When To Book A Remote/Virtual Consult
- When the expertise you have access to locally is unsatisfactory.
- When you believe you have tried everything and nothing has worked.
- When you want a second opinion.
- When you are not within my in-home appointment region.
Before You Book
- Contact me in advance with some information about your situation using the FORM LINK at the bottom. If I think I can help, I’ll say so. If I don’t, I’ll say so.
- If you haven’t already you may want to read: ‘Help From John Wade For Dogs With Behavior Problems‘
What A Remote/Virtual Consult Entails
Step One - Before The Consult
- If after I’ve reviewed the notes sent via the form below I will reply with an estimate as to how long you can expect the consult to be (typically 90 minutes to 2 hours), the hourly rate and a link to view my calendar so you can find the most convenient time.
- After you have booked you will receive an outline of the additional information that I believe will make our consult most effective. Occasionally this includes a list of certain circumstances I’d like you to video and forward in advance of our appointment.
Step Two - The Consult
What To Expect During Our Consult (90 min - 120 min)
- We Use Science-Based ‘Fully Balanced Companion Dog Training’
- Incredible Post-Appointment Support - ’Trainer On Retainer’ No-Charge Followup
- How We Use Videos Of Your Dog To Help Things Along
- Is A Remote/Virtual Consult Right For You Form
- Remote/Virtual Consult Cost & How To Schedule Training For Your Dog
We Use Science-Based 'Fully Balanced Companion Dog Training'
How Puppies And Dogs (and humans) Learn (and teach)
First - What We Won’t Be Doing And Why
One of the main reasons so few people fail to accomplish their dog training goals isn’t due to motivation or a lack of time. It’s because what now passes for companion puppy and dog training is based on what is used for training Orcas and Dolphins in an aquarium with full-time trainers who’s entire workday revolves around the Orca or Dolphin. Often referred to as ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free’ and by some, as, ignore bad behavior, reward (treats) good behavior, etc.
This is not to say that the `Might Is Right` approach sometimes referred to as ‘Yank and Crank’, being Alpha, Pack Leader, Dominant, using Alpha rolls, etc. is any more valid. It just produces a different set of problems, such a submissive dog and sometimes an aggressive dog.
What the amateur puppy and dog trainers that use the alleged ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free…’ treat, treat, treat approach (it is rarely all positive in reality) do not understand is that while it may give themselves or a layperson the illusion that they are training, they are really only teaching tricks. They are also creating an unsustainable foundation that will crumble in real-world settings. Imagine if we motivated our children with candy over and over and then one day asked them what would they do if a stranger invited them into a car to share some candy. A heroin dealer has the power to influence behavior over the addict. Incredible power but this is not the model I recommend. We can do much better. Teaching/motivating a dog to work for a treat aims at their tummies and not the best part of the dog, the only species I know of bred to love and work for a human being.
In the context of the aquarium it is a legitimate methodology, but in the context of companion puppy and dog training for teaching real-life skills for real-world setting, it is a naive ideology. An ideology that will always fail in the context of real-world settings. It works (sort of) until a better offer comes along (squirrel,, etc.)
Ironically, the companion puppy and dog trainers offering ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free’ claim it is based on science. Yes, there’s science to support (somewhat) it’s used in controlled environments such as the Orca’s aquarium, the rat’s maze, a dog’s obedience or agility ring but none whatsoever in real-world environments. Whereas, all the scientific literature (behavior and learning theory, ethology, evolutionary biology, and psychology, etc.) supports what you will be learning (’Fully Balanced Companion Dog Training’)
Examples Of What We Will Be Doing And Why
- We'll review what you've been doing, what to continue doing and what to avoid doing in the future.
- Training Method
- Learn how to gradually transition your dog into a willing student.
- Learn how to teach 3 exercises as an alternate focus for your dog.
- Learn how to slowly introduce distractions.
- Learn when to introduce trigger the issues your dog has in a manner that he or she can build on.
