Leaning into the Lifestyle Training

I am lots of things. 

I'm a balanced dog trainer. I teach my dogs right from wrong, and use both positive and negative cues to let them know when they've done something correctly or incorrectly. I teach my clients how to accomplish this, too. 

I'm a lifestyle coach for dog owners. I teach people how to incorporate their dog more fully into their every day lives in a way that decreases your stress and increases your ability to have adventures with your dog or quiet days at home alike. 

I'm an advocate for people living with CRPS and other forms of chronic pain. I have experienced the profound change a working dog can have on my pain, my quality of life, and my outlook on life. I want to give that to other people like me. I have extensive experience explaining this monster of a condition to doctors and family members, and am more than ready to share PDFs with others to help them explain it, too. 

I'm a disabled woman, living in severe pain every day, who trained her own service dog for mobility and chronic pain assistance, and is currently training a successor. I'm also a business owner, an artist, a writer, and I will always be a horse trainer at heart. I'm a wife, a friend, and an individual with my own thoughts and dreams. ​

I am all of this, and because of it, I am a person who firmly believes in the immense benefit that comes from approaching dog training like a way of life.

​Once you start seeing training your dog as living with your dog in harmony with a mutually understood set of rules, what's "impossible" begins to melt away. ​

Lifestyle Training is How I Train in Pain

A Common Idea of What Training Looks Like: Schedule a 45-minute training session for each dog every single day and then ignore them for the rest of the day until it's time for another 45 minute session, potty breaks, playtime, or walks. Or, do training class 1x per week for an hour, and then only do walks and play at home. Training is for class. 

This is NOT what I do. At all. Nope nope nope. 

I do what I call Lifestyle Training. I also commonly refer to this idea as "Everything is Training." A lot of balanced trainers approach it this way, because the best way to help your dog learn right from wrong is to incorporate them into your daily life, lay out rules, and hold them accountable. By giving them the chance to make choices, and guiding them on good choices or pointing out when they make incorrect choices, we help them learn the big picture of life. And real life is much more than what happens in training class. 

Everything is training works well for me. It's a concept I'm familiar with. "Everything" is a big word. It can be too immense for some to wrap their minds around. 

Here's the thing. CRPS, my pain condition, can be summed up into "Everything = Pain." No, seriously, EVERYTHING. Hugs, pain, touch, taste, texture, sound, light, feather, the feeling of a butterfly landing on you, clothing, walking, sitting, standing, breathing, blinking, and the list goes on. 

Opening your mind to the idea of "everything" for CRPS also helped me open my mind up for seeing the "everything" for dog training. 

Brushing my teeth = Austin can practice holding a Sit for 2 min or lying on the tile floor
Doing on-leash potty breaks 4x/day = Austin can learn how to move in Heel for short distances
I need to boil water for pasta = We can practice commands on a slick floor
I need to wash dishes = Robbie can lay on Place for 15 minutes and work on duration (STAY)
I'm having a bad pain day = Austin can learn that when I'm in higher pain, he needs to move through the house with me, wait when I go to the bathroom or get a snack, then lay by my chair or on the bed with me calmly

Sit is All You Need to Get Started...

It begins with Sit and being responsive to leash pressure. Moments that are common across any dog home are: needing to put on or take off a collar or leash, going through doorways, putting on a vest/harness/bandanna, being fed, going out to potty, having play or chew time, being in a crate or loose in the house, and going for walks or adventures. Each of those ordinary, every day moments are PERFECT for sliding in a quick minute of training, or even a few seconds. The more you make those training choices become habit for you, the easier it feels to integrate training into your day. 

The idea of training a dog can be daunting. Maybe you think you wouldn't be good at it, or your dog isn't capable of learning. 

Let me ask you this: 

Does your dog "seem to know" when it's walk time?
Does your dog automatically Sit when you get the treats out?
Does your dog lay down nearby when you're doing an activity without being asked to?
Does your dog know when meal time is?
Does your dog know when you need help or are having a bad day?

If you answered YES to any of those, that's proof your dog is learning from you already. They are 100% capable. 

And So Are You. 

We don't hear that enough. I believe you can do this, though.

You gotta start somewhere, so I encourage you to start with the 8 tips above and see how it feels. If you like the new rhythm of days with your dog and want to try more, send me an email or a text. Let's set you up with a FREE consult to discuss what you want with your dog, and we'll go from there.