After 10 years in business nothing surprises me. There is no client that can intimidate me, bully me, or otherwise make me feel like I did something to wrong them. I have built a reputable business with thousands of happy customers. Yet, despite that, there will always be otherwise “difficult” customers who will do their best to test your patience and professionalism. Heck, sometimes there’s even customers who for a split second will make you feel like you should throw in the towel. What you need to understand as a business owner, and an expert in our industry, is that you cannot make everyone happy. This is a harder egg to swallow than we want to admit. After all, we’re dog trainers! What does that actually mean? That means we have feelings. We have empathy for people. We want to make people happy through the service we provide, so we genuinely do feel bad when we let them down – even if and when we know it’s not our fault.
What You Should Do With Difficult Clients
I’m here to tell you to man up. Yes, you heard me. Get over it! Customers that make you feel like you’re a bad person in some way are not worth your time, the same way that a boyfriend or girlfriend who is emotionally abusive to you in any way is not worth your time. At the end of the day, it’s all about relationships, right? Nod yes with me here, because you know I’m right.
For reference, here’s an email I received just tonight from an unhappy customer who is convinced, wrongly, that she wasn’t made aware of our policy to schedule classes in advance:
Dee,
When I paid for Fluffy, nobody told me anything about pre booking. This is not a cceptable, figure out something else, or reimburse the unused lessons, and I will figure out how I get Fluffy trained. How can you take my money, do not give explanations and do not have space in class?!!!!!!
Upset
Ok. So let’s take a look at the above for a second. Firstly, I don’t take you seriously because you a) couldn’t take the time to write me a proper email with proper spelling, grammar or punctuation and b) you were pushy, demanding and downright rude. Do you actually think you are threatening me by taking your business elsewhere? You’re not. Do you know why: because you won’t find better trainers, service, or facilities elsewhere. You, client, just shoved your foot in your mouth because you actually thought that by writing me an off the cuff frustrated email would actually get the results you desired. You are so wrong.
Here is my response:
Client,
Unfortunately I cannot make a space appear that doesn’t exist. We have an eight-dog limit per class so that all dogs in class have an enjoyable experience. We cannot overbook the classes otherwise we compromise the quality of the training that we provide. Happy to refund your money — I’ll get a check in the mail to you tomorrow, that’s not a problem. Obviously there was a miscommunication somewhere along the way. It has always been our policy to pre-book for group classes. I’ve been in business for ten years and we’ve always required pre-booking for group classes, so I’m a bit surprised that somehow that wasn’t communicated clearly to you. I don’t know who originally sold you the group class training package but apologize that we didn’t meet your expectations. Again, I’ll put a check in the mail to you tomorrow.
Sincerely, Dee
Ok, so yes. My email did take one dig at her. But she totally deserved it. Where in business does it say you have to always be 100% polite? Nowhere last time I checked. Sometimes people need to be dished out what served. That doesn’t mean you have to be super rude, or unprofessional, but when a client thinks they can bully you into giving them a result that you simply can’t give you have every right, in my opinion, to make it one hundred percent clear that their expectations are unrealistic. My client’s demand for me to “figure out something else” is absolutely ridiculous! I mean, seriously?!
After I intentionally put her in place, I made it clear why I couldn’t accommodate her. This isn’t about her, this is about my business and the over all well-being of all clients that use our services. I have policies in place for a reason, lady! At the end of the day, those policies benefit my customers. If you can’t wrap your head around that then I’d be more than happy to show you the door! After showing her the value as to why we require pre-booking, I did apologize. That is, after all, the professional thing to do. I would never, as a business owner, deny somebody an apology for the slim to none chance that it was our screw up. It’s the least I can do. Lastly, I would also never, as a business owner, deny someone a refund for un-used services. I have always felt that the absolutely worst thing you can do for your business is tell a customer that there are no refunds. I feel that by not providing a refund for unused services you are indicating to your customer that you value money more than the quality of service you provide. As dog trainers, I know for all of us that is simply not true. We’re not in this for the money, so let’s not fight over $100 bucks.
Moral of the story? “Difficult” customers aren’t worth your time. Let them go instead of trying to accommodate them. As soon as they walk out that door they make room for your next best, and ideal, customer who will appreciate the type of service you’re trying to provide.
