3. Dog Owner Training Instead Of Dog Training

When a dog shows aggression or problematic behaviour,
it is most often a sign that their owner needs training.

3.1 If you need training, first check the trainer

In the previous chapter, «Attachment and Trust instead of Goodies», we looked at the needs of dogs and the importance of taking a differentiated approach when it comes to normal training or addressing behavioural problems. With the cornerstones of relationship/attachment – socialisation/training – education and the cube, you are in a position to evaluate «a dog schoo» should you or your dog require training.

Find a professional trainer – and ensure that they are indeed a professional trainer before you begin, let alone expose your dog. The primary task of a so-called dog trainer is not to work with your dog, but with you. This includes guiding and accompanying you through a process of change so that you can give your dog the necessary support that it is currently not receiving sufficiently.

The trainer must understand indirect leadership, i.e. how to coach you so that you can coach, support and accompany your dog correctly.

If the trainer initially tries to befriend your dog, extreme caution is advised. Most dog owner & dog teams have the common problem that their relationship and attachment/bond with each other is not strong enough – therefore, this is the trainer’s priority task and not to make himself popular with your dog.

A dog trainer must be aware of their «position of power» and not use it consciously or unconsciously. If the dog trainer tries to build a relationship with the dog themselves, this can quickly lead to an attachment, especially if the dog is longing for one. This would be completely counterproductive and would likely further weaken the owner & dog relationship and attachment/bond.

In summary, if someone calls themselves a «dog trainer» or «dog coach» etc., make sure that the person really understands their role and knows who they are supposed to be working with.

If your dog shows problematic behaviour, especially threatening behaviour and aggression, professional action is required, which has nothing to do with traditional «dog training» such as heel!, sit!, down!, here!, wait!, look!, treat!, good!. This requires the trainer to possess conflict and negotiation skills so that they can calibrate the dog’s behaviour and shape it gently but consistently.

As mentioned in chapter 2.7 under «Digression» if I have a strong-willed dog, or a breed that has been bred to herd 300 sheep independently, or a dog that already exhibits unwanted behaviour, then I want a dog trainer who knows what they are talking about and can communicate a plan, clearly and competently in both spoken and written language. In such case, «we design our lessons with lots of love and with a lot of fun according to the latest scientific findings» is not enough.

On the previous page we also looked at the needs of the dog and see that aggression or other problematic behaviour is a most often a cry for help from the dog. Under all circumstances, seek a professional trainer – and make sure it is a professional before you expose yourself, and even worse, expose your dog.

Here are some questions you should ask a trainer before you commit:

If the answers are satisfactory, then check how the trainers interacts with their own dog. Do they have a calm and aplomb way of interacting? Are they apologetic, or have excuses, for the behaviour of their own dog? Does their dog seem happy? Does it make a confident and balanced impression?

If you are content with the answers and with what you have seen, ask the trainer if he/she wants to get a first impression of your dog and take it on the leash.

3.2  A clear structure in the training and development of yourself and your dog

The dog trainer must be able to clearly show you the concept and the logic of the training, how the individual training modules are connected and how the entire training is greater than the sum of the individual training blocks.

He should also be able to show some of the principles in his training, e. g. when and how is he rewarding and correcting behaviour, and how. You must be in a good position to decide if this trainer is capable of helping you, or not. If you have doubts, leave.

You want to hear something along these lines

1. BASIC TRAINING

A solid theoretical background to dog behaviour. The objective is to reduce the knowledge gaps of the dog owner, which ensures the practical training makes sense.

The dog owner must be able to give the dog what it needs to feel safe and protected and must also be able to provide a conducive and non-confusing learning environment for the dog to learn quickly.

The individual steps in the learning process are implemented and validated.

This is not about training the dog, but about training the dog owner.

When the dog owner and the dog show a harmonic co-operation and the dog happily shows connection to the dog owner, the training can proceed.

2. IMPLEMENTATION

The dog owner works with his/her dog.

This ensures a solid education of the dog by the owner, not by the trainer, based on mutual trust, respect and understanding.

3. PRECISION

Builds on the established partnership to finely tune, improve the precision and increase the speed, based on the particularities of the owner and the dog.