- Discuss a program with timeline tailored to your dog and your lifestyle.
Review
Our session will determine the factors that contributed to the development of the problems you are having and separate the ones we have control over and those we do not. We will be focusing on eliminating contributing factors we have control over as no amount of training will work if the causation factors are not addressed as well.
For example, your dog is learning, whether you’re actively teaching or not and there are a variety of lifestyle factors that can make your training far easier or far harder. In the case of some genetics more than others; impossible to address if what you are trying to accomplish in your training is being undone when your dog isn’t directly under your supervision and influence.
Training Method - Fully Balanced Dog Training
Our approach to training is based on known rock-solid science that is based on how higher order social species teach, and their offspring learn real life-skills for the real world. It’s the approach shared by all higher order social species, dogs, wolves, apes, and human beings so it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn it doesn’t involve treats or brutality.
- Is the only companion dog life skill training for real-world contexts approach that has extensive supporting science. There is literally no science to similarly support ‘Might Is Right’ or ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free…’ treat ideologies.
- It is almost always All Positive. Almost. It does not shy away from the reality that parents of all species occasionally draw upon the concept of “I’m not asking you, I’m telling you.”, in a manner that is in keeping with the youngster/student’s ability to comprehend that they are not bad, the teacher isn’t bad, but the behavior itself is what is bad.
- Because it is essentially part of nature’s template, both companion dog owners and their dogs relate and subsequently learn and adapt to it far more quickly than ‘Might Is Right’ or ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free…’ ideologies. Both dogs and dog owners love it.
- The results are amazing. Dogs learn to exert self-control without being subjected to the submission techniques of ‘Might Is Right,’ or the addictive focus, (until something more interesting appears) on treats as opposed to the strength of their love and relationship they have with their owner.
You will find it’s straightforward to implement for two reasons:
- Because you and your dog are already hard-wired to teach and learn in this manner.
- I am a really, really good teacher. 🙂 Read my Google Reviews .
Transition Relationship
Most dogs see their owners as room mates as opposed to loving teachers/parents. Changing this has two advantages. The first is your dog is hard-wired to listen to a loving authority figure and it’s quite likely that the problems may have in part developed because of the relationship. You’ll learn how to do this without bribing with treats or resorting to ‘Might Is Right’ intimidation strategies.
What we will be doing is teaching you to teach your dog in a manner that reflects the way all higher order social species (dogs, wolves, apes, humans, etc.) teach skills that lead to the best quality of life. This is not through the expectation of treats or pain.
A dog’s perception as to who is the teacher and who is the student can make training very hard or relatively easy. Even more so than how you train when you are training. Think of your experiences with substitute teachers. No one more motivated to do well and help students succeed, but we sent half home in tears.
Arguably even more important than an approach to training, one of the greatest influences on training outcome is how a dog perceives its relationship with its owner. Love is almost always a given. Respect is not. The little things we do and don’t do during our time around our dog has most of us thinking of us as roommates rather than teachers. As a result when it is time to encourage or discourage behavior we have to work far harder (treats and might) than we would if we learned to live with our dogs in a manner that led them to see us more as a loving parent or teacher rather than at best a substitute teacher.
Part of what will be covered in your program is how your dog sees the world, determines who is the teacher and who is the student and how to incorporate this into how you live with your dog. The impact is significant. Your dog will be far more highly motivated to learn from and work for you than any treat or ‘Might Is Right’ approach can remotely approach.
You will also learn how to use your new relationship (confidence in you) to build your dog’s self-confidence.
Foundation Exercise
Learn three and no more exercises serves several purposes. The first is that no more than three are necessary and burdening a dog and its owner with more can undermine the overall goal. The second is the manner in which you will learn to teach these exercises will build a loving teacher/student relationship bond. The third is we will be using these three exercises to give your dog something to think about and focus one when we start to introduce the triggers that ignite the undesirable behaviors.
