Balance training is a system of dog training that uses a combination of both positive rewards either through food or through toward rewards as well as using leash guidance and corrections to teach your dog.

Traditionally, there are two main approaches to dog training. The first approach is the reward based training, where the dog is taught to perform for a reward. This usually comes in the form of a piece of food. The problem is, there are some dogs that are just simply not motivated enough by food or toys rewards to get them to do what you want them to do. The other drawback is that as soon as the food reward is gone most dogs will decide that it isn’t worth it for them to listen to you and so you lose reliability in your training. In this case you get a loss of reliability in training and thus the training is incomplete.

On the flipside, the other well-known approach would be correction based training. In this case, the dog is exposed to an unpleasant sensation and learns to turn it off by performing the correct behavior. This is what we scientifically call escape/avoidance training. The drawback to the system, is that there are very few handlers out there that understand the intensity of touch.Because every dog’s sensitivity levels are different, there is a huge chance of over correcting and scaring the dog or causing him to mistrust you. The result is often a weakened relationship between dog and handler, or a dog that won’t perform unless he has the training collar on.

With balance training, because we are combining the two approaches, this creates a situation where the dog wants to please you and wants to work with you but you will also maintain that reliability by because he knows there are consequences if he chooses not to comply. As we had mentioned before, a common misconception is that corrections mean that you have to be mean or harsh to the dog. This is absolutely not true.If you learn under the guidance of a good trainer who truly understand the intensity of touch, this method can be used in actually a very gentle and humane method where very little force if any at all is needed.

Training should be something that the dog experiences to learn not just to become a better behaved member of your pack and a society, but one where he understands that he has some control of the universe around him. With even the shyest dogs, when they understand that they have control of the world around them (i.e. they can make rewards happen or learn to turn off pressure from the leash), this brings them to become more confident. A more confident dog, is one that is less likely to get himself into trouble and more likely to be pleasant to be around both in and out of your home. Most dogs seek a leader. And a good leader is one that not only tells the dog what to do and has the dog comply, whom the dog understands and trust to protect him and take care of him in situations where he is unsure.

Here at Metropawlitan Dog Training, we use the balance training method in all aspects of what we do. From beginner puppy kindergarten to our most advanced off leash and real world city classes, these are the principles on which our training system is based on. We pride ourselves in creating as clear a communication system as we can between you and your dog, so that you both learn to enjoy the training process and enjoy a lifestyle that is unique to you and your pack.

Interested in learning more about our classes or our system? Contact us at the information in the right hand column.

Through talking to lots of our clients, we get this question a lot.The short answer is,we teach our dogs to perform regardless of the distractions of people, dogs, or different environments around him.

Our higher level classes, such as our Cultured Canine Intermediates class [our off leash class], and our Real World Metropawlitan class [one that takes you out into the city] are designed to give you just these results. So what makes our classes different?

First off, we believe that a dog, particularly one that is new to training, learns best in areas where there is less distraction to begin with. This is because it gives him a chance to actually concentrate and to learn how to learn and to focus on you. This is why our beginner level classes, the Polished Puppies Kindergarten, and the Cultured Canine Basics classes are taught in a classroom type situation.  As the dog gains an understanding basic training, this is when we can introduce distractions to teach the dogto choose to focus on you regardless of what is going on around.

But why stop there? The real world isn’t a controlled environment.  Sometimes, unexpected people drop by to visit.  Sometimes, we will encounter that unruly, out of control dog at the dog park that has no manners.  You may even encounter that pesky rabbit or squirrel who just loves to taunt your dog.  These are the times where you will actually need your dog’s training the most.  So why not train for these situations and teach your dog to focus on you in these situations?

When your dog is truly well-trained, and truly understands to ignore these types of distractions, it allows you the freedom to go places with your dog that you perhaps were not able to access or not able to go if your dog was not as well trained.

So the next time you are questioning whether your dog can really be that well trained, ask yourself how creative you are willing to get with your distractions! Set up training situations where you can control the environment around you as well as your dog. Then introduced high-level distractions to teach your dog how to ignore them and to pay attention to you instead. Don’t move to another distraction until he has succeeded with the one you are currently introducing.

Interested in finding more about our higher level classes such as our intermediate class or real wealth class? Contact us at the information below and will be happy to help you out!

 If you do it properly, the results should be a confident, relaxed, happy, well mannered dog around people and other animals in a variety of different environments.  But if you do it wrong, the results could be disastrous!  You could even end up with a dog that has problems trusting another human or dog.  How can the results of puppy socialization be so drastic depending on how you do it?

Puppy Socialization is not just about exposure.  It’s about the Right Exposure.

