When I was a little girl I was absolutely horse crazy. What little girl isn’t? But unfortunately, no matter how much nagging I did, my parents wouldn’t get me a horse. (Dad made me a deal when I was 16, that when I buy my own property, then he will buy me a horse. Little does he know that he will have to live up to that deal. Because I will have my own property someday.)
Despite not having my own horse, growing up I read every horse book I could get my hands on and watched every horse movie and TV show. In High School, I became good friends with a couple of sisters who had horses.
These girls and their horses saved my sanity throughout high school. I had a lot of issues with being bullied which really affected my mental health. The days I went to my friend's house and played with their pony and horses were the best days of my life.
You’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with dogs, but bear with me, I’m getting there.
I became aware of a horse trainer called Monty Roberts. I read his biography and fell in love with his techniques. I learnt more about “gentling” horses as opposed to “breaking” horses and felt that this was really my thing.
In my mid-teens, however, I was diagnosed with severe allergies and asthma. My allergies included horses. I never completely lost interest in horses. In fact, a few years ago I worked as a photographer for a horse trainer for a while, photographing his clinics. I learned a lot along the way.
While I was in my early teens McLeod's Daughters was a big deal on the TV and I had started to really fall in love with the Kelpie. When the doctors told me that I would not have a career in either the horse industry or the agriculture industry because of my allergies and asthma, my focus started to move more to Kelpies. I started studying them like I did horses. The biggest book (and a rather expensive one too) I have is called The Kelpie, by Tony Parsons. At this stage, I was still a couple of years away from getting my first kelpie, Pepsi.
I did find myself with a very timid Jack Russel cross pup, called Jock, when I was 19, though. I always knew that I didn’t want to train dogs the old-school way. And this pup was so sensitive, I really had to learn very quickly, how to boost a dog's confidence.
Owning Jock, and later Pepsi and Noisy, has led me to be the dog trainer I am today.
I am what you would call a balanced dog trainer. Balanced dog trainers believe in letting a dog know when they are doing something wrong at the moment, with a correction such as a verbal noise (I use "no" or “ah”) and/or a pop of the leash (a slight two-fingered lift of the leash while connected to the dog's collar can say a lot to a dog). They also believe in letting a dog know when they are doing something right with a good reward system.
I base my dog training techniques on two factors. One is that dogs are pack animals. The other is that if you have a good bond with your dog they will want to do anything you ask of them.
Pack related dog training
Training dogs around the pack animal theory has gotten a bad rap over the years as some trainers use forced dominance over the dog to make them do what they want them to do. And I’ll be honest, I was one of them, until several years ago. I used to force a dog into submission to remind them who was boss. If Cesar Millan does it, why not me, right? A forced submission does not hurt the dog physically however if you have a headstrong dog who believes they are boss and have never been told otherwise it can be quite a shock to them mentally. One day I attempted this on a kelpie and the outcome was me being bitten and the dog and owner in a lot of stress. I have never attempted it since. I have a nice scar on my right wrist that reminds me not to force a dog to do something that they don’t want to do. Or don’t fully understand.
I still believe that dogs are pack animals and that this is one of the key issues around their behavioural problems. When a dog believes that they are the pack leader this can either lead them to being full of anxiety or with aggression. The pressure of being a pack leader for a dog who doesn’t have the coping mechanisms can be too much.
I use dominance in a non-forceful manner. Simply getting into a dog's personal space with your body (it’s like using pressure and release some trainers use on horses but on dogs). Or simply growling at a dog when they are doing something wrong (a correction) can remind them that you are the pack leader.
However, my most important technique in showing a dog that I am a pack leader is by being a calm influence and taking control. When a dog sees that you are in control of any situation and that you are calm, they too will begin to calm down and will trust you to be in control. Instead of them reacting to the situation they will learn to look to you first.
My dog Noisy was
reactive towards people and other dogs. If I was walking her down the road (we have a very quiet neighbourhood so I normally walk my dogs off leash) and she saw another person she would make a beeline for them, giving her deepest, bravest bark and growl. She would circle them with her nose up in the air, telling them that she was not happy with them being there and that they had better turn around and walk in the other direction. She would do this to people she knew and didn’t know. If another dog was coming towards us she would run straight at them and drive them away.
Noisy’s reactivity is caused by anxiety. Which is caused by bad breeding on my part. Unfortunately, she was born with a mistrust of people and other dogs. It took me a week to get her to be comfortable with me handling her, at 2 weeks old, without her sounding like she was being tortured. And another three weeks for strangers to be able to handle her, although she was still uncomfortable.
Over the years though I have managed to get Noisy to trust that I am in control of any situation. Now, instead of reacting straight away, she looks to me first for direction and reassurance. As long as I am a step ahead of her and show her that I have seen the “threat” she no longer reacts. Even when we have two dogs running at us, barking aggressively!
