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Knowledge Base

What training methods do you use?

Over the years our founder has build his own training methodology which is very energy focused. We do not believe in negative reinforcement nor do we believe in overly positive or treat based, as we want full control over our dogs not just for the sake of a treat. Also, with many breeds, or reactive/anxious dogs or dogs that need advanced obedience with many distractions this simply just does not work.

Do you use shock or prong collars?

No, we do not. They are strictly forbidden within our company.

What is Board & Train

This is a program where your dog will stay with us either at our physical location or at the home of the trainer. Think of it like a doggy boot camp. Dogs will receive intensive training, a lot of play and cuddles!

What is private training

One-on-one training with you, your dog(s) and our trainer. Highly customised to you and your dog's needs. Either at one of our locations or at your home, the latter is more expensive due to the travel time.

Why do you not offer group classes?

Because we strongly believe that not just every breed is different but each dog is different and require a different approach. We often have people get in touch after just having spend money on groups classes but not getting the results they are after. Groups classes could be good for socialising but for this we have our doggy daycare.

Our thoughts

Characters

In dog behaviour there are 3 main characters you must be able to be to become a Pack-Leader for your dog, something every dog needs is a strong leader who can direct and enforce his behaviour, showing his how he needs to behave.

3 types of characters we speak of:

1st character: “soldier” - be firm but fair, and correct with guidance, never raise your voice no matter how difficult the situation might be, you should remain calm (take a breath or 10 before
moving on with the dog if you feel yourself getting frustrated). It’s vital that we always remain calm, because this is the only mental state in which your dog will see you as a leader. Any kind of extreme emotional state only tells your dog that you are not in control - the dog sees this emotional state as weakness, and they will not see weakness as a leader.

2nd character: “calm person” - when correcting your dog immediately after relax your body posture and voice and reward your dog. Every correction should always be followed by praise/reward. Ensure to keep these corrections and rewards relative to the actual behaviour.

For example, if the dog sits after being commanded to do so a small reward is suitable, such as
giving the dog a stroke. However, if the dog sits in a public place while it is very anxious in, and stays whilst you leave him sat there for a time, this requires more of a reward, as it would be much more challenging to the dog.. If you do have to correct the dog behaviour whilst out, for example if he pulled to go and play with a dog, use the verbal correction of no and a short and sharp tug of the lead, depending on how unacceptable the behaviour was. You can practice some commands during this time and even teach your dog new things, all while providing that physical stimulation and bonding time.

A dog that has a bond with their owner\handler\trainer will always behave better, because they have an increased level of respect which comes naturally with that bond.

Each walk should be 60% training, 20% playtime & 20% relax time.
For the dog this training can be going through all the commands it knows and perhaps teaching new things if that is what you want.

Walking your dog

1. Walk in front of your dog.
Walking in front of your dog allows you to be seen as the pack leader. Conversely, if your dog controls you on the walk, he’s the pack leader. You should be the first one out the door and the first one in. Your dog should be beside or behind you during the walk.

2. Use a short dog leash.
This allows you to have more control. Attaching the leash to the very top of the neck can help you more easily communicate, guide, and correct your dog. If you need additional help, consider a ​great dog collar.​ Always keep your dog’s safety in mind when giving corrections.

3. Give yourself enough time for the dog walk.

Dogs, like humans, are diurnal, so taking walks in the morning is ideal. I recommend setting aside thirty minutes to a full hour. The specific needs of each dog differ. Consult your vet and keep an eye on your dog’s behavior to see if his needs are being met.

4. How to reward your dog during the walk.
After your dog has maintained the proper state of mind, reward him by allowing him to relieve himself and sniff around. Then ​you​ need to decide when reward time is over. It should always be less than the time spent focused on the walk.

5. Keep leading, even after the walk.
When you get home, don’t stop leading. Have your dog wait patiently while you put away his leash or take off your shoes.

6. Reward your dog after the walk.
By providing a meal after the walk, you have allowed your dog to “work” for food and water.

