LIVE Reactive Dog Q&A: Ask Us Anything

Good evening everyone. I'm gonna wait for a few people to come on and then we're gonna get started. I hope you, I hope you're all well. Whilst you're all here, just drop me, drop me a comment in the chat. Let me know where you're from, what dog you've got, what issues you're struggling with. And we're going to get started very soon. If you don't know me, my name is Adam. I am the head trainer and owner here at the Perth K9 Academy. We fix reactive and aggressive dogs every single day. Um, so I'm here to help you tonight. Any questions you might have, anything that you're struggling with, I'm here to help you, to give you some free advice. So let me know in the comments what you're struggling with, what you're going through, and that way I'm able to help you. Like I said, everyone, don't be shy. Jump in the comments, let me know what's going on, um, what dog you have, what issues you're having, the main, the main thing that's brought you here really, because we're here giving you out free advice. We run boot camps, we run, um, an 8-week program, we help dogs transform their behavior and help owners obviously, um, learn some new things. So we want to try and give you some of that advice that we give those owners, um, for free. So let's take advantage of it, jump in, ask me some questions about what you're going through, and that way I can help you. We've got a bunch of dogs on this week. We've just finished up our boot camp, uh, we had 8 dogs on this week— oh sorry, 9 dogs on this week who were all very, very reactive. Um, never been off the leash. There was not a single dog that was reliable off of the leash this week, and they are all completely— sorry, excuse me— they are all completely off of the leash, non-reactive. They're all sat down at the pub this afternoon. We had a beer with them and it was really nice. We helped some really amazing owners get some amazing results, so that was awesome. But I'm here to help you. Um, we've already helped those guys, so tell me what you're struggling with. Drop me a comment in the in the chat. Drop me a message, let me know what you're struggling with, and that way I can give you some feedback and really, um, really iron out any of the issues that you're going through. We've got a few people on but no one dropping any messages in the chat. But like I said, don't be shy, let me know what's— let me know what's happening, and that way I can really give you some feedback. A little bit about us. Like I said before, we run 5-day boot camps, we're on an 8-week program. Our goal there is to completely transform dogs in that amount of time. So, um, in our 5-day boot camp, we have dogs who come to us for the 5 days, the owner and the dog, and we completely transform that dog's behavior. We've got a comment here from, uh, somebody. My 9— my 19-week-old toy poodle barks everything. We have a tug game at home before going on walks. That's great, awesome to see that you've started to play with your dog before going out. That's an essential thing that's really going to help with your, uh, with your behavior. When it comes to barking at everything, um, and fixing those issues, you're already on the right track. You're already on the right track to making sure that your dog, uh, your dog's needs are met and that you're fulfilling them in different ways. But really, if barking is something that you want to completely stop, then we're going to have to go through some kind of punishment to say, hey, that's actually not allowed. And I know punishment can seem a bit of a nasty word sometimes, a bit of a yucky word, but all it really needs to— means is to stop a behavior recurring, right? Um, it can be done in many different ways, but if you really don't want the barking to ever happen in the way that it's happening, then we might need to go through some punishment with your dog to say, hey, that barking is not allowed at this certain time, um, but let me give you an outlet for that, that energy and that drive that you have elsewhere. So you're already ticking one box really well. It just might— you might need to, um, try and stop that behavior in a different way rather than just doing something else. But you might have, um, some great success with fulfillment. Your dog might just be a little bit under-fulfilled, um,, and that might be all you need. Oh, Wonderland, I remember you. You're back again, mate. So just a reminder, Wonderland, what was your problems? Did you— were you looking into doing training of us? Were you over— from memory, I think you had some Malis over East. I might be way off. You might be in the UK or somewhere else. Remember, you were in Australia, you were over East, and you had some Malinois. So tell me if that's you. Did you book a call with us to find out some more information? I remember you saying that you're interested in speaking to us. Tell me, remind me of your situation. Yeah, recall, Maddie from Brisbane. Yeah, mate, awesome. Have you tried anything since our last call? Has anything got any better? Let me know what's going on. If not, like I said, drop in the description of this video. I can't see it, my screen looks a little bit different from you, but there'll be a way that you can book a call with me and that way we can have a bit of a private chat as well if you really seem to be struggling. Like I said, everyone, I'm here to just answer your questions, okay? I'm here to give you the feedback that you might have never been able to have of another trainer. You might have not reached out to anybody yet, and you're really just looking for some clear-cut advice about how to fix your dog's behavior. And that's why I'm here today, to give you that free advice and to maybe give you something that will actually change your life. So take advantage of it. What is the best way to socialize an older fearful dog? I'm too anxious to let him interact with other dogs or people because he sometimes reacts, but it's a catch-22 situation and he's— as he remains fearful. So give me, uh, Aaron, give me a little bit more information about like what's happened with your dog. Why do you feel like they're being reactive? Um, and why they may be fearful. Um, obviously we need to create a very positive association with other dogs and make them feel, um, that dogs are okay, right? That it's not— dogs aren't out there to hurt you. They're not going to hurt you. So having controlled exposure of other dogs and having a really good marker system that you can reward them and say, hey, you see, when you're behaving and you're doing a good job and you're not reacting at dogs, I'm gonna give you feedback upon that and say, hey, that's really good, I want you to do that more often. Um, but also, even though your dog is scared, that might not give them the excuse to still be potentially aggressive and reactive, right? So you might be taking