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Earlier this year, I was contacted by the Woods family to train their new dog, a beautiful rescue dog named Hugo, who had absolutely no impulse control. To make matters worse, Hugo was, well, huge. Hugo's dad had been playing rough-and-tumble with Hugo, and was now unable to find the "off" button for his dog. Hugo was constantly nudging, jumping, and otherwise pestering his dad into playing, and it was amplifying beyond control. Add a touch of anxiety, and you've got some big dog problems: jumping, nipping, leash reactivity...and all the impulse control of a goat rodeo. Fortunately, Hugo's owners were ready to tackle their dog's behavioral problems, and rehabilitated a rescue dog who others would have considered potentially unadoptable. Hugo still has a way to go, but he's on the right path, and has guidance to help him succeed as a dog in a human world. What did it take to get Hugo there? Understanding the nuances of dog training vs dog behavior, and how to use Piloting to bridge the communication gap between dog and human. Table of Contents Dog Behavior: The Foundation of A Healthy Bond with Your Dog Dog Training: Elevating Your Bond with Your Dog Piloting Your Dog Dog Training vs. Dog Life Dog Behavior: The Foundation of A Healthy Bond with Your Dog Dog behavior is a naturally occurring thing. It's not right or wrong, it just is. But what it can also have is a negative effect, as Hugo's dad experienced. Behavior is a natural response to a set of stimuli, and a dog will always respond to stimuli with behavior that they think is correct and goal-focused. The problem arises when your goals don't align. For instance, Hugo goal is to get his dad to play with him. Hugo's reasonings are many: he's bored, hyper, or just loves to play with dad. Whatever the reason, Hugo's behavior to achieve that goal is completely unacceptable, and resulting in bruises and chaos for his dad. So the first step is to focus on Hugo's current behavior, and helping him exhibit impulse control. Impulse control is the framework that you will build upon, and you are looking to build a solid, safe and stable foundation (like that of the brick house) rather than an impetuous, impulse driven foundation (like a hastily built tent). It's up to you to help shape your dog's behavior by helping your dog develop impulse control. The more situations where you help guide your dog's impulses towards calm and steady, rather than brash and hyper, the stronger your foundation will become, lending strength and stability in scary or high energy situations. I tend to think of behavior as "Should I?" questions. Should I be hyper? Should I jump? Should I nip? Should I be calm? The answers to these questions are (respectively) no, no, no and yes, and Piloting is the method we use to deliver these answers to your dog in a way they understand, without scaring them and without bribing them with constant treats. We'll get to Piloting in a moment, but for now, think of Piloting a bit like parenting a small child. Find out more The Piloting Method Explained Piloting: Learning to Talk to the Animals Dog Training vs. Communicating with Your Dog Dog Training: Elevating Your Bond with Your Dog If dog behavior is the foundation, floor and roof of a house, think of dog training as what makes your house comfortable: furnishings, art on the walls or your favorite quilt. Not necessary, but makes life within that house so much easier and more comfortable, but are useless without those solid walls and steady roof. I've met many dogs who know quite a few impressive tricks (dog training) but still lack any semblance of impulse control when the doorbell rings (dog behavior)! If behavior is a question your dog is asking (should I jump on our guest?), training is an "If ______ then _______" statement you are making to your dog. If a guest comes over then I sit down politely. Another example: If mom says "stay" then I don't move. Dog training is designed to help make your life easier and more comfortable with your dog. For example, your dog's hyper behavior is addressed when they ask if they should jump on your guest. But you can take it a step further and train them to sit when a guest comes in. Behavior: "Can I jump on our guest?" Training: "If a guest comes over, then I should sit." Behavior: "Should I jump on you to get my food?" Training: "If I wait calmly, then I will get my dinner." Other examples of dog training are leash walking, basic commands or housebreaking your dog. Living in Cleveland, Ohio, it was important to me that I train my dogs to have their feet wiped when they come inside, and they wait patiently for their turn, rather than running amok with muddy paws. Piloting Your Dog Back to the Woods and their hyper, overstimulated dog, Hugo. How are we going to solve their dog's unruly behavior? By Piloting. Piloting is answering your dog's questions, and comes in extremely handy with behavioral problems such as the ones Hugo is facing. His questions all needed to be answered, and not all the answers are a resounding "yes", but we are using communication, not domination, (so no shock collars or prong collars). Now let's lay out the plan for getting the Wood's new dog Hugo back on the right path. Ensuring an exercise regime that works for their dog The Woods' dog is struggling because his usual mode of exercise has been limited due to some medical issues. He's a young dog, and has So Much Energy, and walking away all his energy is not a viable option. But fortunately there are so many other ways to exercise a dog other than just taking them for a walk. Discover all the ways you can exercise your dog beyond walking your dog in this link. Just like kids, a dog can't focus or control their impulses if they have pent up energy. The object is to set a dog up for success, and activity is a key component of that success. Focusing on their dog's mental work For better or worse, Hugo is an exceptionally intelligent dog, and likes to flex his mental muscle, learning tricks quickly. But there's more to life than just tricks. By busting Hugo's boredom in an efficient manner (for the humans at least), Hugo's mental prowess can be put to good, instead of destruction. Find out some (easy) ways to mentally exhaust your dog in this link. Behavior: Encouraging Hugo's impulse control Developing a dog's impulse control is something that is overlooked, when in fact it is the first thing I focus on with my clients' dogs. Like any muscle, it can atrophy through inconsistent use, or never have been developed to begin with, as shown by Hugo. We are going to build that muscle up again by adding small amounts of stimuli and then rewarding calm behavior. What does that look like? Positives for declination of energy. If your dog wants to be pet, have them sit first. If they want a ball thrown, make them wait calmly for just a moment before throwing it, gradually building up to longer and longer periods of patience your dog must show before they get any "payout", be it balls tossed, treats given or snuggles given. By helping a dog get used to patience in easier, more manageable situations, we are able to gradually build up to harder situations. It's a marathon, not a sprint, so help them learn, rather than expecting instant compliance. Encouraging "benevolent boredom" with their dog Dogs, like humans, can be stimuli junkies. But a constant stream of stimuli towards your dog is never a good thing. Learning to be "benevolently bored" is a good thing, but is not something that comes automatically. Learn how to teach your dog in this article. Ending the "Yo Bitch" dog behavior What on earth is a “Yo, Bitch”? It's an unsavory method of demanding things that your dog does: smacking you with their paw, jumping on you barking at you....all of those are examples of "yo, bitch". Yo, bitch feed me. Yo, bitch pet me. It's that demanding behavior that your dog is giving you. If sitting politely and giving you puppy eyes is "may I please?", then "yo bitch" is its antithesis. It's rude with kids, it's rude with dogs. You aren't your dog's doormat. Learn more about "yo bitch" and how to end it here. Using Hugo's dog toys more wisely Rather than trying to have your dog puzzle out when exuberant play happens, train them to which toys they are allowed to be more energetic with, and where (while still maintaining boundaries). Hugo will only be allowed to play with his rough-and-tumble rope toys in designated areas, thus helping him understand that certain play is for certain areas. Dogs are happiest with a natural order or flow of things. No, you don't need to schedule out your day, but knowing what types of play comes when and where can help your dog manage their expectations. Learn how in this article. Have set doggie down time For my three dogs, it can be difficult to keep them on a schedule, so therefore I keep them on a routine, and that includes routinely having down time. By setting aside time throughout the day where they need to be chill and calm, they are able to reboot and again, not constantly be overstimulated. One easy way to train your dog to know it's chill time is with a series of cues. For my dogs, I have a play list for them (if you're wondering, it's Spotify's Deep Focus), and a Kong. When those two things happen together, my dogs know it's going to be down time for a while, and that no amount of cajoling, whining or Yo Bitching will change things, so they stop trying. Again managing their expectations so they know what will happen next. When they hear that music and see Kongs come out, they know they will be calming chilling out for a chunk of time, until that music ends and we're ready for Whatever Comes Next. Hugo will know that when his beloved PB Kong comes out, he will enjoy it quietly in his crate, after which, he will be having a nap/doze for an extended period of time (anywhere from 1/2 hour to 2 hours). By knowing that naps follow Kongs, he's able an anticipate what happens next, and be in the correct mental mindset to show impulse control, rather than just the constant whiplash of flitting from high energy to low energy, a requirement he's unable to fulfill at the moment. By bridging high and low energy activities with things such as Kongs & chew toys, Hugo feels more secure in the flow of the day. Conclusion The Woods family sent me an update on Hugo recently. A mere two weeks after our initial dog training session, Hugo is already calmer, and able to to regulate his impulses. His jumping has all but ceased, and Hugo is well on this way to become their Best Dog Ever. Dog Training vs. Dog Life Here at Darwin Dogs, we focus on dog life, rather than merely dog training, so our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people, I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training here in Cleveland over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dogs based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Located in Cleveland, Ohio

Sooooo many of clients come to me with the same set of goals: basic training, which usually means basic commands. "I want my dog to learn basic command, sit, stay, come, etc." That's all well and good, but that's like meeting your kid's 2nd grade teacher and informing them which college you want them to go to. Interesting, but we aren't there yet. Foundations need to be set for that goal. Dog Training Foundations There is a world of difference between dog training and dog behavior, as I wrote about in this article, but suffice it to to say that treating them as interchangeable is a recipe for disaster. If my 2nd grader kid still wets their pants in public, or throws tantrums, yeah, which college they go to is pretty far down the road. As my grandfather used so say, "We've got bigger fish to fry." We need to start with the most important dog training foundation: impulse control. Impulse control is how your dog is able to sit when you give them the "sit" command. It's how your dog is able to process recall when you say "come". Yes, you can train your dog to know what "sit" and "come" means, but the only way your dog can actually hear and listen to you is by teaching them impulse control. So let's start with the basics: impulse control. What helps your puppy remain in a sit position when what they really want to do is blow past you through that open front door? Impulse control. What keeps your dog from dragging you down the street every time you go for a walk? Impulse control. What helps your anxious dog remain calm during thunderstorms? Impulse control. By focusing on basic commands first, you're skipping over the important part for your dog: the ability to not only learn these commands, but execute them when told to do so. Otherwise, you fall into a never-ending loop of "Sit or I'll Say 'Sit' Again"; your dog heard you the first time, he was just too busy with his own agenda that he couldn't listen to you. Breaking the