 
Tips

 

  • Do not correct your dog by using its name

  • Dogs have a short term memory span of about 15/20 seconds, reinforce the good things, correct the things you don’t want (negative reinforcement)

  • Make your dog work for everything it wants

Insights

  1. Barking​ is a self-rewarding activity. This means it can be difficult to stop because a dog’s bark usually makes something happen.

  2. A recent study in ​Current Biology​ showed dogs respond to nonverbal and verbal cues at a similar level to human two-year-olds. Some dogs are even able to understand ​basic sign language​.

  3. MRIs of the canine brain​ indicate that dogs experience positive emotions similar to that of a human child. Among other things, the sight of familiar humans seems to trigger positive feelings in a dog’s brain.

  4. Dogs are four times more likely to bite or become ​aggressive​ when walked by a male. It’s thought that this stems from dogs’ ability to pick up on a walker’s emotions or aggression.

  5. Male dogs​ prefer to play with ​female dogs​, whereas female dogs do not discriminate between playmates. This may arise from an evolutionary necessity for mothers to care for pups of both sexes.

  6. Walking your dog regularly can lead to ​better behavior​ for them (and better health for you)!

  7. Perhaps as a result, dogs who are regularly walked are also more likely to be adopted from a shelter​.

  1. The way a ​dog’s tail wags​ – right or left – seems to have different meanings as a non-verbal communicator (although contradicting interpretations exist).

  2. Curiosity may motivate the traditional canine bottom-sniff greeting. Scent matching can allow a dog to place another dog at the site of a marking. Your dog may be ​trying to match smells​ along their route with dogs they meet.

  3. Dogs can learn by ​modeling behaviors​ of other dogs. As a result, it’s easier to ​train a new puppy​ with an already-trained older dog in the house.

  4. Dogs also learn from human emotions! A dog can translate their owner’s emotions and behaviors to ​the object a person is looking at​. Thus, your dog may be more likely to interact with a toy that you have already interacted with positively.

  5. MRI testing has shown that a canine brain reacts similarly to ​sounds of joy and pain in much the same way as a human, meaning that dogs are able to understand the differences in human vocal intonations and the meanings behind them.

How To Get A Dog To Trust You

  1. Stay calm
    It can be tempting to greet a dog with excited energy, but avoid the temptation. If you approach a dog in an     ​excited state​, it can make the dog excited and lead to an unwanted greeting, like it jumping up on you. It can also trigger a dog’s fight or flight instinct if a stranger with high energy approaches. Stay calm and speak softly.

  2. Respect their space
    Practice “no touch, no talk, no eye contact.” If you’re asking a stranger whether you can greet their dog, talk to the human and ignore the animal. Also avoid standing too close to the dog. Try to leave at least four feet between you before getting permission to approach.

  3. Get on their level
    When you do approach the dog, do so from the side and never from the front. Kneel down next to the dog, facing the same direction. You’re now in the dog’s personal space, but in a non-confrontational way. Hold your hand down in a fist, still not making eye contact.

  4. Let them come to you
    This is when the dog will let you know if she’s interested. If she sniffs your hand and stays calmly in place, then you can pet her — but pet the front of her chest. Never try to touch an unfamiliar dog from above. If she licks your hand, then she’s accepted you. However, if she turns her head away or doesn’t pay any attention, she’s just not interested. Again, don’t take it personally. Accept it and move on.

  5. Go for a walk
    When first meeting a dog that you are going to adopt, the above procedures also apply, and you may need to respect their space and let them come to you for a while after they’ve moved into your home. Remember: in the dog world, the followers approach the leaders and not the other way around.But once you have that new dog in your pack, the best way to earn her trust is to take her on walks. This is where you get to be the Pack Leader in action, and she gets to learn that you are giving her protection and direction. Maintain a calm-assertive state, and your confidence will quickly teach her that she is safe when she’s with you.

How humans and dogs bond

There’s a reason that human mothers bond with their newborn children so quickly. This is because the process of pregnancy and birth releases various hormones, particularly oxytocin​.
When oxytocin works on various parts of the body, it is responsible for causing contractions during labor, as well as allowing the mother to lactate and feed her child. But when it goes to work in the brain, something else happens — it fosters bonding between humans and, in the case of a mother, facilitates maternal instincts.

