Do You Want To Turn Your Dog Into A Robot Or Zombie?
Your dog has a behavioral problem. Let’s say your dog is fighting with another dog in the home, or reacts inappropriately to other dogs in public, guards the couch, or bites people. Maybe your dog barks too much or steals food off the kitchen counter. You want all that to stop. What are your choices? […]
Hard Won Dog Training Experience And Lessons
I regularly go to the dentist. Oral health is directly related to overall health. My dentist recommends daily flossing, use of an electric toothbrush, water flossing, and a mouth guard at night. It’s all a pain to do every day. Then, I must schedule and attend regular follow up appointments and do whatever they recommend. […]
Outdated Training Methods
Outdated training methods bug me. How do you feel about this? Which Approaches Are Doomed? The aversive trainers: There are a lot of trainers around the country, and especially new trainers, who base their entire program on using aversive methods. Their idea here is to suppress the dogs by primarily using aversive methods. I could […]
What is Sam The Dog Trainer’s Method?
One important question every dog trainer receives is “what is your method?” That is important because the behavior you want from your dog will reflect the training and experiences the dog will be encountering in the program. My method is to improve a dog’s emotions and behaviors to want to do adaptive behaviors that are […]
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Dog Training Lessons
There are many approaches to puppy and dog training. Some are very mechanical and impersonal. That’s not how I work or what I recommend. My approach is care based and family centered. Here’s an example. You acquired your dog this morning, maybe from a rescue or a breeder. It is bedtime and you put your […]
Dog Training And Being The Grey Man
In the self defense community, there is the concept of being the “grey man”. What is a grey man and how might that apply to you and your dog? Being a grey man is acting and looking in a manner that tends to make you unnoticed. It means to go about in public such that […]
Dog Training To Remove Uncertainty
I am sometimes asked, “how much training does my dog need?” Here’s my answer in a nutshell: as much as it takes for the situations you anticipate your dog will encounter, until you and your dog can do those skills even under stress, to a level of automaticity. Until you’re at that level, then you […]
Dog Training And Ownership Mindset
How does mindset affect the life your dog will experience? For example, how you see the world, how you see yourself, how you see your dog, and how others see you and your dog. How do you see the world? For example, what do you think about other people? How do you categorize people? There […]
Coming Back From A Layoff
It can sometimes be hard to re-start dog training lessons after taking a break for a period of weeks or months. That is normal. Don’t try to do too much the first lesson. Just enjoy yourself and get yourself into a regular training schedule on your calendar.