Owning a dog can be incredibly rewarding and satisfying, but it can also be a challenge, especially if you experience aggression or behavioral issues. If you have recently introduced a new furry friend to the family and they haven’t settled, you’re having trouble training a puppy, or an older dog is displaying changes in behavior, you may be thinking about obedience training or seeing a dog behaviorist.

At Ancillary K9 Dog Training, this is something we hear far more than we’d like. There’s a massive misconception that training your dog in certain ways will ruin its personality. Obviously, you don’t want your dog to become a robot that barely does anything. You don’t need them to have military-level discipline! (Although it sure is impressive.)

I try and maintain a very open mind when it comes to the dog training methods I employ. For me, anything goes. It really depends on the situation and the dog I am working with. I never rule any method out unless I have directly experienced it for myself and found it to be lacking. People who insist on attributing some type of label to my training approach would probably describe me as a balanced trainer; however, none of the approaches I employ involve balancing equal amounts of anything.

Dogs learn differently than humans. Specifically, they are very context focused. What I mean by this is that if you teach your dog to sit on your command in the kitchen, he won’t necessarily follow the same command when you’re in the park. You haven’t taught him to. Your dog learned to respond to your instruction in the kitchen, not anywhere else. So, until you start to show your dog that you expect him to sit on command in additional settings, he simply won’t understand what’s expected of him.

Let’s get one thing straight: Regardless of how good the dog trainer is, he or she cannot permanently modify your dog’s behavior and habits into something that YOU can manage on your own in the home setting if you are not involved in the training process. Period. If you have a dog that is exhibiting signs of aggression or unsociable behaviors, it can be very stressful and even traumatic. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that thousands of people are lured by false promises that simply sending their dogs to an expensive facility for a couple of weeks will be the solution to all their problems. Believe me. It won’t.