Testimonial 1 from today

Hi Jeff-

It’s been over a year and a half since you worked with my then boyfriend (now fiance) Sam, myself, and our dog Scuppers, so this (long) email may seem a bit out of the blue- but I can’t remember if I ever wrote you a testimonial for you to share with prospective clients, and if I haven’t I feel like I should really write one for you now. I just got back from a really wonderful walk with Scuppers at India Point Park in Providence, and I felt like I had to write to you to tell you all about it- it’s the dream that Sam and I had in mind when we started looking for dog trainers- and one that I didn’t even really believe was possible before we worked with you.

Back then, we couldn’t let Scuppers off leash without an arsenal of squeaky toys and treats to get her to come back to us- and even with all those things sometimes she just wouldn’t obey, but would make us chase her all over the park instead. I wouldn’t take her off leash at all when I was on my own: I have asthma and can’t run very far or fast without causing my airways to go into spasm. I was afraid she would run away from me and get hit by a car. It was not a good situation for us: Scuppers could never run around and get good exercise, and she had so much pent up energy that she behaved poorly on leash as well. I remember the first time we met with you to discuss Scuppers’s training, we said “Well, some day, we would like to be able to take her off leash at the park”, thinking that was some far off pie-in-the-sky dream. You just said “Done. By the time we’re finished, you’ll have an off leash dog.” Just like that. Like it was no big deal. “No, really,” you said “it’s simple. By the time you’re done training with me, you will be able to walk your dog off leash”. You were so totally confident that Scuppers could behave off leash and that you could teach us how to train her to do so. I don’t know when I started to believe you, but I do know that in that moment at the first consultation I thought “Well, this guy’s crazy. There’s no way we’ll accomplish that in just 7 sessions”. It turns out that I was the crazy one: it only took you 2 sessions teaching us to use the electric collar to have us comfortably walking Scuppers off leash at the park every day,  and within a month or so of that we were starting to walk her around our quiet neighborhood in the city on just her e-collar.

But back to today. It’s a beautiful 65 to70 degrees out, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and a nice cool wind was coming in off the water. The park was full of kids, joggers, bicyclists, people playing sports, having picnics and all sorts of activities. Scuppers was off leash the entire walk- I hardly ever bring leashes on our walks these days- they just aren’t necessary. The only time we put Scuppers on a leash is if we’re going some place where it’s clearly marked that dogs must be on leashes, or when we are specifically practicing her on leash behavior. Instead Scuppers was wearing her electric collar that you taught us to use. Most of the time she doesn’t even need that anymore: she will walk in a perfect heel with us and come when we call if she’s wearing a plain flat collar, but the e-collar is still really useful for training, which is what we were doing today.

At least once a week I like to make one walk all about training. (We do lots of little things for training in between, but once a week it’s nice to have a solid hour where it’s all about Scuppers and challenging her in fun, creative ways.) Recently what we’ve been doing is incorporating simple commands while we play with the Chuck-it (her favorite outdoor game, second only to playing with other dogs). We started by giving her either the “Sit” or “Down” command, throw the ball, and she can’t chase it until we release her- then she’s off like a shot! After she got pretty good at that, we started giving her the “Sit” or “Down” command after she had gotten the ball and she was bringing it back to us- that was even harder for her because she was far away from us, also because she had to stop what she was in the middle of doing and obey the command instead, but with just a little practice she got the hang of it. Today Scuppers and I were working her current challenge: I’ll throw the ball and let her start to chase it, but when she’s about halfway to the ball I’ll give her the “Sit” command. It’s such a high level of distraction, and it’s soo hard for her- sometimes I need to correct her on the e-collar (something I almost never have to do any  more)- but she’s starting to get really good at it, and you can tell she loves the challenge. She’s so proud of herself when she does well in a training session, there’s really nothing else like it for her. Or maybe she’s just happy because I’m so proud of her- either way, she loves the challenges I give her during our training walks; and people always comment on how impressed they are by her behavior and what a well trained dog she is. We love it.