About The Author
Dee Hoult is the CEO of Applause Your Paws, Miami’s largest privately owned reward based dog training company. With twenty-two employees strong, Dee believes in positive people training as well as positive leadership based training for her employees. Although Dee still does see private clients for behavior cases, she is most passionate about her company, her people, and her business processes. Dee personally owns five dogs, two cats, and has a reef aquarium. Her husband Sam is lucky enough to also be one of her most valued employees as of January 1, 2015. You can follow Dee’s business on instagram @applauseyourpaws or on facebook at www.facebook.com/applauseyourpaws.
Immediate, in the moment feedback is the key to Fido skipping a grade or two in the school of advanced good-behavior. In fact, dogs respond just the same to current feedback as us humans. Positive and current feedback–that is. So why don’t’ we use it all of the time? Using verbal praise effectively in dog training is extremely important.
Use the Force
Imagine for a moment that you were blindfolded and I was to ask you to navigate through an already familiar setting such as your regular supermarket with a list of items that you needed to quickly gather. Without any help.
Now imagine that although you were blindfolded, I would offer you feedback through word or sound to clue you in to on-coming people, carts, or even through the isles and the items that were in them. Which would be more effective in getting you to respond in the desired manner, and how much feedback would you want? Of course your answer would be: “A metric ton!” We should consider the value of positive immediate feedback in working with pups in the same way. If I let you stumble through the supermarket for 20 minutes before giving you feedback, you can imagine how ineffective the feedback would be. And, more than that, if I only said: “no, not that way” instead of telling you what TO do, you’d be almost as lost.
Bad Feedback
It’s true: dogs often receive feedback. However, it’s generally when they have done something wrong. We tend to use bad or negative feedback to tell our dogs when they have done something wrong, such as: “What did you do?!”, in that familiar low and grumbley tone. Sometimes even pain or fear are paired with the tone to send a message to the pup that they did wrong. It’s common that the habitual immediate feedback is negative and that the good feedback generally happens after the fact or is expressed later during snuggle time, unrelated to the desired behavior on the spot.
So, how do we change this?
What Just Happened?
The simplest example of common feedback that a dog often receives is leash-walking feedback. The pup is likely to be familiar with the “eh-eh” and a tug on the leash when they pull, but what about all those well-behaved steps they took while they were on the walk? Enter positive immediate feedback!
Chances are, you or your client are going to be walking a dog today. During the walk while the pup is walking nicely, sweet words of encouragement in a nice tone should be offered. Reward the pup with happy feedback as they offer good behavior such as a well-paced walking or a simple look-up and acknowledgement to the walker. The beauty of positive feedback is that it can be given frequently. Pair a happy tone and excited voice with a tasty morsel and the pup will be well on his way to responsive good behavior. With positive feedback and food rewards it’s easy to catch a dog being good–and reward the behavior right then and there.
Going for Gusto
I’ve mentioned tone, but the energy and volume behind the positive feedback shouldn’t take a back seat. I often notice at first that when my clients are doing an exercise and they give praise and positive feedback, it’s generally always either muted or audibly non-existent. I often ask my client, “Why are you whispering, are you in a library?” As easy as it is to shout “no”, it should become easier to exclaim, “yes!”
Another place positive verbal feedback is wonderfully effective is during a “stay”. I’ve experienced new clients often asking their pup to sit and then have observed them back away saying “stay, Staaayyyy, STAY….”. Try having them say long slow praise words to give the pup info about what it is that they are doing right instead of repeating the stay cue. If the pup pops up from a “sit” or a “down”: pause the praising. Stopping the praise can be a better way to let the pup know that they have made a mistake.
Fast Food vs. Fine Dinning
Fast food is usually unmemorable and lacks stimulation, while fine dining leaves memorable, impactful and exciting memories leaving us wanting more. In the same way that both are food but one is nutritious; so is the way we prepare and serve our praise and positive feedback. If the praise falls flat, the pup will have the same unmemorable, processed experience that fast food delivers instead of the satisfying, nutritious and pleasing feeling that fine dining offers.