Dog Training Cycle I find dog training to be useless. Therefore I don't do it. However, I have a four month old puppy now, Hazel, who walks on a leash, knows (and listens to) basic commands, drops items on command and is capable of entertaining herself appropriately. How did I do that? By starting with impulse control. I utilize the Piloting Method of dog training. For a brief rundown of what that is, check out this link, but the short answer is that it's almost like parenting children. We understand and operate under the concept that children are full of questions about the world they live in, and how they fit into that world. But we assume that a dog or puppy should automatically blend into a human world seamlessly. Dogs, just like children, need guidance to navigate this world. With kids we call it "parenting". With dogs, it's Piloting. Answering their questions. For example, throughout the day, my puppy Hazel may ask me many, many questions: "Can I jump on you?" "Can I eat off the table?" "What does 'sit' mean?" "Should I chase the cat?" (To be fair, the cat is kind of a dick to my puppy. They both deserve each other.) I answer these questions a couple times per day, as they come up, so I don't feel like I'm actively training my dog, or setting aside X amount of time per day to focus on commands, etc. It's a more organic style that fits into life seamlessly. Today Hazel had a lot of questions about how to dog in a human world. Tomorrow she will have fewer as she starts to get the hang of it. There will be peaks and valleys but overall the questions become few and far between. She's learned that no, she may not crash into me while playing. She's learned that yes, when you come when called, you will be rewarded, and sometimes that reward is a treat. By guiding my dog rather than training my dog, I don't feel like I'm constantly trying to manage my dog's behavior, or work around it. Yes, some basic commands are worked in there, but she's learning the most important thing: impulse control. Which comes in really handy when trying to walk a dog in Cleveland in the winter. Impulse Control Training with Your Dog: Starting Small I am constantly repeating the same two things during my dog training sessions with my clients: 1. Control yourself 2. Control the situation No matter what type of problem you're tackling with your dog, the first step is to control yourself. No yelling. No stomping. Stop acting like a fool, waiving your arms around and trying to bend down to your dog's level. I'm not taking you seriously, and neither is your dog. Your body language dictates what you mean vs. what you say, and what you mean is business. Stand up straight. Stop talking entirely. And get control of yourself. As Liz Taylor famously said, Put on some lipstick, pour yourself a drink, and pull yourself together. There. That's better. Now, let's control the situation. You can always remove stimuli from a situation to make it more manageable. Bring it down to the lowest comment denominator, a place where your dog can "hear" you. For example. Your dog jumps on guests. How do you control the situation? Definitely not by just opening the door and hoping your dog doesn't jump. You're going to calm your dog down before you even open the door. Still struggling? What about putting a leash on your dog? Not working? Try removing them from the situation entirely. There. That did the trick! Now you can gradually add stimuli (guest) as you see fit, taking smaller, more manageable bites out of that problem. Bring your dog out on a leash, or not at all! It's entirely up to you, you're the one managing exactly how much stimuli you allow your dog to get. To learn how I worked through my dog's door behavior, check out this video. Adding Basic Commands For Your Dog I never actively taught Hazel "sit"...it's a behavior she naturally did when she wanted something, so I merely caught that behavior and named it. With my Border Collie, Arwen, I did have to teach her "sit", and she was a quick study. But the foundation that both of them had was impulse control. Impulse control is what makes your life manageable with your dog; commands just makes it a little bit easier. For instance, impulse control is my dogs knowing they can't just blow past me to run out the front door. By Piloting them every time they asked if that was appropriate, they soon learned that blitzing out an open door is unacceptable. Now they control their impulse to run outside. However, using a "place" command when the doorbell rings makes my life so much easier. Learn more about the 3 basic commands I teach my dogs, and how I trained them in this article. Dog Training vs. Impulse Control: Conclusion Through mentally separating dog training vs. teaching your dog impulse control, you are setting yourself up for a calmer, happier bond with your dog. Your dog's anxiety will lessen, and you will feel more confident in your ability to work through your dog's behaviors. Dog Training vs. Dog Life Here at Darwin Dogs, we focus on dog life, rather than merely dog training, so our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people, I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training here in Cleveland over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dogs based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Located in Cleveland, Ohio

It's fall here in Cleveland, which means a couple things: All the women are dressed like Han Solo; Pumpkin Spice is back on the menu; You may be thinking about getting a puppy. So for those of you who are about to embark on your first foray into puppy life, let's uncover a few of those dirty little secrets that nobody tells you until after you've already become attached to your new family member. 1. You're Choosing a Dog, Not A Puppy 2. A Puppy is a Wrecking Ball of Destruction 3. Housebreaking Your New Puppy: It Really Sucks 4. Puppy Training vs. Puppy Behavior: It's Not the Same 5. Healthcare and Nutrition: Where Did My Paycheck Go? 6. Your Puppy vs. Exercise and Mental Stimulation 7. Puppy Life: Patience and Love 8. Dog Training vs. Dog Life You're Choosing a Dog, Not A Puppy Sometimes I wish we didn't call puppies "puppies". It leads to a false advertising. You aren't choosing a puppy, you are choosing a dog. A puppy is something that you enjoy for about 3 days before wondering why you got a puppy to begin with as you scrape poop off of your favorite chewed-up boots for the third time in a week. Maybe if we referred to puppies as "puppae" dogs, it would remove the rose-colored glasses we all wear when confronted with a litter of the precious little things. You will only have a puppy for about 3-4 months (tops). After that, you will have a dog. No, your 8-month old floofadoodle is no longer a puppy, any more than a 17 year old human would be described as a "child". So while that puppy may be cute, think about the type of dog they might become. Poodles are adorable puppies, but are you able to commit to an adult poodle's grooming and exercise requirements? Pit bull puppies are the cutest, but do you live in an area with (idiotic) breed bans? That Border Collie puppy is super-snugly, but can you keep up with the mental work for a dog who is easily bored, and becomes destructive? Be honest with yourself about who that puppy might become as an adult. If you go through a breeder, be sure to do thorough research on the breed prior to selecting (and no, tik tok videos of cute German Shepherds does not constitute dog breed research). A Puppy is a Wrecking Ball of Destruction If you decided to adopt a "pupae" dog, no amount of prep will get you ready for the carnage to come. It's like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time in person. The experience is completely different than reading a description. The scale and magnificence doesn't translate well from real life into photos. Now imagine that Grand Canyon filled with a river of your tears because you underestimated the destruction an unsupervised puppy can bring. Yes, you can train your puppy to go potty outside, but it's a process, and doesn't happen overnight. Of course you can work through your new puppy's impulse control issues, but in the meantime, he's chewing through all of your laptop cords. Sure, you can try to go through your house and find anything your puppy may destroy, but you'll miss something. Rather than puppy-proofing your house, choose to house-proof your puppy instead. You can make yourself nuts trying to "puppy-proof" your house; it is an unreasonable expectation (they will always find something you missed). Instead, simply start with a blank slate: a puppy playpen that filled with appropriate toys and bedding. When training both my Arwen and Hazel as puppies, they had a pens in my main living area, along with crates where they slept overnight. The pen allowed for them to have semi-supervised activity (as opposed to being loose to run amok around the house), but didn't require my full supervision. At night time, and during designated naptimes, they would go into their crates for safety. As they got older, and developed more impulse control, I would gradually enlarge the areas they were allowed to free roam. So instead of feeling as if I needed to follow them around the house at all times trying to keep them from chewing on things, or pottying in the house, I only had to watch out for small areas. Once they reliably learned the rules of that area, I would make their areas even larger. By not giving them run of the house immediately, my furniture didn't chewed, and we didn't need to constantly be chasing after the puppy to find out what new thing she was chewing on. We used this one from Amazon for Hazel: Bonus: As the puppies got older and we allowed them more freedom, we were able to use the panels in our open floorplan house to section areas off to them, allowing gradual freedom rather than the "all or nothing" approach. Housebreaking Your New Puppy: It Really Sucks We all know that puppies need to be taught where and when to eliminate. But housebreaking a puppy doesn't really begin in earnest until they are about 10 -12 weeks old. Prior to that, it's basically just trying to catch when they may eliminate. At about the 3-month mark, most puppies are finally able to have enough impulse control to hold it long enough to actually alert you of their need to potty. A puppy younger than that is going to eliminate. A lot. Their body has no rhyme or reason. They will hold it for a couple hours one day, and then the next day they are peeing 3 times in the span of 45 minutes. This is normal. So expect that the very young puppies aren't being housebroken so much as house managed. Actually housebreaking your puppy doesn't start until about the 3-month mark. It takes a while for some puppies to get the hang of it. Yes, it's annoying to clean up another mess, but as they get older, your puppy will start to develop the necessary impulse control, and the puddles will lessen. Puppy Training vs. Puppy Behavior: It's Not the Same Everyone will tell you to start training your puppy immediately. Everyone except for me. That's because everyone else is using puppy training and puppy behavior interchangeably. But those are two different things. Training is basic commands: sit, stay, housebreaking, etc. It's teaching a specific response to a specific set of stimuli, and training isn't always the first thing your new puppy needs. That's why I focus on behavior before I focus on training. Behavior is knowing that jumping on guests isn't allowed. That biting is unacceptable. That chewing on a dental stick is a wiser choice than chewing on the furniture legs. And knowing that those that behavior is expected from your puppy, too. So rather than focusing on exclusively training your new puppy to basic commands, you'll need to learn how to address their behaviors as well. Consider enrolling in dog training in your area to help work through your puppy's behaviors. Healthcare and Nutrition: Where Did My Paycheck Go? Regular veterinary care is crucial for your puppy's health and longevity. Set aside money every month for healthcare, vaccinations, and good dog food (ask your vet for recommendations). Set a budget for healthcare and maintenance. Double that amount. Now you're on the right track. Only now take the money you've set aside, and set fire to it. Start over. Because at some point, your dog will do a dumb. My pit bull Elllis decided it would be fun run headlong into my raised garden bed and slice his leg down to the bone. No reason except that he saw my vet bills had been too low that year. My Arwen was kind enough to develop allergies and will be on meds for the rest of her life. Expensive meds. I can't wait to see what Hazel has in store for me. So just remember, accounts to fund your kid's college expenses are so last year. Set up a 401-k9. Trust me...you'll need it. Because when given the choice to do Free Smart Things, or Expensive Dumb Things, your dog only has one mode: Your Puppy vs. Exercise and Mental Stimulation What's the difference between a Good Puppy and a Difficult Puppy? A lot of times it comes down to the amount of physical activity and mental enrichment you're able to give that puppy. Be realistic: if you lead more of a Basset Hound lifestyle, don't opt for the Border Collie puppy. A bored puppy is a destructive puppy, and a tired puppy sleeps through the night (and will nap during the day as well). Puppy Life: Patience and Love Bringing a puppy into your life is a long-term commitment that comes with its challenges. Be patient and understanding as you and your new companion adjust to each other. Puppies thrive on love, consistency, and empathy, and become mirrors, reflecting what they are given. Puppyhood is a very short period of time. Most of us will only have our puppies for a couple months, whereupon they graduate to being young dogs. But those few short months of puppy ownership are instrumental in their development, and will be setting them up for success as an adult dog. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than merely dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people, I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training here in Cleveland over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dogs based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Located in Cleveland, Ohio

