How do you get your dog to pay such attention to you?? I have a 10 month olD 100LB GSD. He's very obedient, but I'd love for him to pay attention as yours does.
Your videos changed the rest of the life of my Black German Shepherd, Kylo. 6 weeks ago he got ahold of mine & my wife’s Yorkie (one of the 3 we had) and we strongly considered having him put down, but ultimately decided that couldn’t bare the thought of it. So instead, I promised my wife I would find the information & start to train him so that we could help gain more control over situations where he would become reactive. I found your videos and got to work the next day with leash training & the herm springer collar… to less than ideal results. Finally on day 3, our relationship clicked into place and it was like a miracle happened. He wasn’t scared or intimidated; he wasn’t reactive or pulling away from me constantly, or running inside to hide from me.. instead he listened, gave the proper response and was promptly rewarded with minutes of belly rubs at a time to let him know how happy and proud I was. And most of all, HE was happy about it. He was so excited every day to get outside and put on his new collar and walk around the yard with me. Eventually the street followed, then the block. Then with practice, we got him to stop reacting poorly to strangers in the house and strange dogs outside. In fact, he started looking at me all on his own when he got anxious instead, so that I could give him a task & he would complete it with a big beautiful doggie smile & wagging tail. I’ve never seen my big boy so happy and receptive in the face of so much change.. it makes me so proud. Unfortunately, just a few days ago on the 27th, we went outside to go potty after church like normal. All of his body language was the same, eating/drinking habits, everything was normal as can be. We played in the yard for a few minutes after he went to the bathroom & then when I went to call him over to the door to go inside… he arrived in front of me ready to sit and wait for the door and had a heart attack right there. I tried everything to help him but I was too late so I just held him while he looked in my eyes, terrified.. and I’ve been a mess ever since. He was only 6. BUT…. Not to derail any further, I just want to thank you for your content and what you do. I was so excited to keep working with him because for the first time I was able to develop our relationship together and I learned how to treat him like a dog, the way he wants to be treated. And seeing him start to become so well behaved AND retain his childlike, goofy personality… it is something that I will always keep close to my heart. I love & miss him so much, and because of you and your channel I was able to give him the best last 6 weeks of his life and make him feel as fulfilled as he made me. Thank you so much… it really really did change my life and the life of my sweet boy & I will be a lifetime subscriber of yours because of it
I loved the part about SBK working around the gate. It prooves that not all dogs are robots or perfect :) but it shows that you are never 'done' training. It's forever, and theres always more to improve on
Great advice!!! People figure that dogs reach that level of obedience immediately, when in fact b goes after a not z! Gradual steps to achieve any type of success!❤️
I reccomend your videos to every single person I come across asking for advice on reactive dogs. It's too bad most of them probably don't listen!! You saved my life from being hell. Thank you man.
ABSOLUTELY AGREE - BY FAR the BEST and MOST IMPORTANT dog training video I have ever seen and was a huge turningpoint for me and my dog, THANK YOU!!!!!
I already figured this out watching your videos, but hearing it again put into this simple context for dummies like me helped me understand it even better! I wouldn't go from A to F sometimes but still want to take the shortcut and go from A to D. I catch myself doing this so many times.
I love this advise. Our obedience is so solid now. Duke still reacts to people who reach out to him. I don’t think that will ever change, or I am doing something wrong in the little steps?
Question. I have been working with my dog since he was 8 weeks old, with and without a professional. He has already gone through a lot of life and attitude changes. He does well with his training, but as a husky, he sometimes has selective hearing. I expect a “perfectly” trained dog in a year, is that a reasonable time table?
How do I know if a prong collar is too tight or loose? I am taking my dog to a training class and the collar is loose I feel even though they "fitted" it; they left it with 9 prongs, her neck is about 18-19 inches around, but she is a husky so there is a lot of fur. It feels like based on videos it should be around 7 links, with even 8 links feeling like it is slipping down. But I dont know if thats too tight or not!
I have now 7month old reactive standard schnauzer male and in summer getting 3 years old female yorkshire terrier. My schnauzer is all over the place but knows how to sit, stay, stay when im filling up the food bowls and wait, turn, lie down, give both paw. But doesn't heel and I have been going to puppy school, there are 8 hours and one hour every monday and friday and one personal hour. But the problem is also when everybody goes to work yorkie is always calm but schnauzer sometimes rips all the paper and makes a mess even when the stuff has been put away, he still sometimes finds some stuff lying somewhere and it upsets my bf so much now that he wants me to give up my dog or go with the dogs, I'd rather take my dogs. And also I am constatly training his attention to me when we are outside and he wants to bark because of other dogs or people. What should I be doing next? Also this was an awesome video.
that's the problem I'm running into, she knows all the commands sit, stay, down and heel but she's knows these commands when there isn't any distractions. If I'm in public or around other dogs my commands are non existence
Yes! Breaking training into steps and seeing the light come on in your dog is amazing. I’ve been training our rescue pup for almost a month and every time he learns something new it’s so rewarding. Thanks for the content. Lakota is an amazing dog.
