Dog Training: Skin In The Game

I teach and practice that good dog training requires students to have some skin in the game. That means they have to be involved in, and committed to, the training, and the more difficult the issue, the more I need them to invest in the process.

For example, I received a call the other day about an older dog that isn’t good with cats. It hasn’t been good with cats its entire life. The owner has the dog living with relatives right now, has moved in with her boyfriend, they have 2 cats. One of the cats isn’t good with dogs. So, she is shopping around for a trainer to “socialize” her dog. The problem is much more, and much worse, than this.

I first asked a lot of questions regarding the situation. I need to know who is involved, something about the dogs, the living situation, and what kind of time frame we have to work with.

From the nature of the answers, I recommended a solution. Part of that was explaining the time it was going to take, and the risks that might be involved for the dog, the cats and the owners. An aggressive fight can injure everyone. I also quoted the price. It wasn’t going to be cheap. I let her know that this wasn’t going to be one of those things that can be solved in 3 to 5 lessons, the standard answer given by what I sometimes call, “quick fix trainers.”

She thanked me, and moved on. I don’t expect a return call to set up lessons. I just don’t think she wants to put the necessary skin in the game. The dog will probably end up in a bad situation. She only has a few months to work this out before she either decides to keep the dog or give it away to a shelter (and most likely a certain death sentence).

If an owner wants me to put skin in the game, then they also have to put skin in the game.