Dog Training in Cleveland: An Ugly Truth As a dog trainer in Cleveland, Ohio, there is a unique challenge to the dogs I work with and it's 100% due to my location. No, it's not our football team. Well, I mean in addition to Cleveland's record with sportsball? Puppy mills. You see, Cleveland is only about 1.5 hours north of some of the most notorious puppy mills, which are located in Amish Country, in the heart of Ohio. If you're not familiar with what a puppy mill is the HumaneSociety.org has a great description: In puppy mills, mother dogs spend their entire lives in cramped cages with little to no personal attention. When the mother and father dogs can no longer breed, they are abandoned or killed. Due to poor sanitation, overbreeding and a lack of preventive veterinary care, the puppies frequently suffer from a variety of health issues, creating heartbreaking challenges for families who should be enjoying the delights of adopting a new family member. Yeah, Ohio is rife with them. A Change In Dog Training I first started to become aware of Ohio's puppy mill problem about 10 years ago. The types of dogs and puppies I was training started to change. Yes, I still had the typical new puppy training and everyday dog training clients I always had worked with, but now there seemed to be a lot more frightened, shut down dogs. Dogs whose eyes just looked glazed over. I also started to get puppies to train who were way too young to be taken from their litter. These puppies would suffer from severe behavioral issues if they didn't have proper training and guidance early. It used to be unheard of to take a puppy younger than 8 weeks, but I was seeing puppies as young as 5 weeks old who were being passed off as old enough to leave their mom. These dogs and puppies needed help and guidance beyond the typical dog training of basic commands and leash walking. They needed help learning how to dog. Having been insulated and confined their entire lives, some of them were overwhelmed simply by being outside. Others had never been properly socialized, and were balls of manic energy, leaving their owners bewildered as to their behavior. Working with Puppy Mill Rescues: Training Dogs How to be Dogs Fortunately, the public is a lot more aware of the cruelty behind the local mall pet stores, and where they get their puppies from. But there are still those who are fleeced by who they believed to be a good breeder, but turns out to be a puppy mill broker. There are still people out there who have never heard of a puppy mill, or believe places like Petland when they claim they are sourcing their puppies from "responsible breeders". And what is it like to work with these puppy mill rescues, and help them learn to be dogs? It varies. For some dogs, they adjust pretty quickly. They start off as dogs or puppies who are scared of everything, but within a few days are up for anything, and thriving in their new environment. For others, it can be a long road, trying to learn the concept of trust, and trying to assimilate to a world outside of a cage. Age isn't always a factor, either. From puppies who are catatonic to senior dogs who want to snuggle and play their first time out of a crate, each individual dog's journey is just that: individual. Some are slow and steady, ready and able to to learn and trust. Others ask for your greatest gift to them: time. Time to decompress. Time to learn. Time to adjust. For those dogs, ironically enough, time is the fastest way to help them through their fearful behaviors. Working towards progress, not perfection. Learn more about some of the techniques I use in this article. Life with a Puppy Mill Rescue: Can They Be Trained? The majority of puppy mill rescues I'm called in to train are just like every other dog: they need communication, not domination. They are looking for guidance, not authority. And most importantly, they are needing answers, not subjugation. In other words, they have the same needs as every other dog and puppy: love, understanding and patience. Learn how to work with a puppy mill dog (or any anxious and overwhelmed dog) in my step-by-step guide. Take Steps to Start Out Right with Your New Dog If you decide to get a dog or puppy, take a moment to do some reference checks. Don't go to your local mall and hit up the pet shop there: they almost exclusively source from puppy mills, where they can get "merchandise" wholesale. If you decide to go to a breeder, take some steps to ensure you're supporting an ethical breeder - Do reference checks; ask around. - Visit local breed clubs, or go to the local dog shows. - The designer dogs you see are products of puppy mills. Step away from that Pom-Chi and put down that HuskyDoodle. Look elsewhere, or visit a rescue. - don't trust a "breeder" who is willing to ship you a dog, or who doesn't ask a lot of questions. A true breeder is attempting to create a healthy, perfect vision of their chosen breed, and it is a labor of love over many years, not just getting two AKC dogs together over a plate of pasta. Most importantly, regardless of where you get your dog from: be committed. Make that promise that this isn't a passing fad, or that this will be your "until" dog. You'll keep him "until" you get married. You'll keep him "until" you need to move. He's your forever dog. Have a plan when you choose your new family member, rather than just going to any local rescue or breeder and picking the first dog you see. Or check out this article about what you need to know prior to picking out your dog, and set you and your dog up for success. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training here in Cleveland over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Located in Cleveland, Ohio

If you've been following Darwin Dog's for a hot minute, you'll know about our holy mantra of dog training. I repeat it to my clients over and over when they get stuck in a situation with their dog. Any situation they find themselves in always boils back down to the simple mantra: control yourself, control the situation. Then move forward. But what does that look like? How do you get control of a situation that's already out of control? Let's take a look at some common scenarios that might occur when you're training your dog or puppy, and how you can finesse your way back into control. 1. Housebreaking Your Puppy - Don't let your puppy have run of the house. - Not Monitoring Your Puppy's Access to Water/Food - Not Tracking Your Puppy's Intake/Outflow 2. Leash Training Your Dog or Puppy - Your Puppy or Dog Has No Focus - It Feels like You're Walking an Angry Triceratops Instead of a Dog 3. Your Puppy is in the Witching Hour - Head Off Your Puppy's Witching Hour - Don't Add To Your Puppy's Drama - Make Your Puppy's World Smaller (and more manageable) Note: this post contains affiliate links. I value your trust, and will never recommend anything that I don't actively use with my own dogs. 1. Housebreaking Your Puppy Perhaps it seems as if a strange place to start, but yes, this is a situation that you need to have control of. How do we get that control back? By respecting the situation and not adding stimuli to an overstimulated dog. So what does that look like when housebreaking? Housebreaking your puppy is all about impulse control. Your puppy feels pressure on their bladder, therefore they release that pressure just about anywhere they are. Controlling the amount of stimuli they have and breaking it into manageable pieces for them is how you start helping them exert impulse control. Don't let your puppy have run of the house. That's a lot of area in your house for a puppy to explore, and just like a toddler who is being potty trained, it's easy to get sidetracked while exploring, and forget about holding it. Rather than allowing them to run amok, give them a confined area to play in. A true lifesaver I've used is a puppy playpen. While housebreaking my Hazel, it allowed her to have a place to safely play that didn't overstimulate her. Bonus: as my puppy gets older, I simply use the segments of the pen to section off multiple areas of my house, gradually allowing her free roam rather than overwhelming my puppy with the amount of places she could get into trouble. This is especially useful as my house has an open floorplan, so traditional baby gates aren't useful. This is the exact brand I used, Rollick Dog Playpen, and am still using it as there are areas that remain off-limits to Hazel (for now). Not Monitoring Your Puppy's Access to Water/Food Think about it: when I was potty training my kids, I didn't leave carafe of orange juice by their bed for them to guzzle in the middle of the night, nor did I allow them unrestricted access to the milk in the fridge. By monitoring your puppy's water intake, you will be able to identify roughly when they will need to potty next and start to help them get into a rhythm that includes going potty outside rather than on your favorite rug. Bonus: by supervising the water/food situation with your puppy, rather than allowing a free-for-all, you will be able to quickly identify health issues based upon their eating/drinking habits. Making sure they're eating and drinking normally is key to managing health issues. Not Tracking Your Puppy's Intake/Outflow I don't know a single person who enjoys housebreaking their new puppy (myself included), but simply logging when your puppy has eaten or had water, when accidents happen, and who is in charge of next bathroom break, can turn a monster of a chore into a more manageable task. Think of it as tidying up your house everyday rather than trying to deep clean only 1x month. I don't necessarily enjoy either, but by managing the situation, the situation doesn't manage me. Bonus: by having the details readily available, you are able to convey necessary information during your puppy's regular vet visits, or in worst case scenarios, emergency trips. Not sure how to start organizing this information? Get my free housebreaking checklist here, and start controlling the housebreaking situation with your puppy (or dog) today. For more information, tips and tricks to housebreaking your puppy or dog, check out these links. Essential Housebreaking Tips for New Puppy Owners Urine Trouble - Housebreaking Your New Dogs Housebreaking: When the Levee Breaks 2. Leash Training Your Dog or Puppy Whether you've just brought home your new puppy, or are trying to work through your dog's leash reactivity, this is a prime example of controlling a situation to work through your dog's behavior. Let's take a look at some chaos that can happen on a walk, and how we can regain control of the leash training situation. Your Puppy or Dog Has No Focus Your dog or puppy is all over the place, smelling this, peeing on that, side to side, back to front, and it looks like absolute havoc. I call it The Minesweeper or The Weedwhacker. How do you control this situation? Well, by starting in the house, or rather, in all areas. If you haven't been expecting your dog to have any kind of impulse control in any other scenarios (at the door, during feeding time, or when you play), it's so much more difficult for them to show impulse control during the greatest time in their life: Start Piloting your dog's impulse control everywhere, and your dog will be able to manage it anywhere. By managing your dog's expectations towards calm on a regular basis, they are able to gravitate towards that expectation with greater ease. Learn how in this article. It