dog behavior and the many things, we as humans, do that influence that behavior – good or bad. Jim has the ability and the experience of mentoring and teaching dog trainers how to excel and grow their dog training talents and their business.