Another AHA moment! Incremental baby steps!! Reading the comments-I, like so many others, jump from A to F. Thank you so much, Tom! I’ve wondered why both my dog and I become frustrated when practicing a new command/behavior and this is it! Absolutely GREAT lesson today- a big thank you to you and Lakota!
Yes. I have a small dog. A Coton. But I think I try to go from A to C. The dog won’t be ready and then the dog will not do it and I will be frustrated because he didn’t do it. I am trying to get him to stop barking and jumping like an idiot when my son picks his dog up (he comes here while my son is at work). So I need to practice down and stay. I need to extend the time and the distance before I can introduce the “huge distraction” of my son opening the door and coming in. That might be “Z” for my dog as he’s been acting crazy for years! Just because my dog can do a down stay when it’s quiet and nothing is happening - that might be C. It’s not Z.
I taught my 8 week old lab to not run out an open door. I spent hours hanging out at the front door knocking on it, touching the handle, turning the handle, cracking the door open and shutting it, opening it for short periods of time, finally I could put her in a stay and leave the door open and then I could open a door and have an implied stay that just because I opened the door doesn’t mean you get to go through it. My husband is the type of person that mainly hung out with the puppy in the backyard with her older brother to play and that was sufficient exercise for her. One day he decided that he was going to walk her. She was probably 12 weeks old at this time. He called me at work to ask “how do you get this stupid dog to go out the door” 🤣🤣🤣 My release word is OK. “Well that’s dumb” He might think that’s dumb but he’s pretty happy she doesn’t run out the door. 🤷♀️ And yes, I have no idea how he didn’t notice me working on that for so long. Lol!!! Clueless. 🙃
IMO this is the most important dog training advice out there, and it was presented so well. I don't have a dog but I train my cats and breaking down the steps and working incrementally is absolutely fundamentally important for them to understand what they need to do.
@@tomdavisofficial Thanks so much for your videos, your approach to training has made me so much more patient, and my cats are so much more responsive and excited for training. They know the phrase 'wanna do some training?' now and get all bouncy over it.
@@TC-ep5hy I'm trying to train my cats, do you use the same methods as with dog training? I assume you don't use positive punishment or negative reinforcement as much with them, as I imagine that would scare them too much.
@@inkwhiskers9948 I'm very lucky that my cats are extremely food motivated so I tend to use treats and very short targeted training sessions. Some behaviours they pick up on right away, others have taken weeks to see even a tiny bit of success. I think they have a much lower frustration tolerance than dogs do... if my boys aren't getting something they tend to give up or get distracted easily. I break things down as much as possible for them and go extremely slowly, in several sessions a day. Like permanently training a puppy, lol. Right now with Thor (8 year old male cat) we're working on a release cue before he's allowed to eat. He's known 'sit' for ages so I get him to sit, and then broke all the steps down into micro-steps. So first we worked on me being able to move at all without him lunging from the sit. Then on me being able to bend down. Then on me being able to put the bowl on the floor. Then on me being able to let go of the bowl. If at any time during any of these steps he left the sit, I picked up the bowl and stood up, and got him to sit again. Some of these steps we spent weeks on, he's getting older and had no patience whatsoever (he's a little spoiled ngl). But right now he can manage 8 seconds and waits for my release cue before he gets up from the sit, so we're making progress. This took... maybe 3 weeks and we had some backslides because I only trained this twice a day using his wet food, but we were also working on him taking treats nicely from my hand (worst case of sharkmouth ever lol). That's a lot better too, but again it helps that he's so food-motivated. Honestly it's a LOT like training a puppy, very low attention span and may not always easily understand what you want, so you have to be very clear. Tons of short training sessions, use food as much as possible, etc. There's a lot of clicker training out there that works w cats quite well, I tend to use a marker word bc I don't always have a clicker around, but the same basic principles that work on dogs/puppies seem to work well on cats.
@@TC-ep5hy okay! I trained my sister's cat to go in his crate for bed just like you would a puppy. Because I train dogs I just automatically used the same methods. I wasn't trying very hard however because I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing, but I'll keep going with marker training my tortoiseshell and we'll see how far we can get!
Could you possibly do an all you should know puppy training video? Something along the lines of starting out training at 8-10 weeks and what material you would start with? Thanks!