Feels like You're Walking an Angry Triceratops Instead of a Dog Every step is a struggle. Your dog is pulling or lunging at everything and everyone, and even though you know they only want to play (do they?) it's still wreaking havoc on your arm muscles, and you're starting to dread the going for a walk with your dog. How do you control this situation, with a juiced up dinosaur trampling your calm? Let's start with how you got into this situation to begin with: by confusing leash training with going for a walk. In your mind, you have destination to get to. You're going to walk to the park. You're going to walk around the block. But you can't go for a walk with a dog who isn't leash trained. Leash training is helping your dog understand the protocols and rules while you walk. Think of it as the difference between someone driving to the store vs. driver's ed class. You would not expect a teenager who hasn't pass the driving test yet to safely navigate a drive to the store. You get in the car with them and teach them how to drive. The same goes for your dog. Focus on leash training first. That means you minimize the area you are walking. There is always a baseline you can find where you are both comfortable. If your dog is a maniac at the park, start leash training in your neighborhood. If your dog is a nut in the neighborhood, start leash training in front of your house. If your dog is a lunatic in front of your house, start leash training up and down your driveway, your backyard, or even indoors, like I had to with my Arwen. It's not up to you to determine how much stimuli from the outside world your dog can handle, it's up to you to manage the amount they're getting when they are overstimulated, and hopefully preventing an influx of stimuli that they can't handle. So what to do when you're in the thick of things, and you have a tow truck instead of a dog at the end of the leash? Don't add your own stimuli. Are you clenching the leash tightly? Are you yelling or chattering non-stop? Are you dancing around? Or are you grounded and silently in control of yourself, and not adding energy to an already amped up situation? Unclench your fists, stop holding the leash tightly, and don't make matters worse. Shorten your dog's leash. Don't give your dog enough rope to hang themselves with. The more area they have around you, the more stimuli they are taking in, and that's what we are trying to prevent. Create a smaller world within the overstimulating world. If you're at the park, it can be a vast place full of bedlam. We need to limit your dog's world within the park. To do that, start leash training your dog in a small circle (maybe 10-20 feet in diameter) off trail, or a bit farther away from the main commotion. Make sure your dog is inside the circle, and you are turning into them. In other words, you are on the perimeter, as a buffer between the world and your dog. Your dog is inside the boundary. The Ultimate Dog Leash Training Tips for Beginners Training Ellis: Leash Walking Walking Your Dog: Why Your Dog is Choking 3. Your Puppy is in the Witching Hour Ah, the Witching Hour, as I like to call it. It's that time, usually about 1-2 hours before bedtime (or in very young puppies, in the morning as well) where no matter what, your young dog just can't settle down. Jumping. Nipping. Zooming through the house like a demented race car. Your puppy is out of control! Head Off Your Puppy's Witching Hour. My puppy Hazel has about a 2 hour window when her Witching Hour might start. I stay diligent, and the moment I notice her behavior go from her sweet, angelic self to slightly mischievous, I head off her behavior. I can still Pilot her a bit in these situations (and I do) but these are emotions and frustrations she needs to work through. So I let her, with a little bit of help. Prior to her Witching Hour, I make sure she's had activity, but not in a terribly structured way (for instance, no leash training). We usually use something unfortunately named "flirt pole" or "teaser stick" (don't google it - trust me), and as all my clients tell me: it's truly a lifesaver for their puppy, as it gets out energy without you being in the line of fire. Right after playing with the flirt pole, Hazel gets a Kong with peanut butter, which usually smooths her right through the Witching Hour with no trouble. Potty break before bed, and she's calmly in her crate sleeping through the night. Make Your Puppy's World Smaller (and more manageable). Unfortunately, you may not be able to anticipate the Witching Hour, and now you're doing damage control. Similar to what we did with the leash training, we are going to make your puppy's world less stimulating by making their world smaller. That may mean putting them in their crate, in their pen, or letting them burn it off outside in a fenced in area. But make their lives easier as they struggle to regain control: give them a high value entertainment, as I call it. A Kong filled with peanut butter, or my favorite, a Kong Wobbler with some of their favorite treats in it. No, you aren't rewarding their tantrum any more than giving a child a hug while they cry is rewarding a meltdown. If your kid is hanging on by their fingernails, you don't need to smack their hands. Same thing with your dog. Since you are working through impulse control issues in every other facet of life, you will still be making massive leaps forward. You're just not attending every fight you are invited to. You need to win 100% of the battles you choose to fight, and believe me, you will not be winning this battle. So politely decline the invite. Don't Add To Your Puppy's Drama . Just like with the leash training, your puppy cannot handle this amount of stimuli the day has given to their young soul, and sometimes this causes some drama. Understand that your puppy is acting the same way an overstimulated child or tween might: they aren't against you, it's just you're a convenient target for all that angst. Now is not the time to Pilot your dog or "discipline" them, anymore than a 3rd grader having a meltdown can handle even more math homework. This is a situation where you need to remove stimuli, and that's it. Don't become part of this drama. From Chaos to Calm: A Step-by-Step Guide to Puppy Training an Overstimulated Puppy Dog Training Basics: The Myth of "More" in Dog & Puppy Training How to Avoid Dog Training Failures in 6 Easy Steps Dog Training Basics: Tips to Controlling A Situation These are just 3 situations that you may find yourself in during your dog training journey, but there are takeaways that can be used for any situation: Do not add to the chaos your dog or puppy is experiencing.. Remember, even though you may be frustrated and angry with your dog's behavior, your dog isn't against you. Your dog isn't giving you a hard time. Your dog is having a hard time. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio

Dogs who beg are a definitely a problem, but is the actual issue the begging, or is it something else? Let's learn how to address the begging, and what causes it to begin with. For some reason, I rarely do a blog post about dog's begging. Most likely because I don't really have dogs who beg, and never have. It's not something that I have to deal with personally. But then I was thinking to myself, why is that? I know how to address the behavior with my clients' dogs when it's brought up, but why haven't I ever owned a dog who begged? Darwin, Sparta, Orion, Ellis, Arwen, and Hazel: five dogs, zero begs. But why? Find out why my dogs never beg, and how you can make the same (honest!) claim for your own dog. Tip 1: Understanding Dog Behavior vs. Dog Training I constantly drum it into my clients heads the difference between dog training and dog behavior. Your dog's behavior is the begging; . You'd like to train them to be in a specific spot during mealtimes, perhaps. Behavior and training are not interchangeable. Think of a behavior as a question your dog is asking: Can I beg? Obviously the answer is "no". But rather than giving them an answer, we don't want to be the "bad guy", so we try every trick in the book to avoid giving them an answer: Put them in a crate. Give them just a taste. Ignore them. Use a spray of water. So many different gimmicks rather than just simply addressing your dog's behavior with a negative. Always give an answer to your dog's questions. Learn how to give a calm, gentle negative to your dog without resorting to violent and abusive shock collars, or ineffective gimmicks, in this article. Tip 2: Address Your Dog's Begging Before You're Frustrated There's a proverb I like that encapsulates this thought process entirely: You can put a frog in a pot of boiling water, and it will jump right out because it perceives that the water is too hot. But if you put a frog in tepid water, you can slowly boil it because it never perceives the water is getting too hot. Your dog has been begging for the past 20 minutes, but it's only at minute 21 that you finally get frustrated enough to do something about it, and now that you're angry, you're most likely doing the wrong thing. Rather than waiting until the behavior makes you frustrated, start by addressing the behavior you know is going to make you frustrated. Learn how to work with your dog's behavior when you're frustrated in this article. Tip 3: Stop Rewarding Your Dog's Behavior Giving your dog a small bite of your meal in the hopes that they will stop begging for more is like taking a drink of milk, seeing that it's gone bad, and putting it back in the fridge, hoping it gets better. It doesn't. If the behavior you don't like is the begging, you start giving them an answer to that negative behavior the moment they present it, not after they've been indulging in it for the past 20 minutes. And definitely don't reward your dog's behavior when they're begging. Tip 4: Pilot Your Dog In Other Situations So your dog has never heard a negative in their life, what makes you think the first time they get one (while they're begging) they will readily accept it and not throw a tantrum? Your dog still jumps on you. Your dog still drags you on a walk. Your dog is engaging in all manner of impulse control issues. Of course you've got an uphill battle to fight. Piloting is no different than parenting, except we are doing it with dogs instead of kids. Imagine how silly it would be for me to have taken my children to a fancy restaurant and expected them to have good manners when I've encouraged good manners at home. Of course it's going to be a nightmare of impulse control issues. By managing your dog's expectations of how they are allowed to treat you in every other situation, you are effectively addressing the specific situation regarding the begging. Don't be afraid of giving your dog a negative. Negatives just mean "no". Not bad, not punishment, just "no". And by helping your dog adjust to not always getting what they want in one situation, it helps them cope with other situations. Tip 5: Understanding Your Dog's Space Space is a great way to communicate. We talk about people we are comfortable with as being "in our inner circle". People we don't trust we "keep at arm's length". Space is a great communicator with dog's as well. If I allow my dogs to be right at my feet while I'm eating, then I'm essentially allowing them the potential to share my food. But if I don't allow them within 15 feet of the dinner table as I'm eating, I'm essentially squelching their chances of being thrown a tidbit. If you've already got it in your head that you don't want to share your food with your dog, make it absolutely clear to your dog by communicating precisely what you mean: stay away from my food. "Away" doesn't mean under your feet. They will always be hopeful, and you will be forever frustrated by their incessant questions regarding your food. Especially when you're initially working through your dog's behavior with begging, be sure to allow yourself plenty of room between your meal and your dog. Your food is Ground Zero. Make sure you have a perimeter around Ground Zero, and that is the line your dog is not allowed to cross. Call it a buffer zone. And that buffer zone will be different for each dog. My Arwen can have a buffer zone of 3 feet away from Ground Zero and be fine, but my Darwin needed about 10 feet of buffer zone initially. Go by what your dog needs, and follow what their behavior is telling you. BONUS TIP: Know When You and Your Dog Have Had Enough The mantra here at Darwin Dogs is: Control yourself Control the situation Sometimes you can't get past step one. That's ok! If you've just had enough, it's okay to lock your dog away. Remember, each time you answer one of your dog's questions, you get money out of their Piloting Piggy Bank. You use that money to eventually pay for all of dog's behaviors. So if you answer your dog's question about begging 3 times before finally removing them from the situation entirely, you may not have saved up enough "money" to pay for their question, but you're chipping away at it. Some behaviors may be a lot expensive than others. And the cost of each behavior is unique to each dog. It's their uniqueness that we celebrate, so embrace it. Each dog is their own unique brand of asshole, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Okay, maybe a little different, but it is the way it is, and I accept my dog as a package deal, warts and all. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio

