Dog Training Is Easy - If You Do This One Thing

I'm gonna be honest, dog training isn't actually all that difficult so long as you are consistent. But I see so many of you giving your dog mixed signals without even knowing it. So this video is gonna give you a stupidly fucking simple exercise that you can add into your daily routine with your dog. And it's literally the tiniest tweak that will genuinely make like the biggest impact. But as long as you are consistent, brutal truth incoming here. But half your dogs are reacting because of they just don't know what the fuck you want from them. By the way, welcome to our YouTube channel. And if you're new here, we deal with reactive dogs and share the information that we've learned in literally transforming thousands of reactivity cases on YouTube for free. And all we ask from you in return is that you hit that subscribe button. Anyway, if you wanna stop giving your dog these mixed signals, go ahead and keep watching.

You splooted?

Yeah.

Top splooter.

Yeah.

Cool.

All right. Talk to me about, How old is Archie?

Um, he's 5. He is a Heel of Cross Jack Russell.

Yeah, yeah.

He is a lot of fun, my best friend. We do a lot of like— we live like near the bush, so we do like a lot of off-lead stuff. Yeah. Main downside is he's a whinger. He cries a lot and he wants to be with me a lot.

And he what?

Wants to be with me.

Right, okay.

Like when he wants something, he'll whinge.

Okay.

But— and he won't listen to anyone else but me.

He won't listen to anyone but you?

Usually, yeah.

So he does a lot of that? All right.

Yeah.

Is that what you want to work on?

Yeah.

What markers does he have? Yes.

Yeah, a lot of— he does a lot of tones, if that makes sense.

All right.

Okay, he's quite like— like, I'll go, good boy, and he kind of chills.

All right, there you go. It's funny.

Yeah.

Okay, anything else?

Um, if he's in like, like on the— in the bush, that kind of thing, if we're— I've with other dogs, he goes in, like, switches into that chase mode of like, I'm feral, like a raccoon kind of thing. It's hard to describe, like, he just turns into a little bit of a cyclone. And he'll listen, like, you know, in the backyard, at friends' houses, that kind of thing.

Yeah.

But when we're in those environments that are like quite— there's a lot going on, he's like, no.

Okay, and he just blows you off?

Probably like 40% of the time.

Okay.

30%.

Okay. Oh, you got some food on you?

Ah, over there.

Cool.

Good boy.

Well, I want you to move him around, and when he's not looking at you, give him a yes.

Okay. Okay.

Yes.

Nice.

Good boy. Yes. Good boy.

Okay, I want you to tell him that you're training, so So say, hey Archie, you're training. Yeah, tell him now.

Good boy.

Tell him you're training. No, look him in the eye and say, hey Archie, Archie, we're training, we're training.

Okay, now, okay, keep doing what you're doing.

Yeah, come on, come on, Archie. Good boy, good boy, good boy. Come on, good boy.

Yes, good boy.

Nice.

Good boy. Good boy.

Cool.

They're really fumbling it.

I want you to give him one piece at a time for me.

Okay.

Yeah. One piece and just make sure it gets down his gob.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Say yes.

Yes.

Nice. That's good.

Good boy. Good boy. Yes. Good boy, good boy, good boy, good boy, good boy.

Yes!

Usually— yeah, nice. That's all good. That's nice. One piece, one piece each time.

That's good. Yes! Good boy, good boy, good boy. Yes!

Good boy!

Nice.

Wait.

Now the next time you reward him, you're going to say one yes and you're going to give him 15 pieces of kibble.

Okay.

All right.

Not at the same time though. Okay. Hey, Arch.

Yes!

Good boy.

And you're going to keep moving each individual one. And you could even like have some in one hand and pass to the other, but keep going, keep going. And you can really chat to him now and cheerlead him and tell him how great he is and just keep moving, keep painting. That's nice.

Good boy. Cool. Good boy. Good boy.

Keep moving, keep moving. Keep going.

Good boy. Good boy.

