Dog Training During The New Normal 2020 COVID-19

You are like a lot of dog owners. You’ve been cooped up at home with your family and your dog for a couple of months, waiting out the coronavirus lockdown. Some of you still have a job and worked through it all. Some had to wait it out, but are just now going back to work. No way your dog is going to be the same after these past couple of months. #dog #dogtraining #therapydog #samthedogtrainer

See: http://samthedogtrainer.com/articles/dog-training-new-normal-2020-covid-19/

Therapy Dog Training & Coaching (Puppies – Adults)

I am a Therapy Dog training specialist. For example, I co-founded a therapy dog program for the Chandler School District in Arizona in 2019 – 2020. Not only do I know how to properly train therapy dogs, I have the expertise to coach therapy dog programs.

DO YOU WANT THERAPY DOG TRAINING? I have trained many therapy dogs. It is one of the great joys I have doing training, and it is a way to give back to the community to help others. A therapy dog is a properly selected and trained dog that is typically used to help someone other than the dog’s owner: to reduce stress, assist in the healing process, and/or provide comfort and company to human patients in hospitals, schools, disaster situations, hospice, and retirement facilities.

DO YOU WANT A THERAPY DOG PROGRAM COACH? With my experience, I can provide business consulting for your therapy dog organization, from start ups to existing operations. I can provide you professional opinions, based upon my experience and viewpoints, on topics such as:

Your Business Plan
Facilitating Focus Groups
Your Relationship With Your Clients
Marketing and PR Strategies
Organizational Operations And Scheduling
Volunteers
Recruiting, Managing And Training Your Therapy Dog Teams
Review Of Forms and Agreements (not the same as legal advice; I’m not an attorney)
Budgeting (not the same as accounting; I’m not an accountant or investment advisor)
Making The Most Of The Work Your Teams Do With The Public

Consulting will mostly be done either with online virtual services (FaceTime, Skype, Zoom) or in person. Dog and handler training can be done online and in-person, as well.

So, if you’d like to find out more about my therapy training or consulting, please contact me.

Happy Eager Dog Training

I think everyone enjoys watching, living with, and training a happy, eager dog...

Dog Training And Sloppy Work

I am not a perfectionist. I think perfection is an unrealistic and burdensome outlook. Not everything can be perfect, and priorities need to be set. However, as a general rule, I think higher priority items need more defined standards of quality and performance...

Change Yourself Or Change Your Dog?

Some human psychology experts say there are 5 Big Aspects of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. Each aspect can be measured using personality tests, and they vary in intensity on an individual basis. As a general rule, the more you are like another person, the more likely you’ll get along...

Are Doodles Overpriced Mutts?

A Doodle is a cross-bred dog created by breeding a Poodle with another purebred dog. But, some people don’t like them, calling them overpriced mutts. What’s the truth?

Dog Training Because... Feelings

Is it possible to train dogs and never hurt anyone's feelings? I really don't believe so, if you are being honest with others and yourself.

I try as best as possible to be a good person and treat others well. However, telling the truth always risks hurting someone's feelings. People don't like bad news, don't like changing their ways, don't like losing face in front of others, don't like being told their dog needs changing, and so on. No adult really wants to be told they (or their dogs) need to change.

I know from personal experience, if I want to get the most out of a learning situation, I have to be prepared to be a rookie, to be wrong, to be confronted, to... gasp... change. Yeah, it can rub me the wrong way, but that doesn't mean I quit or blame the teacher. I accept the bad feelings that often come when you have to improve or change.

Not everyone can accept change or being told that things aren't perfect. Feelings will get hurt, even with the best teachers. No teacher wants their students to be upset, but it is going to happen.

What Is Your Dog Handling Demeanor?

What is your dog handling demeanor, and does it matter? Your demeanor is your look, manner, bearing, attitude, expression and presence when managing, directing and leading your dog. It matters because dogs will pick up on your demeanor, and the demeanor of those around you, and that will affect how they will behave…

Therapy Dog Training Working With Children

I have spent a considerable amount of time and brainpower regarding the problem of youth violence, especially the so-called school shooters. What is going on here and what can be done to prevent these incidents? And can therapy dog teams play an important role?

