THE #1 ISSUE OF DOG TRAINING

You see, WHERE you train your dog is FAR more important than the cost or methods or stimuli that you use to train your dog.  If you don't get the WHERE right, then you'll be paying for a HALF-trained dog!

To help you get a "fully trained dog," below is how the various KINDS of training options break down with some explanations below the chart...

A Closer Look At A FULLY Trained Dog

You see, most dog families define a "fully trained dog" as a pup that...

1) Obeys their commands, 

2) Doesn't tear up their house, 

3) Doesn't embarrass them around friends, and 

4) Plays nicely with others, right?  

What's crazy is that while local dog trainers are promoting their methods or what commands they train in or whatever, NO ONE is talking about the fact that unless you train your dog WHERE she actually lives and plays and runs and eats and poops (aka, not at a store or a park), then you'll end up paying for a HALF-trained dog that knows the basic POSITIVE commands like sit and stay, but hasn't gotten any work done on the PROBLEM behaviors that drive you nuts like pooping on the rug, bolting out the door, pulling on the leash or barking at the UPS guy!  (Oh gosh!)  

(Note: If you have a puppy, she probably doesn't have any of these problems....yet.  But she will as she grows up.  You just don't know which ones just yet).

Seriously, just ask the dog trainer at any store how frustrated they are that they can't help their clients with over half of their problems because they are triggered AT HOME!  (We know because so many of them apply to work here and we get to interview them.)  

The problem is that they are just employees who work for a company like Petco that sells dog food so they just threw in some puppy training  to make more money....while the doggie boarding school trainers are generally self-employed, but they simply don't WANT to drive to people's homes to train dogs (because they can charge you more if you come to their building)....but all of us trainers know that you MUST be where the dog is triggered if you are going to fix these problem behaviors, so...heads up!  Don't pay for dog training unless it's focused on both the positive commands AND the problem behaviors, ok?

A Closer Look At Dog Training OUTSIDE of Your Home

Whether it’s private lessons, group classes or doggie boarding school at some store or training facility or even the trainer's own home, your dog won't be trained where it actually lives and plays and runs and eats and poops (its own home) so it's being trained around someone else's rugs, back yard, kitchen counters and sidewalks...which explains why they ONLY offer to train your pup in the basic POSITIVE commands like sit stay, come, down, heel, etc. 

Of course, because the training isn’t done AT YOUR HOUSE, it will be very very difficult to fix any of the PROBLEM BEHAVIORS that are triggered in your living room and neighborhood like pulling on the leash while a squirrel runs by, bolting out the door when guests arrive, pottying on that rug by the couch when you’re not watching, or barking at the UPS guy when we pulls up, digging up the flowerbeds, chewing on the legs of your coffee table, being crazy when riding in your car, etc (the list of things that cute dogs do to drive their owners CRAZY goes on and on, and can't be fixed by these away-from-home training programs).  

Sadly, this is why so many of our clients tried other trainers hoping that the cheaper might save them a few pennies, only to find out that they had to pay yet ANOTHER training fee to finish training their dog.  Yikes.

(The only exception to this training-at-home-is-best-rule is that often aggressive and reactive dogs tend to be best trained in such a way that the trainer can get in multiple sessions a day, and that unfortunately will only be done at a boarding facility, but in the cases of boarding, you have to wonder what the dog must endure to be trained behind closed doors, as you'll note that most doggie daycare and dog boarding facilities will offer 24/7 live video for accountability, but no board & train trainers do....ummmm?)

Finally, if a dog is trained in a quite store or private room or a park field, then how will you train them to OBEY YOU IN THE REAL WORLD, outside your quiet training space, where there is noise and commotion and traffic and kids whizzing by on bikes and squirrels running by?  

This is another reason why your Wonder Dog trainer walks with you and your dog down YOUR ACTUAL STREET or PARK, along the actual route that you take when you walk him/her, to simulate and trigger his/her real problem behavior so that we can fix it right then and there!  Then we invite you out to the Wonder Dog Games with lots of people and dogs and commotion for even more practice at obeying you no matter what is going on around them!  This is why Wonder Dog Training & Games chose the IN-HOME training model - because it literally fixes ALL of these problems.

Wouldn’t you agree that the Wonder Dog way is the best way to train a dog, and that you want the best for your best friend?  

If so, call us at 901.248.9282 to sign up today, ok? 

A Quick Word About Working With A Positive-Only Trainer

The newest trend to hit the dog training world is this idea to NEVER use any corrective stimuli on a dog. They call it the "positive-only" movement, which would be laughable if they weren't tragically tricking so many people into their way of thinking.  You see, there are 4 stimuli used in operant conditioning  (the science behind training all mammals).  It's what 99% of professional dog trainers use world wide (including police and military and service dogs) to train dogs.

However, this "positive-only" group only wants to use positive reinforcement and refuse to use anything other than treats or praise when the dog does something good.  They use the justification that because SOME dogs are abused by SOME dog trainers, then NO ONE should never use ANY corrective stimuli, ever.  It's just bad thinking and the science doesn't back it up.  That is, you CAN train a dog to sit for a treat in a quiet living room all day long as long as there are no distractions, but how do you give her a treat when she just bolted out the door after a squirrel, or is jumping on your guests again?

Again, this sounds so kind and gentle, so "woke," but it just doesn't work, barely works on the positive commands, can't truly fix the problem behaviors and can't train a dog to be controlled off-leash at all.  Sorry.  This is just basic science. 

Just ask any mom or teacher who's tried the noble-sounding "catch 'em doing something right" strategy on their kids.  It sounds great in theory, but it means that there is NO REMEDY for bad behavior.  Even worse, the little kid (or in this case, the impulse-driven dog) will be acting up, being obnoxious and tearing up the house while you wait for them to do something right so that you can praise them again...all with no consequences!

With these useless limitations, you can't raise your voice, boop them on the nose, squirt them with water, or use various training collars just because they MIGHT cause some "stress" in the little guy (you terrible meanie!).  Yikes.

Just imagine if we tried this "praise them only" method with criminals.  Listen, science is science.  There is certainly NO reason to ever be cruel, but they are taking things to a needless extreme.  No kidding, this would be laughable if so many people weren't being tricked into it, then turning to real trainers just to spend more money to get their dogs fully trained. 

We know, we know - this is madness(!), but the fact is is that there are positive-only trainers in every city in America taking people's money, and again this is why we chose the IN-HOME training model - because it literally fixes ALL of these problems. 

Wouldn’t you agree that the Wonder Dog way is the best way to train a dog, and that you want the best for your best friend?  

If so, call us at 901.248.9282 to sign up today, ok?