Anyway, we were doing all this at the park, while people played Frisbee and ate picnic lunches on the grass- kids were running around and yelling, there were bicyclists and skateboarders, and other dogs being walked too. And while all this was going on, I was working with Scuppers to stop and sit mid-chase while she fetched the ball, waiting on my permission to go get it and bring it back to me. After she got tired out playing fetch, I just collected the ball (which she dropped at my feet- and did not make me chase her for, like she would have two years ago) and walked by my side to the bubbler. I was letter her drink from the doggy-fountain they’ve got at the park when I realized just how perfect a moment this was: there were a million distractions for her: insects, smells, noises, people, dogs, not to mention the distraction work that I was imposing on her as a challenge in our game of fetch. But none of it mattered. I wasn’t worried or anxious or stressed. She wasn’t running away from me, chasing after other dogs, or bothering the other park-goers. We were just playing together in the park, and Scuppers was 100% under my control, and I didn’t even have to think about it. It occurred to me then that *that* is what you mean when you offer SOLID K9 training- you mean exactly the ability to have your dog 100% under your control, and have that control just be second nature to you.

The best part is that this walk is not unique for us. Sure, it’s particularly nice weather outside and Scuppers did really fantastic with her training today. But the fact is all of our walks are like this. We leave the house, I tell Scuppers to “Heel”, and she does. We walk the 2 or 3 blocks to the park in heel, when we get there I release her from heel and we play/train with the Chuck-it until either she or I get tired. Then we walk around the park in heel for the rest of the hour. There’s no struggle- there’s no tugging on leashes (heck, unless I’m making her practice walking on a leash there are no leashes at all.) There’s no chasing other dogs or people. There’s no running way from me hoping I’ll chase her. It’s just me and my dog, walking together. It’s the sort of thing I thought only happened in the movies, and it’s because of the training we received from you.

As I’m writing this email, Scuppers is curled up at my feet, enjoying a hard-earned post-walk nap. I feel so fulfilled in my experience with my dog- and I know that Scuppers is more  fulfilled as a dog because of the kind of walks that I am now able to give her. I felt I needed to thank you: none of today’s wonderful walk would have been possible without the training you provided for us. If people are wondering whether or not your training techniques work, whether the training you provide will “stick” (or if it’s just some effect you have on dogs which will “wear off” in time), if any one has concerns that your techniques differ from the “positive training only” methods that most trainers espouse, if any one has any questions regarding what it’s like to working with you at all, please don’t hesitate to give them my email address: molly.pieri@gmail.com. I’d be happy to answer any questions they might have as best  I can. It’s been over a year and a half since Sam, Scuppers and I worked with you, and we could not be happier with our decision to do so. Scuppers’s training has been one of the best investments we have ever made, and being the owner of a SolidK9 trained dog has been nothing but a joy for me. I am happy to recommend you most highly to anyone hoping to improve their relationship with their dog.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
-Molly Pieri

P.S. Attached is a photo of Scuppers practicing Down-Stay while we picked out a Christmas tree this year. She walked with us all over the Christmas tree farm and we didn’t use a leash or the e-collar to correct her behavior the whole time we were there.

Testimonial 2 from today

I first contacted Jeff after adopting a 10 month old American Bulldog/Beagle mix and subsequently being told by local Boston trainers, “don’t waste your time/money with training for that dog.  The beagle & bulldog mix makes it impossible.”  “Harley” is a high-energy dog, who had some bad habits.  In the first email I sent to him, I noted that Harley “was mouthing, sort of crate trained, treat-trained, tugs non-stop on her leash during walks, easily distracted, high food/prey drive, and would bounce off the walls inside the house for 20 minutes a day when i got home.”  Looking back on that email and seeing her now, I really can’t believe it’s the same dog. 

While initially, I thought Jeff’s confidence was a bit of salesmanship bravado (he was the only person who was willing to accept her…and frankly I was just getting to know his “unique” personality), I was willing to try anything.  My hesitation quickly evaporated after exchanging emails, speaking to him at length, listening to his radio shows & watching his videos…I knew I had found a kindred spirit.  Jeff’s program of “real world dog training” was just what I was looking for.  What officially sealed the deal in my mind was when he said to me “you don’t get a reward for NOT peeing on the floor at your work, why should it be any different with your dog?”  

Harley was with Jeff for the 6 week board/train program for on&off leash training.  As a first time owner of a dog (that was not my parents’), I was a very anxious about sending Harley away for 6 weeks, but true to his word, Jeff was in constant communication and never let me know if he was getting frustrated with my litany of questions and requests for status updates.  I also really enjoyed looking at the pictures he would post on his FB page & the website.

After having Harley back for a few months, I am still 100% satisfied with the work Jeff did.  His pack-leader and corrections-based training program has done wonders with Harley. 

