Are You a Leader or a Follower?

“What do I do when he…?” If I had a nickel for every time I was asked that I would be rich!

The question is often repeated numerous times within the same first meeting with new clients. Think about it. If you view training your dog from that perspective it automatically makes you the follower. You are constantly waiting for your dog to do something wrong and then fix it after the fact. Is this always the best approach?

And some owners complain that their dogs, sometimes even young puppies, just don’t care about corrections! They’re not effective in correcting the bad behavior. It’s time for a different approach!

A large part of my training program(s) promote being a leader to your dog as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to be a leader is to be proactive not reactive. You know your dog’s habits. You can usually predict what behavior is coming before it happens. If you have a plan in place where you can prevent the undesired behavior by preemptively directing it to something else then you are effectively being a leader. Simple, right?

That doesn’t mean that there is never a time for a fair, appropriate correction. But why should that be your only approach in training? A correction is still a reaction, but it should be meaningful enough so your dog learns from it. If your corrections are fewer and farther between they will be much more effective. Plus, who wants to be correcting their dog all the time?

Now try to put that into everyday practice. Are you a leader or a follower?  If you catch yourself being a follower, try to learn from it and do better next time!

Yours in good training,

Stacie & Ronan