Pitch & Tone
The effectiveness that pitch and tone have on informing a dog of the desired behavior is often overlooked. In Patricia McConnell’s book, The Other End of the Leash, she describes cues such as the “mouth clicks” we make to have a horse move faster and the slow and low “whooooaaa” that get an animal to slow down as universal sounds. Using universal sounds with your voice such as a slow: “gooood dog” for praise or a higher pitched and quick “pup-pup-pup” during a recall that matches the speed and cadence of your desired result for the specific behavior works wonders.
Using verbal feedback as a reward in place of paying with a treat is also effective when working towards getting a behavior to a place of maintenance or mastery. The verbal feedback allows the pup to receive positive reinforcement without having to always treat. The power of pairing an enthusiastic tone and pitch with the treat will soon condition the dog to understand the good job they’ve done, even when a treat is offered more randomly. For the pup, a happy voice is like holding their paw: they listen and pay attention and even get happy when they hear “Good boy”, or “Who’s my shnoopy-woopy??” Remember to remind your clients that if they don’t look a bit silly while delivering their positive verbal feedback, they’re doing it wrong! 😉
The Cliff Notes for Solid Behavior:
Praise Immediately
Reward the Desired Behavior
Reinforce with Treat, Tone, & Touch!
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All dog trainers want to build a healthy and successful dog training business. But as your dog training business grows, so does the stress of managing your expanding client list, schedule, and income stream.
The act of putting best practices in place to help you manage your growth sounds like both a daunting and tedious task. But the truth is it’s not. There are simple tips to follow and free technology available to make the act of building a successful and scalable training business a breeze.
To provide the quickest and highest quality service to prospective clients, you need to know who your client is, how to reach them, and what their needs are.
Keeping all this information in a single location will pay large dividends as your customer base grows. Mobile tools these days allow you to keep all your client contact information, notes, transaction history, and payment statuses in an easily accessible spot. Client data and access to information in the most convenient way possible will save you a tremendous amount of time, especially as your days start filling up with more and more client visits.
Schedule & Appointments
The days of pen and paper scheduling are over!
Keep an organized daily, weekly, and monthly calendar in place that’s easily accessible and able to be updated on the fly. Appointment details constantly change, so give yourself a digital tool that allows for easy edits and updates. Not to mention, new clients reach out to you at random times throughout the course of the day, so put convenient systems in place to efficiently field these appointment requests and add them to your calendar without having to play phone tag.
Make sure your clients stay organized too. That means automating and customizing notifications and reminders sent to clients about upcoming classes, sessions, or private lessons. This will ensure your clients are always on the same page, and will ‘professionally and politely’ remind them of upcoming appointments with you, so you never experience a no-show again.
Payments
Everyone likes getting paid. The trick is to ensure that no payment ever slips through the cracks.
Protect yourself before walking into any training session. Ask clients to put their card down to reserve appointments ahead of time. This will not only reduce flaky clients and last-minute cancellations, but will professionally demonstrate to your clients that your time is valuable. Not mention, your entire payment process is streamlined once your appointment is complete – say farewell to those awkward “How much do I owe you?” conversations…Simply charge your clients as you’re walking out the door, and move on to your next appointment.
If you still prefer to invoice, then make sure no invoices are ever left hanging. Part of this is setting up a simple monitoring system to enable you to get notified with each invoice that has been paid. Then give yourself an easy dashboard to keep yourself up to date on any invoices still outstanding. This will also give you a sense as to who your best clients are (and even who your worst ones are).
Putting These Ideas Into Practice
The question now becomes how to implement these tips in the easiest and least disruptive way possible.
Good news! There are now tools out there that help solo professionals run their business from their phone. The key is to find the tools that are simple, that are affordable, and that move with you wherever you go – mobile. The more a single app does, the easier your life becomes.
As you start growing and winning more business, you’ll be able to bring these clients on in the most efficient way possible, maintaining your ability to serve them well – all the while making your day-to-day a lot less stressful.
Ready to be more efficient and professional with your clients?
Sam Madden is the co-founder of PocketSuite, the first mobile business tool for independent professionals and solopreneurs. Sam spent most of his career researching and investing in business technology for small and medium-sized businesses. He has since shifted all of his focus to build great technologies like PocketSuite to help eager and independent professionals succeed. You can read more about Sam’s mission on Entrepreneur Magazine.
