One of our biggest challenges as dog trainers is keeping our clients from standing in their own way. There are a hundred variations of how this can manifest, and in this post, I will be discussing two recent situations that were brought to me by trainers that I coach. The cases are different, but both involve the owners wanting to push things too far too fast in spite of their trainer’s advice.
The first is a newer trainer who is taking on many puppy cases and helping owners with potty training. He is giving them a lot of good advice regarding structure and routine but is still struggling to get the owners to stay consistent and prevent accidents. In short, they want to give too much freedom too fast, resulting in accidents, and stifling their progress.
The second is a trainer that is working with a lot of both human and dog reactivity and aggression. She contacted me because she is finding that despite her best advice, many dog owners want to push their dogs too far, causing them to go over their threshold and explode.
In the video below, I discuss these situations in detail and offer my #1 solution for breaking clients out of this habit.