Oxytocin is common in many mammals and plays the same roles. However, scientists have so far determined that there seems to be only one case in which interspecies interaction can lead to the mutual release of oxytocin — the interaction between humans and dogs.

In a recent study conducted by ​Takefumi Kikusui​, an animal behaviorist at ​Azabu University​ in Sagamihara, Japan, a group of dogs and their owners were brought together, then each pair was allowed to interact alone in a room for thirty minutes. The researchers measured both human and canine levels of oxytocin before and after, and found that levels had gone up in cases where dog and owner spent a lot of time making eye contact — 130% in dogs, and an incredible 300% in humans.

A few wolves and their owners were included in the study, which showed no change in oxytocin levels between these pairs — unlike dogs, wolves see eye contact, even from a familiar human, as aggressive — and there were also no significant changes in the dog-human pairs that did not spend a lot of time making eye contact.

In a second experiment, the group gave the dogs a nasal spray containing oxytocin beforehand, and found that the humans and dogs in these cases spent a lot more time making eye contact. The dogs’ eye contact levels increased by 150%, while the humans’ oxytocin levels again increased by 300%. But there was a catch: the nasal spray only showed an effect on female dogs.

Kikusui still isn’t sure exactly what’s going on, but there may be a clue here to explain exactly why humans and dogs have formed such a strong and lasting bond. We’ve certainly domesticated other animals. We also keep cats, rabbits, hamsters, snakes and others as pets, and work with horses and cattle and other farm animals. But in none of those other cases is the bond as strong and trust-based as it is between us and our canine companions.

It isn’t clear yet how this ability came about, especially because wolves don’t share it, but perhaps a few early wolves shared a genetic mutation that led them to bond with us and eventually be domesticated into the dogs we know today. However it happened, though, it’s one of the many wonderful gifts that dogs give us.

So look your dog in the eyes today and share the trust, respect, and love from a little dose of oxytocin.

 
How To Figure Out A Dog’s Energy Level

So how do you know what a dog’s energy level is? If you were a dog, you could tell immediately. But, since you’re probably human if you’re reading this, it takes a little more effort and a lot of observation. Here are five things to do to figure out a dog’s natural energy level.

1. Look at the breed — a little
Dogs see themselves as animal, species, breed, and then name, so a dog’s breed is not the most important thing about them. However, their breed or mix can give you an idea whether they might lean toward higher energy. Dalmatians, Jack Russell terriers, and Siberian huskies are known to be energetic, as are many hunting breeds. Breeds like basset hounds, pugs, and bulldogs tend to be lower energy.

  1. Try to see the dog in different circumstances
    Every dog is different depending on where they are, who they’re with, and whether they’ve just come back from a long walk or have been cooped up all day. If the dog is at a shelter, you may only be able to visit and not take her out for a “test drive,” but try to come at least once when the shelter is very hectic and again when it’s very quiet to get an idea. A calm dog in a hectic shelter is probably laid-back all the time; a dog that barks and runs around when hardly any people or dogs are around is probably very energetic.
    If you are adopting from a rescue or a breeder, then you probably have more opportunities to interact with the dog. See if you can visit before and after walk time, or see how the dog behaves in the car, interacting with a groomer, with strangers, and so on.

  2. Go for a walk
    The walk is the perfect way to judge a potential dog’s energy. Again, at the shelter you may only be able to do this in a limited way, or only watch a volunteer walk the dog, but you can learn plenty. Is the dog a puller, trying to drag the human along? Or does the dog seem reluctant to go on the walk, turning back almost immediately? How long does it take to wear the dog out? This is one of the two most direct ways to judge a dog’s energy.

  3. Try play time
    Find out what kind of games the dog likes to play. Some are into fetch, some are into playing with rope or squeaky toys, and others are only into playing with other dogs. Some dogs are not big players at all. If the dog likes to fetch, does she tire out quickly or will she play until you end the game? If he likes to “kill” the rope toy, how soon does he seem to lose interest and walk away? As with the walk, the longer a dog will go, the higher energy he or she probably is.