On-Leash: she is an absolute dream.  I used to get a workout when walking her…and I use that term “walking” lightly…it was more like a tug o’ war.  Now i can’t even trick her into not walking in the heel position.

Off-Leash: couldn’t be happier.  Her recall is 100%…enough said. 

In the house: “Place” command is the magic bullet that every dog owner needs to implement.  I can actually prepare & eat dinner in peace with her in the same room. 

To summarize, if you want your dogs to be a well-trained companion who will live with you and share your life, send them to Jeff.  If you want your dogs to be safe when they are off-leash, send them to Jeff.  If you want your dog to do tricks and “amaze” your friends with how smart they are…you’re an idiot and you shouldn’t own a dog in the first place.           

I find it disturbing that so called dog trainers often kick dogs out training classes because of lunging and barking at dogs and people in the class. I was under the impression that dog training classes were for humans and dogs that needed training. Why is it that a lunging dog in a dog training class that big of a deal? This is a very basic behavior to modify in minutes and if a trainer sends away the dog and owner it is possible that the owner will feel that something is wrong with there dog and possible rehome the dog or even kill the dog. Remember 3 million dogs a year are being killed in this country and many of them are the same dogs that are kicked out of training classes.

Do all of these trainers think that a lunging dog is an aggressive dog? Give me a break, it is quite simple to get a lunging barking dog to quite down in a classroom does not take much time, unfortunately if the dog is on a flat collar, a head halter or chest harness and a bunch of treats, even yummy treats aren’t going to work.

So why is it that a dog with a basic obedience problem that can be fixed in a few minutes or at least highly managed in a few minutes is being kicked out of class and possibly sentenced to death.

I know this firsthand since I get these dogs on a daily basis, frustrated owners who have dogs with what they have been told is an aggressive dog. This is a very powerful statement to make to the owner of the dog, rethink keeping the dog alive.

Let me tell you about a dog named Stone, a male mixed breed dog that was not able to get adopted from a shelter in KY, something about this dog touched the heartstrings of everyone, the problem is that he kept getting kicked out of dog training classes and no one could work him through his issues. So with all of the positive trainers within 100 miles of this shelter, where are you? why did you not help?

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Within the first 12 hours of Stone being on my property he ran off leash with over 12 diffrent dogs as well as my kids. We also worked Stone on leash around dogs and kids and for some reason we did not see those same behaviors.

Why does this happen? Why do we see different behaviors than other trainers do?

Did Stone lunge at dogs on my property, of course he did, and we fixed that in about 1/10th of 1 second. With a quick pop of the leash.

Lets keep in mind that if you want to encourage your dog to lunge, pull, growl, bite, bark and generally misbehave, just don’t stop them from doing those behaviors, this way you will be reinforing those behaviors.

That is why we are HUGE advocates of a prong collar, yes those metal spikey barbaric collars that you assume must hurt the dog, make them scared, nervous and aggressive. the fact is all of those things are an outright LIE and actually a huge disservice for anyone trying to train there dog.

I have trained thousands of dogs and I have never seen a dog not become an incredible dog with my training techniques which include tools such as prong collars and remote collars. The issue is about communication and consequences.

The same trainers that kicked Stone out of class will also tell you that prong collars are bad, so kicking the dog out of class is good? How does that train the dog or the owner?

So a dog on death row that has been cast aside from trainers because those trainers don’t use the correct tools for this dog so they sentence the dog to death, I give the dog a split second correction with a very efficient training tools that helps the dog understand proper behavior and I am the bad guy, I am the abuser.

So I ask you all of you positive trainers out there, after looking at the photos above that were all taken with 12 hours of this dog arriving at my property. How come you don’t have the tools or the expertise or the basic common sense to get a dog to behave in your class.

You should all be ashamed of yourself for not getting out of your box of treats and realize that there are other tools out there that actually work. If you don’t have the basic common sense to realize that then at least you can get a list of trainers in your area that can actually train dogs.

I find it disturbing that so called dog trainers often kick dogs out training classes because of lunging and barking at dogs and people in the class. I was under the impression that dog training classes were for humans and dogs that needed training. Why is it that a lunging dog in a dog training class that big of a deal? This is a very basic behavior to modify in minutes and if a trainer sends away the dog and owner it is possible that the owner will feel that something is wrong with there dog and possible rehome the dog or even kill the dog. Remember 3 million dogs a year are being killed in this country and many of them are the same dogs that are kicked out of training classes.

