Dog Training Secrets No One Else Knows

If I told you that I had a special gift for seeing through your dog’s behavior and pin-pointing the problem and solution almost instantaneously, would you be intrigued? What if I told you that I could impart this wisdom to you and enable you to communicate clearly with your pet, so as to control that pet’s behavior? How much would you pay to learn the secrets of dog training from an intuitive and gifted master?

Well, the truth is, there is no special gift required for such things. Dog training and behavior is not a secret. Additionally, there are no new techniques for dog training out there. The traditional methods of punishment, pain and dominance have been around for ages, and the positive reinforcement methods that utilize food and luring have been around even longer. Even clicker training doesn’t qualify as new anymore. “New” methods are simply variations of the old.

I would even be so bold as to say that anyone claiming to have secret knowledge about how dogs think or how they learn is lying. Okay, maybe just exaggerating. Perhaps the information has not effectively trickled out of the profession and into the mainstream, but the information is readily available to all.

I have no big revelations on how to get the best dog training books and videos into the mainstream. In fact, I’m not sure the mainstream is interested, since most real dog training information is based in science. The mystical, mysterious and magical are far more entertaining.

In real dog training, things can still be exciting, but in a very different way. Effective, dog friendly dog training isn’t usually dramatic. It happens in small, mundane little steps, much like learning multiplication in grade school. In fact, it’s much like learning anything, because that’s all it is...learning.

Learning is about communication. One person knows information, and they pass that information onto someone else. One is the teacher, the other the student. We’re all familiar with this process.

With dogs, we simply don’t have the convenience of using a shared language to get our message across. It is the language barrier that creates confusion and opens the door for false prophets to claim that they can speak to and understand the animals through special gifts.
The reality is that scientists have studied the language of dogs and have a pretty good handle on how they communicate. Any dog owner can learn more about that and better understand what their dog is saying. You need nothing more than an interest in the subject.

As far as getting our message across to the dog, that is also an issue that has been thoroughly resolved. It’s not a big secret that is stumping dog trainers across the globe. We’ve had the answers for a very long time. In fact, we can communicate with many species without much trouble. I mean, you didn’t really think that the dolphins at Sea World had been sprinkled with fairy dust, did you?

What I’m telling you is that YOU, the average, every day, normal dog owner has at your fingertips all the information you need to understand your dog and communicate with your dog effectively. It’s really just not that difficult, nor mysterious.

Any good trainer will be able to explain to you exactly how your dog learns and how you can communicate to her what you would like for her to do. A really good dog trainer will also make it fun and entertaining. But, anyone who claims to be the only one who knows how to do this, or says they have secret information for you, is either highly delusional or quite the snake oil salesman.

For those interested in real dog training, as opposed to dog and pony shows, there is a wealth of information available. Here are a few online resources to start with:

www.apdt.com
www.raisingcanine.com
www.jamesandkenneth.com
www.dogwise.com