  4. Watch interactions with other dogs
    Is your potential dog the one that tries to engage in play with every other dog, racing from group to group, or does she prefer to watch from the sidelines, engaging only a few dogs for a polite greeting and sniff, and not much more? When the dog does play with others, does it always turn into a game of chase, or is it more focused on play bows and wrestling that ends quickly? A visit to the dog park or watching dogs interact at the shelter are the quickest ways to judge your dog’s energy. Again, though, try to do this several different times, once after the dog has had a walk and once before — the latter time will give you a better idea of the dog’s true energy level.

The biggest cause of misbehavior in dogs is when their needs for exercise, discipline, and affection are not fulfilled, but especially when they do not get enough exercise to drain their excess energy and bring their minds to a calm, submissive state during which we can reinforce and reward that calm behavior with affection.

Dogs that have a lot more energy than their humans often don’t get enough exercise. This is why it’s very important to know your own energy levels, then know how to figure out a dog’s energy level in order to find exactly the right one for your pack.

Energy

To change a dog’s behaviour, we first need to change our own behaviour, something which will be important to maintain his good work.

While it may seem like our dogs understand specific words and associate them with specific actions, they’re mostly responding to the ​intent​ that we have associated with the word. If you tell your dog to sit without intention behind it, your dog won’t sit. Conversely, you can approach your dog with the intent to get her to sit and say the word ‘toaster’ or ‘lamp’ ‘ or nothing at all ‘ and she will sit.

Dogs pay less attention to our words because they are really focusing on our energy, expressed through our intention and emotions, the latter through our tone of voice and body language. Energy is how dogs communicate with each other, and you can see it in any dog park. A dog will indicate submission by lowering parts of its body, particularly its head and ears; show dominance by raising its head, ears, or tail; and show aggression by pinning its ears back and stiffening its body.

The word energy can sometimes be confusing. Cesar explains it this way: ‘Energy is how any being presents itself to the world. Think of it as your personality, disposition, temperament, or whatever word makes sense to you.’ For humans, energy is what we get when our intentions meet our emotions. Cesar expresses it as a formula:

Intention × Emotion = Energy.

This formula explains why calm and assertive energy works so well with dogs. When we are calm and assertive, our emotions are balanced and our intent is clear. Dogs understand this. On the other hand, negative emotions and lack of firm intent presents weak energy and confuses our dogs.

This is why you can’t stop a barking dog by angrily yelling. The dog doesn’t hear you commanding it ‘No!’ He hears you joining in the barking, so his excitement increases. That’s also why baby talk confuses dogs ‘ they read it as submissive and weak energy. Depending on their natural position in the pack, they may become anxious or very dominant in response.

Dogs follow balanced energy because it’s what their instincts tell them to do. It’s up to us to provide that calm, assertive balance.

Physical disguises don’t fool them. You can put on a mask and cape and change your voice, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as your dog smells you and senses your energy, she won’t even see the costume anymore.

But... while dogs can see through physical disguises, they also only see and sense the energy that we project. You can’t fool a dog with a physical mask, but you will fool a dog with a psychological mask, the “disguise” you put on when you convince yourself that certain things are true.

The good news is that you can fool yourself long enough to put on a “new” disguise – which is just the real you that’s been hiding. Mentally dress up as a Pack Leader often enough, and it will become your new mantra.

You may think that you don’t know how to do that — but you do. We all do, naturally and instinctively. We’ve just forgotten how to listen to our instincts, instead relying on the intellectual masks we’ve put on. Luckily, we can relearn how to listen to our instincts by listening to our dogs.

Dogs do not put on disguises and do not hide their intentions. They speak directly, with energy and body language. If we speak back to them in the same way, they will listen. If we tell ourselves that we are going to have success with our dogs, then our new “disguise” becomes the confidence necessary to dress up as the Leader of the Pack.

If you’re having trouble putting on that Pack Leader outfit, then just remember that its power comes from the same place as the power that kids (and grown-ups) get from wearing costumes, disguises, or masks. That’s the power of imagination. A child may be wearing a cheap plastic mask from the dollar store, but if the child believes that the mask turns him or her into Superman or Wonder Woman, then the magic is real for a while.

If you believe, then you’ll see the magic in your dog’s behavior as they suddenly see through the disguise to the Pack Leader beneath. You just need to give yourself permission to believe first.