Distractions
We will divide your program into three components. One leads to the next. The first is to teach your dog to perform the three exercises in your home only as it will be considered for the first 30 days to be the classroom. If you have a yard we may incorporate the yard. After 30 days we will slowly one by one add distractions found in a neighborhood that are not triggers for igniting the undesirable behaviors but are typically a struggle for most dogs to maintain focus.
Triggers
You will learn how after the aforementioned have been accomplished how to purposefully introduce the triggers when your dog has been asked to perform its foundation exercises.
Program
We will review a program and timeline tailored for you and your dog
Step Three - The Followup Post Consult
The Day After Our Appointment
The morning following our session you will receive a detailed written review of our session that includes the exercises recommended broken down into manageable steps.
Day Two After Our Appointment
A text message to verify that the followup notes arrived and were not swallowed up by a spam or junk filter.
Day Three After Our Appointment
Rather than wait for questions, I will be emailing a list of tips and reminders that I’ve learned based on close to thirty years of experience are answers to the most common questions dog owners have after a training appointment.
Day Ten After Our Appointment
Day Ten is often a milestone day, and you will receive another email to check in to make sure of the following:
- Your dog will have gently eased over from thinking that you’re a roommate towards understanding that you’re a loving teacher. As a result, you’ll be working less hard.
- Your dog will noticeably far more often, be taking, ‘You’re Warm!/You’re Cold!’, cues based on your tone and body language alone. Again, as a result, you’ll be working less hard.
- You will have started to see more frequent and lingering glimmers of the results that you saw during our initial session and what you have in mind regarding your long term obedience goals.
- Your dog will have begun to understand what you mean regarding ‘Stay,’ ‘Come’ and “Heel,’ and the implied ‘No Matter What’ to develop in the days ahead.
Day Twenty-One After Our Appointment
As you will learn in our session, we will be dividing your training into digestible chunks. One of those divisions is learning that because it is where you spend the most time with your dog your home and yard are your most significant areas of influence. The first thirty days of your training focuses on laying a foundation of who is the teacher and who is the student and what you mean when you say, ‘Stay,’ ‘Come’ and “Heel.’ You will have learned why it’s best to and how to avoid undermining and undoing your efforts during ‘field trips’ (also known as walks.) We don’t try to teach children to do Calculus at the gateway of Disney Land for a reason. We set both the teacher and the student up for tears and failure.
However, generally by the time Day, Thirty Arrives you will be ready for planned field trips. These are training excursions intended to introduce the realities of occurrences and distractions that arise on typical walks and other outings. On Day Twenty-One you will receive an email that provides a review of how we will be approaching the one by one introduction of real-world distractions, starting on Day Thirty. Day Thirty is when your dog should clearly understand that you are the teacher and he or she is the student and what ‘Stay,’ ‘Come’ and “Heel,’ mean (‘No Matter What’) in the context of your home and yard.dog
Day Thirty After Our Appointment
These are the field trip days referred to and planned for in Day Twenty One’s email. The goal will be that by the end (day ninety) we will have produced a dog trained to behave in, around and outside the home, ‘No Matter What.’
Day Thirty To Day Ninety After Our Appointment
These are the field trip days referred to and planned for in Day Twenty One’s email. The goal will be that by the end (day ninety) we will have produced a dog trained to behave in, around and outside the home, ‘No Matter What.’
'Trainer On Retainer' - After Our Appointment
In addition to all the followup mentioned above, you are asked to embrace what I refer to as ‘’Trainer On Retainer’ access to me. This means that at no extra charge you will be encouraged to contact me with any questions, large or small as frequently as you feel the need whether that’s several times a day, day after day or months down the road.
Video - After Our Appointment
I have learned with the advent of smartphones that whereas a picture is worth a thousand words a video is the fastest and most effective way to get answers to training hurdles. As a result, part of what we will be discussing during our session is when to send video and what each video should contain.
Is Zoom Consult Right For You Form
The link to send me information about your dog is HERE