Dogma’s Dogma
At Good Dogma, we believe the most important part of dog training is owner education. Your dog’s lesson time with us is only a small piece of the training process. The real work is what happens at home, every day, with you. This page outlines the core principles we promote: leadership, communication, structure, and understanding canine psychology, so you can build a calmer, more connected relationship with your dog.
Who Are We?
We call ourselves dog trainers, but the real training starts with the human. The time that your dog spends with us, whether a private lesson or group instruction, is relatively insignificant. The time that YOU spend with us is a complete learning period. After a training session with Good Dogma, you will receive individualized homework instructions to implement, reinforcing your lesson with us.
Below is a list for you, the trainer, to think about each day that you live with and train your dog:
Always ensure that your dog’s physical/psychological needs are being met: Leadership, exercise, food, shelter, trust, connection.
Remain in the “Leadership” zone (calm and assertive) at all times – change the balance/dynamics of the relationship, let the dog know that you, the human, are in charge of the pack.
Your dog is always keeping tabs on your “energy” (stressed, calm, excited, nervous, etc.) and reacting to that energy. A calm dog needs a calm owner.
A Purebred dog is still a dog. See them as dogs, not as breeds – but do consider the special needs of the breed (e.g. border collies, Arctic breeds, hounds, etc.).
Training is superficial; focus on the “big picture”. The goal is to have your dog respond to you as a leader utilizing your energy, vocalizations and body language Vs. the sound of a “command”. Alpha dogs “train” their packs this way. It’s about energy and leadership.
It’s critically important to understand the way your dog thinks. We recommend books by Dr. Ian Dunbar, Jean Donaldson and Dr. Bruce Fogle. Pay attention to the dog’s body language to understand and anticipate behaviors so that you can preempt them before the fact. It’s always easier to stop a behavior before it happens than to manage it once it happens.
When you say, “We’ve tried everything”, think about this: did you use dog psychology or human psychology? Anger, frustration and punishment are not part of a dog’s psychology. The dog fails when the human fails.
Don’t make excuses for your dog’s behavior…train for new, more desirable behaviors.
Focus on your goal(s) for the dog, try not to get distracted by the dog’s behavior in the moment. Think long term and be patient with younger dogs.
Lack of structure, routine and schedule creates chaos for you, your family and the dog.
Good Dogma’s Dogma
Good Dogma’s primary focus is owner education and guidance, offering instruction and tools that facilitate enhanced connection between you and your dog. Utilizing efficient canine communication accelerates your dog’s responses to you. It is essential to understand your dog’s psychology and body language to communicate, and shape behavior. Your vocal inflection and body language, often tells the dog more than words. We help you recognize behavior patterns and learn to differentiate a dog problem from a human problem; learning to understand whether canine misbehavior arises from nature or nurture. When you learn to recognize the difference, and understand the how and why of your dog’s behavior, training becomes more effective, and even fun!
We work on the premise that all dogs are unique individuals. We take your dog’s breed/mix, temperament and personality into consideration when training. Timid, shy or subordinate dogs require different approaches than do headstrong, dominant or stubborn types. We recognize that every human and dog learn at their own pace, in their own way, and we work to explore what works best for you and your dog.
Good Dogma does not utilize or promote negative physical interactions between human and dog. We believe that these interactions may, in fact, ultimately create bigger problems. “Punishment”, at certain stages of canine development, has a chance of producing trauma, leading to lifelong negative effects on the dog’s behavior.
Good Dogma’s training philosophy emphasizes structure, routine and consistent force free learning. We trust that teaching the dog what to do, what behavior is desired, to earn praise, contributes to faster conditioning of the desired behavior.
Good Dogma offers private instruction as well as workshops and seminars that are relaxed, fun and limited in size so that we can provide every student with as much personalized attention as possible.