 
Calm & Consistent
 

Humans are pretty adept at handling change, and it’s one area where our intellect puts us ahead of our dogs at dealing with the natural world. We can understand what’s changed and why, and we can plan and predict and then change those plans accordingly.

Change things unexpectedly for a dog, though, and it can leave them confused, frightened, and sometimes even physically ill. And these don’t have to be big changes. Come home an hour or two late one night when you’ve established your routine, and you might find a dog that’s an anxious mess.

Depending on the dog, the tiniest of changes can completely upend their world, which is why setting and keeping to a routine is so important, especially when you first get that dog or when you’re trying to fix misbehaviors.

The reason for this is that dogs learn instinctually, and make associations between cause and effect. Your dog may come to associate you putting on your coat with being left alone, and so learn to get anxious and clingy whenever anyone wears a coat in the house. It’s also very common for dogs to be afraid of vertical objects, like brooms leaning against walls, after something similar has fallen nearby and scared them.

In the wild, this keeps dogs alive, both by helping them to find prey and water, and to avoid danger. When they’re living in our homes, they don’t really have to do any of those things anymore, although they will. When we send them the wrong signals and create unintended associations, that’s when we set ourselves up for misbehaving dogs.

And this is also why change can be so devastating to a dog. They thought they had it all figured out as far as what happens when, and what effects happen after which causes. Change something in that chain of events, and suddenly the dog’s entire world is upended. They cannot predict what’s going to happen, and it makes them very, very nervous and unsettled.

Those are just little changes, too. Sleep through your alarm clock one time, and your dog will wonder what exactly is going on — now imagine the effect that big changes can have on your dog — things like adding or removing a human or canine pack member, altering your daily schedule drastically, or moving to a completely new place. These can be particularly traumatic, a lot like cutting a ship in a storm off from its anchor.

As the Pack Leader, you are your dog’s anchor, which is why it’s so important to make sure you only create the associations you want your dog to have — teach them to sit calmly before you’ll put their leash on, or go to their place when you’re leaving, or to wait before you give them their food.

At the same time, avoid giving them affection when they’re excited or misbehaving, and do not reward them when they’re frightened. Those are common mistakes that teach your dog how to do exactly what you don’t want — and your dog will learn, because that’s what dogs do.

 
Being the Pack-Leader

  1. Have the right energy
    Animals     ​communicate with energy​ and body language. It’s why a squirrel can perceive a dog as a threat and a human with a peanut as not. It’s also how animals of different species can get along and co-exist, even forming what humans like to call friendships.Having weak or negative energy is like mumbling. Before your dogs can hear what you’re saying, you have to put yourself in a ​calm, assertive​ state.

  2. Create the rules
    Your dog wants you to tell them what to do. Otherwise, they can become anxious or confused, or misbehave by testing the limits of what’s allowed. This is why you need to create     ​rules, boundaries, and limitations​, and enforce them.Rules determine what a dog can and cannot do — such as whether they’re allowed on the furniture or not, or whether they can come near when the family is eating, and so on. Boundaries determine where a dog can and cannot go and what a dog does and doesn’t “own” — for example, the dog can’t go out the front door uninvited, or can’t go into the

baby’s room. Finally, limitations determine how long or how intensely a dog can do

something — when the Pack Leader decides that playtime is over, it’s over.

  1. Be consistent

    Animals learn by making associations between cause and effect — “If I touch my human’s hand with my paw, I get a treat,” or “When I sniffed the oven door, it hurt my nose, so I must avoid the oven.” There’s even an old folk saying that describes the idea perfectly: “A scalded dog will run away from cold water.”Making these associations is how animals survive, but it’s also how dogs try to figure out what you want from them. It becomes confusing for them, though, when a particular cause does not always lead to the same effect. If you only make them get down from the couch once in a while, then the dog will always get on the couch. When you create those rules, boundaries, and limitations, you need to enforce them consistently — and consistency doesn’t mean just when you’re at home with your dog or just when you’re on the walk. It means ​all of the time​, and from every human in the pack.