Many people mistakenly think that good socialization is just exposure to a large number of environments, dogs, people, etc.  But this couldn’t be further from the truth!  If your puppy gets frightened when meeting another person or dog or when he is being exposed to different environments, this could teach him to become fearful of these situations again later on in his life.  If your puppy is more outgoing and boisterous, and learns to engage with other dogs and people and small animals that way, your dog could end up learning to become obnoxiously friendly to anyone and everyone.  This can cause huge problems say, if for example your dog a large breed that has never been taught to not jump up on strangers.  Here at Metropawlitan Dog Training, our puppy socialization classes focus not only on positive exposures to different dogs and people, but how to interact with each in a specific manner.  For example, our puppies are taught to stay sitting while interacting with new people.  They are taught to respond to their name and come back to their owners even when they are playing with other pups or getting petted by other people.  They are taught to pay attention to their owners first and foremost, and everything distracting second.    Because our puppies learn these behaviors at such a young age, it carries on through with them through adolescence and adulthood as well.  This makes training easier as the puppy gets older, because right from the get go, this is the only behavior he knows.

Check out our videos below on how we socialize our own puppies behind the scenes with both new people as well as with other dogs.

How Your Puppy Should be Socialized Will Change Depending on His Age, Temperament, And Whether or Not He is Going Through A Fear Period

Each puppy should have their own socialization program.  Shyer puppies should focus more on building confidence around new people and quieter dogs.  The people and dogs selected to help a shy puppy should be ones that ignore the pup so that the pup learns to build confidence from approaching those dogs or people first.  More outgoing boiserous pups should focus ore on the obedience aspect – learning to run up to people and sitting for attention rather than jumping up on them.

Similarly, shy pups and young puppies need to be placed in quieter play groups with quieter pups and adults that can help to bring them out of their shell.  Older adolescent puppies that are more boisterous need to be exposed to dogs that will play with them but also can correct them properly (ie. not scare the pup) when the puppy gets too rough or excited.  This helps to teach the boisterous puppy boundaries around what is acceptable play and what is not.  Humans can also be there to supervise and ensure the interaction is going well, but the results can come so much faster from the appropriate dogs.  Selecting the right dogs to socialize your puppy with is a very specialized skill.  We here at Metropawlitan Dog Training are fortunate to have access to a pack that has a wide range of different temperaments of adult dogs and puppies that can help to socialize your dog in every stage of his puppy hood.

Puppies that are going through fear periods will also need to be socialized in a certain way to avoid creating a permanent fearful association with people, dogs and with things in their environment.  Again, a specific program should be put into play to help them out of this.

Yes, Fear Periods Do Exist

Between the ages of 8-10 weeks and 8-10 months of age (bear in mind this is a very general ballpark age range, most puppies will go through what we call a fear period.  It’s basically where they suddenly become fearful of a certain something in their environment, be it people, a certain type of dog, or an object that, even if they never had issues with before, they have suddenly become fearful now.  While most fear periods are temporary, and most puppies tend to grow out of them, we still need to be careful in how we

 If you want a well mannered dog as your end picture, you need to get right down to the specifics of what you are training for.

 For instance, what would living with your dream dog look and feel like?  Remember to get specific!  What would your grown up adult dog be doing when he is greeting people?  What would he act like greeting children or elderly?  What would your dog act like at the off leash park?  What about if you are walking him?  What should he be like in the wide open trails?  How should he be walking with you when you are in the heart of downtown’s busiest streets?  The more specific you can make your goals, the easier it will be to know what to train and socialize your puppy for.

Here at Metropawlitan Dog Training, we value our dream do to look and feel like this: The ideal dog for us would be a dog that you could take anywhere and everywhere and trust that he would behave as obediently as he does at home.  In answer to the questions above – here is, more specifically the dog of our dreams:

• A dog that automatically sits to greet other people
• A dog that automatically lies down to greet elderly or small children
• A dog that will drop playing with other dogs the instant he hears us calling him at the off leash park
• Same goes for walking him off leash in the wide open trails
• A dog that walks on a loose leash beside me without pulling or getting distracted.  This is especially true in busy streets.
• A dog that settles quietly in our home when we are relaxing in the house or when guests are over

So what does it feel like to live with your dream dog?  Leave us your comments and feedback below!  We’d love to hear your thoughts!

 First off, what defines a social dog? A social dog is a dog that understand show to read not just the body language of other dogs but how to respond to it accordingly to another dog to prevent an altercation from occurring.

 So how do you know if your dog is social? Contrary to popular belief, your dog does not have to go and say hello to every single dog that he sees on the street. This is not that different from us. We do not walk down the street and hug and kiss every single person along the way. This is simply not realistic and it is not fair to expect her dogs to do the same.