I'm in the group who tends to forget to break training down into smaller steps. I wish I wasn't disabled so I could do more training at a time rather than a 5-10 minute session once or maybe twice a day. This video was a great reminder to me that I need to break down the training steps and I appreciate it!
I know this is an old comment but I thought you might be happy to know that four 15min training sessions throughout the day is WAY better than one 1hr training session a day.
I love watching Lakota! There was a video (not this one) where someone asked, "how do you turn her off" and Tom said something like, "She can't be turned off. This is how she is all day everyday". Always set your dog up for success!! Great video!!! Now I just need my dog to be as focused as Lakota.
I found the proofing concept helpful because my dog will often do what I ask, like stay for example, until I move or turn my back. Now I know to work on the command and change my body position to ensure she knows to hold that stay.
I LOOVE love love this video, so educational! I really like that we got to see how Lakota is teaching together with Tom! Also, the editing and music, soo great.
Bro,let's be real...Lakota is highly trained. It's not just a one time thing. You're constantly working her and reinforcing everything. It's a full time job. Even after training them you need to maintain it. It's work.
Ahhh! I love to see the progress and the standard I hope to set with my dog! It sometimes feels like an eternity away but you can’t just expect perfect behavior right out the gate, you have to proof it in steps along the way. It’s a process and requires patience. Gosh this just gets me so jazzed about dog training! Thank you Tom!
love how you made it so clear to everyone to start off small and build your way up even explaining the smallest steps and how to do it. Please keep up the good work in explaining even the smallest steps because you see so many dog owners/handlers fail in not doing these real little small stuff. Thank you :)
How do you deal with kennel aggression? As soon as I go to close the latch on my friend's GSD (who I dogsit) kennel door, he literally tries to murder me. He's fine with being let out of the cage, and ge will go into the cage on command, but when I try to close it, he is full attack mode - teeth, barking, lunging, snarling, saliva spewing etc. Would like to see how you deal with that.
I am a retired k9 officer. I have never met Tom. Tom trains people to train their dogs and to understand them which helps you train your dog. If you can not get to Tom find a train that trains like him. He teaches YOU to train your dog for a better relationship with your dog.
I like how you break down small parts when going out the door. With five Siberian huskies they want to rush out the door, this will help me to prevent that until I give command to go.
Thank you for all of these videos, I am trying to help my reactive dog (and myself mostly) because we’ve been turned away by all trainers (and vets) so far. 😢
Love the video as always!! Question, for a vocal dog, do you recommend teaching a “Bark” command & a “quiet” command? I haven’t seen many people talk about this but wondering if it would help with my dog’s reactivity
This is great, the proofing and incrementalism! So true. And having a ton of patience and willpower, taking lots of time. You have to find your inner Buddha lol One thing I would add is that breed also makes a big difference in the results you should expect, Tom's dog looks like maybe a border collie x lab or something, very excited to work, very trainable if you put in the time. Not sure you'll see the same top-level results with most st bernards.
Tom, I recently started watching you a few months ago and I truly love your way of training. Your mentality and style with your dog(s) is phenomenal. One thing I have been trying to work on with my mini American Shepherd is how you do your “left” command with Lakota. Do you have any advice to have her step beside you. Also, one thing I also love is when you walk backwards, so does Lakota, but my dog Rylie just sits. I would love to learn how to properly train her to understand what I’m asking for. Thank you so much for inspiring me with my dogs!
this video has showed me how many mistakes i made trying to teach my dog sit, stay and place. Thank you from the bottom of my heart (and my dogs) for this! I am really looking forward to more of these kinds of videos where you break down how to teach impressive obedience in small steps. For me it is really hard to determin if my dog actually hasnt captured the basic behaviour or if im going too fast. Love what you are doing and the passion behind it
Tom, I have no clue about instagram? I’m showing my age🤪 Enjoy watching your RU-vid videos, then I’m out doing chores or working with my critters…not big on the electronic programs …great job, I’m glad you’re helping so many!!!
I think you're amazing! My only difficulty with your style is you putting complicated, expensive equipment in your clients' hands (prongs, ...). Seems like you can do more wrong with a prong than right. KISS and keep it tailored to the average person's lives. That said, I absolutely love the other video's!
@ 3:25 “Why am I watching this video”? @ 8:00 “why TF am I watching this”? @ 10:15 “oh some people don’t know how to work a dog” @ the end… A-F I’m going back to working my dog.
A dog question regarding humans… as a small child I watched my little brother get aggressively attacked by a Saint B. As an almost 40 yr old deputy dog warden, I still have a fear of the Saint B breed. Any tips on what I can work on to feel more comfortable with handling an unknown beautiful dog? Because I’m well aware they can sense my discomfort as soon I am on my way to the complaint call. Two absolutely beautiful dogs in this video!