First, many troubled kids can be identified at a very young age, even before 4 years old. These kids have trouble coping with the obstacles of life and are on a path to becoming outcasts. They are growing up faster, and are experiencing earlier adolescence.  Frustration, depression, rage and anti-social behaviors begin to be seen, even at a very early age. These kids are not resilient and develop disturbing emotional responses, to people and animals.

Next, the school shooting phenomenon is relatively new. Twenty years ago, these incidents were barely on our radar. The social dynamics of family, peer groups, society, and schools have changed in ways that many of us still are having a hard time grasping. One of the common factors is a troubled family, and missed clues which would predict that a child is going to violently explode.

Lastly, it looks to me, these children are disconnected from healthy real world stimuli. Without prosocial purpose and motivation, they find an antisocial purpose and motivation. They are often secretively buried in their own electronic media. It is common for these kids to be consuming and ruminating on violent and seriously inappropriate content, without proper supervision or care, especially from their parents. They are also detached from school, given insufficient input and responses to their difficulties, and not identified and treated as having serious difficulties including having issues regarding harassment and bullying. And schools have not applied sufficient multidisciplinary resources to having a system in place to identify and treat these students long before they develop into violent offenders.

What can be done about all of this?

I believe in this mechanized world we are creating, kids are losing touch with the real world. They are lost souls, looking for answers and a purpose. Instead of finding those answers in all the healthy places where they should be found, they immerse themselves in a fantasy world of anger, revenge and perversions, and they find their final mission in life is to eventually violently tear it all down.

I also believe that you have to intercept these children very early on. If we want to address these horrific outcomes, we have to identify and lead these children towards a different future at a very young age.

In the short run, as we have seen, government will try to do this with rules and legislation, buildings and police and metal detectors. We see schools being redesigned and rebuilt and hardened to confine these murderers on the day of the attack. We see politicians pushing for innocent citizens to give up their civil rights and freedoms. But what we are not seeing is much in the way of getting to the children before they go down this destructive path. Buildings and rules, gun bans and metal detectors and speech codes aren’t going to stop future incidents. New technologies will allow future school murderers to circumvent all of these efforts, and they will still find ways to commit mass murder (I won’t mention what things might be done, but anyone with any sense can figure out what is probably going to be the next generation of violent methods to accomplish these evil deeds).

In the long run, however, we need to get to these kids upstream, and I’m saying at kindergarten age on up. I think the real battleground is in the grade schools. We might not be able to fix what is going on in their families, or outside the schools, but we can influence what is happening to these kids in school. We can do a better job of identifying and intercepting these troubled kids. We can implement systems to track kids that are socially failing. And we can interject healthy stimuli in their lives to help them find ways to not escape into the dark underworld.

A properly designed and implemented school therapy dog program could play an essential role. Dogs are real and have positive real world impacts on children; cell phones and computers and such are just not adequate substitutes. We all know 100 years ago, when kids were raised with intact families, good friends, fresh air, nature and animals, these violent incidents didn’t happen.

I was a co-founder of a therapy dog program for the Chandler School District in Arizona. I implemented a scale-able program to assist teachers, counselors and administrators in finding and working with grade school children. Dog teams were used in all aspects of the curriculum, from the very first moments children arrived on campus the first day of the school year, to motivating classroom behavior and academics, to counseling with students thaving difficulties in life, especially in the school environment, using properly managed and trained therapy dog teams. We are currently seeking to pilot such a program with a local school district.

Should you wish therapy dog consulting, please contact me.

Dog Training Mistakes

Dog Training Mistakes: Everyone makes handler errors. From novice to expert, everyone makes mistakes… (MORE)

The Pit Bull Debate Is Over

The pit bull debate is over. The bans have failed. Pit bulls have proven to be good family dogs. Untold numbers of innocent dogs killed. How could we have ever let that happen? How did the dog haters get so much power? It must never happen again. 

