All dogs need the same things, even the little ones. They need leadership, structure, guidance and rules. The training tools are a great way to help create all of the above for communication and massive structure.
Food/Treats
This is our Number 1 reward tool to teach your dog a new behavior, and to lure or shape a behavior. Rewarding your dogs for behaving. It is an awesome way to motivate and build trust for your relationship through food. However, we avoid using high value treats for really basic commands as we don’t want our dog to expect a five star dinner for a simple task.
Toys
Just like food/treats. Toys can also be a valuable training tool to reward them for good behavior. Some dogs are more toy driven, we can surely use toys to motivate them to perform certain tasks. A lot of working dogs such as German Shepherds and Belgium Malinois love a good game of tug of war and a bouncing tennis ball. Using toys to play with your dog can help deepen your relationship as well.
Crates/Kennels
Denning can be very common in dogs. Crating your dog builds their natural instincts. Crates/ Kennels become a place of safety, comfort and security for them to chill and sleep. They will naturally feel less stressed when they are in their crate. In addition, they need to see you as a pack leader who provides freedom and shelter. Crating your dog can help you create more structures in the house and your dog will appreciate the freedom a lot more.
You might think that this is unnecessary because your dog already knows how to sleep on his bed. In fact, we teach all our dogs a “place” command which is laying down on a place cot for a long period of time no matter what distractions are around. We are training them for a calm state of mind and practicing their impulse control. It’s far different than going on their bed when they are tired. You can use their own matt during training instead of an elevated dog cot. However, we find it more convenient as we do a lot of “place” work outdoors. Many helpless owners find it hard to keep their high drive dogs calm in the house. That is why we are using place cot to achieve that. This way, your dog knows when to be playful and when to be calm.
Corrections are very necessary in the animal kingdom. Older wolves and wolf mom will correct young puppies when they are crossing the boundaries by growling and nipping at their neck. So young puppies learn to respect the elders in order to create a healthy, balanced, harmonic hierarchy wolf pack order. Because wolves are canines ancestors. Same correction techniques apply to dogs as well. Therefore, Prong collars mimic dog mom’s teeth when giving corrections. Prong collars are another way to communicate with your dog through the proper leash pressure (NEVER PAIN)We can use it to shape a behavior, correct a bad behavior and more. The one we recommend is The Herm Sprenger brand which is the highest quality prong collar on the market. It’s made exclusively in Germany. Herm Sprengers ensures that there are no sharp edges that can harm your dog’s skin. We found that many other cheaper brands are cut by lasers, which leaves sharp edges. Unlike flat collars, when a dog pulls, there’s no consequence. Your dog will learn to choke themselves to walk, it’s going to do damage to their windpipe in the long-term. On the other hand, the prong applies pressure evenly around the neck. When a dog pulls, he will feel a little pressure to make him stop immediately. A prong collar never choke dogs. With proper leash handling, a prong collar is a game changer.
Modern remote collar technology compared to the outdated shock collars of the past is far more humane. The stimulation of the collars is similar to technology as a TENS unit. Read more here. Dogs have thicker skin and long hair, they feel it different from us. A momentary tap feels like a tickle. A continuous tap feels like slow poke. The level goes from 0-100, which allows us to be very gentle to communicate. Before we start the e-collar training, we first find their working level, which is the lowest level of stimulus. Then we apply their working level to motivate our dogs to perform tasks. We can use the e-collar to teach obedience, recall, correct bad behaviors and other intense sport work such as protection. Both the remote and collar are waterproof and they are a valuable tool to provide more freedom to our dogs so they can enjoy an off-leash excursion such as hiking, traveling or on the beach. We will hand-on teach you how to use it correctly before we start to e-collar condition your dog. With our modern e-collar technology, you will feel more confident to have your dog off leash and not worried that he might get hit by a car.