At this stage in the learning process, food or toys may be introduced.

4. SUSTAINABILITY

This phase in the training and development is extremely important, but unfortunately often neglected.

A couple of weeks after the basic training has been completed, the dog owner, dog and dog trainer meet again to eliminate errors that may have slipped in.

3.3  If there is one thing I have learned over the years – and what probably was the missing link I was looking for – it is the following

A trusting relationship between dog and dog owner is an absolute pre-requisite for a species-appropriate dog education, training and neutralisation of behavioural abnormalities.

The greatest reward for a dog, in which the relationship and the attachment with the owner is right, is to be with his owner. But only if the dog owner really manages to be both mentor, coach and friend, i. e. the dog feels protected by him and is part of a stable «pack», which is properly led and lives in a species-appropriate way.

The dog wants to form a unit with its owner and will do it, if he has full confidence to the dog owner. Therefore, one should not confuse one’s own authentic «being» with one’s «doing», i. e. if my dog shows leash aggression for example, the cause of this must first be sought and found in one’s own being and not in the doing, i. e. what I «technically» possibly do wrong. The moment the dog experiences this, the relationship between dog owner and dog changes in a heartbeat, instantaneously.

The dog sends all signals and the dog owner just has to pick them up. Dog and owner must transmit and receive on the same radio frequency. Often the dog owner has to develop his sensitivity so that he can find the transmission frequency of his dog and calibrate it better. This is also the reason why the majority of dog owners need training, not the dog.

If the attachment between the dog and dog owner is not sufficient, the dog is more likely to orientate itself with the external world and not with the dog owner.

• The dog focuses more on the outside world than on its owner. Other dogs, toys, etc. take centre stage.
• The dog owner can only get the dog’s attention by using treats or toys.
• The dog tries to resolve social conflicts itself, which leads to the dog being classified as «problem dog» instead of understanding that it is sending out cries for help.

A symptom is never the cause. What are the reasons for my dog not having sufficient confidence in me? What does he perceive of me? Stress, restlessness, hectic, distraction, lack of concentration, bad attention and focus, unreliability? The dog doesn’t care about title, profession, wealth etc., he wants to be able to rely on me and needs real and authentic leadership qualities to be able to do this. Full stop.

The dog spends the majority of his awake time observing exactly what is happening around him. He quickly learns which movements or noises from the kitchen or the coat hangers make it worthwhile to get up – the dog is an opportunist. He is also particularly interested in what the dog owner does and how he behaves, his body language, whether he is authentic and congruent – after all, it’s about his safety and whether he feels comfortable and protected. You can only expect from your dog what you show yourself. A dog owner always «leads from the front».

During our initial telephone conversation, a dog owner told me that he had not been consistent enough in training his dog and therefore the dog was unreliable. He now wanted to change this. After a short time, however, I noticed that he did not show up at the agreed times, arrived late for lessons, did not contact me after a few days as agreed, etc. Had he really been too inconsistent in training his dog, or was it rather that the insecure dog could not rely on him either?

Never underestimate the importance of clear objectives in education and training – what exactly do I want to achieve and am I prepared to do what it takes to implement the objectives? The training of the owner and dog must be built up accordingly.

If I go on a trip without a clear destination, it doesn’t matter if I turn left or right at a T-junction. The dog also notices this and recognises this as a weakness.

• With what percentage do you want him to come when I call him? Will 70% be enough, even if it is close to a busy street?
• How important is it that my dog behaves decently with other dogs and humans? Is 80% enough here?
• How important is it to me that my dog walks quietly and calmly next to me if I ended up with one shopping bag too many?
• If I want a dog with whom I can go downtown on Saturday, if I wear nicer clothes or go to a business meeting, in public transport etc., I don’t want to have to fill my bags with goodies or toys. These are different requirements than if I «only» walk with my dog in the nature and can wear dog clothes with «pockets for all needs».

I have to communicate these exact goals to my dog trainer, or rather he should want to find out. I must carefully consider how much time and effort I am willing to invest in a species-appropriate relationship, socialization/education and training and whether I am willing to do what is needed, should the dog show a «strong character» – especially if I have defined high percentages in my objectives above.