Do all of these trainers think that a lunging dog is an aggressive dog? Give me a break, it is quite simple to get a lunging barking dog to quite down in a classroom does not take much time, unfortunately if the dog is on a flat collar, a head halter or chest harness and a bunch of treats, even yummy treats aren’t going to work.

So why is it that a dog with a basic obedience problem that can be fixed in a few minutes or at least highly managed in a few minutes is being kicked out of class and possibly sentenced to death.

I know this firsthand since I get these dogs on a daily basis, frustrated owners who have dogs with what they have been told is an aggressive dog. This is a very powerful statement to make to the owner of the dog, rethink keeping the dog alive.

Let me tell you about a dog named Stone, a male mixed breed dog that was not able to get adopted from a shelter in KY, something about this dog touched the heartstrings of everyone, the problem is that he kept getting kicked out of dog training classes and no one could work him through his issues. So with all of the positive trainers within 100 miles of this shelter, where are you? why did you not help?

Within the first 12 hours of Stone being on my property he ran off leash with over 12 diffrent dogs as well as my kids. We also worked Stone on leash around dogs and kids and for some reason we did not see those same behaviors.

Why does this happen? Why do we see different behaviors than other trainers do?

Did Stone lunge at dogs on my property, of course he did, and we fixed that in about 1/10th of 1 second. With a quick pop of the leash.

Lets keep in mind that if you want to encourage your dog to lunge, pull, growl, bite, bark and generally misbehave, just don’t stop them from doing those behaviors, this way you will be reinforing those behaviors.

That is why we are HUGE advocates of a prong collar, yes those metal spikey barbaric collars that you assume must hurt the dog, make them scared, nervous and aggressive. the fact is all of those things are an outright LIE and actually a huge disservice for anyone trying to train there dog.

I have trained thousands of dogs and I have never seen a dog not become an incredible dog with my training techniques which include tools such as prong collars and remote collars. The issue is about communication and consequences.

The same trainers that kicked Stone out of class will also tell you that prong collars are bad, so kicking the dog out of class is good? How does that train the dog or the owner?

So a dog on death row that has been cast aside from trainers because those trainers don’t use the correct tools for this dog so they sentence the dog to death, I give the dog a split second correction with a very efficient training tools that helps the dog understand proper behavior and I am the bad guy, I am the abuser.

So I ask you all of you positive trainers out there, after looking at the photos above that were all taken with 12 hours of this dog arriving at my property. How come you don’t have the tools or the expertise or the basic common sense to get a dog to behave in your class.

You should all be ashamed of yourself for not getting out of your box of treats and realize that there are other tools out there that actually work. If you don’t have the basic common sense to realize that then at least you can get a list of trainers in your area that can actually train dogs.

Today I brought 13 dog to do some off leash recall, we did both open field work as well as did some in the woods trail work, both have different issues that need to be considered especially having just one handler with 13 dogs.

With open field work dogs spread out over about 2 acres and I can see all of the dogs even when they are spread out over the field. I have no problem with a dog being 50-100yds away since I can see them.

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When we enter the woods along trails the dogs can go into the woods and it is much harder to keep track of all 13, so all dogs have to stay in front of me and no farther than 20 yds away. So much more control is needed, also there is high level distractions such as deer, coyote and rabitts. Most of these dogs are all high prey drive dogs that would chase down and kill these animals. so I cannot have even 1 of the dogs come off have being focused on me and the task at hand.

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the above photos are in the woods, notice how the dogs are more in a single file formation, it is important that I keep them much closer, not as much running around free as they are going from point A to point B.

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When I get the pack to respond like in the above clip, this is when I know that our training is working and I can trust the pack, I also have dogs that make sure the new members will listen to recall and they will go and get the dogs that are a little slow.

Clover loves working the dogs, the dog she is working with has just come in, she is working Teddy with the Place command, you can see a dog that is not familiar with the command. Notice how she says the word one time and does not say STAY.

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I am always surprised when folks insist on using food, love hugs and kisses to rehab dogs with behavioral issues. Most likely the dogs that are being worked with have gotten plenty of the above in abundance. What they have not gotten was structure, exercise and any corrections. I deal with every single behavior out there both good and bad and I am one of the few people that will and is capable of dealing with aggression issues. I am not talking about barking or nipping, I am talking about behavior that 99% of dog trainers and behaviorists would tell you to kill your dog. I am taling about 100% of shelters would kill the dog instantly.

