You *can* train your dog - with a bit of help!

I get a lot of mail. People have endless questions - and I’m happy to point them in the right direction. I take the time because it’s part of my mission of helping dogs.

But it’s sad when I get the third or fourth email from the same person. And they’re asking the same question as they did in their first missive!

I give them the same answers. Again.

Trouble is, their dog is now many months or even years older. Whatever their issue was is now entrenched, a habit.

If they’d only followed my suggestion the first time round, their issue would be long gone!

Why are they not helping their dog?

So I wonder .. why is this?

And the unfortunate conclusion is that they think that by asking me the question, they’ve solved the problem!

They don’t seem to realise that they actually have to DO something to put the advice into practice.

And before you throw up your hands and say, “How could anyone be so stupid?” just think of when we’ve asked someone’s advice .. did we always take it? Hmmm 🙄

Or did we perhaps think, “That’s too hard - I can’t do that!”

It could be for reasons of finance, commitment, time.

But here’s the thing: if you really wanted to fix your problem, you’d do what it takes to fix it!

And what it takes could be more than you’re currently able to manage on your own.

What it comes down to is lack of support.

You can fervently wish to change the thing that’s bothering you with your dog, but the advice given just seems too hard to do with the knowledge and experience you have right now.

That’s why you need to use someone else’s knowledge and experience!

We can’t know everything. We can’t be good at everything.

We need the humility to recognise when we’re beat, and that we need to ask for help.

I want help with my dog!

This is why students do so well in my programs. They recognise that they can’t do it alone, and they get that help.

The 1-1 coaching is available for as long as you like. You never get thrown out of the program - this is actually unusually generous. Many programs are for only a year, then you’re out. In mine - you just stick around and make friends!

My programs have continual input from me and my experienced trainer team. You never have to do this alone!

In From Growly Dog to Confident Dog, for instance, there are regular Coaching Calls with individual coaching.

Here’s what some of our Brilliant Family Dog students have to say:

“I am over the moon with the course and can see improvements every day. I am so happy I found this program. Thank you Beverley and Trainers.” DD

“Your communities are just fantastic! You have set the whole tone for support, friendly advice, constructive comments, a much appreciated touch of humour, encouragement, keeping up enthusiasm ... and more. It's a pleasure to be part of it, to dip in and out as life goes on and always to feel welcome.” JL

“I have started week two of the training with her and am already telling others how amazing the course is. If I'd only found Brilliant Family Dog before I got her!! I think your program is absolutely fabulous. Really enjoying the training.” LB

“Many thanks for being you! and for all you have taught me. My puppy is so different to all my expectations, because of you. Your training truly is brilliant!” CN

“I can’t start to explain how happy I am with the help and support I’ve had in the Brilliant Family Dog Academy, and its carefully-structured training.” SW

“Seems to me that you wear many different hats .... dog trainer, people trainer, educator, counsellor, support/outreach, author, etc - awesome!” LA

“Beverley, we will continue on our amazing journey, I am so pleased you are a part of it. Feel proud of what you do, it is invaluable and really does make this world a better place, especially for the canines who live alongside us.” SM

Want to get started with this guided learning?

Open your mind for you and your dog!

Something we all need to do regularly is to clean out our mental baggage! 

I know I need to do this - more frequently than I’d like to admit.

Why? Because these things can creep up on us. We think we know what we think. But when we look closely we find that there’s some beastly deeply-entrenched belief that trumps what our rational mind is trying to think!

We have been influenced by everything in our lives - and often we don’t have any idea of that influence. It could be from parents, teachers, work, tv, overheard remarks . . . we take it as gospel.

And it’s lurking deep within us, countering what we want to think.

“Oh yeah? How does that thought square with what you know deep down that you believe?” says that inner voice.

And nowhere is this more evident than in people’s ideas about how they should be with their dog.

I love it when people say, “It’s so obvious when you put it like that!” and “I can’t believe I didn’t realise this before.”

“You’re talking rot!”

But I see this a lot, in reactions to videos and posts of mine.

It’s a knee-jerk reaction.

Instead of reading or watching, then agreeing or disagreeing and moving on, some folk are moved to lash out.

I have dared to question a deeply-held belief of theirs, so what’s their response? Kick, scream, shout, finger-point, abuse … you get the picture.

“I don’t understand this idea so I’ll attack it,” is their response.

This is them with a closed mind, fighting against imagined foes.

Sadly, they don’t allow the introspection necessary to see whether there is any sense in what I say. They just lash out. It’s that “cancel culture” which is unfortunately encouraged by the immediacy of social media.

They are absolutely entitled to disagree with me! Of course!

But a sensible response, a curious comment, would be far better than reactions like this recent one:

“Wows this Brilliant Family Dog is absolutely a nut case”

Still with me?

If you’re still reading, it’s possible you like what I tend to say, and you’re open to new ideas. I hope that’s the case - in matters of dog training and everything else. Because so am I! I don’t “know it all”, and I’m always learning.

I learn about dog training by seeing what people I admire are saying - but mostly I learn from my readers’ struggles, and from living with my own dogs, each of them so individual.

There’s a danger that we form an opinion some time early in life, and never consider revising it. If everyone did that, we’d still be living in caves!

It’s good to question our beliefs. We can become complacent, close our minds, refuse to move forward.

• We used to send children up chimneys

• We used to steal people, put them in slave ships, and sell them.

• We used to believe that deviations from social norms were evil.

• We used to believe we had to beat dogs into submission.

Fortunately all those things have changed!

And things have moved on so fast in understanding dogs over the last 70-odd years, that there’s always something new we can learn as the latest research filters through to the world at large.

People who have had dogs - managed them successfully - for years, come to me with a question about their new dog, who’s throwing up new challenges for them.

There’s no reason why they should know all the developments in dog behaviour study - and it’s great that they come to me and ask!

This shows that they have an open mind, and they’re ready to learn.

What new thing have you learnt about life with your dog recently? What crazy old belief have you unearthed and removed?

Tell us in the comments below!

And if you’d like to engage in more conversations like this, come and join us in Creativity Central (it’s not about dogs but . . . they do creep in here and there!).