Developing a dog into a reliable, socially adapted and stable dog requires a approx. of 2h/day for nine months, with purposeful relationship, education and social behaviour activities, training, exercise and play.

RELATIONSHIP & ATTACHMENT  –  SOCIALISATION & EDUCATION  –  TRAINING

3.4  And yes, I found what I was looking for

The relationships with my dogs began to deepen and in many peoples’ eyes took on «magical proportions». The dialogue with the dog began to take place in silence and we learned to understand each other and trust each other blindly. The daily walk became a real pleasure, the co-existence a boon and the mutual support became part of everyday life.

This is clearly my focus in the coaching and support of dog owners and their dogs. Dog owners that have experienced this additional dimension in their life with a dog never want to miss it again.

Unix was a special dog and we experienced so much together – he was always there. When I was with my business customers, they often asked “Where’s Unix?” When I said he was in the car, they said, “Go and get him, he’s one of us!” In team meetings and workshops he recognised interpersonal tensions long before they became noticeable to the participants. The participants learned to interpret his subtle body language and behaviour and with that recognized their own behaviour. Impressive. He was always involved in the work with dogs with problematic behaviour and always knew exactly what he had to do. Thanks Unix!

In December 2015 I adopted a German Shepherd dog with severe problematic behaviour from a responsible breeder who had taken the dog back. Rox is on the front page of my website. I now had to take «my own dog owner training medicine» …

During the first two years we exclusively worked on the relationship, attachment, socialisation and education to build up his trust in people and the environment. Not one second of training! The work was extremely rewarding.

Of course, Rox also learned sit! – drop! etc., but he learned it «naturally» in the context of the relationship work, which works wonderfully. He was also always with me when working with other dogs and learned himself what his function was. It was always a special moment when we, as a team, satisfied returned to the car, he jumped in and radiated his satisfaction with a visible «smile» on his relaxed face. He was such a fine and lovely friend who hadn’t shown any problematic behaviour ever since.

After I had adopted Rox, I subsequently found out, that Unix’ father was the grandfather of Rox – there are no co-incidences in life.

It was a long journey and only when I had enough pieces of the puzzle they started to make sense and I saw the big picture. That would not have been possible if it hadn’t been for a few remarkable researchers, scientists and dog trainers who devoted their lives to dogs, wolves and their behaviour. Fortunately, they are willing to share their knowledge and skills with others!

It was only when I was able to build my own bridge between behavioural research/science, the behaviour of dog owners and their dogs, and dog training, that it was possible for me to detect the common thread and clearly see the logic and connections.

Frequently I get asked how I would describe my style of dog training. I reply that I am far removed from both an authoritarian approach and also from today’s laissez-faire and democratic styles of training, because I know from theory and practice that these are only successful to a limited extent. Certainly not with dogs that display undesirable behaviour.

My training style has nothing to do with authoritarian, but rather with the authoritative training style (Diana Baumrind, developmental psychologist), which is characterised by clear rules and a trusting and loving relationship.

If you would like to learn more about the authoritative parenting style, you are welcome to search for the term on the internet and you will find that even Duchess Kate raises her children authoritatively.

So, a royal parenting style in every respect 😊.

3.5  On a final note

Dogs with problematic behaviour were usually not born with problematic behaviour, but are a result of their environment. They were in the hands of people who do not know how to recognise and neutralise problematic behaviour at an early stage. The professional dog trainers do – and adapt the training accordingly, which is sometimes difficult to understand for opinion leaders, dog trainers and dog owners who don’t.

Dogs deserve to have their wonderful nature understood, so please make the effort to learn more about dog behaviour. Over the last 50 years, I have seen many philosophies on the subject of dog training. Without the slightest doubt, however, I can say that there is no more species-appropriate, successful and faster way than using the dogs’ own language. It’s the same for us: the language, body language and facial expressions of foreign cultures are often alien to us. We may intuitively sense a person’s goodwill, but we don’t really understand them. A supposedly friendly gesture or facial expression can be misunderstood by us, or we may not understand it at all. Dogs feel the same way about us.

That applies to us humans as well, the language, body language and facial expressions in foreign cultures are often unfamiliar to us. Maybe we intuitively sense a person’s goodwill, but we don’t really understand it. A supposedly friendly gesture or facial expression can be misunderstood by us, or we do not understand it at all. 