  2. Fulfill your dog
    A Pack Leader’s job is to provide protection and direction. Consistent rules are part of the direction aspect, while a big part of protection is providing for a dog’s needs. This doesn’t mean just food, water, and a safe place to sleep. You also need to fulfill your dog’s psychology needs, which are for     ​exercise, discipline, and affection,​ in that order. Exercise drains excess energy from the body, while discipline helps your dog’s mind. Affection comes last, as a reward for calm, submissive behavior.

  3. Feel, don’t think
    Dogs are primarily     ​instinctual​, not intellectual, so we can’t negotiate with them using words no matter how hard we try. It also doesn’t help if we try to interpret a dog’s behavior in terms of human emotions — a dog that’s bouncing all over the place and jumping on people is not happy; he’s over-excited and doesn’t know what to do with all the extra energy.Since ​humans are animals​, too, we have the ability to communicate with energy in both directions. We’ve just lost touch with that ability over time, but we can regain it by turning off the voice in our head and listening to our gut instead.Dogs are not complicated creatures. It’s the humans who create the complication. All they want from us is leadership. In return, they will give us all the love and loyalty we can take.

Body Language

One way to decode a dog’s language is to remember that Energy = Intention _ Emotion. A dog’s energy ‘ his intention and emotions, working together ‘ are communicated by his body language.

A dog’s play bow to another dog illustrates how this works. The motion is forward, but the front of the dog’s body is low to the ground. The intention (the forward movement) is excitement but the emotion (the low body) is friendly, so the energy is playful.

That means that similar behaviors can mean different things. For example, a happily excited dog and an aggressive dog may both move forward toward a person or other animal ‘ but one of them is playful and the other one is threatening. Likewise, a dog may run away in fear or it may run away to start a game of chase with another dog.

The important parts to watch are the head, ears, tail, and back. The higher these are, the more dominant a dog is feeling, and the lower they are, the more submissive or uncertain her feelings. Look also for tension in the dog’s body, particularly in the back and legs. The more tense a dog is, the higher its energy level.

It can be easy to misinterpret a dog’s ​energy​, so develop a habit of close observation of their body language. For example, many people are afraid when a dog shows its teeth ‘ but an astute observer knows that when the teeth are together, with the ears pulled back along the head, eyes squinting, and the body is lowered and leaning away, the dog is actually showing submission. Likewise, a dog may come charging at you, but if its body is relaxed, its tail is level and wagging, and there’s no tension in the body, then it is showing excitement, not aggression​.

Dogs can’t tell us in words what they’re thinking and feeling because they don’t have to. They’re expressing themselves constantly through ​body language​. Once we learn how to understand this, a whole world of communication with our dogs opens up.

Working Mentality

A mistake we often see with dog owners is that they give too much for free to their dogs. Food, toys, love/attention is all a given and the dog does not have to work for anything, this can cause several issues:

● You are creating “spoilt child” behaviour
You know those needy dogs that wont stop barking until they get what they want? This is just an example of a needy dog that will do anything to get what it wants. This in turn can cause more serious issues like resource guarding which is when the dog becomes very protective over what it has.

● You are ​not ​mentually stimulating your dog (enough)
Dogs need mental stimulation as much as they need physical and emotional stimulation. Not doing this creates boredom which can be the cause of other issues like: destruction, aggression, anxiety, neediness etc

● You do not let your dog live up to its full potential
The majority of dogs like to please their owner, even if a dog is not a working breed it will like to work for you and make you happy while doing it.

● Your dog is not obedient
People often call with issues like pulling on the lead, no recall, not paying attention, running off etc
Although not the solution but making your dog work for everything it wants will help you to increase the dogs focus on you. We control everything a dog wants and people just give, give, give and expect a dog to listen after which they get upset when the dog doesnt. Why would a dog listen to you when there are so many distractions around knowing that the food and toys you have with you she will get at home anyway?

The human mindset about what is good for a dog is different than to what is actually good for a dog. Humans expect a dog to listen when they give everything to the dog whereas the dog will listen because it knows it has to work for stuff to earn/receive it, when the dog respects you, when you are the Pack-Leader and looks up at you - not because you give the dog its food at 7am and 6pm and provide a few daily walks.