So you got yourself a new puppy. You already know that puppy is going to require exercise, and you're all psyched up to start walking with your new best friend. Or maybe you've just adopted a shelter dog, and are looking forward to your new exercise partner on your morning walks together. But.... Your new puppy is a total asshole on the leash, or your rescue dog is an absolute dick going for walks. There - I said it. It feels good to say it out loud, rather than pretending that your dog is fine and you're fine and the walk is fine. So let's untangle this mess of a walk you've found yourself in with your dog, and actually get down to the do's and don'ts of leash training your dog or puppy. DO Set Yourself Up For Success with Your Dog Set your goals appropriately. If your first walk was a total shit-show, there is no reason why your second walk will be a breeze. Leash walking your new dog or puppy can be a frustrating experience for everyone involved. Make sure you set yourself up for success by learning to Pilot your dog in the house before you start to take your dog for a walk. Never heard of Piloting? Learn more about Piloting your dog here, but essentially, imagine separating your dog's life into behavior vs. training. Obviously, you can't train a dog to walk on a leash until you have their behavior under control. For example, if your dog's behavior in the house is a complete mess, why would walking them on a leash outside where there is a myriad of new stimuli be anything other than a complete disaster? If a kid is prone to tantrums in the house, do you really think that they're immune to them while overstimulated at the grocery store? No. Start by working on your dog's behavior (and impulse control), and then gradually working through their training. DON'T Confuse Going for a Walk with Leash Training I still haven't gone for a walk with my new Aussie puppy, Hazel, even though I've had her almost 2 months, yet we leash train every day. Our mindset when we take our dog for a "walk" is so much different than when we "leash train". For example: I decided to take my pit bull, Ellis, for a walk this evening. We went for about 1 mile through the Cleveland Metroparks before turning around and heading home. That is our usual walk, and unless the mosquitos are particularly bad, we do it just about every evening. I next decided to take my Arwen, my Border Collie around our cul-de-sac a few times. We did our usual loop, but had to toggle between our usual walk and leash training as we get close to heavy traffic (Arwen hates cars). Finally I did Hazel's usual leash training, which, for this evening, consisted of walking up and down our driveway a few times and then taking it into the house to work on leash training indoors (too many mosquitos). Ellis and I didn't need to do leash training because he's a breeze to walk. Yes, he may have a few questions during the walk that I need to answer, but he's an easy dog to work with, and his questions are few and far between. Arwen had a little bit of a rough start in life, and as a result, had to work on some trust issues, which included feeling safe around cars. I'm so proud of the work she's done, as she started off lunging and snarling at any car that went by (seriously, it was ridiculous) to merely giving the stink eye to cars as they go by. So whenever we hit heavy traffic areas, I need to make sure I'm leash training rather than just going for a walk. Hazel has no idea WTF is going on right now, as she's only 4 months old and is like a coked up hummingbird. A puppy at that age only has control of 3 limbs at a time, maximum, so at her age, everything we do is leash training, not a walk. By calling our goals by the correct term, we are getting into the correct mind frame. I don't leash train Ellis because he's already there. I can pick a destination and merely walk there with him, the same way I can get into my reliable old truck and drive somewhere, confident I will reach my destination with ease. Arwen is mostly in good working order, but she's like that Mitsubishi Eclipse I had right out of school: mostly reliable and secure, but would leak a bit of oil, so I needed to keep and eye on it. So usually Arwen and I can go for a walk, but sometimes I would need to stop focusing on our destination and take measures to make sure we'd actually reach our destination. Then there's Hazel. If you focus too much on the destination, you'll fail to see it's all falling apart from under you, and then you're left stranded. Right now, Hazel is a Ford Pinto: you're not going anywhere easily, so it's better to focus on maintenance and repair before going anywhere. The good news is that the more I repair/train with Hazel, the faster this goes. And the best part is that by managing my expectations (focus on the next step, not the destination) as well as her abilities (not adding more stimuli than she can handle), leash training is pleasant. Arwen started off the same way Hazel did: leash walking in our basement, and then throughout our house. We graduated to the driveway, and then swinging left and right in front of our house, gradually adding more distance as we toggled between leash training and going for a walk. DO Introduce Your Dog to a Leash Early, But With Intent Even though I'm not going for a walk with Hazel yet, she wears a leash at least a few times a day. Initially, when she was 10-12 weeks old, I just put the leash on her and let her walk around with it, and even mouth it a bit to get used to the weird object. She wore it when I would take her outside to focus on housebreaking. In other words, while leash training is still a thing with us, she is completely desensitized to wearing a leash. We were not so fortunate with our Arwen, as she had never been on a leash prior to us getting her at about 5-6 months old. Learn how we had to build up trust in this link. DON'T Try to Exercise Your Dog with a Walk If you're trying to exercise your dog by taking them for a walk, you're fighting a losing battle, but especially if your dog is young and full of energy already. They will not be able to control their impulses enough as it is, let alone when they haven't had exercise yet. The walk is a bonding experience, and a way to add new stimuli and sensory input, without your dog going bananas. It's always a good idea to exercise your dog and wear them out before the walk. For some good ways to do that, check out this link. DO Pilot Your Dog on a Walk There's that word again: Pilot. Well, that's probably one of the most important of having a happy walk with your dog, and the beginnings of leash training. To learn how to Pilot your dog on a walk, check out this video of the first walk I ever took with Ellis. More of a reader? Give this article on leash walking a read. Leash Training Your Dog: Conclusion The mantra here at Darwin Dogs is always: Control yourself: keep calm (at least outwardly), and watch your body language.. Control the current situation. If your dog is already acting like a maniac while still in your driveway, do you think they'll do better when you hit the park? Pilot the situation you find yourself currently in, and once that's under control, only then can you add more stimuli. By applying this mantra to all facets of dog training and puppy behavior, you can work through any situation you find yourself in. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio

We always start with such lofty goals when training our dog or working with puppy behaviors. Our shelter dog is going to become a therapy dog who visits nursing homes. Your new puppy is going to know all the commands and do rally and agility, as well as volunteer at a soup kitchen on the weekends. That mutt you found on the side of the road? Well he's going to unify America and create world peace, as well as solving global hunger. Oh, yeah, and bring back Firefly. With the original cast. Rather than creating all these lofty training goals for your dog or puppy, let's focus on the most important, and perhaps work our way up from there. Dog Training Goal 1: Empathy I don't care what you're doing, be it housebreaking your puppy or trying to teach your new shelter dog how to walk on a leash, everything starts with empathy. Without empathy, there is no communication, and dog training grounded in communication. The highest form of knowledge is empathy. - Bill Bullard Now ask yourself how solid you are in your knowledge of your dog. Are you really trying to see the world as they see it? So perhaps to you it's just a walk around the block with your new dog, but to the puppy mill rescue you've just adopted, it's the first time they've ever seen a car, and you're walking them down a busy road. Maybe to you it's just another dog you're passing, but to your dog-reactive dog, it's a terrifying potential threat. Think of some fears, anxieties and concerns you have that are unique to you. Others may not share the same dread that you may have; if they simply tell you to "get over it", are you able to immediately end your worry? Not in the slightest. Your emotions and responses to a situation aren't right or wrong, they just are. You can't help being afraid of snakes. You can't help being worried about the stock market. Your fear of the dark doesn't make you bad or weak. And just because I may not share the same fears or phobias doesn't mean yours aren't absolutely real to you, as mine are to me. So rather than dismissing my dog's behavior as "bad" or "naughty", I'm going to try to take a moment and see how things may look to them. Learn More: Ultimate Guide to Dog Behavior Dog Training: The Most Important Part Dog Training: Communicating with your Dog Dog Training Goal 2: Focus I see you all bobbing your heads on this one. "Yeah, you have to keep your eye on the ball and focus on training your dog, or housebreaking your puppy. Stay focused." There's only one thing you need to focus on: your bond with your dog. Ask yourself, is what I'm about to do going to strengthen my bond with my dog, or damage it? Your goal is to build a relationship based on trust, love and mutual respect, grounded in communication. The rest slides into place. But you will never have a healthy bond with your dog if you've placed any aspect of their training (be it leash walking, housebreaking or otherwise) above your loving, respectful bond with your dog. Learn More: Why I Hate Shock Collars Training a Puppy Mill Survivor Building Trust with Your Dog Dog Training Goal 3: Grace You're trying to teach your dog basic commands, but no matter what you do, he's refusing to sit, or stay, or any of the "simple" dog behaviors. Why is your dog giving you such a hard time?!!!!! Your dog isn't giving you a hard time. Your dog is having a hard time. Maybe you're both fried, and now isn't the time to work on basic dog commands. Maybe you aren't teaching it in a way they can understand. Regardless, hard times are bound to head your way, know how to handle them. For instance: I have a self-imposed deadline of posting a new blog post at the beginning of every week. I've just started this one at 7:00 the night before it needs to be posted. I'm in my office, plugging along with my three lovely dogs all quietly chewing their bones. Until my puppy, Hazel (aka, "Quagmire") decides otherwise. She's getting into everything (which is really outside her usual behavior). She's harassing my other dogs, Arwen and Ellis, trying to get them to play. She's doing zoomies all around the furniture, and barking at the computer monitor. I have two ways to handle this: either with frustration, or with grace. Sure, it's easier to yell at her, or constantly half-ass my way through Piloting her, but I know that won't work, and I will get frustrated when my lack of effort doesn't give me the results I didn't earn. So rather than lose my shit and raise my energy by yelling, or bribing Hazel into trying to behave, I'm going to take another look at the situation. Hazel doesn't know about my deadline, that's mine, and belongs in the human world. All she knows is that it's 7:00, and that's her witching hour. She lives in a dog world, and my human world concerns don't, well, concern her. All she knows is she has a need, and it isn't being fulfilled. So how do I handle this with grace? By consciously stopping what I'm doing to address the situation. I have a myriad of correct choices in front of me: remove