Keep chatting to him.

Good boy. Good boy. Good boy. Good boy.

I only counted 10 there. When we do our reward events, take the piss, go for it. The disparity between one piece and this elongated event needs to be as polarized as we possibly can. What I'm seeing a lot of is yes, and we pay 1, 2, and then it's all right, but it's not too different to regular rewards. So we want to make sure when we're adding in our jackpots or reward events to get the dog thinking, oh, there might be something more in it for me, really elongate it, really like be a bit silly with it. Again, when I'm training my sport dog, our reward event might be 5 minutes long.

Yeah, okay.

We do a little bit of obedience and then we'll do 10 minutes of play versus 1 payout on the back end of a single payout, right? So when we're doing that sort of stuff, make sure it's— you, you're a bit silly with it. Yeah, cool. Keep going for a little bit and then we'll do something else in a second, and we're going to start switching the dog from modes. If you have a reactive dog and you feel like you've tried absolutely everything, then I've just put together a free training that hopefully will be able to help you and maybe the confusion you're experiencing right now surfing the internet looking for magic wand, looking for the golden goose, looking for the solution, the be-all and end-all solution. I think I've got it. The reason I think I've got it is because if it's been tried and tested over thousands of dogs over the last couple of years, and I've just put it together in a free training for you guys. So if you click the link in the description You'll be able to hop on, watch the video, and if you've got any questions, you let me know. I'll see you in there. He's a whinger, and the whinging comes from anticipation, which might come from blurred lines. So what we're working on is unblurring lines. So we're telling Archie, hey Archie, we're training, we're about to have fun. And then we're going to tell Archie, hey, we're not training, we're not having any fun.

Yeah.

And he goes, okay, I'll shut up, because I know Nice.

Yes, good boy.

Nice. Now tell him, good boy, Archie, we're chilling.

We're chilling.

Okay, don't pay him again though. Put that food away and say, hey Archie, we're chilling.

Yeah, we're chilling.

Good. No, you gotta fucking tell him. Don't whisper it. Hey Archie, we're chilling.

Chilling.

Cool. All right, go put him in a down over there.

Yeah. Good boy.

Sit. Drop.

Good boy.

There we go.

Good boy.

So if we've got a dog that is just bip bip bip bip bip in everyday life, there's a couple of reasons why that might be. In my experience, it's a dog that needs a little bit more clarity on when we're having fun and when we're not.

Yeah.

And so I just want you to, as of today, make sure that we're really consistent in opening and closing windows of training and not training too.

Yeah.

And so when— if in training we should have a lot of anticipation and some whining, and that's okay, but we don't want that in everyday life. And you literally— you don't have to complicate it. You know, with my sport dog, I'm like, Stark, we're doing obedience, and we do obedience. And I say, okay, we're done obedience now, Stark, we're now biting the bad guy. And he goes, yep. They know what that means. Like, they're not stupid, they'll know with enough repetition, right? So I want you to start telling him, hey Archie, we're training.

Yeah.

Hey Archie, we're chilling.

Okay.

And nothing fun happens in chill mode. But as soon as he starts pissing and moaning— he pisses and whines and moans, and when we trigger movement or play or training or whatever, then we blow the lines.

Yeah.

And he'll start trying to whine his way out of chill mode.

Yeah. So when— so So say if he starts doing it now, what would you say I do?

Um, I would just tap the leash.

Yeah.

Hey, down.

Okay.

Archie, why do you look depressed?

He's like, what is going on?

Will he hold it down while you go and get a toy? Yeah, hopefully.

Cool.

Just reset it.

Drop.

Oh yes, drop over here, isn't it? Yeah, makes no sense. Let's drop it. Cool.

Good boy, good boy, good boy.

And then put a toy in your pocket or whatever. Pick your poison.

What's that?

Okay, go back to him.

Yep.

Ask him to heel or loose lead walk or whatever. Doesn't really matter. Now say, hey Archie, we're playing.