What I do is set up a new baseline for the dog, we start out with exercise and exercise, boundaries and rules, then work on default commands that dogs can do instead of the bad behavior, this helps teach coping skills for dogs and what they can do when they are stressed or feel like growling, biting, lunging.

Then one of the most important thing we do is CORRECT bad behavior, we do NOT punish dogs. If you growl at me, I will correct you, if you snap at me I will correct you, if you try to bite me, I will correct you. How hard do I correct you, well I will let you the dog determine that, what does it take to stop the behavior that would get you killed if another trainer, behaviorist or vet had a say in this.

What am I able to do with this is put dogs together that are dog aggressive, we put dogs with humans that are aggressive towards humans, we put dogs with children that are aggressive towards children.

We don’t do this by redirecting the behavior or removing dogs from the distraction. We don’t put the dog away either, both of these things are always recommended by Positive Trainers and then if that does not work then they recommend you kill the dog. I truly don’t understand how this is Positive at all. Killing dogs is one of the worst things imaginable to me. Our country does this to the tune of 5 million times a year.

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All of these dogs are able to be controlled by my 2 young children, yes controlled, yes dominance. This is not a bad word, call it leadership. I call it a lifelong skill that keeps children safe and dogs alive. These are skills that keep dogs in families instead of turned into shelters where they will most likely will be killed.

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Clover and Romy are extremely helpful when it comes to training dogs. The black dog Jake is with us since he has been biting the kids in his family. The grey dog has some very serious issues with humans and dogs. He is in week one of a 6 week board and train. Then there is Domino who is with us for some basic training and weight loss.

Clover and Romy are responsible for so many dogs being trained to behave around children. The have helped work with these dogs over and over again til they get it right, til they stop lunging, stop biting, stop jumpin, stop fighting and listening to commands. If a 6 year old and a 5 year old can work with these dogs, I think anyone can.

Today I did a nice 10 dog off leash open field work for a little over an hour. I had dogs at all different training abilities. They all do know off leash recall and have all been trained on remote collars. I am fully aware that there a folks that feel that electric collars are mean and abusive, this is reinforced by Positive Dog Trainers over and over again, they thing about this is that these trainers have never actually trained a dog on a remote collar. It is sort of like a Running Coach saying that having an athlete swim laps is mean and abusive and will make the person a worse athlete. To a swim coach though it makes perfect sense that the athlete do swimming laps because the Swim Coaches Athlete is a swimmer. So both are coaches but in 2 different sports.

If you want your dog to have 100% recall training and be able to work your dog around any possible distraction there is and insure the safety of your dog and everything and everyone your dog comes in contact with Electric Collar training. I don’t expect folks that train dogs for agility, show floor, flyball and just inside classrooms to even start to understand what I do and what my clients want out of there dogs.

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Keep in mind that remote collar training is not a punishment or fear technqiue, it actually allows you to unleash the true spirit in the your dog.

We kill 5 million dogs a year at the tune of 500 million dollars a year..so someone is having fun and getting rich off of it. Not only are dogs being killed but puppy mills are thriving and the AKC is making 73 million dollars a year off of them.

Pure Positive trainers are part of this slaughter, folks always trash me for this comment. This is the issue. Dogs are killed every day because of simple behavior problems. For instnace when a dog growls at the food bowl and the owner asks a Pure Positve trainer to help. They will come up with some reward based training system that actually does not fix the actually bad behavior it just rewards the dog if it does not act aggressive. This is one of the simplest ways that a dog manipulates the owner and is one of the reasons that dogs are killed.

With my training I correct the hell out of dog that is food aggressive with me. This is where all of the pure postive trainers start writing me hate mail.

so..what I ask you positive trainers are you that ignorant to know how many dogs are being killed a year because of food guarding. Please go to your local shelter and take home a resource guarder and rehab it, then adopt it out and guarantee that the dog will never be killed EVER for any behavior problem. You don’t have to tell me that by using a prong collar or a ecollar will make the dog more aggressive. YOU ARE 100% WRONG, how do I know because I do this every day and I have never seen a dog get more aggressive with my training, and I follow dogs for there life.

Lucy was brought to a vet to be killled by because of food aggression

Scooter the dog in tan lab/mix in the foreground is from CA, deemed dog aggressive and was going to be killed..mmm…after going to Sean O’Shea in LA then flown to me he is up for adoption. Shares a kennel with anther dog and is one of my best players with other dogs, great with humans.