PocketSuite is a new mobile app for dog trainers helping them run and build a better business. PocketSuite empowers pet professionals with the ability to schedule appointments, invoice customers, collect payment, track income, and communicate with clients…All from a single app.
Click the following link ON YOUR MOBILE device to sign up for this signature edition. https://pocketsuite.io/register/modern-dog-trainer
Early Socialization and Vaccination: Risk-Free Puppy Socialization
One of the most effective (and easiest ways) to prevent a huge slew of behavioral problems in dogs is to socialize them early. By “early socialization”, I do mean before the pup may have had all of their vaccines; which I do believe should happen on a responsible schedule. To help take the worry and confusion out of my client’s minds around vaccination & socialization; I’ve put together simple and safe guidelines and alternatives that you too can share within your doggie-loving circle.
Early Socialization Myth #1: Public Grounds Are Off-Limits
It’s a common misperception among dog-owners that having their puppy outside on the ground or anywhere in public is dangerous until they’re completely and entirely vaccinated. If we as dog-owners wait to begin socialization, our pups are at a much higher risk for any behavioral issues to strengthen and take hold. The good news: There’s a happy medium. It’s all about discernment and caution.
Myth #2: Puppy Classes Are A No-No Without Vaccinations
Clients often ask me if it’s safe to take their puppy outside. The simple answer is: OF COURSE IT IS! It’s equally important to expose them to their new world AND to begin the first rounds of vaccines. A great start is to encourage the practice of the first round of vaccinations because Parvo and Distemper can be quite violent in the body of a puppy. Taking action with the first round coupled with erring on the side of caution with common sense will keep the risk of both at nil while setting the tone for social integration at the onset.
Myth #3: You Must Stay Off My Property!
Rather than go extreme, it’s most important the dog owner knows who’s been ON the property. Having a fenced-in property is an ideal way to manage this without the stress of guessing. A fenced-in property is awesome, because it keeps the pup contained while keeping other unwanted critters out! Additionally it can assure that the puppy will have a private play place where he can learn about different surfaces and textures. You’ll find the pup can learn about other noises and be able to see the great outdoors safely and freely. Most importantly it makes knowing who has been on the property easy. Use caution though, if your client’s uncle brought Boomer, their family’s lab, up from the big city recently, some precautions might need to be in place for in and around the home.
Myth #4: The Mall And My Mutt Don’t Mix
The Mall is what I like to think of as the “Not so Beaten-Path”. It can be a wonderful place for all types of socialization to occur. Today, there are a ton of big named stores that allow pups through the doors that are so infrequently used! Macy’s, Lowes, Nordstrom, and Old Navy are perfect, just to name a few. So, pack up the puppy and get to the stores! So often people find a puppy in a store so novel that they will scurry over to meet your client’s pup making the “people meeting” part of socialization super easy. You might even find that the clothing racks and the hustle and bustle of the stores provide excellent learning opportunities. In an environment such as The Home Depot or Lowes you may get the added energy of a burly contractor eagerly offering a puppy petting session.
Here is a great list of pet friendly stores that will keep your client’s pup safe with good socializing to boot!
Myth #5: Costume Parties Are for Halloween
What happened to the days of costume parties?! Have your clients dig out those old Halloween costumes, get out those groovy bell-bottoms and have a ball! If anyone needs a reason to invite some friends over for a little shindig, now they’ve got the perfect excuse. Make the new pup the guest of honor and have the treats flow from the guests while exposing the pup to all different kinds of people and outfits!
Myth #6: Kids And Puppies Don’t Mix
Responsible kids make great teachers. Ask your clients if they know any kids that are well-mannered and responsible around dogs, and have them over for a play date with your client’s pup. Because puppies can get nippy and excited around bubbly kids, it will be important to teach the pup from a young age that kids are people, too.
It’s true: The World is our Playground, and it doesn’t have to wait for the new pup to be all grown up!
When connecting with a new potential client, it’s important to leave the best impression possible. Your first email to a client may be the only chance you get to deliver your message. Start off with a relevant subject line and don’t fluff your email with random information. Have a go-to template for first interactions so it will save you time in the long run. Fill out the necessary must-haves and plug-in specific information that’s relevant to the client. It has been said that “first impressions last a lifetime.” Below is a list of the three necessary must-haves:
1. Contact Information
This may seem like a no brainer, but if you don’t have a signature line in your email with all of your current information, the client won’t know how to contact you. Include the name of your business and the locations you cover. You should also include links to your social media profiles so they can join you there as well!
