Most folks assume that a dog trainer has to be good with dogs. That’s a reasonable assumption and certainly not untrue, but a good dog trainer must also be good with people. It’s all good if your dog can behave for me but if your dog doesn’t know to behave for you, then it’s all for nothing! Here are three reasons why I train owners as well as their dogs.

Earlier this week I shared a post with some tips for multi-dog households and it received a lot of great feedback! If you missed my post earlier this week, here’s a short recap: If you have multiple dogs, I strongly recommend building an individual relationship with each dog before you attempt to work with both dogs together. For example, if you want them to walk nicely on the leash side-by-side, you first need to teach each dog to heel and walk politely apart from one another. Once they’ve mastered the skills individually you can put them together and work on walking nicely in that new context. (Read the original post here.) Many of you asked for more multi-dog household tips, so in this blog post I’m going to elaborate on some of the benefits of building individual relationships with each of your dogs, as that really is the key to success.

Anxiety seems to be as common in dogs as it is in humans. We often feel at a loss as to how to help our dogs because we can’t talk to them about how they’re feeling and find out exactly what they’re struggling with. That said, there is a LOT we can do to help calm an anxious dog! There are lifestyle factors that we can leverage to create a less nerve wracking environment and there are calming skills we can teach. Let’s talk about that.

With the Petco post circulating about “shock collars” I felt it was appropriate to touch on why I choose to train dogs with e-collars. If you didn’t see the Petco post yet, they announced that they’ll no longer be selling shock collars that are controlled via remote. This has provoked a collective eye roll from balanced dog trainers around the world, but it has also caused some clients to feel a bit of confusion and even shame. If you’re in that latter category, hold your head high—and keep reading. :)

So, your dog came home from a board & train and now you’re feeling just a bit overwhelmed trying to keep on top of all the trainer’s instructions. Hopefully your trainer left you with a detailed go-home plan and is available as a continued source of support, but even so, it’s challenging! In an effort to provide some encouragement, I want to remind you of three reasons why the post-training effort is worth it.