Ronan, tan Turkish Kengel in foreground was deemed dog aggressive and kid aggressive, a prime candidate to be killed in our shelter system. So Ronan has complete sanctuary, he will never be killed as long as he lives with me.

Dog in foreground is HIGHLY DOG aggressive and has not been able to be around dogs up until meeting me

I work with dozens of dogs 1/1 every single week, I see dogs that Pure Positive trainers never even come in contact with.

It is important that all of you Pure Positive trainers be more open to trainers like myself that have a really great chance of rehabbing these dogs. If your training does not work, please be open to other methods in order to keep the dog alive.

One of the things that make me such an effective trainer is that I understnad what consequencial training is and I practice it on a daily basis. Now the media and most dog trainers will villify you if they even see you reading this.

Keep in mind that the folks that write the books, the articles and teach in classrooms around the country, don’t actually train dogs in the Real World and possibly don’t even train any dogs, some Animal Behaviorists actually never work with dogs they just spew out information that they learned in college.

There is no education other than actually taking the leash and working the dog through the issue that the client actually presented to you. Most Behaviorists actually never get that far with the client since they don’t get out of the classroom or their office.

Our society has told us that if it can’t be fixed with a treat than it cannot be fixed. I suggest you go to the thousands of websites that just rehash all from the same textbooks that say you should always reward with either food or a toy and if that does not work you can remove the dog from the area, remove the area from the dog or ignore the issue. I am not quite sure how this is training or behavior modification if anything this just reinforces the bad behavior in the dog.

I love the folks that like to tell me how mean it is using a prong collar or an electric collar. Ironically using a flat collar, can choke a dog and kill it, a head harness has been proven to cause significant damage to the neck and spine and dogs have actually broken their necks and died from a head halter. Yep something called a Gentle Leader actually killed a dog.

Considering the 72% of our countries dogs are overweight, we may want to re-think the treat thing as well. Dog are getting diabeties at an alaming rate in this country and that has been unheard of 10 years ago.

So, a properly timed correction is a highly effective way to eliminate bad behavior and to keep a dog alive and if you don’t think this is an important point, lets think about the 5 million dogs a year that are killed every year, lets think about the dogs in shelters that are killed daily for something as simple as food guarding. I get at least one email a day about a dog that someone wants to me to take since it will be killed in 24 hours.

The above photo is a dog on the right that his highly dog reactive, given the choice this dog will just rush a dog and attack and casue considerable harm. This is something that a dog treat or a “good boy” or a squeeky toy are not going to even begin to get this dogs attention.

this dog would be kicked out every single dog training class, would be told to be killed if any postive trainer grabbed the leash or behaviorist even saw this type of behavior. Behaviorists have 2 tools, Gentle Leaders and drugs, this is because the drug companies have a foot inside of universities like Tufts and Cornell and drug companies spend millions of dollars a year making sure that training systems that don’t involve drugs won’t work.

Let me explain what happens with a dog such as this.

I bring the dog out to my van and put her in a sit while my dogs are 10 feet a way in a down, she tries to lunge at them and she gets a leash pop, yes I use prong collars, which don’t make dogs aggressive or nervous, this is just folklore, urban legend and an outright lie. If this was done with a flat collar or body harness it would just agitate the dog and not communicate with the dog what they did was wrong. If you use a flat collar on the dog then you will just cause massive neck and spine inguries and possibly break the dogs neck causing instant death or paralysis. If you read the literature that comes with the head halter they even will tell you not to use the collar with a reactive dog. It is not a punishment to use a properly timed correction, puishment is not taking the dog out for a walk.

I used Uma to help balance out this dog and walked them with one on the left of me and one on the right of me. As you know when we walk dogs in a proper heel they are expeted to automatically sit down and not move, so by teaching a dog a default command as this it will be easier to get the dog to hold a command instead of going after Uma, if the dog does go after Uma they get a hard correction. yes I said a hard correction, this dog is trying to cause bodily harm to another dog that could cost thousands of dollars to fix or even kill the dog and cause bodily harm to the person breaking up the fight (me) so yes the dog gets a hard correction. 

Next we work on downstays together, again, we train dogs that when we say Down we don’t have to say Stay, since it is the default behavior, this dog knows how to do a down very well, so the dog gets to choose what to do, do I listen to my handler and do a down or do I not and go after the other dog, again if this dog goes after Uma this dog will get a hard correction, realizing that this dog can cause some serious damage to my dog.