two steps forward and one step back quite a lot because you're finding yourself putting your, putting your dog in a situation where they feel a little bit uncomfortable maybe not rewarding them effectively and saying, hey, even when you were a bit scared, then you didn't react, that's fantastic. Um, you might not be doing that in the right way to give them feedback when they are making a good decision. But then you also may not be giving them feedback with their bad decision. That's what's more often happening, is that your dog is scared, they bark at the other dog to get the dog to go away because they're scared, and the other dog goes away. So the dog— your dog learns that that works, and that happens more often. So the behavior is actually reinforced. So as much as we try to create a positive association with those dogs, we need to also make sure that when the dog does that bad thing, that they're appropriately told that that is also not okay. What is a fun game to play with working dogs that makes them think? Tug. Play tug with them, um, add some amount of competitiveness into the game, and then you can also layer obedience over the game, so making them use their noggin as well, um, as playing tug, right? Uh, I have a 2-year-old Cypriot rescue who only had— who I've only had one week. She's dog friendly and quite submissive, but from such a far distance she will bark and lunge and explode the sight of dogs. She is so fixated on any movement. Aware, could still be decompressing and not her usual behavior. Absolutely, she still could be decompressing. Give her a little bit of time for that. Um, exploding at movement. So maybe you want to start playing with her as well. So maybe satiate a little bit of that prey drive, so get some really good play in there. But once you've let her settle in, once you've done a lot of play with her and give her— given her an outlet for her possible desire to chase moving things, then once again we probably want to try and tell her one of two things: that the barking, the lunging is not okay, and doing this for a means of some kind of punishment and some feedback to tell her that that's not okay. But then most importantly as well, right, giving her positive feedback to say, that's really good, I really like that, and continue to do that again. Tell me some more about your, your rescue dog. Give me some more information. I want to know more. It sounds like a— obviously not a cool scenario that she's that scared, but of course, no, that you just got, um, a secret rescue. Tell me some more. When other dogs approach him— this is Aaron again— when other dogs approach him in the park, he sometimes snaps at them. It's not every dog, but I cannot predict when it will happen. He grew up with another dog and got along well with his dog. Uh, Aaron, so this isn't the end of the world if he's not outright attacking the dog and he's just trying to create boundaries, right? Is it fair for us to tell that, tell that dog that that's not okay? If someone, a human being, runs over and gets in my face, is that acceptable? Just because I'm a person and they're a person, are they allowed to run over and get right in my face? Or would it be better off that they start a calm, normal conversation with me? It would probably be the normal, calm conversation. Um, so we need to be able to teach our dogs manners. What— or other people should teach their dog manners. And it's not the end of the world if your dog was to tell that dog off, but what would be bad is if your dog was to outright attack that dog just for coming over and getting in their face. Hey, um, I have a 7-month-old working line German Shepherd. Is it too young for an e-collar? She's so much happier off the lead on long line, but she does have them random moments when she barks and reacts. Absolutely not, mate. I would 110% be e-collar training your dog. If you want to e-collar train your dog, please make sure you reach out to somebody who knows what the fuck they are doing, because a lot of people excuse my language, by the way. Um, a lot of people mess e-collar training up. We do e-collar training from all around the world. I train people here in Perth, across Australia, and across the world how to train dogs on e-collars. So if you do need help with that, let me know. But you're definitely not too young. Gentle Leader or Halti? Neither. They're both absolutely awful. Sorry to seem like an asshole. Do not use Gentle Leaders or Haltis. Um, probably the worst— my most hated piece of equipment in dog training. How long do you wait before doing full training of her? She's a lab-sized mixed breed, waiting, um, where are we? Sorry, I just lost you. Wait on DNA test. She's very friendly with people and she's only met one dog but was very playful. Give her a few weeks, slowly introduce her to different environments, get her comfortable, create a relationship with you. Get her out into different environments, get her confident in different environments, create a good relationship through play mainly, a little bit of obedience and hand feeding. Just get used to her being around you and enjoying time with you. And that way, the feedback that you give her once you have a better relationship with her will mean much more. Um, that's why boredom trains, or us taking the leash a lot of the time during training doesn't have that much of a great effect because the dogs don't really care about us and playing with them and having a, uh, maybe going through punishment with them. They don't really care because the relationship isn't there. But build a relationship with your dog, and then the feedback that you will give them once you have the good relationship will be much more impactful. Um, I feel stuck when she's going nuts at other dogs. I have no idea what to do. She's getting better with check-ins. I'm rewarding her every time she makes eye contact with me. I sometimes sound like a broken record here, guys, but I want to be very upfront with you all and give you the, the, the very blunt piece of information that people like to beat around the bush about. If your dog is being reactive or aggressive, that behavior needs to be punished. That is it, okay? We need to give our dog clear feedback when they're making bad decisions. That that behavior, that exact moment, and that bad behavior is not okay. You're going to spend years and years and years redirecting your dog away from triggers, away from triggers, letting them react, bringing them back, letting them react, bringing them back, and it's going to be a yo-yo. I'm not telling you to go out there and whack your dog around the head, but I am telling you to find a trainer who can effectively teach your dog punishment, because that is sometimes— or I'm not even gonna say sometimes, that is what most of the time is the thing that is missing in behavior modification training, that the dog doesn't have a