Cut to the Chase and Confront the Behavior:

” My dog used to jump. I tried turning around and giving my back. So she walked around to my front and jumped again. The next time she jumped, I bonked her. She stopped jumping. Case closed.”
Frank Adams CEO On Point Dog Training Clayton, Ohio

This report is true, accurate and impossible to argue – unless you are living in a fantasy world. However, Frank and I meet resistance when we deliver such simple, direct and effective advice. Imagine why this would be controversial. It’s controversial because many ‘modern’ trainers, animal behaviorists, behavior analysts and other such ideologues claim that simply ignoring a behavior will make it go away. OK. Let’s see how that works…

Separation anxiety: This growing behavioral aberration occurs with dogs that go nuts when their owners leave them alone. The solution to fixing a dog that goes ballistic when left alone is to leave the dog alone. Huh?

Agression: If we just ignore dogs that bite people they will not bite people. If we ignore dogs that attack other dogs, they will stop attacking other dogs. Huh?

Destruction: If you just ignore dogs that dig holes, chew up couches, shoes, gnaw and wooden furniture legs or used underwear the behavior will go away. Huh?

Tugging on leash: If we just stop and “stand like a tree” every time the dog pulls, it will eventually learn that it can only go forward if it doesn’t tug. Sorry, that’s a loser too. Dogs have been used for hundreds of years as draught animals. They don’t mind pulling. To actually control this behavior by cutting off “reinforcement” takes forever and does not inhibit the dog’s tendency to pull like crazy to get to something interesting. Meaning it’s not a solution, it’s a perpetual struggle.

The reason the common sense approach is immediately attacked is because of a decades-old fraud. Modern trainers and behaviorists use the word “punishment” as a synonym for “abuse.” That is a very convenient marketing ploy. If the general public thinks that punishing a dog for jumping is some form of abuse, they won’t do it – or hire anyone else to do it. Instead they will go to a “nice” trainer who uses positive solutions – that are as functional as the ones I listed above. What a great scam. Force people to accept lower standards. Not standards that any rational person would accept, but standards that ineffective methods generate. That way the “modern” trainer has cut the competition off at the knees without ever proving that what they do is worth the money. In India during the British occupation the ammunition of British rifles was rumored (by those who opposed the British) to have been water proofed with pig fat. king of the khyber rifles 320x240That prevented Hindus from using the ammunition. The “punishment=abuse” mantra is the same kind of ploy. (In fact the cartridges weren’t actually greased with pig fat, but once the insinuation was spread, no amount of reasoning could rectify the problem. For more information, watch Tyrone Power in “King of the Kyber Rifles” if it comes on Turner Classic Movies.)

To see how punishment works as described by Frank and to see what the boogey man really looks like, watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGS1Kmiz66k Watch the dog’s tail, carefully. I am unaware that an abused dog wags its tail…
Note: Solutions to this and many other common and unacceptable behaviors is on my Doggie Repair Kit video – this is just a sample. You can find the video at http://clickandtreat.com/storefront/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3&zenid=29cc4053de0b768b04ff7cc2066ba315

 

 

 

9 thoughts on “Cut to the Chase and Confront the Behavior:

  1. I agree as some of the “solutions” I have heard for various dog problems from those that subscribe to the modern school of dog training weren’t helpful at all and left me bewildered as they didn’t seem to address the issue. Not to mention the frustration that accumulated because the issue wasn’t getting better. In my opinion, not that its worth much as a humble dog owner, it would have been more humane for both of us to tell me how to stop the bad behavior quickly and decisively so we could get back to enjoying our lives.

    • Gary, I respect your knowledge regarding the positive training and living with dogs that I want to keep forever. However, I’m in such a desperate situation with a dog I ended up with…read that as my adult daughter became a single mother and could no longer handle both. I’ve gotten zero responses from local trainers or the rescue organization that originally facilitated my daughter’s adoption OF this dog. My health, my marriage and my mind are being affected so negatively p. Could u please help me.?

  2. Thank you! I have been lucky (until now) to raise all my dogs from pups and enforce good behavior early on with negative consequences for bad behavior, and the dogs were receptive and easily trained.

    I now have a stray who landed on my porch, is part lab (a breed that was never in my ‘I want to have’ list), and has no manners. I’ve been so frustrated with the training advice out there nowadays that discourages any dominant behavior by the owner. He’s not to be my equal in my house. He’s my dog.

    You have a new reader.

  3. Note to readers: I talked to Jodi on the phone. She was in a dire circumstance. She was surrounded by people who didn’t want to “cut to the chase” and control the dog’s behavior. i.e. She was between a rock and a hard place. The solution was still “cut to the chase” but it meant returning the dog to the rescue group that pushed it into an adoptive home with no thought to any reality other than chalking up an adoption.

  4. I have a 13 month old Border Collie that has just gotten aggressive, jumping up and trying to bite. He actually bite my husband last night. He was a normal mischievious pup now I am actually afraid of him. He seems to be like this since I hired two trainers a month ago to help us stop his constant barking. It seems since he had this 3 hour training that is when it started. I had two more trainers come over last night and we did certain things that we knew would trigger this behavior and they can not figure out what is going on. Certain triggers are loud noises, (hammering, dropping the garbage can, banging of any kind) I do not knew what to do, I am sick to my stomach over this. Can you please help

  5. My dog is a shit. I have had her since she was a baby. I basically started to train her the first week she was home. Obviously with zero results, but by week three, (11 weeks old) she was learning to pee outside, sit and shake paws. She was a fast learner I’ll give her that. I signed her up for puppy classes when she turned 12 weeks and it’s been downhill since then. The classes are a total scam. My dog is the most hyper one in the class and she does nothing to help me learn to calm her. I’m in a room with 6-7 other dogs her age and it’s a total zoo in there. All she does is talk about things I could read on line and her little helpers go around trying to guide us through the tricks she’s “teaching us”. But when my dog gets excited,i get the whole “No, no, n9! You’re pulling at her collar! You must never MAKE your dog do something! Always wait for her to do it first!”…ummmm, WHAT?! Isn’t that why I am here ?! To learn to make my dog listen to my command?! Anyway I can’t get my money back, go figure. So I’m forced to sit through this class and hope I can learn something useful. But now I’m facing a new problem, my husband LOATHS this dogs behavior. Says I have until the end of February to have her decently trained or I have to get rid of her. I can’t get rid of her! I’ve come so far and I love this dog so much. I’m reaching out to you and anyone who might help! She’s so bad with jumping up and nipping and now she’s getting big enough to jump over the baby gates we have blocking her from certain parts of the house and able to jump up and grab things from the counter.. she ate my oatmeal muffin today I left in the stove and I just turned around the get a plate. She’s the devil! What should I do?!
    She is a beagle if that’s any consultation…
    -a very fed up puppy mom -_-
    Maceg.scullion@hotmail.com

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