Dog Training And Conscientiousness

What is probably the most important aspect of dog training that I want all my students to understand? Conscientiousness… (MORE)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Dog Training, Animal Welfare, And Taking Credit

If you are committed to a noble cause, you dedicate your life to finding solutions. That is the way of life: you see many needs, one in particular gets your attention, you make a decision, and then you act. Animal welfare can be one of those causes... (MORE)

Dogs: The Foxfire Book

“Many had at least one “plantation dog” whose whole job was to keep the hogs and cows out of the corn… Lots of times cows would push over th’ rail fences and turn th’ whole herd into your corn. Or hogs would slip in. Dogs would gram’im, and he’d squeal like he’d not come back for a year after they turned them loose, and then he’d be back th’ next day… Since cows and hogs were grazed on open range, mountain families often trained “ketch dogs” also. Their job was to help round up the stock when the time came to bring it in for slaughter or sale. And then there were hunting dogs – the pride of many families… Blue ticks, black and tans, and redbones, for example, were popular coon dogs. Plots, curs, and Airedales made fine bear dogs. Feists were used by many for both squirrel and deer, bulldogs for boar, treein’ walkers for fox, beagles for rabbit, and so on… The most important rule was to goa with him on a hunt, stay with him, and get what you were after If he got on a track, treed the animal, and couldn’t find where the coon had gone, the hunter / trainer would point up in the tree, show him, and then shoot it out. Once they got one coon, the dog would see what he was after, and he would be a coon dog for life.”

- The Foxfire Book

Can A Dog Be Made Childproof?

Can a dog be trained to be 100% safe around all children, no matter what the child does around or to the dog? I get these inquires in some form or fashion about once a year... (MORE)

Is Your Dog Any Good?

Is your dog any good at...

Coming when called?
Greeting guests?
Meeting strangers and strange dogs?
Not destroying your home?

If not, why not? Yes, I know training takes time. Training takes money. Training takes effort. We all have limited amounts of resources.

What are your priorities? Do you want to solve this stuff, or keep passing the blame onto the dog? People spend stupid amounts of time and money on hobbies, but often don't spend anything on their dogs, but then complain or are rough on their dogs as a result.

Makes no sense to me.

Dog Training The One Thing

What one thing could you do, starting today, to improve your dog’s behavior? Consider this… (MORE)

Dog Training When Teasing Becomes Aggression

It is never a good idea to tease a dog. Teasing is different than play… (MORE)

Dog Training When...

I find that I often am a better trainer / coach when I'm tired. My work is smoother with the dogs and the people. I had a long day yesterday, and today I was tired all day. However, each lesson went well, each dog and owner got a great lesson. Something to think about.

Another thought: I see too many people in animal rescue get too complacent when working with troubled dogs, and eventually get bitten. Maybe the fatigue goes the other way for them, I don't know. You have to keep your wits about you and trust your gut more when dealing with potentially dangerous dogs. Fatigue can result in a trip to the ER. Just sayin'

Dog Training Breaking Points

Every dog has breaking points, physically and mentally. Thus, it is wise to set limits as to what stimuli your dog has to deal with… (MORE)

Dog Training Turning Points

Life has turning points. These are key events, or milestones, in your life that change you forever. Dogs also have turning points. The question is always whether they will turn out for the good or bad… (MORE)

Therapy Dog

Scooter Pie, one of my students, scored 109 percent on his Pet Partners recertification last week!

Maintaining A Proper Mental Attitude During Your Dog Training Lessons

If you don’t learn and practice the proper mental attitude during your dog training lessons, you will not get the most out of the lessons, nor will you be prepared to use the training in real life situations. Similarly, if you don’t help your dog to learn and practice with the proper mental attitude, your dog will not get the most out of the lessons, and will not be prepared to properly respond to real life situations. Dog training is a lot more than teaching Sit, Down, Come and Heel… (MORE)

Help, My Dog Is Broken!