no. It doesn't know what they shouldn't do. I sounded like I was giving you a lesson then, but I just want to be very upfront and honest with you guys, right? That's what you're here for. You're here for, for brutal, honest advice, and I want to give you that. Why do dogs sniff the ground in front of them when they're going to poo? I'm not talking about— my lab seems to be obsessed with pooing where she likes. I don't even understand that question, Toe Pops fan. I— because it's Because it's smelly. I don't know if you're asking why they like to sniff where dogs have already pooed, but I'm— because it smells, I guess. Ask that question again. Ask that question again. Like I said, guys, I'm here to answer all of, um, your questions about reactivity, aggressions. Do you know nothing about e-collars, prong collars, slip collars? Are you wary about these kind of equipment and you've heard random pieces of advice. I'm here to answer any questions that you have in regards to recall, aggression, leash pulling, house manners, how to stop behavior, how to increase behavior. That's what we're the experts in. That's what we do every single day, is we go and we fix reactive and aggressive dogs. Like I said, we run 5-day boot camps here and we completely transform dogs in that amount of time. Um, it's not because we're magicians, this is because we have a very simple and straightforward structure. I use a flat collar on my Mali. Do you recommend? No, Wonderland, I don't recommend that you use a flat collar on your Mali. Um, I recommend that you find somebody who can teach you how to use a slip collar or a prong collar on your Malinois. Um, you could use a flat collar for a few things. I like to use a flat collar during play to allow the dog to really pull into the flat collar. Um, and that way, um, we can use it as a bit of a frustration and agitation during play to build them up to a higher level, which is going to have a better impact on our, um, on our training program when we expose them to other dogs because we've fulfilled them in a very, very effective way. Are your boot camps available every week? We run 3 weeks of the month. We have an R&R week because we get very tired. Are there any other effective punishment methods other than e-collars? I'm wary of e-collars. Erin, there are many effective— e-collars aren't just— let me clear this up, guys. E-collars are for many, many different things. The primary use that we have— the primary use, should I say, that we have for e-collars here is we use them to get dogs off the leash. Um, but Erin, tell me why you're wary of e-collars. Give me your experience or your, um, your understanding or what you've read about e-collars, because lots of people have an opinion but they've never seen one, never held one, and I'd like to know so I can give you some real— my real honest opinion or some facts actually. So Punishum would work even on my other rescues, huge prey drive. It's like he gets a whiff of something and he changes personality. His only focus is finding the animal he can smell. Um, K72, give me some more information about like a specific behavior which happens and why you would want to use punishment. But if you're talking about your dog wanting to chase kangaroos and chase rabbits and chase livestock, um, we can absolutely use punishment. That's the whole point of punishment, guys. Just like reinforcement— rewarding our dog, our dogs, uh, makes behaviors happen more often— punishment is just the exact opposite of that. It makes behavior behaviors happen less often. I feel wary of e-collars because so many trainers just seem completely against each other, so it's hard to know who is correct. Absolutely, you're completely right. What I would say to you though is I would go and look at both sides of that spectrum, and I would look purely for one thing, one thing only, and that is evidence of both of those trainers getting dogs to a very high standard off the leash, reliable around distractions, at the beach, in the bush, um, being crazy. Taking aggressive dogs, um, to neutral dogs, taking aggressive dogs to social dogs. Do these people have evidence of that? Because more than likely, the people who are against them have zero evidence of fixing these kind of issues. This is for chat. My dog was recommended for behavioral euthanasia. Going to the boot camp was the best thing we ever did. My dog is no longer reactive. He's is now off the lead and living his best life. There we go. I don't actually know who that is. Zigzigs, were you a British boot camp or you're over here in Australia? Um, there goes to show you guys, look at that, the evidence is right there. And we do this every single week. We just had 8 dogs in the boot— sorry, 9 dogs in the boot camp this week who had never been off the leash, were all aggressive and reactive, and they were all off the leash together at the pub non-reactive, because we have evidence. We do it every single week. There's nobody else out there posting all the evidence that we do. I'm wary because I've heard online that is cruel, and positive reinforcement is the best training method. I'm saying that, that I've not had much success with only positive reinforcement. Erin, my question to you is, how does positive reinforcement give me— you think in your head, right? Let me propose, like, give you this, um, this situation, um, or way of thinking of the— if our dog is being reactive, we turn around, they rush over to us, we're cornered by a dog when we turn the corner, or our dog is very, very reactive from a distance, how does positive reinforcement, or how does reinforcement in general help with that issue, because reinforcement makes stuff happen more often. Okay, do you know what I mean? I'm trying to make it really simple. To reward our dog makes something happen more often. So how can we reward reactivity? How can we reward a reactive state of mind? We can't. And yeah, we can keep a dog at a distance, but what, what happens when they get past that threshold? And they do go into reactive state of mind or they start to react, they start to show aggressive or reactive behavior. Do we then take 10 steps backwards again or do we give them clear feedback? Do we give them clear feedback that stuff is not okay and that changes their life? Because it does. And we are putting it out there every single day showing that we fix reactive dogs, aggressive dogs, dogs that have killed other dogs. And we're fixing them like that. Go off people who have evidence of fixing issues, not people who are posting videos online of them talking or, um, showing a picture of a dog on their Instagram. Just people who simply show you an aggressive dog going for a program and then fixing it at the end. I was against e-collars. They're illegal where I am. Since the boot camp, I've only had to use the e-collar once. Dog— the dog knows the word that means the behavior