What I really noticed throughout that journey is consistence is really the key.

This morning we went on a walk and we are walking on a daily basis. But as we were walking, I recalled when we were getting back on these walk after a little break because of the weather, how the dogs were not behaving the way they are now.

If your dog tends to pull a little bit on a walk sometimes it’s because it’s a new environment or because it was a little while since the last time he was in that environment. This is absolutely normal, no matter how trained your dog is.

Keep in mind, like I explain in desensitizing video, the more you will go to that environment, the more your dog will behave like he is supposed to. As you go and you are consistent on your training and you create routines, your dog will start to learn the patterns. After some time, meeting the same situations again and again your dog will know the drills.

As an example, every time we cross someone on a walk by the lake I recall the dogs and ask them to stay by my side. After a few weeks every time the dogs saw someone coming, without any command they would turn around and come to me  and stay by my side. Because they connected the dots, they know the drill: “in that situation I have to do that.”

The key is always asking the same thing, the same way, in the same situation. Then the dog will see and understand the pattern. The same way that when you approach the treat jar, or get close to the leash, or whatever behavior that is a routine, the know what that mean, because they saw and learnt a pattern.

Back to my example when we walk by that specific lake, the dogs come back to me and walk by my side if they see someone ahead. But if we go to another place and they are off leash it will take us to cross a few people and for me a few times to recall them and asked them to heel to associate that routine with that new environment.

And this is why it is so crucial to again ask the same thing, the same way in the same situation to make your dog successful. They are smart but they are not supposed to guess what we expect them to do. That is our goal to guide them and help them being successful!

Happy training!

After Wifey and I decided to get our first pet together, I started to buy a few books and started to watch videos on Youtube on how to train a puppy. And it was a bit overwhelming. First we didn’t have Leo yet he was barely 3 weeks old and second how to know if what you see will work with your dog. It seems easy on that 5 or 10 min video.

Eventually after 4 more weeks we welcomed Leo. So we were officially responsible for another living being. First thing I really understood from some videos is, puppies have a 1 minute attention span. So that part of the training can be frustrating because they can’t focus. But if you use routines it goes pretty smoothly. Obviously you’ll have accidents, some destruction via chewing and few splitted nights but that part doesn’t last too long.

But let’s go back to the main topic, yes, it’s been 7 years but I keep reading, discovering, adapting training methods because each dog has it’s own personality and understand things differently. That’s what I like in the process, you teach them but they also teach you. Like with horses, there is a quote from Ray Hunt, who is a famous horse trainer, which says:

“The horse knows. He knows if you know. He also knows if you don’t know.”

Same with dogs, the dog will know. They can feel so many things, they feel if we are stressed or if we are or not handling a situation. I’ll make another post specifically about it but dog and owner connection as an Australian study sponsored by Pedigree found that when dogs and their owners are reunited, their heart rates synchronize and both lower. So your dog knows.

This is one of the reason of this website is I read and discovered so much I am trying to extract the best of everything I learnt and share it here so you can progress with you pooch as smoothly as possible.