 If the dog can ignore another dog or human being in his presence never underestimate the power of what he’s saying. In this case ignore in the dog world means that I accept you in my presence. Is a very polite and social thing to do. Bottom line is, if your dog can ignore the antics of another dog nearby or groups of humans passing by, he is literally saying that he accepts those things in his presence and that they do not faze him. This is a dog that is being polite and social.

So how do you teach your dog to be social?

 With young puppies socialization with other dogs and with other people should always be done in a controlled and safe environment. This means that we control which types of dogs that are dogs are exposed to and we control which types of people that are dogs are exposed to. This is extremely important so that we are we know that we are selecting the right dogs that will help to develop our puppies confidence and we’re selecting the right types of people to teach our puppies how to interact with people in a calm and submissive matter. If you expose your dogs to the wrong types of dogs or the wrong types of people, especially in their early ages, this can create problems where your dog learns to mistrust other dogs or other people later on in life. Bear in mind that socialization is not just about exposure. It’s about the quality of the types of exposure that you are providing for your puppy that determines whether your puppy will become a well-mannered dog or not.  These are the exact exercises that we teach in our Polished Puppies Kindergarten classes.

So what should you do if your dog is not social and he’s already an adult?

 This is where learning how to read body language yourself not just of your own dog, but of other dogs around you, will help you greatly in selecting the proper friends to help your dog become more social. Because dog reactivity can occur and talk to dog aggression can be dangerous, it is always recommended to seek the aid of a professional dog trainer who understands body language and understands pack behavior to be able to help you rehabilitate your dog to become more social.  Here Metropawlitan Dog Training, we offer a class specifically for dogs that are reactive with other dogs call our dog needs dog class. In this class you will learn what type of sociability that your dog has and why he’s reacting the way that he does and also how to treat the behavior in a systematic balanced approach. Looking for more information on these classes? Contact us at the information in the right hand column!

Do you struggle with two of your own dogs fighting at home?  When two dogs in the same family get into fights with each other, it can create a stressful sitaution.  Often times, a lot of the clients we work with will tell us that it never usually ends at just one fight either.   So what can we do to bring harmony back to our pack?  The first step is to understand what is causing the aggression in the first place.  Here are 4 of the most common reasons why dogs don’t get along in with each other in their own family:

1.   Dog Aggression with Resources

Dogs in the same family can sometimes compete for the same resource in the house.  Common resources they fight about include food, chews, toys, sleeping areas, or even attention from the owners.  To help stop your dogs from fighting, the most important thing for your dogs to understand is that all the resources belong to you, the owner.  Each dog must learn separately from each other, to respect you and your boundaries you set for them first.  Here at Metropawlitan Dog Training, we teach our dogs to respect a human’s personal space (and anything that happens to be in that space, be it food, toys, another person or dog, etc) first.  This means that a dog will willingly move out of your way when you move deliberately towards him and would not try to get past you or through you to get acess to the resource you are currently standing in front of.  Once each dog understands this with their owners, then and only then can we introduce the dogs to each other with resources around.  At Metropawlitan Dog Training, we also teach our dogs that access to all resources is always given to the calmest dog first.  A word of caution: the owers should ALWAYS be present to supervise these interactions and be ready to intervene if one dog tries to take away the resources from another dog.  If your dogs have already been in fights over resources, contact a professional who can help you work throught these issues in a safe and controlled manner.

2.  Dog Aggression From A Lack of Social Skills

Just like with people, dogs that have a really good understanding of their own language and how to communicate with others rarely have an issue with other members of their pack.  But it’s when two pack members misread each other or miss signals from each other that the interaction can go wrong.  Let’s look at a common example.  Lucy is a nervous and timid creature by nature.  Loud noises or sudden movements make her jumpy and puts her into fight or flight mode.  Bruce, however, is a rambunctious, playful, outgoing dog.  He is exciteable and barrels in to play with everyone and anyone.  If the two dogs are interacting, there could potentially be some issues.  Lucy could misread Bruce’s playful behavior as sudden, unpredictable and threatening.  If she feels cornered, she coudl lash out at him in self defense.  Bruce could misread her lashing out as play and could continue his antics with her, which would escalate her aggression.  Or, if he is a pushier, more boisterous guy, this could cause him to attack her back.  Dogs that have a good understanding of body language would be able to read the other dog, and adjust their own energy and body language accordingly to avoid conflict.  This is where proper socialization becomes so important in a puppy’s developing stages.  They need to learn how to be and how to react to different types of dogs, different types of energies, and different types of temperaments.  If this sounds like a situation in your home, then the most important key is to teach your dog proper social skills with other dogs individually first before you start socializing them together.  We here at Metropawlitan Dog Training have programs in place specifically designed to help you with dog to dog socialization and rehabilitation this no matter how old your dog is.