Hazel from the situation by putting her in her crate to chill out, taking her into the basement (aka Thunderdome) to play with the flirt pole, give her a Kong with PB, put her on a leash and Pilot her through her negative behaviors (while giving positive to her beneficial behaviors) ... I could go on and on. The only thing I'm not going to do is act without grace, meaning continuing to hope that a half-assed response on my part to her whole-hearted assholery will result in anything other than annoyance and frustration. If you're wondering, I ended up taking her outside to run for a few moments, whereupon she was put into her crate with a toy for the duration of this writing session. Total time it took for me was about 8 minutes. Now I'm able to focus on my task at hand with the attention and grace it deserves. Learn More: The Witching Hour: From Chaos to Calm Puppy Chewing & Destruction Ultimate Guide to Exercising Your Dog Dog Training Goal 4: Clarity Ah....clarity. The thing that we seem to be missing from our lives in general also seems to disappear when we are trying to work with our dogs. Clarity is cutting through all the bullshit of what we say, and what we do, to get through to exactly what we want. Be it from our jobs, our relationships or our dogs. For example: During our weekly pack walk, Missy, a client of mine comes up to me with a question. She's just started on her path to Piloting her dog, after trying for years to (unsuccessfully) train her dog. As she's walking up to me, her dog is dancing all around on the leash. Missy Pilots her dog, Cleo, and even though Cleo is struggling, she's trying her hardest to remain calm, as only a 6 month old puppy can, and doing okay. Missy then decides Cleo needs to sit. "Sit, Cleo. Sit! C'mon, Cleo, sit." *pushes Cleo's butt down* *Cleo promptly stands back up* Wash, rinse repeat. I stood there for a few moments, allowing the drama to unfold, until Missy looked at me for direction. Me: What was your original intent? What did you want Cleo to do? Missy: Be calm while I talked to you. Me: Was she calm while she was standing? Missy: *Lightbulb* Do you want your dog to go to a specific place when guests come over, or do you need them to just not be an asshole, you don't care where they aren't assholes, as long as they aren't assholes. Do you need to have your dog sit every time you stop while on a walk, or do you want them to just not be an asshole? Do you care if your dog-reactive dog looks at you when passing by that other dog, or do you just want them not looking at that other dog (like an asshole)? Are you getting the idea here? We've covered what we actually want with so many extra steps and layers, we lost track of our original goal. In Missy's case she just wanted Cleo to not be an asshole (while she asked me a question, about her dog being an asshole). Missy handled Cleo's original assholery well, and calmed her down, but then felt the need to pile on the commands to a dog who was already struggling. Cleo didn't need to sit. She needed to calm down. By losing clarity of what she originally wanted (Cleo being calm), Missy mired herself into a never-ending battle on two fronts: Cleo was struggling with calm to begin with, and when Missy actually got her to be calm, Missy lost her clarity of what she wanted, and started adding layers of commands, rather than just taking the win of having a calm(er) dog. Be clear. Be concise. Most importantly, don't add layers to an easy concept, thought, or command. Know what you want, and then don't be afraid to accept the win for what it is: what you asked for in the first place. The Myth of More Dog Training: Catching Your Dog's Behavior Avoid Dog Training Failures: 6 Simple Steps Dog Training Goal 5: Respect Obviously you need to respect your dog: their physical needs as well as their mental/emotional needs. We aren't going there, though. But what about you? Are you respecting yourself when you compare how well everyone else is walking their dog at the pack walk to how poorly you feel you're doing? Are you respecting yourself when you would never expect your dog to be the perfect dog, yet you berate yourself for not being the perfect dog owner, (what ever that is)? You beat yourself up for the slightest mis-step with your dog, but are willing to find empathy for your dog in even the toughest situations? What about you? Respect what you've done, how you've grown with your dog, and realize that training a dog isn't a fad diet, it's a lifestyle change. Allow yourself to have mis-steps, and grow from them, rather than festering in those stagnant waters of self-deprecation. So you messed something up. Big deal. Give yourself a mental hug, promise to learn, and move on. It's what your dog would tell you to do. Learn More: Tips to Staying Calm While Puppy Training Failing Your Dog by Failing Yourself Dog Training Myth Busting: Consistency Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Find out answers here. Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio

Control yourself. Control the current situation. Answer your dog's new questions. That's always been my mantra when training dogs (and, truth be told, in life as well). Control yourself. I am the center of my world, and therefore, it's up to me to control my reactions to the world around me. Simple enough. Deep breath and compose yourself before addressing your dog's current behavior, or before addressing that mess your puppy left you. As Liz Taylor said, "Put on some lipstick, pour yourself a drink, and pull yourself together". Control the situation. Do not add any new stimuli to a situation you don't already have control of. I've found myself reminding my clients that you never speed up through a sharp turn. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. So if your dog has lost his mind when your guest is on your front porch and has just rang the doorbell, do you really think your dog is going to magically compose himself when you let your guest in? No. Of course not. So address what's happening with your dog in the Right Now. Then you can focus on What May Happen when (and if) it happens. Answer your dog's new questions. Now that you've got your dog under control at the door, it's time to open the door and let your guest in, and I'm sure your dog is going to have quite a few questions regarding your new guest. Simply answer your dog's questions, and repeat the mantra over and over again as need: control yourself, control the situation, answer new questions. That is the essence of working through any of your dog's behaviors and working towards your dog training goals. But that brings up the question, how clear are your dog training goals? Do you even have in mind what you'd like your puppy to be trained to do (or not do)? Our puppy training goals can get pretty muddled rather quickly, and we lose sight of our original purpose: a well behaved dog. So let's focus a little bit on goal setting. Dog Training: Keeping it Simple I had an absolutely amazing dog training session a few nights ago with a dog we will call Caz. Caz is a Very Good Boy (yes he is!) but is young, energetic, and a complete asshole. He has been returned to the shelter at least 2 times for undisclosed reasons (although I'm sure I could come up with a few guesses). Caz fortunately was adopted about 2 weeks ago by a wonderful couple, Debbie and Al, who immediately called me for dog training, as they knew they were in over their heads with Caz. Caz is a sweet, loving, wonderful dog, who unfortunately, through no fault of his own, was never taught any impulse control. To make matters worse, he has a lot of anxiety on the leash, which is a pretty big deal since Caz is about 70 lbs. So how to work through all of these behaviors? Control yourself. Control the situation. Answer new questions. Rather than simply engaging in dog training with Caz, I explained the concept of Piloting Caz to Deb and Al, and answering his questions ("Can I jump on you?" "Can I drag you on a leash?" "Can we snuggle now?"). By seeing their dog's behaviors as simply a series of unanswered questions, it was much easier to see the pathway to calm through communication, rather than bribing their dog with constant treats, or even worse, utilizing shock collars or prong collars to abuse him into submission. At one point, after a very productive leash training segment with Caz, we arrived back at their house, and paused in the driveway. Initially, Caz had tried to drag me out the door at the start of our walk (I was having none of that, and gave him a gentle, but firm, negation to his question about door protocol). And while it took a few rounds of Q&A with Caz regarding door etiquette, he eventually accepted my answer and we proceeded calmly out the door. We had a great walk, but now Debbie had Caz at the door, and was confused as to how to proceed. She kept dancing around him, switching sides, and moving all around. I could see she was trying to puzzle through how to proceed next. "I'm not sure what I want him to do", she said. Al responded before I could say anything: "Instead of constantly focusing on what to do next, do what Kerry just showed us in the house and just negate anything you don't like as it pops up?" Imagine that! No more series of dog rules and pages of pooch protocol for entering your own house! No, she didn't make Caz sit before he went in, because she didn't care if he did! No, Caz did not need to wait at the door until after she went in, because Debbie didn't give a flying fig who went in first! Debbie did give Caz a negative when he tried bully his way past her to get into the house, because that's just rude, and she didn't like it. But then when he calmed down again, they both went into the house, with rather little fanfare. Think about it the same way as having kids. When I was a little girl, I remember my mom sending my brothers and I outside to play in the summertime with only 3 rules: Be back by dinner time, don't leave the tri-state area, and don't kill each other. #GenZ There wasn't a huge list of what we should do, because it was easier to list out the couple of things we shouldn't do. The same goes for working through some of your dog's behaviors. You don't have to have a game plan, or a ritual for every damn interaction you and your dog have together. It's okay to simply wait for your dog's natural behaviors, and then just give it a positive or negate it. You don't always have to be in Dog Training Mode. Focus on Your Dog Training Goals Back to my dog training session with Caz, Al and Debbie. As most of you who have done dog training and puppy training through Darwin Dogs, during your session, I show you how to gently negate your dog's negative behaviors. Questions your dog asks that are answered with a "no" as opposed to a "yes". For example, if my puppy Hazelnut Quagmire asks me two questions: "Can I have that chocolate bar?" vs. "May I please have my walk now?", the former will always be a negative, as we all know chocolate is poisonous to dogs. However, I can easily give a positive to the latter question, as yes, it is indeed time to go for a walk with my dog. To illustrate this, as well as the techniques involved in giving a dog a negative in such a way that is safe, but also doesn't hurt or scare the dog, I usually demonstrate by taking a handful of high-value food, placing it on the floor, and negating the dog's questions regarding said food. This gives a very good real-life situation to how to work through your dog's behaviors through communication, and gives an opportunity to see that yes, sometimes you do need to answer a question a couple times for your dog, and that's okay. However, you need to stick to you guns. Because after the exercise, Caz did not get the treats for leaving the treats alone. Do you see how stupid that sounds? "If you leave my treats alone, Caz, you can have my treats." So then what does a negative mean? No means, "no", not wait, and not maybe. I always say what I mean, and follow through with what I say. That's how you build trust, be it through answering questions about the food on the floor, or addressing your dog's concern about their safety around another dog on their walk. Back to Caz. Now it was Debbie's turn to try putting the food on the floor (which Caz still had not yet tasted). She controlled herself, controlled the situation, and then placed the food on the floor and proceeded to answer all of her dog's questions about the food on the floor until there were no more questions, only the food. Well done Debbie! She scooped the food back up off the floor, understanding that if she gave them to Caz, it was defeating the purpose: helping him understand that "no" means "no", and starting her dog on the road of impulse control. I mentioned to Al and Debbie that the particular exercise of placing the food on the floor need not ever be repeated, as life give plenty of opportunities to negate a dog's