is unacceptable. Fantastic, there you go. So a dog that was set for euthanasia has only been told off once since the boot camp and is, and is now completely off the leash and is non-reactive. Goes to show how simple, clear communication can literally change your life, right? My pup understands no with everything other than reacting to other dogs. She simply— she doesn't care how many times I pop the slip lead. Is it a case of persisting until it fades out? I'm at a dead end. More than likely, you are not punishing your dog, um, you are just adding fuel to the fire. Um, punishment should not be um, first taught or shown to the dog in the moment of reactivity. It should be taught away from the reactive, or the, the moment of the dog being reactive, should I say. We all know how to teach a— or some of you should know how to teach a positive marker, right? You say yes, you give the dog food. You say yes, you give the dog food. You say yes, give the dog food. Um, we use a clicker, you give the dog food. Imagine trying to teach a dog the clicker and the food in that state of mind. Now imagine doing it the other way and trying to teach them a new word, a punishment, in that state of mind. More than likely it's going to add fuel to the fire, push your dog further into the behavior, or simply just not be aversive enough because their state of arousal is so high as well. But my short answer to that is you probably don't have a no. You think you have a no, but you don't have a good no because it's only ever been used in the moment of reactivity. You haven't put it away from reactivity in a, in a way that your dog truly understands and doesn't like. Erin, tell me whereabouts you are. Whereabouts are you in the world? Are you in Australia? Are you in the UK? In America? Whereabouts are you? Let me know where you're from and I can give you a little bit more advice about what I would do in your situation. Just a reminder everyone, if, like I said earlier, if you don't know what we do, we reactive boot camps, and we also help people from all around the world with their reactive dogs. We're on an 8-week program. We run a boot camp and we completely get your dog off the leash in all environments. We get them non-reactive. If you want help with this, go in the description— into the description in the video, go on our website, book a call, Perth K9 Academy, um, or just look throughout all of our testimonials and reviews, and we can literally change your life. It's not the people in the chat who are talking about us. You don't have to go into the videos. You can simply just book a call and I can talk to you and show you and tell you, um, about the kind of stuff that we do. And you might just have a brand new dog at the end of it. But ask some more questions, guys. Tell me a little bit more about your situation. Tell me more about what's going on, why you're here, what you're struggling with, and I'll just give you more honest feedback. I'm going to tell you exactly how I would deal with your dog's issues. Remember, take advantage of it. We, we're not the cheapest dog trainers around. We charge a bit of money for dog training, um, and I'm here just answering your questions for free on a Friday night at 6 o'clock in Perth, um, and I'm just sat in my office still at work, um, just here answering your questions. So make the most of it. Ask me whatever you want. No question is a stupid question. So jump in there and ask me whatever you like. Zigzigs, tell me a little bit more about where you did the boot camp. Was that in the UK? You got, which prong collar do you recommend in the UK, make, model, for my 7-year-old female lab? My, my Male Lab done well in a Halti eventually. Sorry, um, the only prong collars that we recommend are Hermann Springer. Um, e-collar definitely changed my older dog. She was very lead reactive. She is now off the lead, going on hikes and loving life. We don't ever need to nag her. She's only wearing it just in case. There we go. Another person who's had their life completely changed by e-collars. Erin Cook, Scotland. Perfect. So why don't you jump into the description, Erin, book a call with us, just pick a time, book a call, and let me talk to you just about your issues. It's pretty much be like this, but it'll be one-to-one. And we can have a big chat, what's going on. It's not like a— I'm not going to try and sell you any programs, it's just a bit of a chit-chat about what's going on. And if we can help you, then by all means come and train with us. Um, but I just want to see how I can help you further. That's what we're so passionate about. Would you still need punishment techniques for a dog that's been abused? K72, please give me more information about that. But more than likely, yes, you would. If you're trying to stop behaviors. More than likely, if you have a dog that's, you know, been abused and is showing fearful behavior, um, and just acting a little bit skittish maybe and scared, no, you're probably not going to punish the dog. Um, but if your dog is displaying behavior which is aggressive, reactive, or stuff that you want to stop, then more than likely you're going to find a way to tell them that that is not okay. People get weirded out, or they, they feel a bit yucky about the word punishment. Let's just say from now on you would need to find a way to stop that behavior, to mitigate that behavior, okay? And that is through the means of punishment. That's the technical term for it, um, just like reinforcement is the technical term for rewards. But give me more information about why you're asking if you would still need to punish a dog that's been abused. What behaviors are they displaying? Like I said, guys, I'm just out here answering some— oh, here we go, got another one. My 5-year-old will bark all night I left alone. How do I change that? We can't go out, someone has to stay home. Um, where is your dog at night? Are they crate trained? That would be my first recommendation, is that you— what, you shouldn't be letting your dog just roam the house all night. That's going to help you a lot. Um, mitigating that behavior as much as you can and using management. Um, but then I'm going to sound like a broken record here, guys. You need to stop that behavior. You need to find a way to mitigate that happening. Um, also going, trying to make sure that your dog is fulfilled. How much exercise and fulfillment and play are you giving your dog a day? Are you just cooping your dog up in the house and taking them for a 20-minute walk around the block? And then expecting them to just behave all the time, um, because that might not be okay, right? We're not gonna outright just go and punish a dog that's never had the ability to express themselves and have their needs met. But if we are meeting a dog's needs most of the time, um, then we can then fairly give feedback to that dog and say, hey, don't