2. Prices
List prices for the services that they are inquiring about. Asking questions about their lifestyle over the phone can help you get a feel for what they can afford, then follow-up with a friendly and professional email with the services you recommend.
3. Clear & Concise Message
Don’t overwhelm the reader with lots of mumbo-jumbo. Most clients don’t know what all the letters behind your name stand for and most don’t care. They do care that you are educated and know what you are doing. If the business side of your company is sloppy, clients may think it will reflect on your work ethic or training skills.
Emails that are concise, polite, and intelligent will help your business stand out from the crowd. Someone may not know your brand, but if you send them a well-written message, they’ll prefer you to someone who took less care. It should be stated that emails with personality build engagement more successfully than cold, robotic ones. This is a service business after all!
How do you structure your emails to potential clients?
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Most dogs learn the same way. Wait, really? Let’s back up. The difference is not in the learning; it’s in the training. I’m sure you’ve experienced that each breed requires training specific to their tendencies, and each pup can be as individual as each of us. By paying attention we can even recognize that there are anomalies with in a breed—like the Border Collie that doesn’t stalk or isn’t sensitive to movement, or the Bulldog or Frenchie that happily walks without the passive aggressive Buddah stops. Beyond even this, we know to change our training approach when we witness behavioral issues such as fear, anxiety, or aggression. And yet, it remains true that dogs still learn the same way! Surprising?
Similar, Yet Different
Each dog is different. In the same way that students excel in certain subjects and struggle in others, dogs do, too. I believe this happens because of “Lumping and Splitting”. The term lumping is asking a dog to learn multiple aspects of training at the same time by introducing the behavior simultaneously. Splitting is taking one behavior and teaching it through gradual and incremental steps. All dogs eventually learn the “Triple D’s” (distance, duration, and distraction) but the approach is what must differ for each dog.
Lumping
For some dogs when it comes to understanding the basics of a stay, they’ll get an easy “A”. However the moment a distraction is introduced the house of cards falls apart. This often happens when the trainer tries to muscle through and “lump” new criteria together, causing the dog to fail. Although “splitting” up the stay itself and introducing distractions in tiny itty bitty increments may take a bit longer, the lasting effects in the overall behavior will be golden! Combining the Triple D’s too quickly is the lumping that so often causes big failures resulting in frustration for the dog and for your client.
I sometimes see it when a new client shows me they’ve been teaching a stay by extending their hand like a traffic cop while slowly backing away from their dog as if it were a bomb, chanting “staaaaaay, staaaayyyyyyy” which inevitably results in failure, because they’ve increased the distance too much too soon.
One Step at a Time
Let’s look at the same behavior split it up into smaller pieces working each of the D’s one at a time. First: duration. Reward your client’s dog with a treat for nothing more than sitting in front of you. If you can get the pup to stay in the sit for 10 seconds in between treats then it would be an appropriate time to move onto the next D!
Second: distance. The dog will always dictate when he’s ready for more distance by his success in his stay. With some dogs you might find leaning back is plenty of distance initially. The more you breakdown the criteria, the more successful the dog will be.
Lastly: distractions. Using kissy noises or thigh pats incrementally added can be plenty of distraction at first. It’s critical to keep rewarding each small distraction. This will help ensure your rate of success without allowing the dog to fail.
Donna Hill has an outstanding video that thoroughly explains this concept:
Splitting can help you teach any behavior. A great trainer will be able to identify when to make like a tree and split!
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Establishing a working relationship with a local veterinarian or clinic can be very lucrative. It can range anywhere from a small percentage of your total monthly or yearly clientele and income to one hundred percent of your entire business. One veterinarian, with whom I worked for many years, when asked what type of person she would look for in a dog trainer, had this to say:
“Someone who is a certified professional and shows me commitment, is experienced, and gentle and patient with animals. I’m more comfortable if I’ve seen them with animals personally. [They should be] willing to travel for in-home visits and handle owners well. You have to learn how to get the owners to be compliant, even if they are know-it-alls or stupid, all of which are very common.”