Hey Archie, we're playing. Cool.

Then play with him.

Come on!

Get it!

Good boy!

Come back here!

No— get him!

Keep moving him and keep moving away from him.

Away from him?

Yeah, yeah.

Yep.

Wait!

Go back to me! Get it!

Goodbye!

Good boy!

Good boy! Good boy!

Tap tap!

Yeah, good boy!

Ah, good man!

Cool.

And you're— in a second you're gonna toss the toy and like race him to the toy.

Yeah, good boy!

Good boy!

That's all good. Now you're gonna race him back to the toy, but you're gonna get it. Snooze you lose, Arch. Good boy. I don't mind if he gets the handle to begin with. You're all good.

Good boy.

Come on. Good boy.

Let him win when he does that next time.

Yeah, good boy.

Keep moving him. Let him have his time with the toy. Keep moving him.

Good job. Come on, get it.

Good boy.

Tap, tap, move. Yeah, nice boy.

Good boy.

Let him win, uh, if he gives you effort. Yeah, good boy. Oh boy, move him, move him, move him away from the toy. Get him away from the toy. Yeah, so as soon as he wins the toy, you just move him. If he leaves it, well, that's on him. Then I turn us both around and go, who's gonna get it? And then we're gonna race back to the toy. So you snooze, you lose, Arch. All right. Racing back, you win.

Ah, I get it.

Good. There, tap, tap, leash. Good.

Good boy. Come on.

Change direction again. Tap, tap. Tap, tap.

Good boy.

Throw the toy, race into it.

Ready?

Get it.

Good boy, good boy. Good boy.

So with a little happy-go-lucky spicy dog like this, I want to tell him we're playing and I want him to hit the fucking roof, right? And then I want to tell him we're chilling and then go boom and bring everything down. We're going to get a whiner if the lines are blurred and he's kind of sitting in middle modes all the time. And so just be really conscious as of today, hey, we're playing, we want 5th gear. Hey, we're training with 3rd and 4th gear. Hey, we're chilling, we're parking up.

Yeah.

And once you're nice and clear with those modes, he'll get clarity and you'll have less whining. But I want to, I would, you know, a dog of his caliber, I would want to see a better game than this. I would want to see him really invested, right? His prey drive should be off the roof. So keep playing for me. Get tired. Let's go.

Let's go. Get it.

Get it.

Good boy.

Tap, tap.

Good boy.

Good job.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Good boy. Come on.

Yeah.

Tap, tap. Good boy.

And just as you come around that corner, just tap, tap the leash. Turn his head. Tap, tap.

Yeah. Good boy.

Nice.

Come on.

Okay, toy goes away.

Yep.

You tell him you're chilling.

All right.

Hey Archie, we're chilling.

Hey Archie, we're chilling.

Cool. Good job. And go stick him in a down. Yeah, kind of doesn't have to be a down every time. We're just saying like, hey, we're chill mode now.

Sit.

Oh boy.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Cool, man.

I'm puffed.

Yeah. Oh boy, look at him.

Good boy. Drop, drop.

Nice.

Good boy.

Good job. And chilling just means we're not training right now, we're not going to be having any fun, like, so just don't worry about it. You're just going to— we're just going to exist together. And we tell the dog we're training, hey, time to get excited, you can start whining now, you can anticipate. I want anticipation in my training.

Yeah.

I don't want anticipation in everyday life. Yeah, that's how we're going to start building anxious dogs that are like constantly, what might happen, what might happen. Yeah, so we're just very clear-cut with our windows. So chilling just means we're not going to do anything fun, and that chilling period might last 6 hours. And then when I say to the dog, hey, now we're training, that's where the fun stuff's going to come in, and we're going to learn something new, we're going to actively have fun, the reinforcement's going to come into play. But then I need to tell my pet dog, "Hey, go be a pet dog." I can still use compulsion there if they start kind of trying to start games that we've not announced. But it's not necessarily a drop stay or anything like that. It's just a mode of dog as opposed to an obedience command. Does that make sense? You set the criteria. And so if within your criteria of chill mode following you around is not okay, then you need to feed that back to the dog.

