Whenever I write and say “we” I am referring to my entire team, me / George (owner/head trainer), Lisa (office boss and hubby handler) Frank (trainer) and Elizabeth AKA “Sissy” (social media & marketing) and most importantly the Holy Spirit. They are all with me, all the time.
When I arrive at someone’s home for an appointment and knock on the door it is like hearing people yell at each other in different languages. The human is yelling with words and the dog is yelling with action. As soon as the door is open, I begin to speak to the dog in their language of eye contact, movement, and touch. The dog immediately realizes I can speak their language and they are excited for me to teach it to their family. Getting yelled at for not understanding is a terrible thing. You cannot be held accountable for not using information that you were not aware of. When you have an issue, you use the tools in your toolbox. Humans are naturally designed to communicate with other humans, which we do a terrible job of, and dogs are naturally designed to communicate with other dogs, which they do an amazing job of naturally. However, nothing about living in the human world is natural to a dog.
The biggest hurdle we face is that a dog would never naturally be confined or restrained in a container ie; house, fenced in yard, or on a leash. Everyone knows how a dogs respond when you try to restrain them for things like nail trims. Not having free movement puts dogs into a fight or flight response. All dogs are 98% gray wolves, and you quickly see this when they are in the fight or flight response. It’s simple, either run away, or fight until you can run away.
A small percentage of dogs are dominant, especially over time with several other dogs. Most dogs like people just want to go along and get along. Canine or human, constantly being in charge is a headache and takes a ton of energy. The longer you are in charge the more draining it is. This is the reason why to even get a dog to nip you really have to push them into a physical or mental corner and then they will only do it to the point of you leaving them alone. This is why the natural dog would choose to run away from anything that frightened them if given a choice. In a world of containers and leashes there is nowhere to go when they don’t know how to deal with something, so they are like the ball in a pinball machine. How would your anxiety be if you were caught in a box with all sorts of things happening and people were yelling at you in a different language. Saying things in a different language other than yours, things like calm down, it’s OK, relax, you know better, stop, and no. Keep in mind that saying these things to a person who speaks your language is not helpful because these words don’t convey what to so instead.
The canine world is a very simple, consistent, and orderly one. There are two primary focuses, avoiding danger and finding food. The singe dog has zero since of survival. They are pack animals blessed with a 200-degree field of vision vs the human 180-200. This is because with eyes on the side of their head they have the ability to process information on both sides while moving at fast speeds. This is how a pack hunts. There is a pack leader, and every dog has a next higher-ranking dog, with all dogs above them being higher ranking. This higher is typically worked out using the five natural commodities of food, water, and space. Often done in a playful manner with most dogs just submitting, the only real violence comes when two dogs decide not to concede for #1. Dogs unlike people don’t want the position consciously, they seek no power or control for themselves, they are driven by their creator to sort it out until someone assumes the burden of command of the pack.
The single biggest tool that humans have in relation to bonding with their dog is the ability to give attention. This is what led ancient wolves to follow people around, well that and the fact that it was easier to eat their scraps than hunt. They would come closer and closer, eventually to the point where they would let humas pet them. Then the humans went back to surviving and the dog followed for food and the newfound thing that was foreign to them, physical and verbal praise and attention, something they could never get from another wolf. Eventually that wild funnel lead from open plains to villages and people and wolves / dogs became domesticated. Lots of human and canine frustration comes from the lack of ability to avoid those outside your pack because of lack of space. So how do we take this natural beautiful bond and uses it to heal our souls as well as our canine companions and get back to our roots.
First understand that we are ill equipped to naturally move as a pack with our dogs. Being two legged is the first and biggest problem when communicating. First and foremost, dogs communicate with eyesight. If your dog is too far in front of you, or two far behind you, they cannot see where you are looking. This is the way that a lower ranking dog can see what their higher-ranking dog is focused on. The natural swing of your arm along with their 240-degree field of vision create the “heel box”, the fixed heel position is your dog’s front right leg next to your left heel. The “heel box” is the moving position. This is what you see when you see military / police working dog working with their handler. This is the dog telling the handler I am focused on you, what are we going to do.
Traditional talk and treat trainers don’t seem to understand that. I don’t care if your dog is going to be a pet, a service dog, or a therapy dog. I also don’t care if your dog knows sit, down, stay, give paw or whatever. Until you can walk your dog on a loose lead using one finger, nothing else matters…nothing.
If you are going to be your dog’s higher-ranking dog and show them the rules, boundaries, and limitations in this chaotic, inconsistent world, your need to have their focus in the house first. After all this is where most dogs will spend 90+ of their life responding to doorbells, knocks, people, and other animals. We don’t train from the outside in, we train from the inside out. This is the primary reason why we primally do in-home training. During our one-hour Love & Leadership Training Session this is where we start. This is also why we are so successful with packs, often three or four dogs in the same hour. Once one dog sees that you speak dog it draws a crowd. Taking of your dogs to a big box pet store for pre-school lessons using a treat bag does not transfer to the other dogs at home. Since it is the most prolific type of dog training, if it was effective, there would never have been a reason for me to look for something else, and My Canine Salvation would have never been a thing. You are no longer stuck with “better than nothing” dog training. During the Love & Leadership Session, we show you what we call Focus Based Canine Training, it is the canine communication system based on eye contact, movement, and touch. We show them that we “get it” and then show you how to use it. The number one tool we use is the Immediate Correction & Traffic Lead. It comes with all appointments and is the only lead ever designed based on the anatomy and physiology of humans and canines to be used for safety and communication, not control. If you need any piece of gear to physical control your dog, you do not have control of your dog. Over 90% of the time your dog is on it the lead will be loose. This produces a mental connection that remains off leash. These are some of the things covered within hour using the system without saying a word except praise…and no treats.
- Silent Loose Lead Walk starting inside and then out
- Exiting and entering the door under control (loose lead)
- Door busting
- Jumping
- Unwanted barking
- 5 minute off-lead Focus Drill (Dog stands or sits after dropping the lead and not saying a word)
- Leash reaction (based on physical touch, not sight) in reaction to anything they see, smell or hear.
- Counter surfing
- Dropping things in their mouth on command
- Not taking and chewing things like sock, shoes, and underwear
- Ignoring guests who come into the house
- and much more
None of the above is predicated on the dogs age, breed, size, background, or previous behavior. Many say, “I knew my dog was smart”, I ask them how smart they would appear to someone yelling at them in a different language. All dogs without neurological issues or canine dementia respond to this training within the hour. We are not selling a session, we are selling a system that you can apply to any canine behavior in any environment, at any time.
We also adapt to the training to those with special needs or challenges. Dogs are one size fits most, but people seldom are. We also take living conditions and situations into account and make the needed adjustments for the best possible outcomes.
Once you train with us you are a client for life and get immediate access to MCS Dog Pack (our clients only Facebook page. We will also be available for a follow / refresher if need but do our best to support you using the Facebook page, talk, text, and e-mail.
If you are reading this outside of our area (Southern Pennsylvania, Northern Maryland) consider bringing us to you. We love to work with organizations and rescues. We make it easy and enjoy taking our show on the road.
Since 2017 we have trained over 3500 dogs, like I mentioned earlier, mostly in their homes. Since that time, we have amassed almost 600 Five Star reviews. This has been accomplished over five years by one man going to one house one by one with no control over the aptitude of the clients or dogs. It’s obviously not me, it’s the system that allows all those people to work with their dogs of every conceivable age, breed, background and size to achieve the same outcomes. We just developed and supply the system that once shown you can use to work any dog you ever meet.
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