REALITY CHECK, for all you positive trainers who do agility and other sports with there dogs, I am not talking about a dog not going through the weave poles or through a tunnel, we are talking about a dog that you would never even work with or give the time of day to other than to tell the owner to kill the dog, you would never allow this dog in your class and you would be too afraid to even work with this dog. I am not talking about a dog that barks and lunges I am talking about a dog that will bite and bite and bite.

next step once the dog understands consequences of its behavior and is fully capable of making the correct decisions I walk the dog next to Uma, again with the dog understanding that the proper heel is to walk at my pace in my direction and not pay attention to anything but the structured walk.

notice how the dogs are avoiding eye contact, I cannot tell you how many dog trainers would say that dogs avoiding eye contact is a bad thing, in fact in Sue Sternberg’s Temperment Test that is given to dogs in shelters would recommend killing the dog.

All of the above was done within 2 sessions each session being 30 minutes long

On the 3rd session when I brought this particular dog out to my van to get my other dogs to also take on a walk. I put this dog in a sit, I opened the back door to my van brought 3 of my dogs out and this particular dog went after my dogs, so……Uma immediately turned the table on this dog and grabbed the dogs head in her mouth and stopped the dog from attacking any of the dogs. Once I got into a position to pull this dog away from my dogs I screamed at Uma to OUT which means, whatever is in your mouth release it, so if it a tennis ball, toilet paper, a bone, a person or another dog, she releases pressure and I pulled the dog away from her, at the same time I scream PLATZ which puts my 3 dogs into a down/stay and then I put the black dog into a downstay right next to my pack. Yes it is very important to make sure you do not take the dog away from the situation but put that dog into a calming situation in the same area. IE, my dogs are in a downstay and you will also go into a downstay and deal with my dogs.

Then once there was a calm energy after about 1 minute. We go on a pack walk. 4 dogs all in heel position. We did a nice 35 minute walk like this without any further problems.

So yes I have no problem giving a dog a well timed correction in order for it to understand what the expected behavior is. So we went from a dog trying to cause some major harm to another dog to the same dog walking with 3 other dogs, all within 2 hours of training.

Does this mean that this same dog can just be around other dogs off leash and all will be fine? NOPE but I could care less if this dogs likes other dogs at this stage, all i care about is that this dog EXISTS around other dogs. I am in the business of saving dogs lives and not making friends, either human or dogs for that matter.

I always expect to get a fair amount of criticism when I post something like this, from all of the feel good positive trainers that shovel treats and praise on dogs, all of the behaviorists with fancy letters after their names that try to convince you there is no such thing as dominance in the dog world and that a dog will not trust you if you use these methods, well out of all due respect.

GO FUCK YOURSELF!  You send dogs like this to death every single day, you refuse to even help these folks or you just tell them that they have to be the pack leader, or the dog has to earn everything that it does, make it wait at doors and wait for food…I am so tired of places like Petco and Petsmart and trainers that make dogs sit for cookies and down for cookies..you have no idea what real dog training is.

You all try to convince the dog owning public that methods like mine are abusive and make dogs aggressive and untrusting, you have no idea what you are talking about. You have never worked with dogs like myself and other like minded trainers have worked with. You stand behind your fancy letters after your name, guess what, dogs don’t care about your fancy letters or your fancy titles, I don’t respect your degrees and neither do the dogs.

Living in New England we get snow, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. Our training day does not change, we still walk the dogs, still work the dogs and still the dogs play outside. If you live in NE you cannot have the excuse about winter not working your dog, because between snow and rain, too cold, too hot, well you may have only 5 days of perfect weather a year. For us, every day is a perfect training day, the dogs feel the same way. They do not care, they just want to keep there mind and body busy.

Keep in my that if your dog ran away from home, it would most likely spend all day outside, running, walking, jumping, searching, hiding in the weather..so I think you can plan that type of life for your dog if you want

One of the best household management commands is the PLACE command, simply put it is having your dog(s) go to a bed/blanket/small rug and not get off, your dog has the freedom to sit/stand/lay down or do any combination of those, your dog can chew a bone or on a toy.

It gives your dog a defined area to settle down, it allows you to include your dog in everything you do without your dog, jumping, lunging, barking, table and counter surfing or chewing things.

The Place command stops chewing on items and destroying your things.

It allows you to include your dog in your life instead of exclude your dog