Before you go out to your local vet’s office and just try to introduce yourself, there are a few things that you should think about…
Write A Concise Introduction Letter
Writing a letter of introduction is probably the most effective way to start a relationship with a veterinarian. Veterinarians are generally very busy people! Visiting them during business hours without an appointment or invitation can be like having an off-leash dog interrupt your training session and start humping your client’s dog. Nobody wants to see that!
Writing a letter is the best opportunity you will have to tell them exactly what you have to offer and why they should choose to send their clients to you for training. Send letters to all the veterinarians in your area, addressed directly to the doctors themselves. Call them back and follow-up. Offer to bring in lunch or refreshments and discuss your services.
You might even offer to pay for an office call in order to compensate them for listening to you.
Know And Embrace Your Limitations!
Be clear and concise about both your strengths and your limitations. Remember, limitations are not shortcomings or weaknesses, but rather the limits within which you are comfortable or qualified to operate. You never want to misrepresent your abilities or qualifications. Being comfortable with your own limitations will help allow you to project a more professional attitude. It also keeps you out of trouble. You never want to accept an aggression case if you are not comfortable or qualified, the same way that you would never diagnosis a medical problem in a client’s dog. Build a strong network of other trainers and behavior consultants and know when to refer up the ladder.
Join Dog Training Trade Organizations
Two of the main organizations that veterinarians search to find dog trainers are The Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT) and The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT). Both of these organizations have trainer listings and searches that make it easy for you to be found. Other organizations, such as The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) have the same types of listings and searches. However, overall recognition of these organizations by veterinarians seems in my experience to be very limited.
Acquire Professional Credentials
You will find that most veterinarians will take you more seriously if you are a certified professional. Achieving certification in dog training shows that you have made a serious commitment to your trade as well as to your own personal growth. The certification that veterinarians are most familiar with is Certified Professional Dog Trainer, either Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) or Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA). Both of these are available through the CCPDT, the only independent body that exists for certification in dog training.
Become Aware Of The Veterinary Trade Organizations
Spend some time, if you haven’t already, and become aware of some of the different veterinary trade organizations and their missions. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and The Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) are two good examples. Membership in these organizations is voluntary and standards and guidelines are above and beyond those set by the rest of the industry. Being aware of which organizations a veterinarian is or is not a member of will help you to tailor your conversation, once you’ve started it.
Now that you know how to establish a relationship with your local veterinarian(s), who are you going to contact first?
Special thanks to Dr. Rebecca Simmons-Resnick for her input, Dr. Amy White, Ashley Ford, and Poppy for modeling for the photos, and Terri Dickinson for taking them!
About The Author
John Stawicki is a force-free dog behavior trainer living in Cape Fear, NC, with his lovely wife Paige, and their seven assorted mutts. Together, they contemplate dogdom and their place in the universe. He may be reached at Cape Fear Positive Dog Training.
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Do you find some clients saying: “I just want my dog to calm down”? I often think they are really saying they wish their dog would listen to them rather than lose their spunk or nuttiness. Often times when dogs are aroused by their environment be it a squirrel, another dog or a human, the behaviors that they know well in their day-to-day life such as sit and down, go right out the window because they’re so aroused and excited.
As a trainer we can help their brains comprehend what arousal feels like so that the pup can perform all his basic tasks when aroused. Tug-of-War is a tried and true way to teach impulse control when aroused. It is incredibly important as a trainer to watch the dog’s behavior change as you tug and to remember that in the beginning it can be pretty intense for the pup, so taking breaks to reduce stress from the intensity is also key.
Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker
Tug-of-War can sometimes be viewed as the Darth Vader of games for dogs; designed to encourage aggression, when in fact it isn’t evil at. Take it from me: if tugging made dogs aggressive then I would have the most aggressive dogs on earth. When tugging is used properly it serves as a game of bonding between you and your client’s pup. Tugging can be used as a wonderful tool to create what I call “synthetic arousal”. Granted; arousal is arousal, but when we can incite it through tugging, arousal can help proof the behavior and make your client’s dogs super solid!
