The Greatest Training Advantage Dog Owners Have Is Time
Why You Don’t Need to Train Your Dog Like a Professional Dog Trainer
By David Harris, Founder & Master Trainer of Protection Dog Sales
One of the mistakes I see dog owners make is watching professional dog trainers work and assuming they need to use the same methods, intensity and training schedule with their own dog.
You don't.
Professional dog training and living with your own dog are two very different things.
In fact, as a dog owner, you have one enormous training advantage that a professional trainer can never have when commercially training a dog for a client:
Time.
I've spent more than four decades professionally training dogs, and understanding the difference between commercial dog training and lifetime development can completely change the way you approach your dog.
The professional trainer has expertise, experience and intensity.
The owner has time, relationship and daily life.
Both are valuable. But they serve different purposes.
Commercial Dog Training Has a Deadline
When someone hires Protection Dog Sales to professionally develop a family protection dog, we're being paid to produce results.
There are specific goals.
There are expectations.
There is a developmental timeline.
There are financial considerations.
And ultimately, we have to accomplish something.
In simple terms:
Time + Money + Goals = Need for Results
That reality influences how professional trainers approach training.
It doesn't mean we rush dogs or take shortcuts. Quite the opposite. Our entire development system is built around giving dogs the experiences, training, testing and proofing they need at appropriate developmental stages.
But professional training is still being conducted within a defined window.
The owner has something completely different.
The Owner Has the Rest of the Dog's Life
Once your dog comes home, the clock changes.
You don't have to solve every problem this week.
You don't have to produce dramatic improvement during today's training session.
You don't have to accomplish in 30 days what a professional trainer might be expected to accomplish.
You have something potentially much more powerful:
The rest of your dog's life.
Your training equation looks more like this:
Time + Relationship + Daily Life = Gradual Development
That should take a tremendous amount of pressure off the average dog owner.
You don't have to become a professional trainer.
You need to become a good owner.
And those are not the same job.
Your Dog Doesn't Have to Be Perfect Today
If there's one lesson I want our clients to remember, it's this:
The dog doesn't have to be perfect. He just needs to be a little better than he was yesterday.
Stop chasing perfection.
Start chasing progress.
If the dog is a little calmer today, that's progress.
If he waits at the door a little longer, that's progress.
If his recall is slightly more reliable, that's progress.
If he ignores a distraction that bothered him last week, that's progress.
If he settles more quickly in the house, that's progress.
Small improvements repeated over months and years become enormous improvements.
That's development.
Daily Life Is the Training Session
People tend to separate "training the dog" from "living with the dog."
I don't think that's the best way to look at it.
You certainly can—and sometimes should—have structured training sessions.
But once you own the dog, your greatest training opportunities are often built into ordinary life.
Taking the dog outside is a training opportunity.
Opening the front door is a training opportunity.
Going to the car is a training opportunity.
Playing ball is a training opportunity.
Feeding the dog is a training opportunity.
Having guests over is a training opportunity.
Walking through a store is a training opportunity.
Going on vacation is a training opportunity.
Even sitting in the living room watching television can be a training opportunity.
Turn your life with the dog into training.
Once you begin thinking that way, you stop worrying so much about finding time to train.
The time is already there.
Catch Your Dog Being Good
We've all heard the expression:
"Let sleeping dogs lie."
Sometimes I think we should do exactly the opposite.
Imagine you're sitting in your living room watching television.
Your dog is lying quietly beside you.
He's calm.
He's relaxed.
He's not barking.
He's not demanding attention.
He's not pacing around the house.
He's not bothering anyone.
He's simply relaxing with the family.
Think about what he's doing.
He's exhibiting exactly the behavior you want.
Why not acknowledge it?
Reach down and give him some quiet affection.
Tell him he's a good dog.
You don't have to make a production out of it.
Just let him know you noticed.
Catch the dog being good.
That's an incredibly simple concept, but many owners do exactly the opposite.
Don't Only Notice Your Dog When He's Wrong
Think about the behaviors that immediately get an owner's attention.
The dog barks.
The owner responds.
The dog jumps.
The owner responds.
The dog pulls on the leash.
The owner responds.
The dog begs at the table.
The owner responds.
The dog runs through the house.
The owner responds.
Now consider the opposite.
The dog is quiet.
Nothing.
The dog waits patiently.
Nothing.
The dog ignores another dog.
Nothing.
The dog walks calmly beside you.
Nothing.
The dog settles quietly while you're eating dinner.
Nothing.
