Natural Dog Training

The components of the natural training approach are:

Whole

Open

Active

Satisfied

Whole In the natural approach, everything about a dog is seen as vital to its good nature. What's wild about your dog is what makes him whole, cooperative, and able to be trained in the first place. Nothing needs fixing; it just needs nurturing. Anything short of this is fragmented, not whole. The wild core of your dog is his true heart. It needn't be denied.
Open For learning to begin your dog must be open. New, appropriate behaviors can not replace old, inappropriate ones if your dog is closed down. Most of the training and handling offered today has the opposite effect- it closes a dog down by making him surrender. Many dogs survive shut down. But no dog thrives unless he is open.
Satisfied For a good behavior to replace an inappropriate one, the new behavior must leave your dog feeling satisfied. Some owners try to reinforce desired behavior through denial. Others reinforce with praise, play and treats. But satisfaction comes through instinct. To satisfy your dog and permanently instill desired behaviors, you must work with his nature. Satisfaction for your dog is like your own. It is a combination of discipline and reward.
Active In Nature, calmness and clarity of purpose is gained through action. Your dog's natural activity can be reinforced so that calm liveliness becomes his way of being. Training through inaction is drudgery. Training through action is enlivening and fun.

Natural Dog Training...

is a fun, simple and, most importantly, works under any and all conditions. We humans see many rules and exercises to be mastered. Once the heart of your dog's natural learning process is addressed, however, all the specific behaviors you want will follow automatically and almost without effort. For your dog there is only one problem to solve- how to direct all his energy through you, naturally.
If we teach a dog to listen without capturing all his energy, then everything he learns will be fundamentally flawed. In a moment of crisis or intense excitement, years of conditioning can unravel in an instant, just like a building collapsing on a faulty foundation.
The reason dogs don't listen is because they are confused. The reason dogs are confused is because their training wasn't based on their innate nature. Dogs want to cooperate. Any two dogs, when left to their own devices and within a natural setting, always and infallibly learn to cooperate. It's a law of nature as predictable and uniform as gravity. If a dog isn't listening to you, it's because you are not appealing to his true nature.

Steps to Natural Dog Training

In Natural Dog Training it really doesn't matter whether your dog is young or old, previously trained or new to training. Working naturally with your dog's energy always follows a simple sequence.
Step One - Before any new behavior can begin, your dog must be open to you and to learning. So, we begin in a perfect setting, like walking in the woods or playing in a meadow. Playing games, particularly hide and seek, attracts your dog to you.
Step Two - As your dog opens to you, we move on to contact. Making physical contact with you is pleasurable. And it teaches him to tune his energy to you. You become a desirable playmate and channel his drive.
Step Three - Now we can begin to refine his focus so that you are always the object of his attention. We begin to intensify his attraction to you and he begins to really work for your attention. He learns that focusing on you brings satisfaction and wholeness.
Step Four - This is when your dog begins to handle conflicting situations. Should he stay with you or should he chase the cat? You learn to be a magnet your dog is naturally drawn to.
Step Five - In situation where your dog has developed specific conflict issues, this step replaces old patterns with new, more appropriate ones. The clarity and openness you have developed in steps one through four can now be applied to old, difficult problems.

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