bark, especially at 3 o'clock in the morning. But you can mitigate that massively by just crate training your dog. But give me some more information about the, uh, the barking in the house. If I've missed any questions, guys, feel free to, um, drop it in the comments. I have a 5-year-old intact male East European Shepherd. He's been reactive and aggressive for 3 years. Got him when he was 2. He also pulls on the leash like crazy, attacks dogs, and chases animals. Do you see a correlation between leash pulling and reactivity? I've worked with 5 trainers and no one can stop him from pulling. Julia, I don't— sorry that I laughed, because that to me just seems crazy. That you've worked with 5 trainers and that no one can stop him from pulling. I would love to know some more information about that whole scenario. Julia, tell me where you're from, um, and what exactly happens when he sees another dog. I have lots of stuff to say back to that, but basically I would like— we do a lot of the time with most dogs, I'll be making sure that you've put a massive effort into giving him an outlet for his behavior, being a very high drive dog, making sure you're playing with him, making sure you're probably using an e-collar to get him reliably off the leash and you can exercise him every day and meet his needs, um, making sure you have the right equipment. So for a dog like him, making sure he's on a piece of equipment where you can control him. So getting rid of the bloody harness or a halti and using something like prong collar to give you better control. And then also teaching very clear communication, so saying, hey, this is good and this is bad, and then making his life very clear. And yes, we do see a correlation between leash pulling and reactivity, absolutely. He's a hound mix with high prey drive. If I raise my voice, he will cower. We don't know his background, but he was in bad shape. I always say this to my boot campers: if shouting fixed behavior, I would be unemployed. I wouldn't have a job. Simple as that. Shouting your dogs is just gonna— like, you just have experience, it's gonna make them scared and cower up, but it's not going to stop anything. We need to find a way to give your dog appropriate feedback for bad behavior. But by the sounds of it, your dog needs a lot of confidence building as well. My Doberman redirects onto me. I can't trust her when she's on the leash. She always wears a muzzle. She understands no and yes, and a prong collar triggers redirected aggression. Natty, there's lots of information that I would want to know from that. Um, what if she understood a no, if she clearly understood a no, then that redirection wouldn't happen. Um, I think it's similar to what I was saying to Julia about her dog. I would want to know a lot more about your situation, um, to try and give you the most clear-cut feedback about that. Um, What do you do with your dog on a daily basis? Why is she always in a muzzle? Tell me more. I used— I used to call out e-collar and buzz collar because my kids were worried it would hurt them. I said no, it was— sorry, Toe Pots Farm, I do not understand your question. Please ask that again. So how do I stop redirection? I use an e-collar also. Natty, give me way more information about your, about your situation. Tell me. I know. How about this, Natty? Give me a little bit more information as much as you can. What I want you to do is I want you to jump on into the description and just book a call with me. Because it sounds like you're going through the wringer a little bit. Um, muzzled, e-collar, prong collar, redirecting onto you— that's, that's pretty intense, right? Um, that alone is not something that I could probably answer over us going back and forth through messages. So let's have a chat. Let's jump onto the description, book a chat with me, and let me give you some more help. I'm in Germany, so no e-collar, prong collar, slip lead allowed. He is physically very strong, hard to handle. It's funny that no one is able to stop him from pulling, but also sad. Julia, you're gonna need— I have opinions on what you should do about this living in Germany. I know, let me give you my opinion. Let me tell you something that might be my opinion or could not be my opinion, but I guess you're going to catch my drift. I know of people who in certain locations who have dogs that can't be fixed because of the way the rules are set in that location. They still go ahead and privately train their dogs to get the results that they need and then phase out equipment. Maybe you should book a call with us to— so I can give you some more information about how you can most effectively train your dog so you can actually live a peaceful life with your dog. Does neutrality mean the dog is fine with all other dogs at the park and ignores them, or should or should you always be cautious of dogs at the park? Sharon, true neutrality doesn't really exist where a dog genuinely does not care. It's usually one way or the other where they're hype— they're either a little bit scared or they're a little bit hypersocial. Um, but neutrality in our eyes just means that a dog is able to be neutral around other dogs, not bark, not lunge, not hyperfixate and stalk, just have the ability to have a blasé attitude walk past other dogs or be off the leash around other dogs. But doesn't— neutrality doesn't mean that they have to interact with other dogs, because some dogs can be neutral but they can never be social. On the leash, he lunges and goes crazy. Off the leash, he attacks. That's why he has to stay on the leash. I cannot handle him on a long line. Julia, I will book a call. I'm in desperate— I'm desperate. Walking this dog is like hell. He has no dog friends. Julia, click the link in the description, go on to Perth K9 Academy, book a call. All we're going to do is have a chat so you can give me some— give me way more detail about what you're going through and how we can help you. Because it doesn't need to be this long, this big long journey, right? Literally hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of people come to our boot camps and they do our 8-week course who are in the exact same position of you. We have dogs who are on the dangerous dog list for killing other dogs and are now off that dangerous dog list off the leash and walking nicely around other dogs. So we can help you, and it sounds like you need that help. So just jump into the description, book a call, let's have a chat, and maybe I can just give you some advice that might even just change your life altogether. Can you list some appropriate examples of punishment feedback? Is it making them sit and holding their head for a moment? Because I feel like it— I used to make my dog lie down after he got in a scrap but he liked it. So that's probably not an appropriate means of punishment for your dog. Um, we want to be able to