5 Goals to Achieve in any Dog Training Program

Dog Training must make a dog a pleasure to be around, not just a trick machine.

People have many different expectations when they come into a dog training class or when they want you to give them an in-home session for their misbehaving new puppy.

Some of them remember how their idealized dog from their young years, some have watched the Dog Whisperer on Animal Planet, others have been asking everyone in the Craigslist Pet Forum or their friends on Facebook, and have come up with a shopping list of commands they want their pooches to obey.

Their itemized lists are pretty much very achievable, given the proper discipline on their part, but sometimes I wonder what is their final goal, or if they even know exactly what is the best for them and their dogs.

I don't claim to know what is best for everyone, but experience tells me that checking every item of their command list is not the way to go. What you want, and what is going to give you a more satisfactory relationship with your dog are these 5 goals:

1. Understand the way your dog communicates with you
2. Understand how your dog reads what you do and what you say
3. Give your dog calmness
4. Create habits that both your dog and you can share
5. Exercise your dogs thinking skills to adapt to everything life will throw your way in the future 

Have you seen your dog's face when you are angry at it after you find pee on the carpet? You see how guilty he looks? Well, that is not guilt, that is just an expression that means "could you please be calmer?, you're scaring me". That's why you need to understand your dog's body language, we often interpret it like human body language, and ofter err.

Have you notice that when your teacup chihuahua is aggressive to people walking by and you hold it in your arms, instead of calming down he gets even angrier and starts to shake? He understand that your hugging and petting means, "good job, that's is exactly what I want you to do. That is why you need to know how to communicate effectively in a dog-appropriate way.

Sometimes I find people who spent hundreds of dollars teaching their dogs all commands available and more than 50 different words, but when Fourth of July comes, there is no way to control his fears, or if you want to just lounge and relax, they get their dogs jumping all over them, playing, tugging, barking and chewing on furniture, but all they need is for their dogs to just chill with them, being calm.

About creating habits that both your dog and you can share, imagine you are sitting in front of the computer, working on an important file and your Fido rests on a doggie bed, waiting patiently for hours until you finish, or you take a car trip to visit friends while your dog sits nicely in the back seat, quiet, enjoying the ride, without distracting you.

And finally, even if your dog is a total candy at 2 years old, life is bound to bring changes, vacations, thunderstorms and any amount of other unforeseen events in your life for which neither you nor your dog are fully prepared, unless you both know how to take obstacles in stride.

That is, IMO, what you should expect from any dog training session, a preparation for life, life-long lessons that enrich you, your pets, family and anyone around.

about A Dogs Coach's training classes private, in-home and at the park.

Basic Dog Training Class

What you get with your dog training class

These are the basic abilities and knowledge that you need to start off a good relationship with your dog, no matter how old, if it's your first day or you've been years together.

Level: Basic Training and Socialization

Course Content: 

• Basic Obedience Commands, {Sit, Down, Stay, Come, Wait, Watch, etc.}
• Socialization to dogs and people, 
• Behavior Correction
• Calming Behaviors, 
• Dog-to-Human Language

Techniques: 

• Voice and Sign, 
• Clicker, 
• TAG Teaching, 
• Positive Reinforcement
• Mirror Training

Suited for:

• Puppies all ages (one-on-one training)
• Puppies 4-months and older with proper shots (group training)
• Adult Dogs with full set of shots

Requirements: 

• the dog's shots record (to show it on the first class)
• a tube of doggie toothpaste that is meat-flavored, 
• one cup of regular dog food in a zipped bag, 
• clicker,
• fixed-length leash (4-6 ft) and regular collar.

Where:

• In-home dog training in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Tempe, Gilbert.
• Group classes. Locations are announced in the Group Classes tab.

Coupon for the new class in the Park

The Dog Training class in Countryside Park (Mesa, Gilbert, Scottsdale, Chandler) is coming through big time.
I just issued a coupon at Google Offers - A Dogs Coach and Trainer

Check it out!

Let's hear it for the City of Mesa

Well, I am officially the dog trainer at Countryside Park:

Dog and Puppy Training Classes in Countryside Park
for Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe and Phoenix Arizona

Get more info on the Group Classes tab

dog puppy trainer positive reinforcement clicker TAGteach behavior modification socialization commands

Group classes are coming soon

My project to give dog and puppy group classes in Countryside Park (Mesa, Phoenix Arizona) has recently been accepted. I have an appointment to discuss the schedule and other details this coming Wednesday, which means I will have more details very soon.
This is an exciting new adventure for me, since most of my classes as private dog trainer have been indoors and at people's houses.

For the introduction of my project I am shrinking the fee by $20 dollars: my students will get 8 1-hour classes for $80. That is $10/hour. Sometimes you can't even get a dog walker for that fee.

I want to set Saturdays at 10 or at 9 for the first session (8 classes on consecutive Saturdays), but I'm open to suggestions.

The park is located here: 

 

Now we're talking

We can be transfixed by those puppy eyes contantly looking at us and know that our dogs are paying attention, but getting minded by an excited dog is a whole different deal.
Such big ears and the dog can't listen to us in favor of a gleeful salute to the dogs passing by across the sidewalk? No need to feel disrespected, it's just a matter of learning how to translate. You know... Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, and Dogs are from Pluto.

It's not the word, it's how you say it.
Practical little creatures they are, dogs will pay attention to your actions and their relation to their own behavior, more than what you actually say.
You say "No Jumping" and immediately start a pushing contest with your dog? "That is SO fun, let's keep doing it" your dog will think and follow up on printing muddy paw tracks on your cashmere jacket.
Yup, the moment we want our dogs to not do what we don't want them to do, we talk to them the most, touch them and wrestle with them to their heart's content, and we get the worst part of the deal.
What if we did to them what we do to our life partners: "If you don't know it already, I'm not about to tell you" and just walk away, leaving them to feel isolated for a minute? I say dog obedience is like having a boyfriend: if he hurts you, he does not deserve you. Give your dog some time alone the exact moment he jumps, bites, pushes, pulls you and don't get back together until there is at least a couple of seconds of peaceful behavior.
I don't mean to say that you have to board-school your dog for a simple jump or turn him in to a shelter after a single bite, I mean a better reaction to his behavior in good timing will make him understand that you mean business.

Mami was a 3 month old Chihuahua with needles for teeth and to teach her to not bite I started playing softly with her, as she got excited, like we humans do, she bit harder and I instantly yelped ouch, crossed my hands on my chest for half a minute, and looked away without walking away.
I resumed the playing and a little while later, she bit again and got another yelp and time off. At the third bite, I yelped and walked away for good.
Two hours later we played together, without a single bite and it's been five years now.

I wish you the same fun and success.

Happy communication.