3.   Dog Aggression From Redirected Aggression

This happens most commonly if two dogs get excited or aroused by something they can’t physically get to.  The most common examples are when two leashed dogs see another dog or animal that they can’t get to, or if those two dogs are behind a fence.  One dog can get frustrated, and end up taking out its excitement frustration out on the next closest thing – his pack member.  When this happens, a fight can be triggered where one or both of the dogs can get hurt.  The best way to address this is to identify what makes your dogs excited or aroused.  Teach each dog separately how to maintain a calm, submissive state of mind when they are exposed to such triggers.  When both dogs can remain calm individually, then we can start teaching them to remain calm when they are together.  Always supervise your dogs when they are exposed to such stimuli and separate them if you cannot.

4. Dog Aggression From Pack Restructuring

As older dogs age, there comes a point in time where they will either willing to or be forced to give up their rank in their pack and let younger members of their pack take their place.  If the older dog is unwilling to give up his postion to the younger dog, fights can occur.  Similarly, as a puppy reaches the age of 1-2 years, they start to reach mental and physical maturity.  At this stage, they may start challenging their family members (both older and younger) to seek a higher rank position in the pack.  If the other family members protest the challenge, a fight can easily develop.  Even though it is Mother Nature’s way of ensuring the survival of the overall pack, it can be a frustrating sitaution to live through.  As pet owners, we have to be aware that this can happen, but we don’t have to allow the fights to happen.  Here at Metropawlitan Dog Training, our dogs are all taught that human pack members rank higher than dog pack members.  But dog pack members all rank the same.  Humans are number 1 and all dogs are equally number 2.  All our pet dogs are taught this from the first day they set foot into our homes so there is never any disclarity about a dog’s position in the pack from day 1.  Basic obedience and pack obedience skills are crucial in helping us communicate this message to each of our dogs.

Re-Establishing Harmony in the Pack

So what can be done if you find yourself in one of thses sitautions?  Here are a few hints and tips to get you back onto the road of having harmony within your pack.

1. Make sure each of your dogs knows some basic obedience so that you have a clear way of communicating with your dogs
2. Make sure that each dog has their 3 basic needs fulfilled: food/water/shelter/love, physical stimulation, and mental stimulation
3. The calmest, most submissive dog in your pack awlays gets access to resources first.
4. Hire a professional trainer or dog behaviourist to help you repair broken bonds between pack members.  Dog training is all about timing, and no book, article, or video can ever demonstrate the art of timing as well as a dog trainer who is working with you in person

Have any questions or feedback on our post?  Contact us with any questions you have and we would be happy to help!

Touch sensitive dogs are dog sthat do not like being touched.  They will typically express common signs of

• screaming
• head whipping towards the hand
• biting

Some dogs are only sensitive to touch in certain areas of their body, such as their head or their feet.  In extreme cases, some dogs will react this way when being touched on any part of their body.

Is This An Aggressive Dog Behavior?

While some dogs can become aggressive when being touched, it is important to understand why your dog behaves the way he does.  Often, it is because your dog is fearful of being touched or handled in a mindful or purposeful manner.  This can make it hard for you, your groomer, or your vet to physically examine or groom your dog when your dog needs it most.

Why Are Some Dogs Touch Sensitive?

There are a few main causes of touch sensitivity.  The most common, and most overlookded cause is the lack of proper socialization.  When a dog has never been exposed to mindful handling and been taught to tolerate and enjoy the process, they can become feraful of what they don’t know.

Some dogs have had bad experiences with people when they were younger.  Poor socialization, where the dog has learned to become afraid or associate pain wiht being touched can also cause some dogs to become touch sensitive.

Some dogs are also naturally more sensitive and reactive to being touched rather others.

This is why it is extremely important to socialize young puppies to being handled by many different people at a very young age and be taught that good things happen when they are being handled.  Check out our video below to see a demo of how Metropawlitan Dog Training teaches our puppies to like being handled.

Looking for more hands on training with us?  Enroll in our Polished Puppies Kindergarten class to learn about our Puppy Socialization system.

When to Seek a Dog Behaviourist or Trainer

For dogs that already show touch sensitivity, do not attempt to treat the dog yourself!  Dogs that are already biting or already very fearful about being touched fall into this category.  Seek a professional dog trainer or dog behaviorist to help you out.  They can help to guide you in the safest, most effective and most humane manner possible to help your dog overcome his sensitivities.

If you are worried about your dog’s behavior, our trainers heree at Metropawlitan Dog Training can help.  Ask us about our Private Training sessions to help you and your dog overcome his touch sensistivity in a safe and controlled manner.

Click on the links below to get started!

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