deliver adequate feedback to our dogs that certain behavior isn't okay. We use this for a marker system, so the exact same as rewarding a behavior. Um, we use a yes marker to capture that moment that they've done the right thing. We use a punishment marker to capture the moment the dog has done the wrong thing. We teach this away from the trigger in the home setting over stuff that is very, very low arousal— going through the bin, going through the front door— teaching that word and building potency through leash pressure or other means, tonality, timeouts. And then when they hear that word in the real world setting, it's much more potent and can actually stop behavior. I'm not going to give you the full rundown of exactly how we use punishment, purely because that can be taken out of, taken out of context in the wrong hands and we make them, and that can be made worse. Where I am, I use a bandana. It also looks like a GPS tracker. Yeah, use a bandana. You guys are really wonderful. Thank you for what you do. No worries, Sharon. I hope everything's going well. A solid no marker has been a game changer for us. Sharon, whereabouts are you? Have you trained with us before? Let us know some information about what you've done and what you've gone through. But like I said, everyone, I know I've said this a few times, but if you're new to this, to the live, I'm here answering all of your questions, whether you have a reactive dog, potentially aggressive dog, a dog that doesn't come back to you off the leash, a dog that pulls you on the leash, a dog that destroys everything in your home, tell me what's going on with you, and that way I can give you the right advice with how I can fix your issues. Like I said, everyone, I'm actually from the Perth K9 Academy, as you can see in my shirt. Um, we are here in Perth, Western Australia. We run boot camps, run 5-day boot camps. We get dogs reliably off the leash in 5 days. We get them non-aggressive, we get them non-reactive, we get them around other dogs, we get them at the pub all together. This week we had 9 dogs on the boot camp. All of them were reactive on day 1, and they were all asleep at the pub together today, chilling out. They were off the leash throughout the week. Having the best time ever. We're here, we're, we're the no-bullshit dog trainers who will just get you genuine results, and we're here offering you free advice as well. So jump on, ask the questions that you need answered, um, so I can actually help you with your issues. I'm in South Africa. My dog was really social as a puppy but started to show signs of reactivity after a few bad interactions of a dog. Dogs. Give me a little bit more, um, information about that, Sharon. What's— what happened from that? Can you explain why you don't like haltis and Gentle Leaders? Because they need to be counter-conditioned straight away, and they're just contorting the dog's neck and causing unnecessary pressure on their neck. The dogs automatically, as that piece of equipment goes on, they hate it. It needs to be counter-conditioned straight away. It is already aversive to the dog. As soon as it goes on their face, they find it aversive, they don't like it. So I need to go through a whole counter-conditioning process with them to have that piece of equipment on. Um, and then when I am using the leash to maybe give pressure, or just maybe just tiny bits of pressure, or even a correction on the leash, it's completely contorting their neck and I just don't feel morally, um, that it's a good piece of equipment to use. There are much better things and much more gentle things like a prong collar, um, that doesn't need counter conditioning straight away and that we can be very, very gentle with and get insane results, where the Gentle Leader doesn't really do anything and just causes our dog stress from the moment it goes on. Scott Adams, I've booked my two 9-month-old Malinois into YCA start of September. I can't wait to get them off the lead and dog neutral. Mate, that's so exciting. Um, I'm so happy for you. It's, um, it will genuinely— Scott, um, I know I don't want to get you more excited than you already are. It will genuinely fuckin' change your life. It will be the best thing that you ever, ever do. Um, so I'm very excited for you and best of luck with everything. When you're there, say hello to the boys for me— or boys and girls— but say hello to the whole crew for me. Say Adam said hello. Uh, Natty, she came to me when she was 5 months old. She's not been socialized and was rehomed because of a biting. Whenever she encountered any trigger while on the leash, she would immediately redirect Correct. Is this the dope? Sorry, Natty, I seem rude. I've had a lot of people asking questions. Yeah, so you, your dog is in a hyper state of arousal when it sees other, sees other dogs. It seems like you have a very blunt axe. Nadi. And what I mean by that is you're trying to chop down a tree with an axe which is just not sharp, and you're just taking it forever. Nothing's working. You're taking the bark off and that's about it. What you need to do is you need to take the time to not even try and deal with the tree and just sit back and just sharpen your axe. So then when you go back to that tree it's going to be a very easy chop. What I mean by that is you need a fantastic terminal marker. You need a way to effectively reward your dog and redirect them away from other dogs to create a positive association with those dogs. You need to be able to play with your dog before walks to get them— to get them obsessed with tug. Your Doberman is going to want to seek high states of arousal. They're going to find fun. Your Doberman wants to find conflict. They're gonna like it. So we can do that same thing and give them an outlet for that desire through play. You want to be able to try and get them off the leash to meet their daily exercise needs. And then most importantly, the same as a yes marker, you're going to need a way to tell your Doberman that behavior is unacceptable. Not in the moment, away from the moment. And then it's going to be a very easy fix. We trained an angry hey for a no at home. He's an absolute angel at home, but the hey and the leash pop does zero out and about. He's so pleased with himself after a scrap, I muzzle him off the leash, then Like I said earlier to somebody, your hey or your no isn't a hey or a no, if that makes sense. You think it's a no, but it's not a no. I hope that makes sense. Uh, did I miss anyone? I have two French Bulldogs, same litter, 3 years old, struggling with them fighting between each other over attention, food, and even just when they are overstimulated. We try to stop it. When we try to stop it, it gets worse. It's really the same thing that I've been saying to everyone else, is that I would like to know what foundations your dogs have. Are you, are you just allowing things