The Importance of a Calm Focused Dog: Dog Training

As I was sitting at the park, taking a break from a long day of training, I watched a family with a young very excitable dog struggle with her lunging and barking at other dogs. As I was ready to get out of my car and help them, a lady with a bag of treats guided them in another direction. I sat and watched this dogs progress with this method.

Lunge…Sit…Treat…Bark…Treat…Sit…Bark…Lunge…Sit…Treat…

Now treats aren’t a bad thing, but in this case, I would have chosen a different route. First off: this dog was on a harness. Harnesses are made for pulling and giving the dog control, have you ever seen a Husky pull a sled wearing a slip lead? Not very likely. As a trainer, I make sure to find a suitable tool for the dog and the owners. Second: this dog was already excited by her environment and adding excited energy combined with treats, created an over excited adrenalized dog. It only took about three treats before she realized that if she “SITs” after lunging and after barking, she would receive a treat. This did not stop the behavior, but escalated it! Now we have a dog who is lunging, barking, spinning in circles around the owners, and jumping up. Eventually this caused the people stress,  and the dog was removed from the situation.  Isolation is not a proper solution.

The solution,

In order to create a focused dog, in a state of mind where they can absorb and retain information, you must first teach the dog Calm.

You don’t create a positive habit by reinforcing a negative behavior. Guidance is the key and it will stop the escalation. If the barking and lunging was addressed first, and in the process teaching her to sit calmly while looking at the other dogs, we now can reward her with CALM affection. This is how you can start and reinforce a new positive habit and behavior. No matter the training style you decide to use,you must customize it for you and your dogs energy. All dogs and puppies need to learn Calm, once they do, you will notice a huge progress in the quality of training.

If you or someone you know is looking for training solutions, contact me now to get on the schedule!