We’re still working on her reactivity around the house and my car but we can now go out in public and she will not react towards anyone or anything... 99% of the time.
Showing your dog that you’re the pack leader also helps in getting the dog to do what is asked of them and when it comes to letting your dog know that they have done the wrong thing.
Noisy’s mum, Pepsi, is a very independent girl and often thinks she knows better than I do. I will often have to give her the same command three times or say her name three times to get her to do what I’m asking, which is something that I have learned to expect and allow. I used to expect all dogs to do as they were told on the first command every time, being the perfectionist that I am. However Pepsi has taught me to relax a little on that, and I now allow time for the three commands with her. I don’t like to ruin a dog's personality to make the dog fit my expectations.
Because Pepsi was abused by her previous owners she was very timid. She’s also cautious of anything in your hand that could be used towards her as a weapon, from a shoe to a shovel. When I first got her my dad growled at her for something and she went and hid in the nearest bush!
These days all I have to do is look at Pepsi in a certain way, lean towards her and point a finger at her and she will submit. She knows that she’s done something wrong, but she also knows that she’ll get a belly rub after submitting.
I have also once (unintentionally) made Noisy submit three meters away from me after I asked who had dug a hole I was standing next to. I wasn’t even asking in a stern manner but apparently, the guilty party knew that she had done something wrong and dobbed herself in.
Another way to get your dog to do what you ask of them is to have a strong bond with them.
Relationship-based dog training
You don’t seem to hear much about relationship-based dog training. I’m not really sure why. But I believe this is really important when it comes to having your dog do as they are asked when they are asked.
I first started working on this when I got Pepsi and realised that she had no value in food treats whatsoever. She thought food was what came in your bowl at the end of the day. In the first few days that I got Pepsi, as an 18-month-old, if I asked her to sit she wouldn’t sit, she would cower. Like she was expecting a belting. Says a lot about her previous owners doesn’t it? I mean, as mentioned earlier, I have learnt over the years that Pepsi is a smart dog who likes to question you. She is independent and likes to know why she has to do what you’re asking. That is just her and I’ve learnt to release my perfectionist streak there and allow time for three commands.
In those first few days I learnt that while Pepsi’s biggest fear was being belted, her biggest joy was my physical and verbal praise. So her rewards became me completely overselling the “good girl” with a seriously over-excited voice and lots of pats and a bit of play, which was basically her running and jumping around me in pure joy and excitement.
Pepsi is the reason why I do not believe that you should constantly have food treats on you and that you need to teach your dog to value your praise over the food treats, and whatever else they might want to be doing instead of what you ask.
When Noisy came into the picture I would use food treats consistently for the first 2 minutes of teaching her a new command, until I felt that she understood what I was asking. Then I would swap between using pats and rewards. Within 10 minutes of teaching Noisy a new command, she would be doing it without a food reward without hesitation.
These days I use them to keep her quiet and focused when we are doing tricks or agility because she will start getting over-excited very quickly and she will start barking and preempting what I might ask her to do instead of focusing on what I am actually asking. This is called a high drive and is common in smart, energetic dogs like working dog breeds. However, I know that when it is most important, I can get her to do what I ask without a food reward, even when she is so focused on Pepsi and just wants to go and annoy her mother. I am still a higher priority for her than Pepsi.
Another thing I unintentionally learned over the years is that simply spending time with your dog doing nothing can do wonders, not just for your relationship but for your and your dog's mental health. I discovered this when on numerous occasions I have been unable to walk my dogs due to torn knee ligaments and I haven’t always wanted to throw a ball in the backyard (it’s not very relaxing for me or the neighbourhood as Pepsi has to vocalise her pleasure in a high pitched yap the whole time). So instead I would simply go and sit on the lawn with my dogs and do nothing. Sometimes they would get a few belly rubs. But mostly we would just do nothing.
This is so important for any dog. Whether they are prone to anxiety or whether they are a working dog breed and need to learn to switch off. Or even to help a dog learn to not react and chase things they shouldn’t.
I believe that because of this my dogs are able to go to sleep amongst a bunch of other dogs who are yapping and pulling at the ends of their leads during a high jump competition until I tell them that it is their turn to jump. I believe this is the reason that my dogs can happily spend a day sleeping, without pestering me to take them for a walk or to play with them. I believe that this is the reason why Pepsi no longer feels the need to chase cars. I also believe that it is a great way to calm my own mind when I am having a bad mental health day.
By creating a strong bond with your dog and being a clear leader of your pack, they are much more likely to do as you ask, when you ask, they will prioritise you over everything else and you won’t have to correct them as frequently.
By using my way of training your dog, your dog will be confident, happy, obedient and an absolute pleasure to spend time with. Not an embarrassment to take out in public.
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