You are making breakfast. Without looking, your sleeve brushes your plate off the edge of the counter, it falls to the floor, and shatters. For some dogs, after being attacked by another dog, being abused, or having to defend themselves against a human, the dog changes. What was once a social dog is now wary or aggressive to other dogs or people. I’ve seen it many times. What should be done? (MORE)

Should I Get A Second Dog?

I am a big believer in having extras... I don’t just buy one tube of toothpaste, I buy 2. Two milks, two pairs of shoes, etc. You will always find things run smoother in your life if you have extras on hand. I also think it is a good idea, for most people, to have two dogs, here is why… (MORE)

What Is The Difference Between Good and Great Dog Training?

I have three levels of dog training classes: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Most students just do Basic, primarily because they feel this program is sufficient for their needs, and also because that is all that their budget will allow. Here’s more on how I see these classes. There are three common elements of each level… (MORE)

Is It OK To Take A Dog Training Break?

I have 4 students taking a dog training “break”? Here is my view on training breaks… (MORE)

Why Do We Train Our Dogs?

Because you and your dog are not going to learn new skills during an emergency. I play a bit of “What If” with all my students so they can translate what we are doing in class to what they are going to potentially face in the real world. What if the leash came off? What if your dog was attacked by a crazy stranger? What if a child comes up to pet your dog without permission? What if your dog escaped the front door and is running down the street? What if your dog gets lost? I start with training in the home... (MORE) 

Dog Training Exercises

When I first started out training dogs professionally, I used the same exercises that I learned from the classes I took. I then added exercises I learned from others, including those I found in books and videos. However, over time, these changed, and what I do today bears little resemblance to what I did years ago… (MORE)

Dog Training: Believe What You See

A major human behavioral error is believing what isn’t true instead of what is true. I regularly see this in dog training. Here is what I mean…

Most dog owners “know” some things about dog training. They’ve taken a few classes, watched a TV show, gotten advice from their best friend, read a post online, heard something from some authority (veterinarian, animal control officer, rescue volunteer, etc.), or they “grew up” around animals. Unfortunately, a lot of information is wrong.

Even when what they are seeing contradicts what they think they know, they will try to fit the dog to what they “know” rather than seeing what is actually happening with their dog, right before their own eyes.

Case in point… I was working a puppy and an adult dog alongside one another. Suddenly, the adult dog shut down in the middle of the lesson. The owner said she was being stubborn, seeking attention, and spiteful.

In fact, the older dog is still not settled with having this new dog in the home. Some adult dogs aren’t comfortable around puppies, and she is that kind of dog. She isn’t being stubborn. She isn’t seeking attention. She isn’t being spiteful. She was in avoidance, seeking to get away from the situation. She wouldn’t take a treat, ran into the home, wouldn’t come near the other dog.

By misreading the situation, the owner could have done something stupid with the adult dog. Instead, I had to help her understand what was happening, and how to relax and encourage the older dog to feel safe again. After a few minutes, I had the older dog working again, and then we ended the lesson. We will have to work on this over the coming weeks to get things to work out.

Most of what the public gets about dog training is both outdated and wrong. Even so, if they put aside what they “know” and really looked at what their dogs were doing, they could get a better result. However, that isn’t typical human behavior. Thus, people need experienced coaches and teachers, who are good at seeing what is actually going on, to lead them to the right answers and solutions. Unfortunately, many professionals are also trapped by what they think they “know” instead of seeing what is going on. The dogs suffer, and wrong solutions are applied.

Dogs need our understanding. Understanding means using comprehension, perception, and kind, approachable methods to train dogs correctly. My advice? Step back, don’t apply a reflexive response to what your dog is doing. Try to see what is actually happening. And if you can’t do that, find someone to help you figure out what’s going on. Then the right solution will develop.

Dog Training: Flustered?

It is normal to feel flustered when learning something new, or when increasing your skills to the next level. It is also normal for your dog… (MORE)