STEINBECKLAND DOG TRAINING

I assist owners with addressing a variety of challenges that many owners and dogs face. Just a few include: Dog aggression People aggression Resource guarding (protecting food, toys, etc.) Noise pollution barking, Jumping up on people constantly These are some of the main behavioral issues that I deal with on a daily basis. From a structured training standpoint the problems are dogs not recalling, dogs not sitting, dogs not laying down, dogs not letting go of toys, not staying on command, chronic pulling on walks, chasing cats and other animals.

There isn’t one story off the top of my head that I can talk about. But on many occasions I’ve helped train owners and dogs who have bitten people, or attacked other dogs, and have been cited by animal control and/or the county. Some of these dogs were on a one-more-strike status, and they would be put to sleep by order of animal control and the county. On most all situations like this, I’ve been able to salvage these dogs by putting a good training program in place, and educating the owners on how to get control and deal with these behavioral issues. On a personal level, winning four national championships in competition with my own dogs as well as being vice champion of an international championship in Germany allows me to apply elite-level training to your family pet, which is a unique aspect of my service.

Great question. There are four basic motivators: Verbal praise Physical petting Food reward Toy reward Most dogs work through motivation at close to 100% when they’re motivated. When a distraction or stimulation (a cat, deer, another dog, etc.) outweigh the motivational / positive rewards, obedience drops down near 0%. In my training at this time, I utilize correction over learned behavior, so that our dog understands that they must listen and obey our commands even when distracted and refusing motivational offerings.

Yes, when appropriate, with as minimal amount of correction as possible. I only correct dogs who have been taught the commands, fully understand the commands, and are still refusing to respond to positive motivational techniques.

The causes of dog aggression can be very complicated. Fear, dominance, possession, territory guarding, jealousy etc. can all be factors. Training a nonaggression command on dogs who are responding this way is very important. It is important to be proactive and warn the dog not to be aggressive prior to the dog getting aggressive. Then you have to systematically desensitize the dog depending on what’s causing the triggers and utilize secondary obedience, such as sit, down, etc. While it is a process, many past clients have been surprised after training on just how calm and collected their pet now is around other dogs.

I recommend right away. Leash training, crate training, and then all motivational shaping for commands like sit, down, come, heel. Also, taking the puppy out of the house and socializing in the general public is very important. Many people recommend that puppies don't go anywhere until they are 16 weeks old and/or have had all shots. Unfortunately, if you don’t socialize the puppy between eight and 16 weeks, you won’t get that time back. If you would like advice on safer places to take your puppy for socialization, please get in touch. I'm happy to help. It is important to be careful where the puppy is taken and to make sure to stay up on the puppy shots. This is also an important time to curb behavioral problems such as jumping on you, biting, guarding food etc.

For many dogs, this is normal. They have their dead prey in their mouth, and they don’t want to share it. In the competitive dog training circles I am involved with for high-level obedience, we teach our young dogs the" two ball game" as a puppy. Get two toys of equal value (meaning clones of each other). Throw one, and the puppy chases and grabs the toy. Attract the puppy back to you with the second toy in your hand, and when the puppy drops the first toy, offer praise, tell them "good drop" or "out" and toss the second toy. Pick up the first toy and repeat. This works very well and most puppies pick this up quickly.

This is a common problem. We teach the dog a non-jumping command like "off," and then we teach a non-pulling command on the leash like "easy" or whatever command you want to use. We tell our dogs not to jump on us and when they don’t jump, we praise them. When they pull us with the leash we tell them easy and then correct them, and then praise with a command such as "good easy" when they’re not pulling. These are relatively easy fixes if you’re consistent with your dog, and a skill I can quickly teach you.

This is a very big problem we see with many dogs with high drive, and lots of energy and or prey drive for animals. When motivational training fails, ultimately correctional devices are the most effective tools to achieve the required behavior. You need to get excellent instruction from a trainer who understands how to properly use them, as correctional devices used incorrectly can cause a variety of problems which then need their own efforts to correct.