Cool.

Pick him up, put him into a heel, then tell him you're training, and then do some training.

Wait, you— good boy, good boy, good boy, good boy.

You can tell me training.

Hey Archie, we're training, we're training, we're training.

Good boy.

Right now them words are going to mean nothing to him, but eventually he's going to hear we're training and he's going to light up, or he's going to hear we're playing and he's going to light up. And again, I would do this for Molly, our Border Collie, too. Okay, now train and have fun. If you told him we're training, let's move him around. Let's do some—

Yeah, good boy.

Do some spins. And does he know any tricks?

Um, he will do.

He best do.

Yeah, he does.

Good boy.

Latch. Sit. Wave.

Wave.

Good boy. Good boy. Good boy.

And yes and move.

Yeah. Yes.

Um, so with Molly, I can start cueing her, hey Molly, we're playing. And then enough times within the sterile environment, I tell her we're playing, I pick her arousal up. I can then eventually say, "Hey Molly, we're playing," and she goes— has an autonomous response of her arousal going up and goes into play mode, even in a location that might previously stress her, right? I'm gonna put on a different mask, if you will, and I'm gonna be more loosey-goosey, and then I go to boring dad. Yeah, and when we go into chilling mode, for sure.

Good boy, good boy, good boy, good boy.

Do your yeses, do your movements. This isn't about loose lead walking now. This is— hey, yes, tap, tap.

Yeah, yes, good boy.

Nice.

Good boy, good boy. Yes, good boy, good boy. Come on.

Yes, good boy.

Good boy.

Yes, good boy.

Nice, good job.

Yes, yes, yes, good boy, good boy.

When the dog doesn't fall for my tricks, pay him. Yep, as a minimum, or jackpot him.

Yes, good boy, good boy.

And the only other bit of feedback I'd give you is like, try not to deviate the tonality of your marker too much, because then technically you may argue we're applying different markers.

Yeah, okay.

Just like different whistles are technically different commands. And so we want a consistent marker, and then off the back end of— depending on how you train— off the back end of that, variable payouts.

Good boy.

Yes, good boy, good boy.

My markers with my sport dog are typically salient verbal sounds because of one, I don't want to be bound to having to use a clicker, but my terminal is kch, and so I can't put any emphasis on that as much as I tried. Whereas yes, inevitably when the dog nails it, we go yes, and then we might jackpot him and he goes, okay, I got it. Boring yes, one piece of kibble for the most part. Exciting yes, I'm gonna get a jackpot, I might even get a toy or whatever. And then we again blow, blow the lines and defeat the purpose of variable rewards. So nice. Okay, one more time. Just tell him, hey Archie, we're chilling.

Hey Archie, we're chilling. Good boy.

And then just chill. Put him into a drop if you want to.

Drop.

Drop.

Good boy.

Good lad. He's a cool dog. Good boy.

Good boy.

Let's give him Corgi. Straightforward. Yeah.

Easy.

These are just options for you guys. These are just options to start thinking about things differently. Give dogs clarity. The more clear we are with the dog, the rate of learning through the roof.

Yeah, cool.

Pick him up. Now, just for the sake of good practice, go back to him. Pick your leash up.

Good boy.

Free.

Fine.

Nice. Good boy. All right, put him up. That's good. Well done. Nice. Good dog. Gonna be honest with you guys. You're probably not going to be able to train your dog just from a very short YouTube video.

And I know that's kind of ironic.

However, you probably improve things by watching a bunch of these videos.

And on top of that, reactivity or treating reactivity, it goes way beyond just telling your dog what to do.

There's also a massive lifestyle component you need to be aware of.

So if you want to learn more and invest a little bit of time to learn your dog better and truly transform their behaviour, then click this video right here and I'll show you exactly how.