RICK KAPLAN TALK N' DOGS 5/7/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:29

We wanted to know what was on your mind about training and uh training dogs out of certain behaviors. And Budget Blind's text line, by the way, is open. If you have any type of uh behavioral issues you want to run by Rick of K9Asusa.org. The number is 843-798-8255-798 TALK. All right, Rick, what's on your top of your agenda?

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Anybody who has a dog or is planning on getting a dog should take some notes because I'm going to give you five training methods that will change your life and the life of the dog.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

So I always I always think about aliens who are sent to Earth to report from a distance about what they see and what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

And they go back and they report that this planet has the most incredibly athletic and variegated, beautiful, four-legged creatures. And each one has a slave that they're dragging around on a rope. And they they can stop anywhere they like and poop and pee, and then they look at the slave, the slave picks it up, carries it around. Uh so who are they reporting is the intelligent being here?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Good point. Right?

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Well, well, Rick, you know what I agree with you, but wait till the aliens get a load of the cats.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

That's funny. That's true. That's true. Anyway, uh nine out of ten dog owners have it all wrong. Um the the the the urge to be kind to your dog uh turns out to be cruel because you're not establishing the right order in the pack. And that puts a tremendous stress on the dog to be more authoritative, and we don't want that. So uh there are five things that I do with every single dog that I've always trained. And if you can do at least one of these with your dog, you're going to start to change the way your dog sees himself in the pack and become much more relaxed, much more obedient, much more focused. So let's start with the first one, which is what we call the mealtime drill. Okay. The mealtime drill is not just to put the food down and the dog jumps into the bowl or knocks the food all over the place or or jumps up and knocks it out of your hand and all that sort of of bad manners. Uh, because what I'm really teaching here is manners. How a dog should should behave when there's company, when there when there's just you in any situation. So the mealtime drill is about having the dog wait for your permission to eat the food. And the way you accomplish that is you have the dog sit, stay, you create an eye contact. It's not looking at the food that matters, it's looking at you. Because because you want the dog to get used to waiting for permission for the food. Because you, as the alpha, as the loving leader of this pack, you are the one that creates all the permissions. So uh you have the dog sit, stay, you put the food down, you're imposing in a kind way, you're imposing your control over the situation. And if the dog goes for the food, you block the dog. Uh and have him sit again until he will sit and wait until you give the okay word, which could be anything you choose. It could be okay, it could be break, it could be free, it could be take it, it could be eat, whatever you decide the command should be. So that's really if you can create that with your dog, you're gonna create a whole new pack order. And that's what really this is all about. It's about the behavior of the the the thinking that matters. You know, training is not just having a dog sit, come, stay, it's training w where they think they are in the pack, and this is a major step, this mealtime drill. The next one is what we call barrier to entry. And what that means is that nine out of ten dogs just think they can jump up in your lap anytime they please. Uh they can demand love and affection on their schedule, as opposed to sitting looking at the alpha and waiting for permission to come into your lap or to come up on the couch, etc. etc. So everything that I'm talking about here today is about creating this this uh this power over the dog, where the dog is is honored to have your affection and your your love and your petting and all that stuff. So again, you're sitting on the couch, the dog jumps up, send him back down, have him sit, have him wait, create that eye contact, and when you are ready, you tell the dog up, and then he gets the love, affection, and petting and so on. That's uh that's number two. Very important. The third, which is really critical, is what we call threshold manners. What's the threshold? Threshold is going through a space to another space. It could be going into your kitchen, could be going in and out of any door. Um a screen door, a car door, or a front door, a back door, it doesn't matter. Uh what I do is I have all my dogs learn the command wait. Wait means something is going to happen, meaning you're gonna go through this door, but not until I give you permission. Um so what happens is that I do that enough times and a dog will go to a door and just sit. Whether the door is open or closed or whatever, I don't even have to yeah, I don't have to say wait anymore. He gets the he gets it, right? So uh what this does is creates good manners, it creates patience, it creates uh a dog that other people will be totally jealous of because you m you may be teaching a dog all kinds of tricks to roll over or or fetch or all none of that means anything if the dog doesn't have manners. If people come to your house and the dog is jumping and barking and carrying on and all this. So this the threshold drill is really, really a great, great drill. Uh the fourth one is what we call place and stay. So every dog should have a place, and that should be the command. What's the place? Place could be a corner, place could be a bed, place could be something when you say place, the dog goes right over there and sits down and stays there until further notice. And that's really handy if you have people in your home and you don't want the dog all over everybody. Uh you know, you certainly place, and then the dog just sits and stays there. Um, and that requires a lot of repetition, taking the dog to that place, having them sit, stay, and you'll see within very short period of time, dogs are very clever, very smart. They're a lot smarter than a lot of people, and uh they they'll get it. It's terrific. And then finally, the last one is the uh putting all this stuff together into an obedience drill, having the dog place, having the dog come, having the dog sit, having the dog wait at the door. Just in a one or two minutes, twice a day, you can put all these things together into a into a uh sort of a command drill, and you'll see how smart these dogs are. They're incredible, and they'll put it all together, and all of a sudden you have a beautifully trained dog, which which spills over onto everything else, which is really amazing stuff. So um people, uh nine out of ten dogs are not trained well, they don't have the right idea about pack order. And if you do one, two, three, or all of these drills in a couple of weeks, you'll have an amazing dog. Your life will will improve, and certainly the dog's state of mind will be a thousand percent better.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

