Training Methods & Tools
Balanced Training
Many people struggle to communicate with their dogs. I often hear that a dog has “selective hearing”, “completely ignores me”, or “won’t stop [insert bad behavior] no matter what I do”. Balanced training utalizes a spectrum of communication that comes more natrually to dogs.
As humans, we communicate with speaking first, body language second, and physical touch third. However, this is oppisite to our dogs who communicate with physical touch first, body language second, and speaking third. Balanced training meets dogs where they’re at and in a language they can understand.
Put simply, this means we will be teaching your dog “yes” and “no” using rewards, body language/movement, leash pressure, and corrections. Rewards are given for desired behaviors and corrections are applied for dangerous or unwanted behaviors.
However, this does not mean that corrections are harsh or painful. All corrections are fair, quick, and matter-of-fact. Corrections are never applied with frustration, anger, or with the desire to cause pain or fear in the dog; they are always used as a communication tool (think a mother dog correcting her puppy). The vast majority of balanced training is positive. This balance of reward and punishment is what allows the dog to understand what behaviors are not allowed and what behaviors we want from them.
Fulfilling and respecting your dog’s biological and psychological needs is a core part of Rainy Day Dog Training’s philosophy. I will tailor all training programs to meet the needs of your individual dog. This means not every dog will be trained with the same tools or rewards and may have slightly different homework even if they live in the same home. Every dog needs something different and the reason why a behavior is happening may vary greatly from dog-to-dog despite the behavior being very similar.
Training Tools
Treats
Food and treats are a key part of any good dog training! It is often the most rewarding thing you can give any dog during a training session. I often use the dog’s own kibble as well as treats. I use the dog’s food in order to keep dogs from gaining too much weight during training and give high value treats for doing something particularly well or overcoming something difficult.
Slip Lead
Slip leads look like one long leash with a handle on one end and a sliding loop at the other end. Good slip leads will have stoppers so that the leash does not loosen so much it comes off. Slip leads are a great tool for teaching your dog leash pressure feedback, which I often use to train obedience commands and loose leash walking. Plus they are very convienent when you need to quickly take your dog outside!
Toys
Some dogs prefer toys to treats and find the action of playing to be far more rewarding than anything else. Play and movement are great ways for your dog to relieve stress and build confidence!
Prong Collar
Despite their scary appearance, prong collars are actually very gentle and minimally invasive when fitted and used correctly. The design allows for pressure to be evenly distributed around the neck without choking the dog or placing all the pressure on the trachea like you would see with a regular flat collar. Designed to mimic the correction a mother would give to her puppy, prong collars allow the human to communicate quickly and gently while using very little pressure. When used correctly, there is no tension on the leash or collar except for small “popping” motions when needed.
Praise and Attention
Praise and attention are a great way to to reward and build enthusiasm in dogs that have a strong desire to please.
E-Collar
An e-collar is a remote collar and is not a shock collar. E-collars use TENS unit technology (a muscle stimulator often used in physical therapy) to communicate with the dog. Rainy Day Dog Training uses E-Collar Technologies e-collars. I believe these are one of the safest and most affordable high quality e-collars on the market today. Their levels range from 1-100, this gives us a wide range of levels to work with while ensuring that moving from one level to the next is not drastically different to the dog. All dogs are trained using their “working levels”, which is the lowest level the dog can feel. This is not a short cut to training, it is extra training that is layered on top of training your dog already knows.
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