Dress Rehearsal
It’s probable that the directions and exercises we give our clients to practice throughout the week will be rehearsed in a quiet and safe area. They often choose spaces such as their living room or bedroom, which are good starts but can tend to act like a vacuum. If they rarely push their pup to practice new behaviors in more stimulating environments, the tendency is that is the dog can only perform the behavior in a quiet and calm area.
So, how do we take the show on the road? Enter, stage left: Tugging.
Establishing the rules to this kind of play first is of utmost importance. A good trainer first must institute the ground rules around mouthing, choking up on the toy, and jumping—teaching clearly what’s prohibited. Making sure too that the dog will drop the toy on cue is an example of the small, yet critical pieces of impulse control necessary for easy and successful arousal training. I’ll often make simple adjustments when unwanted behavior arises such as dropping the toy mid-game and walking away—remembering that I’m the one making the toy dance and without me it’s just a rag on the floor.
Just Before the Curtain Goes Up
After your client’s dog has the foundation of tugging with rules, it’s time to move on to doing a type of circuit training where basic commands such as sit, down, stay, and leave it are added to the tugging games. Prime the pump by asking your client’s dog to sit a few times rewarding each time with food. Then present the tug toy and tug with the pup for a short time. Follow by asking for a drop and a few sits. If you notice that the pup has some difficulty sitting or holding a sit because they are aroused, slow down on the tugging, as this is no different than fine-tuning the equalizer on a Hi-Fi stereo.
Opening Night
Just as all successful performances are the result consistent and fun rehearsal after rehearsal, we know that dog-play is no different. The circuit training allows for dogs to continue thinking even when they are aroused. With this type of training you’ll be setting them up for amazing amounts of success where they will be able to do more than just stay at home. They’ll probably even lose the old title of “crazy” and maybe even be nominated for an Oscar.
How will you be using tugging in your training?
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“Lazy Dog Training” is a term I use when working with clients. Clients often feel overwhelmed by the amount of training that is truly needed. Because we are trainers and know the importance of training, it’s easy for us to show up with the energy of Richard Simmons; hitting them with a barrage of knowledge when we walk in the door. Sometimes this amount of information can overwhelm certain families making the task of training seem very daunting. For these folks lazy training can be an amazing tool for both you and your client’s toolbox since it is passive training.
Inadvertently Rewarding Other Behaviors
There are certain behaviors that can be taught and various exercises that can be done in which you are rewarding the main behavior while “secondary” and “tertiary” behaviors are also being rewarded. This is “good fallout”; a happy trickle if you will. These lazy techniques give you a 2-for or a 3-for, for the work of one.
Why not hit two birds with one stone?
One of my favorite examples of this is the Elevator Game. In this game, you are specifically teaching a dog not to jump. You begin by lowering a treat from above a sitting dog and click and treat for being able to lower the treat to the dog’s face without him jumping. Although you are rewarding the main behavior, what else is the dog learning simultaneously? The beginnings of a stay! (The staying part of the behavior would be the “secondary” behavior being learned simultaneously.) As you add a little distance and duration and, eventually, distraction, you will end up with a great little stay!
Another passive game I play is Kong-to-go-to-bed. I often start with this when doing a consult. Have the family stuff a Kong and then set up a bed or a crate a few feet away. Give the Kong to the dog and notice the dog will generally go and lay with its new stuffed Kong in bed. At first glance it might seem like that’s all that’s happening but in actuality you’ve got a magic Kong! It’s dispensing rewards for being in a down in a dog bed!
Continue the exercise by periodically walking over and exchanging the Kong for a treat. Walk away with the dog following you and then give the Kong back. The dog should return to his bed. After some repetition, cue “go to your bed” and give the Kong and watch the owner’s jaws drop as he goes to his bed on cue.
Change The Client’s Perspective
Another way I teach passive training is to change the client’s perspective by asking them to catch their dog being good. So many dog families are so quick to punish a pup when they do something wrong but rarely do they reward when the dog is doing something right. I will generally ask them to ask themselves this question, “is your dog being good or naughty this second?” If the pup is being good, feed and praise him! With a treat pouch on their hip, have them click/mark and capture moments in the day when their pup is being good. By doing this you will have a pup that is actively engaging with its owners trying to figure out “what makes them click?”
The moral of the story is to remember that just because it’s lazy training doesn’t mean the job isn’t getting done. Let’s teach owners how to train smarter, not harder.