And I just wanted to let people know if they are listening to this right now and driving or working and can't write it all down, we will have this clip on our talkradio mb.com website, um, and that will be posted in a day or two, and you can uh download it and keep it and then you know take notes from there. And that's true with all of our interviews and our 605 hour as well. Okay, Rick, I think we have some questions for you on the budget blinds text line.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Well, actually, Rick, we have a comment. This individual really wants to pass along some gratitude. So thanks. And the uh budget blinds text here. I'd like to thank Rick. I emailed him personally and he responded right away with the help on how to get my dog to be less fearful of me because he was abused by a man. The advice he gave me is working very well, and the dog is really starting to warm up. So he wants to say thank you.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

Yep. And I say thank you for taking the time to uh show your appreciation.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Rick, I had a bad incident the other day. Um and you know the work that we've done with Bailey, and we've not worked with her recently as much as we should because of work schedules and all that and whatever. Um and I had a friend bring over their dog, a little Aussie Doodle, and they have met before and they've played l like swimmingly together. And uh my dog was out in the backyard, and uh normally I super prepare and over prepare. And this day my friend walked out with her dog and the dog went outside. She just went and she sniffed around and she, you know, peed and all that. And my dog just jumped on her and it attacked her. Bailey? Yeah. Uh yeah. And I went over there and I I picked I picked up my friend's dog. I picked her up and I held her up high and Bailey jumped up to get her again. Grabbed her and grabbed her by the neck. Uh I was there in a second, but you know, she didn't break any skin or anything, and you know, the dog was aching a bit. But I don't know what happened. You know, we haven't had this issue. So um I need to I need to get back to so my question is obviously I was a bad owner. I wasn't prepared like you had taught me how to be prepared. Um I wasn't doing all the training and reinforcement as I was prior.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Look, yeah. So so What do I do first? Okay, so everybody needs to understand that anything you train a dog to do is unnatural to the dog. Uh dogs are, you know, uh descendants of wolves and uh and they're wild animals uh in their heart. The genius of a dog is that they can live a life for which they were not intended. I mean, think about that. What other animal uh in the world could live a life for which they're not intended? Living among humans, taking orders, uh obeying commands, etc. etc. etc. So the the point I'm making is is that uh it's like the George Washington Bridge. It's not the building of it that keeps it up for for hundreds of years, it's the maintenance. You know, the George Washington Bridge has this crew of uh of uh 360 workers, 120 every eight hours, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, constantly maintaining. And that's what has to be done with dogs. When a dog has a behavior, when a dog learns uh uh a proper behavior, it has to be maintained.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Maybe I should send her to you for a uh refresher course, a refreshing tune up.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Tune up, bring her over, absolutely okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Because um I'm going away this weekend anyway. So maybe you want her Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday?

SPEAKER_02 12:55

Yeah, great. Bring her.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Okay. Absolutely. All right, that that would be cool. Because now I'm afraid because this just happened Sunday, and now I'm going away this weekend, and now I'm like, oh my, because I have three other dogs, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

So so really just to analyze what happened, because you haven't been on her case and really been uh, you know, uh it's uh it's never the dog's fault. I know it never.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

I told my friend that too. And my friend was she was very cool about it, and we, you know, uh thankfully it wasn't anything permanent, but I know the dog was aching. I was like massaging it, and then she was like, ah, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

So, you know, yeah, but but even worse than that, now the dog is gonna have a little fear. Um, you know, so that's gonna have to be a a way to there'll have to be a way to get her out of that with more introductions to other dogs, whatever. Real quick, I think seriously.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

I just wanted to ask you a question. Uh Maltese constantly barking, bark collar, not bark collar. How do you make a dog stop barking?

SPEAKER_02 13:56

A bark collar, look, a a bark collar is adjustable. And the thing about these electronic collars is that, you know, people have the wrong idea. They think you're plugging it into a wall and electrocuting the dog. That's not what it is.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

No. You you can set it to as minimal as necessary or as maximum as necessary. And the whole point of using any kind of electric collar, whether it's a bar collar or a handheld collar, is to use the least amount of force and get the results you want.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

And the dog, the dog will tell you that. I've had 10-pound dogs where I've had to have the number way high, and I've had 200-pound dogs where if you give them a beep, he would run into the corner, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yep. And it depends on their fur, the thickness of their fur. Of course. And they also have them for cats. So if you want if you have unwanted cat behavior and you have a tiny dog, uh even, you can use the cat collar on the dog.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Oh, I've never heard a cat bark.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

And it's uh Yeah, not the barking, but you know, jumping on kitchen counters, you know, after they've been in the litter box, it's a very annoying, disgusting habit. And you know, when you're not home, you know, it's like hard to do.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

So But anyway, to the the the way a dog learns is cause and effect. That's the only way a dog learns. You can't explain it to them, they have to experience it. Yeah. So I I call it the hot stove theory of learning. If if you touch a hot stove, you're burned immediately. Absolutely. Yeah, the stove doesn't talk to you, it doesn't call you an idiot, it doesn't tell you not to do it again. It just burns you.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

And then you don't do it again.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

How does an yeah how does an intelligent being figure out how not to get burned again? Yeah. Very simple. Don't touch it. Don't touch it.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

K9As USA dot org. K9As USA dot org. Rick, thank you so much. We appreciate it, and I'll be in touch.