FAQs

Leash pulling dogs need to learn basic leash training skills. Basic leash training needs to start at home with little to no distractions. Once basic skills are perfected at home, it is time to head out into the real world. Great leash skills are the “crowning jewel of dog training”.

Great leash skills take time to develop because mastery of multiple basic skills are required. The first skill is the LOOK focus skill. Getting your dog’s attention is the first step to obedience training, which includes awesome leash skills. Once we have the dog’s attention, we start with simple controlled walks and random stops. Our goal is to teach dogs how to pay attention and walk on leash just like a service dog. As with learning any other skill, advanced training starts with mastery of the basics.

You can quickly and easily stop puppy biting by holding, handling and petting, especially when puppies are very young. The earlier you start the better because bad habits develop very quickly.

Dogs are domesticated animals, but when puppies are born, they are NOT naturally tame. Plus, puppies play and communicate with their mouths and don’t distinguish between human hands and other puppies. To them everything is fair game. It is our job as humans to tame young puppies and teach them not to bite humans. Puppy holding and petting calms both puppy and human. Handling puppy’s head, face and mouth develops mutual trust and personal confidence.

Important Puppy Training Tips:
(1) Do NOT play tug with puppies or dogs who are family pets. Playing Tug encourages pulling, growling, snarling and other undesirable behaviors. Instead of Tug, we recommend playing “GIVE and TAKE”.

(2) Do NOT “roughhouse” with your dog. This is especially important for children. It is great for dogs to roughhouse with other dogs, but NOT with humans. We do not want dogs using their teeth on humans, especially in play.

A process of confinement is the key to puppy potty training. We recommend putting puppy on a “sleep schedule” like an infant baby nap schedule. We also teach puppies and dogs to “potty on command” (PoC) whenever they wake-up from sleeping. We recommend NOT giving young puppies freedom to roam the house, especially if they are not being supervised. This is just asking for accidents, which will delay potty training progress. We slowly increase the puppy’s free-range area as their potty training skills improve. If you stay consistent with your puppy’s sleep schedule and PoC practice, your puppy will quickly potty train.

Many rely on food treats in dog training. However, food or “treat training” is not for everyone. Not all dogs like food treats. And other dogs love food so much that treats become a huge distraction. Plus, food treats are costly, calorie-packed, potential source of GI upset, inconvenient with storage, smell, etc.

We prefer rewarding dogs with physical petting and verbal praise instead of food treats. First, petting and praise are free, feel great and calming! Almost all dogs love to be touched and praised. Plus, the human health benefits of petting dogs are well documented. In addition to being free, feeling great and calming, petting and praise have no calories, cause no GI upset problems and inconveniences inherent with treat training.

Yes, proper crate training has so many benefits for humans and dogs. Puppy’s small sleeping crate is their nest box, which is like a human infant’s crib. Babies and puppies learn how to self-soothe and calmly sleep while in their cribs and crates, respectively. Sleeping through the night is a huge puppy crate training milestone and is easily achieved with crate training.

Crate training is not just for puppies. If your dog has separation anxiety, potty accidents or destructive behaviors, crate training will help overcome these challenges.

Yes, dogs can overcome anxiety, including separation anxiety, without medications of any type if the correct steps are taken. We recommend mastery of the following dog training skills:

(1) LOOK skill for focus
(2) Self-Control Training (crate & cot) for self-soothing
(3) Dog Socialization for fun, relaxation and learning to be a dog
(4) Advanced Leash Training
(5) Dog Massage to calm the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System.

All the above skills are incredibly important to overcome dog anxiety, especially separation anxiety. Dog massage is easy and feels great for the dog and human. The most challenging skill to master for anxious dogs is Self-Control. Leash training and dog socialization not only improve reactivity issues but are also great fun for dogs. The LOOK focus skill enriches the connection and relationship between dog and human.

We do NOT recommend letting dogs touch noses and meet when they are on leash. This is a recipe for disaster, and we have seen it. People and dogs get hurt, dogs get over-excited or reactive, etc. Socialization is NOT on leash. Imagine your 2-year-old toddler allowed to play with friends but must hold your hand the entire time. That is NOT fun at all. We recommend people exchange information and plan to meet at a location where dogs can be safely off-leash.