This post was written by internationally acknowledged dog trainer Chad Mackin and reposted with his permission. Please check out Chad's online sources below. Consider subscribing to his podcast "Something to Bark About" and following him on Facebook. Dog owners and dog trainers equally enjoy his thoughtful insights.
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Positive Dog Training
Everyone wants positive training, right? Why wouldn’t you? Negative training doesn’t sound like a good idea. Or “force-based training”? Or “pain-based training”? Or my favorite “outdated dominance-based theories”. And the list goes on and on.
What’s in a Dog?
How dog trainers view dogs has changed over time and so has our approach to dog training. Dog training used to be very harsh—today, it's much kinder. Some even argued that dogs don't have emotions—these days we know better.
Understanding Fear and Anxiety in Dogs
Many dogs we work with have varying degrees of anxiety and in case of certain breeds it quite disturbing to witness. Fear in dogs is the one most common challenges we are contacted for. The reasons for this fear epidemic in dogs are multifold.
The Layered Stress Model
Every dog has a threshold at which it fails to perform. There is always a breaking point. That can mean that distractions become too intense for a dog to still follow obedience commands. It can be that a fearful dog is getting too stressed and shuts down or blows up.