to happen? And then in the moment trying to fix it. Um, have you, have you taken the time to do any training with them? Tell me more, Ashley. I'd love to know more information about, like, do you have any foundational skills? And by the way— oh, sorry guys, burped. I don't— when I say foundational skills, I don't mean sit, I don't mean down, give paw, spin, go to your bed. Um, do the hokey pokey and turn around. I want any foundational skills, a yes, a no. Do you have anything? Happy after a scrap. I know, uh, I'm sure your dog is happy after a scrap, but I would be trying to give them a much more positive outlet for their desire to do that scrap or to have that scrap. And that would be, for me, through play. And then that means you can hold them accountable for doing that stupid stuff, um, away from play. Don't be shy, everyone. Jump in the comments, ask me some questions, continue to nitpick me. Like I said, if you want to book a private call with me, it's completely free. I don't charge you for it. You can literally just jump on the description, in the description, and just book a call with me. You go into our website, we'll say book a call here, completely free, half an hour with me talking about dogs, telling you how I can fix your behavior. Um, not like this where I've got a bunch of questions that I need to answer and I might not be able to give you that personal time. You can just go in the description right now. This is for you to book a call with me. For free for half an hour to fix your dog's issues. But ask me all the questions that you might be dealing with— reactivity, aggression, um, leash pulling, recall, apprehension about e-collars, apprehension about prong collars, why we use them. That's a question that hasn't come up. Why do you use e-collars, Adam? Why are you a big advocate for the use of e-collars? A common, a common question is, but I want to use positive reinforcement for recall, why is that not as good as an e-collar? That's a common question, but it's probably a very, um, important question as well. Let me know what you're dealing with, guys. Drop me a comment in the chat and let me help you. I'm only on here for about 10 more minutes, make the most of it. I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna have a beer, probably gonna get KFC on the way home as well. I've had a big week. Big week at the boot camp, so why not treat myself and have a bit of KFC and a beer on the way home? But before then, before I have my beer and my KFC, drop me a message in the chat, tell me what you're going with. Oh, what did we get here? Ah, Natty, you just— I just saw that you booked a call. Awesome. Remember everyone, this is for you as well, guys. This is for you to book a free call with me if you are are struggling with your dog's behavior and you want to have a half an hour chat about your— where you've gone wrong, um, how I can help you, how the— what kind of advice I can give you, um, over a free half an hour phone call, click the link in the description, book a call, and let's have a chat. It may just change your life, and I don't— I'm not bullshitting when I say that. Genuinely change your life. I have the most aggressive GSD, but he's only aggressive with me. He does like to nip. So, GY Trucker, you don't have an aggressive German Shepherd, you have an under-fulfilled German Shepherd. And I don't want to sound like a dick I'm just being honest with you. Sometimes I might sound like a bit of a dickhead. I don't mean to be a dickhead. I just like to give really clear feedback and honest feedback. Is that you just have an under-fulfilled dog. You probably don't play with it enough or give an outlet for its behavior. And if you do play with it enough and give it an outlet for that boisterous behavior, then you need to set clearer boundaries. We need to have a start of play queue and the end of play queue. To say, hey, we're going to do the bitey thing and the rough and tumble now. But when you hear this, no more biting, no more rough and tumble, because then after that you can set clear-cut boundaries. Will YCA help me train an out and playing tug? I can get the male to drop the— drop, but the female won't until she knows there's a second toy. Scott Adams, absolutely. Very easy, very, very easy. Zigzigs, I went to KFC on the, uh, went on the boot camp, got told off by Sam because I gave the dog a piece of, uh, oh, so you were, you were on the most recent boot camp then. Sam's a very good friend of mine. I think if you're talking about American Sam, um, she's a very good friend of mine, um, Let me know if you're on the last boot camp. That's awesome. We were having big— me and Sam were having big chats about all the, all the dogs on there. Tell me what dog you've got, Zig Zig. I can't click on your profile. I'd love to know what dog you have. Yes, he looks all pleased with himself after a scrap, and we are mortified, and he's super pleased himself and looks to us for praise when we're thinking of bollocking him. Topots Farm, don't think of bollocking him. You need to find a way to give him that kind of feedback. I don't want to sound— it sounds like you kind of— I don't want to sound like— I like to be a nice person and I don't want to sound like an asshole, but maybe this is the advice that you need. It sounds— it kind of sounds like you're kind of making a joke out of that your dog's attacking other dogs, but that's a really serious issue. Um, so you need to get some help for that because that's going to go pretty badly, um, especially if that's happened on a regular basis. Um, so find someone who can help you. Like I said, maybe book a call with me. I'll jump on a call with you for half an hour for free. Just click and go into the, into the description, find a time, book a call, um, and we can have a chat and I can give you one-to-one feedback about how you can stop this, but definitely increase your play. He's aggressive after the walk. We do 5 miles per day. Exercise is not enough, GY Trucker. You're building an athlete. I don't— I have a German Shepherd, and my— I have a German Shepherd. My staff members have Belgian Malinois. We do not walk our dogs for 5 miles per day. We play with our dogs, we give them a little bit of exercise, and then we teach them how to relax. Ah, Scottish Sam. All right. A second issue is my dog thinks the street belongs to him and barks at anyone at the door. Will practicing— will practicing chapping the door when no one is there get him desensitized? To it and stop barking. Do you mean knocking the door? I don't know what chapping is. Maybe it's, uh, are you from— you think you're from Scotland, Aaron? Is chapping a Scottish term that I'm unfamiliar with? Let me know. Let me ask— let me try and answer that question because it didn't make too much sense. Okay, so if your dog barks at the door you can use an end of play cue. So you can have— you