The dog feels the same way with us.

It is never a poor investment to learn more about how wolves and dogs behave in the nature. Learn about pack animals, observe how they behave, their body language, develop your sensitivity to see the small signals that most people do not see. Observe their social behaviour, how they interact with each other and ask yourself what you could do better in the relationship, socialisation, education or training. It is the language the Canines understand from birth – please, learn «Doggish».

3.6  Appreciation

At this point I would also like to express my appreciation for the real dog specialists, who are continuously expanding their knowledge, skills and experience – most of them know how long and costly the road is.

The more a professional dog trainer wants to share with other people what they can do for dogs with problematic behaviour, the more they expose themselves and are criticised and judged. However, many critics do not have the competence or courage to therapy dogs with severe problematic, or have never been fixed by a 55 kg aggressive Rottweiler with laser precision, where each cell in his body says «only one of us will survive this encounter».

A professional dog trainer does not regard dog training as “l’ art pour l’ art”, but does his utmost to achieve sustainable results in the training of dog owners and their dogs with knowledge, skills, logic, structure and implementation.

Many paths lead to Rome, even when it comes to educating and training dogs or neutralising problematic behaviour. From a conceptual and principle point of view, however, scientists, cynologists and professional dog trainers seem to agree. There are some differences in the details and in the implementation, but all with the same objective.

As responsible dog owner and dog trainers we should devote our time to being open, to look at and communicate the topics in a differentiated way, as well as to appreciate and accept every opportunity to learn. «10 years of dog experience» has only someone who consistently evolves and does not repeat the first year nine times.

Only the results count, that is how we will see more satisfied dogs and non-dog owners than today!

3.7  Thank you for reading this far

3.8  Terms & Conditions

My interest is in the dog and that it can regain its trust in humans, conspecifics and the environment. This means that the focus is on the dog owner, not on the dog. The key question is always «what is the dog owner not able to give his dog so that the dog can be a stress-free and relaxed dog?

If the dog is harmonious, the owner will also be satisfied. The reverse is not always the case.

I do not run a «dog training school», but focus exclusively on behavioural problems, e.g. stress and aggression after traumatic experiences, or improper training/education.

Therefore, should you only have problems with the education and/or training of your dog, please contact a competent «dog trainer».

The majority of my clients come on the recommendation of existing or former clients, breeders, dog trainers who are stuck with the causes of the behaviour and veterinarians who are asked by their clients, or recognize critical cases themselves.

I support international and domestic clients who live further away via video coaching. The success rate is high – the exact approach depends on the specific issue.

Very often I hear that my website on the subject of dogs is «nutritious», requires a lot of concentration and needs to be read several times. It is the same in a lesson, in the majority of the cases, the previous behaviour of the dog owner has led to the undesirable behaviour of the dog. That’s why we break old patterns of thought and behaviour and replace them down to the smallest detail, which requires insight, a portion of humility, openness and maximum concentration from the dog owner. That is the only way I can guarantee success.

We can no longer change the past of the dog and the owner, but at most only understand it and use it as experience and input. Our focus in the practical part is on the here and now, so that the owner learns to be awake and present.

In chapter 1.3 I write «professional dog and dog owner training is not a walk in the park, neither for the trainer nor for the dog owner, but hard and demanding work. Yet at the same time extremely rewarding when you see that both dog and owner are happy.»

Treats and toys remain at home, or in the car, not in the pockets of the dog owner.

• My hourly rate for coaching in dog matters is CHF 135/hour, including mileage and driving time up to 5 km total driving distance.
• As from 5 km total driving distance, the driving time pro rata plus a kilometre fee of CHF 1.00/km + VAT/MWST is charged.
• A private lesson normally takes 1 hour and 30 minutes, i.e. CHF 200.
• The first lesson should be paid on site in cash, or via TWINT. A receipt will be mailed electronically.
• Dog owner training is VAT/MWST exempt in Switzerland.

• Should the dog owner live solely on an IV/AHV pension and not be able to pay the fees, I am happy to waive my fee in the interest of the dog concerned, provided agreed in advance.