Make sure you are using the correct leash – Dogs that are reactive on leash (or any dog for that matter) should not be walked on a retractable leash as they don’t do you any favors in helping to maintain a structured walk.  Instead, select the right leash for your dog and keep him focused and moving forward.

Your walk starts before you leave the home – A dog that charges out of the front door pulling their owner behind is already in an amped up state of mind.  It’s much harder to bring your dog back from chaos then it is to keep them from ever entering that state of mind.  Even if it means turning around several times and rehersing walking through your doorway, make sure you exit the home with your dog in a controlled position.

Learn to control your dog’s head – Your dog’s head is the GPS of everything.  It gives you info on where he  or she is going to turn, or where he’s thinking about going, and it tells you everything that is coming up next.  Remember, your dog gives signs of what they are about to do, you will see those signs by watching your dog’s head.  This is crucial when dealing with leash aggression because interruption is much better then damage control.

Train in an environment where your dog can be successful – A dog park or busy hike and bike trail is not the appropriate starting place for a dog working through leash aggression.  Sue there have to be distractions and temptations but they need to be increased and decreased as needed.  A training facility may be the best location for this type of control as random dogs in neighborhoods may be few and far between or even reactive themselves.

Consult with a professional trainer – Reading these articles will hopefully be able to give you some insight on dealing with leash aggression but it’s not intended to be a DIY guide to solving the issue.  Do your research a find a professional dog trainer that can help you achieve the training goals you have for your dog.

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We hear stories of rattlesnakes being spotted all over the Austin area.  On the various hike and bike trails, parks, greenbelts, and even in residential backyards; you know, all of the fun places that we like to take our dogs.  Dogs are not naturally afraid of snakes, in fact they are likely to approach a snake to investigate; that is when the snake bites happen to dogs.  In order to help keep the dogs of Austin safe, we are hosting another snake avoidance seminar for dogs.

The Austin snake avoidance process involves using LIVE Rattlesnakes, Copperheads and Water Moccasins that have been rendered harmless and are handled by a trained professional so the safety of your dogs can be ensured.  Using real snakes is absolutely the best thing to mimic a real outdoor situation.

The Snake Avoidance training will be held at Unleashed Unlimited in Leander.  Registration is required and can be completed at our Austin Snake Avoidance Training page and the snake training is open to Unleashed Unlimited clients and non-clients as well.  Please visit our main Austin snake avoidance training for dogs page for more details.

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There is a lack of consistency at home and in between lessons. You have to practice at home in order to truly benefit from a training class, there is just no getting around this.  If you don’t practice in between lessons and you don’t have mini training sessions at home, you are never going to gain control of your dog and your problems will continue to exist.  By the way, your trainer can tell who works their dogs and home and who doesn’t!

There is a lack of follow through at home. When participating in training class, your dog trainer is right next to you, holding you accountable to a certain set of standards and makes sure you do things correctly with your dog.  It’s up to you to set the same set of standards when you are in the home with your dog.  In the home the roles switch, you are the one setting and enforcing the standards for your dog; so if you tell your dog to come, make sure they come, if you tell your dog to sit and they lay down, fix it!!  Just practicing at home is not enough, we have to make sure we are practice correctly.

The dog is not being supervised correctly in the home. Most people are totally focused on their dogs when they are participating in a training class, however, life is full of distractions.  Phone calls, kids, tv, making dinner, and all of the other things in our lives can constantly take our attention off of our dogs.  These are the times when they are getting into trouble and we are missing our training moments.  The more often your dog gets to practice chewing on furniture or or stealing things off the table, the more they perfect those behaviors.  If you have a dog that can’t be trusted with a little bit of freedom and you can’t actively watch your dog, crate them.

Your dog’s current training state may be situational. By this I mean your dog knows when you are in “training mode” and does great while you are actively having a training session, but the skills have not yet carried over into daily life.  Example – your dog has a great down/stay when you are training, but constantly breaks when he is told to down/stay while you are preparing dinner. The only way to increase the functionality of your dog’s skills is to practice and hold them accountable during these real life situations.

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Anyone who has spent some time researching dog training, or any other topic for that matter, has surely come across some conflicting info.  One website or trainer will tell you to do it this way, another website or trainer will tell you to do it that way, and the third will tell you not to do it at all.  Here are some examples:

When dealing with a jumping dog:

Website/Trainer 1:

Turn your back and ignore your dog and wait for them to stop jumping, then you can pet your dog.  Your dog should receive praise when they are doing the correct thing.

Website/Trainer 2:

Quickly extend your knee and bump them in the chest when your dog jumps.  Over time it becomes so unpleasant that he will stop jumping.

When it comes to verbal communication with your dog:

Website/Trainer 1:

Repeat your verbal commands until your dog listens.  This will help them make the connection between the word and the action.

Website/Trainer 2:

If you give your dog multiple commands you’re giving them permission to listen when they choose, not when you ask.

When it comes to an emergency recall word:

Website/Trainer 1:

A separate emergency recall word should be used when you absolutely need your dog to come to you right away. This word should only be used in an emergency situation and is rewarded with a high-value treat.

Website/Trainer 2:

Every recall should be viewed as an emergency recall.

So who is right and who is wrong, is anyone wrong?

There is a lot of conflicting information about dog training out there because there is no one right way to train a dog.  There are multiple approaches and each approach has different theories and reasons for why they do things the way that they do.