behaviors. Furthermore, we were literally setting up Caz to receive negatives; entrapment, if you will, and there's only so much of that a dog can take before they get frustrated. Al mentioned that he would like to try it. My knee-jerk reaction was that Caz needed a few positive situations before we tried that again, but I didn't trust my instincts, and as usual, that caused trouble. Caz almost immediately because an unruly mess. Jumping, nipping and barking at Al. Caz had lost all impulse control, and Al was struggling. Now typically, I have it as a source of pride that my clients are able Pilot their dogs during our session, and put a high value item on the floor, thus paving the way towards answering other questions. But then it hit me: Pride is the epitome of not controlling yourself. Pride doesn't fill your Piloting bank. Pride doesn't help Caz with his impulse control issues, and it certainly wasn't helping Al as he was fending off Caz's relentless rapid-fire questions. I took a minute to reevaluate what the goals were here: to teach Al and Debbie how to Pilot their dog, build up their self confidence with Caz, and to start them on their way to filling up their Piloting bank with Caz. How did this fit in with those goals? It didn't. So I pulled the plug and switched it up to something else: a walk. And how did that walk go? Well, if you read the first half of my blog post, you already know it went beautifully. Al went farther than he ever had with Caz, and passed some exceptionally difficult situations that had seemed insurmountable previously. More importantly, we created a situation where there were still a few questions that Caz asked that needed a negative answer, there were far more that were getting positives. Win/Win. By focusing on our goals (impulse control with Caz, confidence with Al and Debbie, and building up the Piloting bank) we were able to get so much more accomplished in our first two hour session than we ever could have if we just continued circling the drain with the food on the floor exercise. Further, if we had continued, I would have been ignoring my mantra by not controlling myself (or my pride), not controlling the situation (I already knew Caz was overstimulated), and definitely unable to answer new questions that Caz had. Goals are there for a reason. They're important to us. But they always seem to be the first thing we jettison when we actually start working through a behavior. Our goal may be to be healthier, but the first time we "slip" and have a candy bar, we beat ourselves up, which undermines our goal of health, as mental health is important! Our goal may be to get up early and start our day at 5:00 am, but we berate ourselves for not having run a half-marathon by 8:00, forgetting that the goal was to start the day earlier, not accomplish all our long term goals by the ass-crack of dawn. By losing focus of our goals, we are sabotaging ourselves out of our most important goal: progress. Progress, not perfection, for both dog training and life. Keep calm and Pilot on. You got this. Learn more about our Piloting Method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Find out answers here. Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Dog Behavior Greater Cleveland area; Northeast Ohio

Have you ever noticed that with a lot of methods or processes, there is this belief that the more steps or the more complicated it is, the better it must be? The recipe with 23 steps and 18 ingredients is obviously better than the one with 3 steps and 4 ingredients. A 500 page book is more engaging than a 250 page novel. As a culture, we've somehow come to the conclusion that more is, well, more. But more what? Time consuming? More expensive? More work? More rules and restrictions? But more does not equal better. And in no place does that prove true quite like working through a dog's behaviors. Traditional Dog Training There's a phrase I've always loved. Eschew obfuscation I have so many clients come to me with stories of how many other dog trainers they've been through, trying to alleviate a specific behaviors. Each new dog trainer came with a litany of procedures to train your dog. They come armed with technical terms. Manuals and homework. 8 steps to get your dog to sit. And then 15 more to get them to not jump. And if your dog still jumps, here's a 25 page pamphlet to tell you why you how to solve the issue (for real this time) plus another video about why you're a terrible dog owner anyway, and why did you even let someone in your house to begin with?! And the shock collars. If your dog didn't listen to you after all that, let's just try -shock therapy. That should cure the jumping. Only now your puppy has taken to twitching instead of jumping, but still, that's progress, right? I had a lovely couple whose dog was exceptionally excited to meet new guests. To the point of jumping all over them while somehow simultaneously flying through the house like a kite in a tornado. Obviously that dog's behavior was unacceptable, and needed to be addressed. Compounding the issue was that fact that the dog was a Newfie, topping out at about 115 lbs. Jasper wanted to be a "gentle giant", but so far he only had the "giant" part down. Jasper was a sweet dog, but just given his size, was actually quite dangerous, having knocked down several people already, including his owner, who fell down the steps. Shirley, Jasper's human mom, Shirley, wanted her dog to succeed, and therefore enrolled her in every dog class you could imagine. From successive 8 week Puppy Kindergarten classes to private in-home dog trainers to board and train style doggie bootcamp. Poor Shirley tried them all (and spent thousands of dollars!). Yet when she welcomed me into her home the first time, her dog still ran full throttle at me and jumped on me. Shirley immediately laughed and said Jasper obviously needed more dog training, to which I responded, "Actually, he needs less." Shirley was obviously dumbfounded by my response, as she had literally called me to train her dog. How could less training be better? Because training your dog isn't was it needed here; giving your dog an answer to their question is (we call that Piloting in the Darwin Dogs world). Let me explain. The Two Types of Questions Your Dog or Puppy are Asking You Training a dog should be used when your dog asks questions that are a bit like, "How do I...?" or "What does...?" For example: Q. What does 'sit' mean? A. I'm going to gently push a dog's tush down, and then name that "sit" while giving a positive. Q. How do I indicate I need to go outside? A. I'm going to take the puppy's paw and swipe it across the bells I've hung on the door, and then immediately let them outside and praise them when they potty out there. Q. How do I get rid of this energy appropriately? A. I'm going to find my dog's favorite toy (ball, or flirt pole) and get rid of their energy. All of those require training your dog to a specific behavior that they may not stumble upon on their own, and definitely would not be taught to them by another dog. Pretty simple. But the dog jumping is asking a "Can I?" or "Is that?" question, or a behavioral question. And those are answered in a more binary fashion with a simple yes or no. For example: Q. Can I jump on you? A. No. You may not. Q. Can I eat dinner now? A. Yes. It's dinnertime. Q. Is that dog across the street going to kill us? A. No. You are safe. By confusing training and behavior, you've created an overcomplicated, bloated mess out of a behavior that could have been quickly resolved with a simple, gentle negation (as Jasper's was). Or more simply, think of how you would answer a preschooler's questions. Q. How do I write my name? A. Teach the child alphabet. That was a training/teaching question. Q. Can I smack my sister? A. No. That is unacceptable. Dog Training Simplified Now go back and think about how many complicated and unnecessary steps are being assigned to each of your dog's "Can I?" questions that simply needed a calm, gentle answer. Everything from "Can I chew this?" to "Can I jump on the couch?" If your dog is asking about chewing on their bone, then the answer is "yes". If your puppy is asking about chewing on your shoes, then the answer is "no". How can you tell your dog is asking a question? Just watch them. If they're chewing on your shoe, they're already asking the question, and you would give them a negation. If they're staring intently at your shoe, you know your puppy is about to chew it, so you would pre-emptively negate their "Is that for me?" question. Dog Training Differently So rather than the complicated steps of "more" traditional dog training, the banality of constantly waiting to "click and treat" with positive only training, or the shocking reality being e-collars, you can create a life-long bond of trust with your dog by training your dog using communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Find out answers here. Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio

Your dog jumps. Your dog barks uncontrollably. Maybe your puppy likes to shred your fingers with those razor sharp puppy teeth. What's the key to managing these behaviors with your dog or puppy? Impulse control. Learn how help your puppy and dog dog achieve impulse control. Dog Training and the Importance of Impulse Control Any dog behaviors you're working on, or tricks you're aspiring to, always start with impulse control. Here at Darwin Dogs, we utilize the Piloting Method of dog training, and the cornerstone of that is Control yourself; Control the situation; Pilot away You can learn more about it in this link, but suffice it to say that impulse control for both dog and human is integral. If your puppy has the impulse control of a coked-up squirrel with a red bull, you can't expect him to learn how to leash walk. It will end badly. So let's start with the basics: impulse control. What helps your puppy remain in a sit position when what they really want to do is blow past you through that open front door? Impulse control. What keeps your dog from dragging you down the street every time you go for a walk? Impulse control. What helps your anxious dog remain calm during thunderstorms? Impulse control. Starting Your Puppy and Dog Out Slow: Managing Expectations When faced with the Gordian Knot of energy and charisma your puppy or dog can bring, it can be hard to know how to start untangling that knot. And sometimes that's not even a metaphor. Let's start at the beginning. Impulse control is a like a muscle your dog either has (or more likely, your puppy doesn't have). Like any muscle, you need to work out to make it bigger and capable of lifting heavier loads. If you've spent the last 2 years on the couch, and decided to have a healthier lifestyle, no trainer in their right mind would suggest you go for a marathon run. That's something that you gradually build up to, using each bit of strength you've gained to help pave the road for the next upcoming step. The same applies for impulse control with your dog or puppy. If your dog loses their mind at other dogs while on a walk, the place to start working on that impulse control isn't at the dog park. It's about taking smaller, more manageable steps, and building your dog's impulse control around other dogs. A puppy who has a 30 second bladder can't be expected to hold it for 5 minutes while they try to get your attention to be let out. And like any muscle that may never have been developed, or may have atrophied from lack of use, it is not only possible, but completely reasonable to expect a recovery, but that muscle needs to be exercised. "You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." C.S. Lewis So let's start where we are, and change the ending, and get your dog or puppy back on the path of impulse control. Impulse Control Exercises for Your Dog or Puppy: Six Simple Exercises 1. Practice Door Manners Is your dog or puppy a bit much at the door? This is the perfect place to start with impulse control. Starting your dog or puppy on their training journey to impulse control doesn't mean just opening the door and hoping for the best. Hope is never a game plan. Rather, let's break this behavioral problem into smaller pieces of impulse control so we can help move your dog forward in a more positive manner. Does your dog lose their mind when they hear the doorbell? Then randomly ring it or knock on the door, and when your dog comes rushing at the door to see who is here, Pilot him until he's gained control of himself. You don't even have to open the door. You're just getting him started on the pathway to impulse control for this specific problem. It's okay to start small. Just playing with the doorknob or cracking the door is a great place to start. To learn how to answer the door without drama from your dog, check out this link. 2. End the Feeding Frenzy with your Dog Meal times are a great way to help