JOEL'S TECHNIQUE

The first thing that I want to tell you is that my training technique and my ideas are no big secret. Most animal trainers that I know that have had success in the field of dog training pretty much will agree with my technique. Sure, people will vary with some of their training philosophies, but for the most part we are pretty much on the same page.

One of the first things I think all pet owners need to do is develop a great relationship with their pet. If you have not created that bond, my suggestion is to go back to the ABOUT COMPANIONS FOR LIFE™ page. This will show you how to establish that relationship and why it is so important.

If you have taken the time to create that bond, I want to congratulate you on taking the first steps that will help you lay a great foundation for the training of your dog. This will also ensure a long lasting awesome relationship too. Remember that in the past 30 days as you have created this bond, you’ve learned a lot of things about your dog. The most important things you’ve done are identified the things your dog likes and things your dog does not like.

For the past 30 years, I’ve really gotten a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of having the opportunity to help teach literally thousands of people about dog training and responsible pet ownership. Whether a person has seen my TV series, purchased a dog training video, or seen me as a spokesperson on a morning show, nothing is better than having someone come up and say, “thank you for making training easy and fun.” But in recent years, I’ve been looking for new ways to make the training and care of your dog even easier and even more enjoyable for the average dog owner.

The first thing that I’ve always tried to focus on was teaching people that they need to develop a relationship with their dog before they start training him. A foundation so to speak. And the second thing I’ve tried to focus on was making people aware of the fact that dogs are very much like people in that they are all different and have such a wide variety in personalities. Since they all have such different personalities, they should be trained according to their individual personality. These messages have been communicated over and over again over the past 20 years whether you look back at all my dog training videos or TV series. These were also referred to in my very first dog training video that was produced nearly 20 years ago.

 

There are many misconceptions that are quite prevalent among dog trainers and dog owners when it comes to dog training. One of the biggest one that a large amount of new dog owners and dog trainers make is training all dogs the same way. If new pet owners would have the opportunity and take the time and just look at their dog and understand what type of dog they are dealing with, and train their dog based upon that personality, I am convinced more dogs would end up being trained. Instead, unfortunately many dogs never even get the chance to be trained due to the fact that the dog was not trained according to his or her personality. The results of this happening are a large number of dogs are returned back to the animal shelter, rescue group, breeder or humane society.

One of the biggest misconceptions is thinking that a dog owner or trainer needs to train all dogs the same way using a certain technique, and not taking into account the animal’s personality. If new dog owners and trainers would take the opportunity and just get to know their dog and understand what type of dog they are dealing with, and train their dog based upon that personality, I am convinced more dogs would end up being trained. Instead, unfortunately many dogs never get the chance to be trained because the personality was never taken into account. The results of this are a large number of dogs are returned back the breeder, animal shelter, rescue group, or humane society.

What I have done is create a color scheme to make training easier for you and your dog. Here is the way it works! Your dog will be given a color, and you will learn that the color will be based on your dog’s personality. Your dog will be RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN or BLUE. Each color has their own unique styles, techniques and methods.

 

Look at the spectrum:

WHAT COLOR IS YOUR DOG?

I think it is very important that the new pet owner understands where their dog is in relationship to training and understanding what is realistic. The closer your dog is to the center of the spectrum, in general, the easier training is going to be. You can see that the yellow dog is in the center of the spectrum. This is the easiest dog to train. The green dogs are a little apprehensive and cautious and will be a little more challenging. As we move a little farther away we come to the blue dog which is VERY afraid of things and people. The same thing applies as we move to the orange dog. This is a dog that is high strung and somewhat out of control, and will be more challenging than a yellow dog. As we move farther away from the center of the spectrum, we see the red dog which is VERY high strung and out of control.
  Here is the point. You would never training a red dog like a blue dog. And as a matter of fact, the way your train the warmer colored dogs (oranges and reds) and the cooler colored dogs (blues and greens) are going to differ greatly. The way you walk, talk, move, reward, correct, and even the tools you are going to use are going to be like night and day. For information on to find out what color your dog is, click on the color:
 
  Another misconception that many dog owners believe is that they could take a dog from an animal shelter, humane society, or a breeder, and train the dog immediately without developing a relationship first. When this takes place, the animal is often forced into something he is uncomfortable with, and quite often the animal never gets trained and ends up having a very good chance of getting returned back to the animal shelter, rescue group, humane society, or breeder.
   

So the two things you want to think about are:

1. Establishing the relationship and bond
2. Training your dog based on his individual personality
For great training information go to the TRAINING INDEX PAGE
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