As a dog owner, it’s up to you to decide which training system makes the most sense, works the best for you, your family, your dog, your lifestyle, and will most closely be able to meet the expectations that you have for your dog.  Block out all of the other information that you have used in the past on your previous dogs, ignore the differences in advice that your friend got from their trainer, and try to ignore all of the online articles that suggest that you’re doing it wrong.  Trust your trainer, they are the one that you chose to work with; do your best to let them help!
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If you want your dog to get on their dog bed when the doorbell rings, you have to teach, rehearse and practice until that skill is functional. Over time, your dog may hear the doorbell and run to their dog bed before you can even tell them to do so – this is good anticipation.

If you want your dog to walk with you at your left side when out for a walk, you have to teach, rehearse, and practice this. One day you start your walk and your dog automatically puts himself on your left side and starts to walk with you – this is good anticipation.

The other side of anticipation is when the dog is wrong with his actions. Even though their intentions were based on paying attention to you and attempting to ‘be a good dog’, their anticipation lead to disobedience.  Here are a few examples:

When teaching your dog to come when called, it may be common to bend down like a catcher as a way of encouraging your dog to come into you. Although this is a great way to help your dog in the initial stages of training, your dog can’t anticipate this for life. If they do, your dog may break a sit/stay, down/stay, or place every time you bend over to tie your shoe – this type of anticipation is not desirable.

Every dog needs a functional sit and down. It’s common for dog owners to start off with their dog in a sit and then transition into a down. Over time, when your dog is put in a sit, he may anticipate that the next command that will be given is a down.  Without waiting for the down command to come, he will often put himself into a down – this type of anticipation is not good.

As your dog training progresses, your dog is catching on to what you want and how you need him to behave.  If your training has led to incorrect anticipation, you may need to mix things up and vary some small details so that the picture is changed for the dog.  However, the correct anticipation will get you one step closer to a dog that is on autopilot. 

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There several reasons why we see these types of behaviors and it varies from dog to dog and handler to handler, but here are just a few possible reasons…

• There is a lack of consistency at home and in between lessons
• There is a lack of follow through at home
• The dog is not being supervised correctly in the home
• Your dog’s current training state may be situational

Out of the above reasons, do any of these apply to you and your dog?  What are some other possible reasons that you can think causes this type of frustration?

Stay tuned to our blog for the second part of this entry where we will discuss how to correct these issues.  UPDATE – Part 2 can be found here.

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On the other hand, there is nothing worse than missing opportunities and watching fear issues develop, experiencing ongoing potty accidents, inadvertently creating behavior issues, and not recognizing the early signs of issues.

That is the Puppy Manual comes in.  The Puppy Manual will outline all of the time-sensitive topics that your puppy needs in their early life.  Not only will it show you how to implement these important steps, but it will show you how to avoid the most common mistake made by new puppy owners.  In our opinion, most training programs offered to the general public actually make this same mistake.  We are going to show you how to avoid it!

Check out the Puppy Manual, it can be instantly downloaded to your computer and you can start applying the information immediately.

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Take a look at the picture above, feel free to click on it to enlarge it if need be.  The photo shows Gus, one of our board and train dogs, during a recall.  You can see his head is pointed straight ahead in photo #1.  You can also see that photo #4 has him completely off task and headed a different direction.

The position of Gus’ head has clearly changed from photo #1 to photo #4 and somewhere along the way he was no longer “on task” and coming.  Somewhere in photos #2 and #3 is your training moment.  In your opinion, which photo indicates the first sign that he is not going to make it all the way into you?

Some of you may have said photo #3 as his body is starting to change directions.  Just considering the head (and eye) position, I think the very first indicator is photo #2.  Although his head is mostly still pointed in the correct direction, he is clearly looking off to the side already.  If you can catch your dog when they are only thinking about something, it’s easier to fix before it turns into something that we see in photo #4.

Learning to read your dog is so important, we hope this helps.

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Now I know there are tons of different approaches to dog training, and I not here to slam all training methodologies that differ from ours, and maybe I’m missing something, but I just can’t see the logic in this approach. This is how I see it…

If the emergency word means “come here right now no matter what”, then the regular old come command must means something along the lines of “if you’re up for it, why don’t you swing by my way when you’re ready.” I know it’s just a training preference, but why even teach a regular recall at all? Why not just make your emergency word “come” and treat every recall with the same importance?

If someone can shed light on this logic, I’d love to hear it. Also, does anyone have a similar training practice (like using the word “stay”) that makes you wonder? If so, please open the discussion in the comments section below.

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• A dog’s pads contain fatty tissue which doesn’t freeze as easily as other tissue.  This helps keep their paws tolerable in extreme cold conditions.
• Many dog owners claim their dog’s feet smell like pop corn or corn chips.
• Your dog’s paws contain sweat glands which helps them cool off when they are hot.
• Some dogs will lick or chew their feet when they are stressed. Often times this is so intense that it results in irritation and bruising to their feet.
• It’s important to practice handling skills with your dog and puppy and make them tolerant to having their feet (and entire bodies) touched and handled.  This will allow for easy nail trims, putting on dog booties and checking for cuts and irritations on your dog’s paws.
• A fast moving or high-energy dog can easily tear their pads during intense or prolonged play and exercise.  Swimming in a pool or lake can soften the pads and make them more likely to tear during play or exercise.
• A dog’s feet can easily burn and blister when walking on hot surfaces.  Be careful of walking your dog on pavement and other hot surfaces during the summer heat.
• Rock salt and chemical ice melters can cause sores, infection and blistering on your dog’s feet.  The toxic chemicals can also be ingested by your dog if they lick their paws after exposure to these chemicals.
• Dog booties can help limit exposure to extreme heat, cold, chemicals, and other hazards.
• Proper and frequent nail trimming is important to ensure the overall health of your dog’s feet.
• Many owners get imprints or tattoos of their dog’s paws as a way of remembering their deceased pets.

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