can teach your dog play by saying a word that means, hey, we're about to play, are you ready, are you ready, are you ready? And then you pull out the toy, you play with them, and then you say your end of play cue, finished, put the toy away. Make that a very regular thing. You can then give your finish cue when the dog barks. They should know to stop what they're doing, and if they don't, then you could go through punishment. Julia, how can I build confidence in myself? I've become so stressed and anxious with this dog. I feel like I need some form of therapy at this point. How do you help the humans change? How do you help the humans to change, Julia? Because a lot of the advice that gets given by dog trainers is either completely wrong or so overwhelming and so elaborate and way too much for the owner that they don't even understand what the dog trainer is talking about. Me, Kirkie, and Jacob Morgan Morgan, we always have conversations all the time. They're the owners of Yorkshire Canine Academy. We talk all the time about how dog trainers more than often aren't very good with people. That's why they train dogs. And being just good of dogs is not a good dog trainer because we need to help people, not dogs. The owners fix the dogs, the dog trainers don't. I hope that makes sense. So we are good at training people, we are experts at training people. We are good dog trainers, don't get me wrong, we can bloody train a dog, but we are even better at coaching people.. So we make— we break it down in a very simplistic and easy way for you guys to understand. Um, but Julia, have you booked a call? Jump onto the description, book a call with me so I can actually help you, because it sounds like you are going through a lot. So let's have a chat over the phone. Sally, here's a new one. We have a reactive Malinois lurcher. For what a mix. We live— but we live in Wales where e-collars are banned. Can we give her eventual off-leash freedom without this? Say, I'll be completely honest with you, no, you can't. Um, but what you can do is you can e-collar train your dog in the privacy of your own home. Um, you can have— no, this is what— no, this is what I recommend is I would recommend to book a call with— book a call, go to the UK, train over a few days, a few the period of a few days, e-collar train your dog, and then you won't need anywhere near— you will have— how can I put this— your recall will be better than it ever will be from making that trip, even if you don't have an e-collar on. And maybe you can even buy some e-collar covers for that as well. Changing dogs is probably easy for you, but what about the handler? That's the whole— that's, that's what I just said, Julia. We, we're the— we're gonna help you be a better handler. We personally don't train dogs, so in our boot camps we don't take the leash. We don't— look at Zig Zig's comment, Julia. They change you too. We don't train the dog, we don't hold the leash, we don't do anything. Even our online programs, we are there to help you. You train your own dog and get life-changing results. We just help you along the way and instruct you how to do that, if that makes sense. All right guys, I'm here for 90 more seconds, so get clicking, get clicking, because every, every question that comes up before this live hits the hour mark, I'm going to answer all those questions. Anything after that, I'm off for a beer and some KFC. So jump on, ask me some questions. If you are struggling with anything, go into the description right now, book a call. It's free, it's with me for an hour and a half. Perth K9 Academy, you can jump on the book a call and let's have a chat about it. No, I don't find it funny. It's mortifying. As a vector, I have family. It's reduced his life and I have him on the leash almost all the time. There's no dog around, I let him off the leash muzzled. Toe Pots Farm, you need to really build a foundation, okay? You need to work on having a foundation before you go out and try and fix these issues, all right? You can't go into it just hoping for the best. Let me just get my dog out more. Not— this might not be what you do, but this is what a lot of people do. They'll go out and they'll just go, maybe he'll be better today, maybe more exposure will work. But it won't. We need to build a foundation of tools and skills to then apply in that setting. It's amazing how much sleep makes a difference to a dog's behavior. I didn't understand this until I started crating regularly, as they would let each other rest. Yeah, crate training is amazing. I'm in the UK and have applied to book a call. How long does it take to hear back? Uh, K72, where, where did you apply to book a call? I haven't seen anything. Was it, or was it with the English crew? Sally, I live in Wales. There you go, Sally, we have one. Zig Zigs lives in Wales. Went to South Coast Canine Academy. I've only used the e-collar once since I've been home. GY Trucker, so how do we get 100% recall? We have about 85% recall, just the odd time he's disobedient. You use an e-collar, you find a trainer who is proficient in using the e-collar— wrong way— these guys can help you, or Yorkshire Canine Academy. We are the— we are very, very good at what we do in regards to recall. Could you please put in the description what the best e-collar was for the UK? I've been listening all the time. I would know, and I know you said, but I can't remember. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Enjoy the beer. No worries, Julia. Your best e-collars are going to be the Educator systems, but once again, um, please make sure you reach out to a trainer who can work this properly, being us, the Yorkshire Canine Academy, or the South Coast Canine Academy. Okay guys. Oh no, we've got some more. I'm gonna answer these and that's it. You followed the link from Jacob in the UK? Okay, fantastic. You should hear back soon. If not, book a call with us and we can guide you back in their direction. K72, do that, do both. Go into Perth K9 Academy, book a call, and then we can point you back in that direction so you can speak to somebody sooner. But you can go back there, um, that way you can at least hear back from somebody as soon as possible. So go to the Perth K9 Academy, book a call with us, we'll talk to you, guide you back there. Your dog reacts to everything that moves. The, the dog trainer said he was anxious. Yep, could be fearful and could be anxious, um, but doesn't excuse him being reactive. All right everyone, I hope that helped. Like I said, jump onto the description if you need help with anything, and you can book to have a free chat with me. Apart from that, have a fantastic weekend. I'm gonna go and get a Zinger stacker or something, maybe some chips, um, and have a nice beer. So I hope you all got some valuable information from this live, and have a fantastic weekend. See you all very soon. Bye-bye.