Basics Of Our Training Methods

All Trainers Are Not Made The Same

It has been said that if you ask ten dog trainers how to train a certain dog, you will end up with eleven different answers. Each trainer's style and methods vary widely based on their experience, education, and of course the innate understanding of a dog's nature and ability to communicate to each and every different kind of dog on their own level and in their unique language. That extra eleventh opinion is going to come from someone who doesn't just have a set way of training rules and methods, but is willing to offer options to their client that reflect not only the dog's nature, but also the client's needs and circumstances.

How do you choose that special trainer that will fit your specific needs out of the crowd of so many trainers in your city? The only way to develop the ability to offer more than one way of training is to continually educate oneself and be fluent with ALL ways. The trainer must stay on top of the latest trends, developments, and discoveries in animal behavior sciences, child development psychology, psychiatric practices, communications, environmental sciences, canine dietary developments, and many other subjects. Only a mix of several methods is the right answer for most dogs.

WARNING!!! DogGonit Dog Training does not use
or advocate use of compulsion for pet dogs!

Compulsion method relies on forceful actions "making" a dog perform an act through an association of mistakes with pain. This method is very equipment oriented, utilizing specialty training collars such as choke chains, prong collars, electric collars, and other pain inducing devices. Such devices pose a physical health threat to dogs, and their effectiveness requires continuing use of these pain tools because the dog quickly learns not to mind, if pain has not been inflicted in some period of time. In other words, the dog minds when the collar and leash are on, and stops minding when they are off. Think about it… If the first thing you do when you return home with your dog is take the leash off and put it up, the dog will also quickly learn not to mind you at home where your ability to reach the dog for a quick and sharp correction is limited. Additionally, when the dog learns that you are the source of pain, they will often prefer not to follow the "Come" command, unless they are already on a leash and feel like they have no choice. In dog's mind, the options are to chase a squirrel and have fun, or to come to you and feel pain. Even a person will make the decision to have fun given this choice. All that translates into one thing - that long after the training is over, much work and a very high degree of accuracy is still required from you - the handler. This method takes many years and dogs to perfect, which means that most dog owners will not be able to carry on with this style of handling after their dog training sessions are over. It is also considered inhumane by most people because this style of training breaks the dog's spirit and makes learning from mistakes highly undesirable to the dog thus taking away enthusiasm, making the dog fearful, and preventing the dog from efficient learning and building a two-way partnership with its owner.

DogGonit Dog Training strongly believes in and
recommends gentle methods based on positive reinforcement!

On the other end of the spectrum, there are food training and Clicker training methods that do not use force at all and rely solely on positive reinforcement. Such methods are fairly easy and fast to learn and because of that, argued to not be as effective for certain purposes in training by followers of solely compulsion (or pain-driven) training methods. However, they really build up your dog's confidence and teach the dog to embrace mistakes and learn from them. This develops a strong partnership with dog's human companion and sets up the proper foundation for learning. Ultimately, a combination of this method with some compulsion is required for not all, but many dogs (usually the large protective breeds). However, only the positive and partnership-driven learning process will put your dog in the right frame of mind to carry the training to all aspects of your life, whether at home or outside, inside a pet store or at a park, surrounded by many unfamiliar smells and offensive untrained dogs.

Very few trainers, and coincidentally the only kind you must hire to help you, will know the right mix of these methods and will educate you on what your dog's needs are and how to properly address them.

-- Stephen Fisher, Owner and Trainer