K-9 Insight Dog Obedience School
Home of the PhD Dog Training Method
Perfect, Happy Dogs!
Our Dog-Friendly Training Methods:
Our many years of experience have taught us that there are many excellent dog training methods and that some work better on certain dogs than others. We have seen every imaginable "fad" training method come and go over the years and we have taken the best of those methods and added them to our bag of tricks. If one approach does not work, another one will. One thing is for certain; all good dog training methods are positive. Negative dog training does not work and never will! However, there are many excellent ways to create a positive training experience for dogs and owners.
We believe dogs learn best when there is a consequence for disobeying a known command. Most Dogs need more than a training method that just withholds rewards. To illustrate this point, answer the following question: How many Fridays would you go to work if your co-workers and your supervisor would not be angry with you? What if the only thing that happened for not going to work on Fridays is that you did not get paid? Not many people would be working on Fridays anymore! Withdrawal of reward (no paycheck) is simply not enough to motivate most people. The same is true of dogs. Lets say your dog see a squirrel across the street. Do you think a treat will be enough motivation to keep your dog from chasing that squirrel? Not likely! Dogs need a consequence to avoid the "squirrel distraction".
What is the consequence for disobedience? It is something the dog wishes to avoid in the future. No qualified dog trainer ever uses a consequence that is abusive or inhumane. Frightening a dog or injuring them is completely unacceptable. Destroying their love of training would only serve to ruin the bond between the dog and the owner. Frankly, no dog trainer would stay in business very long if their training methods were abusive. Contrary to the beliefs of today's "fad" training methods, dogs thrive and flourish when training methods are fair, fun and firm. If you investigate the training methods in use today to train working police dogs, working retrievers and assistance dogs, the vast majority use consequence based training methods. This is because such methods create reliable obedience, along with a willing and happy attitude. No working dog would have the desire to do the job for which it was trained if the training methods destroyed confidence and joy in the dog.
As a matter of fact, a properly applied consequence will motivate your dog to be a secure, happy, fantastic companion. Dogs have a keen sense of accomplishment and gain tremendous self esteem from success in training. Good training makes it very clear to the dog how to avoid the consequence and puts all of the decisions under the dog's power. When they successfully avoid consequences, they become very happy and confident workers!
We believe that training should be both fun and effective to be worthwhile. If your dog does not get trained, the method has little value no matter how much "fun" it is. Our standard of a trained dog is a dog that listens on the first command, off leash, under distraction. Our commitment to you is to help you train your dog to that level of obedience and have a mountain of fun along the way!