The dog makes a great decision without being told what to do.
Nothing.
Owners can accidentally create a relationship in which undesirable behavior generates interaction while desirable behavior makes the dog invisible.
That's backwards.
Reinforce the dog you want.
Notice calmness.
Notice patience.
Notice focus.
Notice relaxation.
Notice impulse control.
And especially notice when your dog makes a good decision on his own.
Those are behaviors worth developing.
Professional Dog Training and Home Training Are Different Jobs
This distinction is particularly important for Protection Dog Sales clients.
We've documented our dogs through tens of thousands of training and development videos. That transparency allows prospective clients and owners to see professional trainers working our dogs throughout their development.
But there's a potential downside.
A client can watch one of our trainers working a dog and think:
"Am I supposed to be able to do that?"
No.
That's our job.
Our professional trainers are responsible for building the foundation.
We're developing obedience, confidence, environmental stability, social skills, impulse control, protection skills and the dog's ability to safely navigate the human world.
We teach.
We train.
We test.
We proof.
And then we test some more.
The professional process might look something like this:
Foundation → Intensive Training → Testing → Proofing → Results
The owner's job is different:
Relationship → Daily Repetition → Incremental Improvement → Lifetime Development
These systems aren't competing with one another.
They complement each other.
The professional trainer builds the foundation.
The family continues the development.
"I'm Afraid I'll Mess Up My Protection Dog"
I've heard versions of this concern from clients for years.
Someone purchases an exceptionally well-trained family protection dog and becomes nervous about changing anything.
They'll tell me:
"David, I don't want to mess him up."
I understand.
You've invested in an extraordinary dog. You don't want to undo the training you've paid for.
But that's not how I want our clients to think.
You're not finished developing this dog because you purchased him. You're beginning the next phase of his development.
The dog is not a machine.
He's not a finished product that needs to be frozen exactly as he was on delivery day.
He's a living, thinking, learning animal.
He will continue adapting to your family.
He will learn your schedule.
He will learn your expectations.
He will learn your children.
He will learn your home.
He will learn your lifestyle.
And hopefully, five years after delivery, he'll be an even better dog than the one we handed you.
That's the goal.
Development Never Stops
This principle is fundamental to the way we develop dogs at Protection Dog Sales:
Development is a process, not an event.
Teaching builds understanding.
Training creates consistency.
Testing tells us where we are.
Proofing prepares the dog for reality.
But ordinary daily life provides thousands of opportunities to maintain and strengthen everything that came before.
That's one reason our philosophy of Home Raised / Family Trained matters so much.
We don't believe a great family protection dog is simply the product of obedience training and protection work.
Genetics matter.
Early puppy development matters.
Socialization matters.
Professional training matters.
Testing matters.
Proofing matters.
Living in a real home matters.
And the dog's continued relationship with his eventual family matters.
Great dogs are developed, not manufactured.
Your Greatest Training Resource Is Time
Professional trainers have tremendous advantages.
We have knowledge.
We have experience.
We have timing.
We understand behavior.
We understand learning theory.
We know how to structure exercises and create situations that produce specific results.
But the owner has something the professional trainer can never duplicate.
Years.
Years of breakfasts.
Years of walks.
Years of car rides.
Years of playing ball in the backyard.
Years of opening doors.
Years of meeting visitors.
Years of going on vacation.
Years of taking the dog into public.
Years of evenings relaxing in the living room.
Years of ordinary days when nothing particularly interesting happens.
Hidden inside those ordinary moments are thousands upon thousands of opportunities to develop your dog.
That's your advantage.
Use it.
Don't Chase Perfection. Chase Progress.
Don't compare yourself to a professional dog trainer you watched in a five-minute video.
Don't think every interaction with your dog needs to produce some dramatic breakthrough.
And don't become so afraid of making a mistake that you stop developing the dog altogether.
Instead, ask yourself a much simpler question:
Is my dog a little better today than he was yesterday?
If the answer is yes, you're headed in the right direction.
Get up tomorrow and do it again.
And again.
And again.
Because after more than four decades of professionally training dogs, one thing has become very clear to me:
Great dogs aren't created in a single training session.
They're developed over a lifetime.
David Harris
Founder & Master Trainer
Protection Dog Sales
Founder & Master Trainer
Protection Dog Sales
Home Raised / Family Trained
For more than four decades, David Harris and the team at Protection Dog Sales have specialized in developing home-raised family personal protection dogs with an emphasis on temperament, real-world socialization, professional training, testing and documented development.