build up impulse control with your dog or puppy. If your dog is used to having high energy as you prepare their food, have them calm down prior to giving them their food. Don't hurry up to meet your dog's demand of their food right now. A simple, calm and gentle negation of your dog's unwanted behavior is all it takes (along with a bit of repetition). Learn how to do it in this link. 3. Start Hearing What your Dog is Saying Along the lines of the mealtimes, if your dog is jumping and carrying on as soon as they see the leash, and doing their version of human parkour, they are showing no impulse control. And to think that they will segue from that madness while still inside the house, to a calm and peaceful walk outside is a joke. Your dog has every right to be excited about going for a walk (or playing fetch, or going for a ride). But how is your dog conveying that message to you? Politely, or in a less-than-savory way I call the "Yo Bitch". "Yo, bitch, time for my walk." "Yo, bitch, I want that food NOW." "Yo, bitch, throw the ball!" Can you imagine if one of my kids said, "Yo, bitch, get me a cookie?" If your dog has you rushing to obey every one of his commands, at what point is he learning impulse control? Your puppy is learning that the less impulse control they show, the faster you move to obey their needs and wants. Slow down, and don't let your dog demand from you. Let them learn that the more impulse control they show, the faster their food comes. Learn more in this link. 4. Make Sure Your Dog has Exercise I've said it before and I'll say it again. Exercise the demon. If your puppy is acting like a demented Tasmanian devil, ask yourself how much activity they've actually had today. Your puppy (and dog for that matter) will have a much easier time controlling their impulses if they have had their exercise requirements met. For simple tips on how to exercise your dog (without running a marathon) check out this link. 5. Interrupt Your Dog or Puppy's Play with Calm Breaks Puppies and dogs are bottomless pits of energy. Of course one of the easiest ways to handle that energy is a game of fetch, or maybe rope toy. But this is one of the easiest ways to work out that impulse control muscle. Rather than turning fetch time into a frenzy of non-stop running and playing, interrupt playtime with an occasional break of calmness, even if momentary. Having your dog sit before you even throw the ball imbues an undertone of impulse control in an otherwise high-energy situation. Further, the contrast between the frenzied movement of your dog racing after the ball against the momentary calm really gives that impulse control muscle a workout. 6. Know the Situation When my kids were little, there were times I didn't let them finish homework. I always read the situation during homework time, and a 2nd grader who is close to tears trying to struggle through their math homework after a long day at school, followed by a dentist appointment, is not learning anything except that their needs don't matter. I want that homework done. That 2nd grader needs a break and a chance to reboot. Of course I can force a child or a dog to do what I want, and prove to them that I am stronger or hold more power over them. Let them know that I am "alpha" or "pack leader". But what does that instill in them? If your puppy has hit what I call The Witching Hour, they aren't capable of the level of impulse control that they usually show (which for a puppy, is about zero anyway). Know your audience, and gauge the temperature of the room before you decide now is the perfect time to force your dog or puppy to obey your will. You are your dog's Pilot, not their first bully. And while I despise the soft bigotry of low expectations, let's not force a 3 month old puppy to sit and stay for 5 minutes straight simply to get their meal. Good enough is good enough, and some days "good" looks different than others. And that's okay. You're training your dog and working through behaviors with your puppy. Just like any other goal, if you reach it immediately, then your goals weren't lofty enough. But if it seems as if you're struggling (or your dog or puppy is), then maybe recalibrate. (Un)Focused Dog Training So what's the purpose of all of this? Well, now that your dog has shown impulse control by not blowing past you through doorways, that impulse control muscle is strengthened, and can be used in other areas. Your puppy uses impulse control to learn that they can't jump on you or your spouse, so now they're assuming that might just apply to everyone. Your dog uses impulse control during playtime, and therefore starts to use it during your walks. So impulse control is a thing that snowballs. If it works for them in one situation, maybe it will work for them in every situation. And that's the beauty of Piloting your dog instead of merely training your dog: it's a holistic approach to working through your dog's behaviors. Learning to Pilot your puppy rather than focus on never-ending, repetitious training classes enables you to sort through those unwanted behaviors quickly and without resorting to forceful (and downright abusive) methods like shock collars or prong collars. Piloting your dog and puppy is about building a healthy relationship, with realistic boundaries, without resorting to Andrew Tate machismo alpha tactics. It's about building trust without resorting to bribery. Learn more about Darwin Dog's Piloting method of dog training and puppy training, and find out if your pup is a good candidate for our private, in-home dog training. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Find out answers here. Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Dog Behavior Greater Cleveland area; Northeast Ohio

I love the routine of two dogs (specifically my Ellis and Arwen). Arwen is almost 2 now (when did that happen?!) and Ellis is about 5-ish. They know the rules of the house, and the daily routine. They are almost on auto-pilot. I love the quiet simplicity of two dogs, and the peaceful atmosphere of our house. Yeah....I screwed it up. Hazel is about as puppy as puppy gets. She's into things she shouldn't be into, has endless energy and very little sense of self control. In other words, she's perfect. And while I love all that boundless Aussie Ambition, sometimes it's a bit much for a human. That's when I turn to my arsenal of tricks. Kinda like shoving an iPad at my kids when they were little. Is it perfect parenting? No. Was it good parenting, though? Also, no. But did it keep me from killing them? Well, they're still breathing, so there's that. And some days it's just about letting them keep a steady heartbeat. Top Must-Have Puppy Training Supplies for New Dog Owners I've gotta come clean: Amazon is kinda, sorta using my garage as their storage. Okay, not really, but every time you shop through my favorite items, they thank me with a small gift. So, shop away and help fuel my Amazon obsession! ASOCEA Dog Tug Toy with Flirt Pole So this toy has consistently been rated as "indispensable" according to my clients (and their puppies), especially during The Witching Hour , when your puppy needs activity to get out the pent-up energy, but you need to keep that energy far from you, lest they redirect onto you. Puppy teeth are no joke. I have one of these stashed on every level of my house. It's great for a quick "snack" of activity when your puppy needs it most (usually when you can handle it the least). If you only get one toy to help your puppy through difficult behavior, let it be this one. Outward Hound Nina Ottosson Treat Tumble If you have read anything about Darwin Dogs Piloting method of dog and puppy training, you've probably picked up on the philosophy of giving your dog plenty of mental work. One of the easiest ways to do that with your puppy is through an enrichment feeders. Now not all puppy enrichment feeders are created equal, and this one constantly has stood the test of time for me and my puppy training clients. It's durable, and has a large reservoir to hold your puppy's food (yes, you need to replace your puppy's food bowl with an enrichment feeder). So fill 'er up, and let your puppy rock out to meal time, which will quickly be followed by naptime (my personal favorite). So fill 'er up, and let your puppy rock out to meal time, which will quickly be followed by naptime (my personal favorite). Feel like really overachieving? Get your dog a couple enrichment feeders and swap them out during meal times. Find out more in this link covering mental work for your dog or puppy. Original Snuggle Puppy Heartbeat Stuffed Toy for Dogs I first saw this last year a client's house when I was training their puppy. Their puppy seemed to be obsessed with a specific plush toy. I got the details on the toy, and filed the info away into that sieve I call my brain, where it was promptly lost. Thankfully I've seen this toy during several of my other puppy training sessions since then, and with similar responses: the puppies love them. The shape is perfect for snuggling, and the combination of the heartbeat and the heating element create a sedative effect for a puppy who may otherwise be scared and crying the entire night rather than sleeping. It's rather durable, and while initially I was afraid my Hazel would end up doing surgery on her toy an extracting the battery, it's proven to be Aussie-proof, which is rather amazing. If the price tag puts you off, do the math. Ask yourself in the middle of the night, when your puppy is crying and screaming, if it was worth it not spending the money on this calming toy (hint: get a darker colored toy, because it will get dirty and dingy). I wouldn't know … because I've been sleeping like, well, a puppy with a snuggle heartbeat toy, since the first night we got our puppy. Best Pet Supplies Crinkle Dog Toy No Stuffing Duck Another toy that I consistently see my clients' puppies loving. Bonus points that there's not stuffing in there for them to swallow. Hazel always seems to really whale on hers during her Witching Hour. She's definitely made it her gimp, and they both seem to be holding up just fine and working through the nuances of their complicated (and often misunderstood) relationship. I'm just grateful that Hazel has a safe confidant to release her pent up frustrations with, and better this duck than me. Benebone Wishbone Durable Dog Chew Toy for Aggressive Chewers My older dogs still go straight to plaid on this sometimes, and power chew (I have no idea what "straight to plaid" means...it's just what I think of when I see them working these bones). Once again, your puppy will have a need that must be filled: chewing. You don't try to squash that need, you simply provide the correct outlet for it. Check out this blog post where I cover puppy chewing, and how to get them straight to plaid...on something other than your leather furniture. Saudism Large Dog Crate Furniture As a dog trainer, I've had the privilege of working with hundreds and hundreds of clients and their puppies, and I've been able to see what works as far as crates and what doesn't. As soon as I knew I was getting a puppy, I immediately set up the crate to determine if it was a good fit in our life, our house, and durable enough for our newest addition. I knew that my puppy could be spending anywhere from 3 months to the rest of her life utilizing a crate, so I wanted something I didn't hate looking at but was still safe and comfortable for her. This was the best option I kept seeing at my client's houses over and over again during our puppy training sessions. The bars are sturdy, and have some heft, and the multiple openings are truly a blessing when cleaning it, or just retrieving the stuck Kong at the back of the crate. I've utilized it for two puppies so far (a friend's puppy I babysat for a few days, and my Hazel), and both had no issues with it, and willingly napped or just chilled out in there. Dog Training vs. Dog Life By focusing on dog life, rather than dog training, our goals can become so much more attainable and clear-cut. Most of us don't want an obedient dog, we just don't want a dis-obedient dog. Robot-style dogs who are afraid of stepping out of line are for certain types of people I guess. But that's not my style. That's why I developed the Piloting method of dog training over 20 years ago, a force-free method of dog training and puppy training that didn't rely on abusive shock collars or cruel prong collars, yet didn't constantly bribe with non-stop click-n-treat style dog training. I want a bond with my dog based on trust and communication. Learn more about our Piloting method of dog and puppy training here. Find out more about our private in home 30 Day Best Dog Ever and 30 Day Best Puppy Ever training packages here. Have questions about our puppy training or dog training? Kerry Stack Darwin Dogs Dog Training and Puppy Training Greater Cleveland Area Northeast Ohio