What are some ways you will use or are using lazy training?
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The way to success in becoming a star athlete or a master criminal is achieved in the same way. The more a skill or behavior is rehearsed the better and more natural it becomes. So often dog parents may come to you wanting to change a dog’s behavior. Of course we are interested in the behavior at hand, but we should be even more interested in what is happening the “other 23 hours of the day”.
Having tunnel vision by focusing on the unwanted behavior isn’t enough. We’ve got to look at what is happening behind the scenes at all of the rehearsal time before the curtain goes up. A pro-golfer is likely to practice other calisthenics to improve his game and I’ll bet your clients dog has his own version of cross-training, too. It reminds me of Mickey, the inventive trainer in Rocky. Mickey had Rocky chase chickens to find a new and more agile way of becoming quick on his feet. Somewhere when you aren’t looking, the pup has invented his own technique for getting the result he desires.
Let’s say you feel like your client’s dog is unnecessarily barking for attention and you are at your wit’s end with this. First, we’ve got to figure out when and where else this behavior is being reinforced. Does he get practice barking away “intruders” like the UPS man or a neighbor dog being walked by the window? Although you might not be directly rewarding the pup for this action with a cookie, just the act alone of the “trigger” going away can be the reward itself to the dog. “I bark, and it goes away”, thinks the pup. “Success!” The repetition of this story is in itself a rehearsal. In turn, the rehearsal of the behavior gets stronger and more habitual. The behavior will eventually become second nature for the dog.
As a professional dog trainer even I get stumped sometimes. Imagine my astonishment when I saw my dog, Dexter with his paws on the kitchen counter! I racked by brain trying to figure out where he had learned this behavior. How had he been rewarded, and where was this rehearsed? After a week of question and observing him like a hawk, I saw him jumping up on the gate in the back of my van to gain a better vantage point. That was it! If it worked for him in the van, he’s bound to “learn” it will work for him in the kitchen. Because animals are such excellent problem-solvers they can piece together the puzzle through masterful trial and error learning. This can make the pup both clever and sly quickly, but it’s also why they are so fun to shape and train.
If the rehearsal of behavior is the key to success, then eliminating or, at least, minimizing the opportunity for the unwanted behavior is the way to begin. Common sense tells us that we aren’t going to keep the UPS guy from coming to the door, or keep other dogs out of our neighborhood, but what we do have control over is what our pup rehearses.
Let’s imagine that I am a master car thief with years of practice. Although I’ve been successful for years, one day I get pinched. I go to jail. I’m kept from practicing my craft. If one day my sentence is up, and I return to society without rehabilitation (learning a replacement behavior) I’m likely to fall back into my old ways to achieve success with my desired result. Moral of the story: If you prevent the villain from rehearsing the behavior while rehabilitating (teaching them alternative actions and behaviors), then they are much less likely to go back to their old crime.
So how do you prevent the pup from repeating bad behaviors? I teach and reward the “opposite” behavior or a DRI (Differential Reinforcement for Incompatible behavior). With barking, for example, I teach and reward a quiet cue. For jumping, I teach and reward a solid “down” or a “belly up” behavior. We should work to reward an appropriate behavior rather than starting by punishing the inappropriate behavior. We must also keep in mind those other 23 hours in the day.
Addressing the time when the dog is alone or not around us is important. For example, you can recommend crating the pup while leaving upbeat music playing to drown out sounds from outside to prevent perimeter barking. Employing simple preventatives, such as making sure the pups are well exercised and left with a food-stuffed toy to keep them engaged, can prevent them from rehearsing old behaviors.
Dogs will always be rehearsing behaviors. It’s up to us to teach and reward the behaviors we want rehearsed. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
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Dee Hoult is the CEO of Applause Your Paws, Miami’s largest privately owned reward based dog training company. With twenty-two employees strong, Dee believes in positive people training as well as positive leadership based training for her employees. Although Dee still does see private clients for behavior cases, she is most passionate about her company, her people, and her business processes. Dee personally owns five dogs, two cats, and has a reef aquarium. Her husband Sam is lucky enough to also be one of her most valued employees as of January 1, 2015. You can follow Dee’s business on instagram @applauseyourpaws or on facebook at www.facebook.com/applauseyourpaws.