I wish you would do a deaf dog episode. I adopted a 12 year old dalmatian and she's so fearful of new people touching her, but i don't know how to communicate to a deaf dog that she shouldn't bite them without her trying to and then correcting her with a prong. It'd be so helpful!
Been watching your videos, what do you do if your working with a deaf dog. I’m teaching my deaf rescue pit mix hand signals, but I don’t know heel or break command for him. Any suggestions?
Love your stuff Tom always follow your advice and podcasts, feel a bit cocky sometimes when I see people doing things wrong. Question: I have a Samoyed and he’s very good, we train him on most walks or outings and he’s very clever. If he’s driven when people arrive, he listens to me, but his drive to greet them and say hello stays so I constantly distract. Not sure if him being in tact effects this, but how do you tackle that?
Hi Tom, Duke is doing so well, as we have followed your advise for TIGHT obedience!. Now I have a question, what about a Q for introducing new people. My dog sits at my left side just daring new people to get closer the 6'. I have never seen you address this. Is it even possible with a reactive dog? Again, Duke's obedience is solid. Thanks
I love your videos, I find them fascinating. I can’t have a dog, my son has profound and multiple learning difficulties and is terrified of dogs. It’s awful because most of my family members own a dog. ☹️
You're never finished with basic obedience. Come/Sit/Stay...the holy trinity. It all starts there, and you're always needing/using them. I will add that if you try to wear your dog out, before training sessions, you'll probably see better results.
Amazing video! Super helpful. The dog you’re working with is so pretty also! Also wondering, do you sell any stickers like what we’re on the window in the beginning of the video? I’d love to get some
Thanks for addressing and teaching this so clearly. Question how does your dog know when the “break” occurs not to “stay” . In the video the word break occurs a number of times what is different I’m your break. I have used “okay” to release from a stay and break as you use it. Is this a problem?
Probably easier to learn stay from a sit or down, right? Or teach implied stay on all commands..? They’re less likely or it takes more effort to break and get up from a sit or down…getting ready for my first puppy..
Can you break down the commands you used in this video. Specifically how to teach place and out? Puppy is learning basics and want to build on the step by step
When you say “left”, does that imply that you have a “right” command for the heel as well? My pup heels near perfect, but I’m trying to figure out how to teach a “switch” or a “left and right” command, but there is no info on how to teach that and I’m having trouble getting him to stay in a heel on the “other side”, because he’s so used to heeling on his normal side.
Any advice please, I have a 16 week old puppy and he heels nicely we can walk past dogs and he will have a look at them but his focus goes back onto me, we can walk past crowds of people etc. However, when does come running up to us he barks and barks! I know this is a confidence issue as he feels scared towards the dogs running up to him but I don’t know how to progress so that he doesn’t react when dogs come running up to us and the owner can’t recall their dogs back! All I’ve been doing is walking confidently away and repeat the command heel or walk away and getting him to focus back on me as I ask him to do a down stay etc but I just feel he is just going to keep reacting to dogs running up to him! And there will be many more times where peoples dogs come running up to us out of control. Any advice will be so appreciated, want to stop this now before he is an adult!
I love seeing these tips! My boss (dog trainer here!) Can literally tell me the same thing (he has, and vice versa) and it won't click, until I hear it in other words and then I go "...OH THATS WHAT TOM MEANT JUST DIFFERENT TERMINOLOGY" or "OH my god.. that's what my boss told me" foundations are SO SO important guys, compartmentalizing each command is so helpful!
I've been addicted to your videos lately. My gf and I moved in together and her black German shepherd is a great dog but a little rough on the pregnant gf with pulling. In southern tier ny might have to make a trip over to you.
“When you say something they have to do it” what do you do if they don’t? Battle against them pull the ball from the mouth? Push their back down to sit?
Great foundational work. Thanks for the reminder to hone in on the basics. Typically how long/and how many times a day do you recommend working with your dog? Also, any recommendations in working with a VERY/excited vocal dog?
Gonna get a second belgian soon. If you make a puppy series in the future, I promise to save all the videoes and do everything you say with my future pup
I loved that thank you for that explanation because I get really frustrated now I no abcdef with these videos my dogs have got anazeing just can't get her to stay at heel when another dog passes us she reacts 😒
We have 3 dogs we’re trying to train at the same time, but we have a pet sitter that comes by a few times a week. All of our training goes out the window, the dogs jump on her and run up to the door and bark at her. Are we setting ourselves up for failure with having a pet sitter or is this just part of the process?
