OK I am going to try to impart a secret for success when it comes to dog training… Now I know some of you are going to say “Mike, you have always said there is no secrets, magic pills or Jedi mind tricks to dog training” and to that I simply reply “Just read the article and then tell me if you agree or disagree with the secret at the end”…
 
OK are you ready for the secret… It is actually two words and they are words I use with my clients every day! They are FREQUENCY AND CONSISTENCY….. Want to know how I use them daily with my clients? Well it goes something like this:
 
 
Client: How long will it take you to train my dog?
 
Me: Well first off I don’t train your dog… I am going to teach you how to train your dog! In reality I am not really a dog trainer I am a people trainer…
 
Client: OK then how long will it take me to train my dog?
 
Me: Well that there is the 64K dollar question and the only real way I can answer it is with another question… It all comes down to how frequently you can be consistent in the times you are going to work with your dog?
 
Client: Silence and then a really perplexed look….
 
It is at this point that I have to politely explain that no matter how much money you spend with a trainer, no matter how smart that trainer is (or for that matter might not be) if the client does not commit to training in both frequency (how often you will work with the dog) and consistency (sending the same message to the dog) than any dog training will fail. It drives me nuts when I see dog trainers guarantee their work or claim they can train any dog… While I understand they probably can train any dog and probably know how to fix many of the problem behaviors they see in the dogs… The one thing no dog trainer can guarantee is that the human is going to listen to the trainer or follow the techniques we are trying to teach…
 
I know in my heart that the way I describe this to clients probably turns some away but I just can’t bring myself not be upfront and honest with my prospective clients about what it is gonna take to train their dog… If you really think about it training a dog is no different than working out, quitting smoking or dieting… none of them is all that tough or complicated but the aspects of frequency and consistency on the other hand are very difficult for every two legged animal on the planet! Trust me the stuff me or any other dog trainer are going to teach is not gonna be rocket science, in fact it should really be common sense… The real key to success it going to be with you not your trainer!
 

OK back to question of whether this article really contained a secret for success when it comes to dog training??? Well I as the writer of the article I would probably say no there is really no secrets to dog training but would you have read the entire article if I had not teased you into it that way? For the deception I apologize but the need to have the dog owner go into the process with eyes wide open is just that important… I hope the ends justify the means J
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