A Year in the Life

I didn't abandon this newsletter, I just had to take a little pause. But I'm back with more knowledge and experience.

Well, it’s been quite awhile since my last post.

I started this newsletter with intentions of writing weekly, however, just about when I began this project, the opportunity to work with a dog trainer located an hour away from where I was living in Portland came about and I jumped on it.

I immersed myself deep into this business, decided to move to the region permanently, and let go of my own dog training business in order to become a partner at NWB Dogs based out of the Columbia River Gorge in Washington.

I met Matt, the owner of NWB Dogs at a seminar in Central Oregon the fall prior to my move.

During that seminar, my dog, Sitka, bit Matt.

He didn’t draw blood or break skin, but I was mortified and felt awful.

Sitka doesn’t exactly enjoy being touched by people he doesn’t know well, and this was a seminar all about touch.

What I didn’t realize is that other people would have to touch him during this seminar.

Play

Knowing how much time and dedicated work I had invested into Sitka, Matt offered to show me some things I could do with Sitka to get the behaviors I wanted.

Matt took out a tug toy and told me to play with Sitka.

During that play session, Matt showed me how to play with Sitka in a way that engaged him with me while he explained the concept of questions and answers.

“When Sitka is uncomfortable being touched,” he said, “the question he’s answering is ‘how do I remove this pressure?’”

Sitka’s go-to answer?

Bite.

It’s the answer for a lot of dogs. It also comes in the form of barking, lunging, and growling.

Sitka learned early on in life (before he was mine) that biting removed the thing that made him uncomfortable. It worked, so he kept responding to the question the same way.

The simple concept made so much sense to me.

What I needed to teach him was that a different answer was better (and more appropriate).

Learning to Love the Position

The following day, Matt showed me a heeling exercise after I had told him about the challenges I had getting Sitka to stay in heel.

I explained that I felt like Sitka and I were always in conflict. In order to keep him in heel, I had to continually pop his prong collar. But it didn’t actually work and I felt awful and frustrated.

Again, Matt had a simple answer.

I had to teach Sitka to learn to love the position.

If he was constantly being corrected for not being in position, no wonder he didn’t like being there.

So we did an exercise where I paid Sitka a large handful of his food when he was in position. I tossed one piece of food away from me so I could call him back into heel and pay him big.

Rinse and repeat.

He quickly learned that heel = paycheck and therefore heel was awesome.

NWB Dogs

Before departing the workshop and going our separate ways, Matt asked me if I wanted to run a group class at his facility.

I already knew within seconds of that first play exercise that I had to work with this guy.

I told him that sounded great and that I’d think about it, but my answer was already a full body YES.

Shortly afterward, Matt invited me to attend a reactive dog workshop he was hosting and I found myself riveted by his storytelling, way of explaining complex learning theory into simple terms, and ability to coach owners how to develop the necessary skills and confidence to manage their dogs.

Matt had studied a dog training system called NePoPo®, created by world renown dog trainers Bart and Michael Bellon.

The group classes never panned out, but I started making the hourlong drive two days a week to train with Matt.

A few months later, I had decided to move to the Gorge full time to work with NWB Dogs and become a partner of the buisness.

Almost immediately, I signed up for NePoPo® New Silver School, a three-day intensive certification in Missouri in dog training theory. (so next time someone says there’s no science in balanced dog training, just send them to a NePoPo® trainer. This method is allllll about the science)

A month later, Matt certified me as a NePoPo® gold trainer.

The Enlightened Dog Owner

Needless to say, the move and the studying took up the bulk of my time, hence putting this newsletter on the backburner.

But I’m back and have so much more to say than I could have had I not made this decision.

In the year and half that I’ve been working with NWB Dogs, I’ve absorbed as much as possible from Matt and other trainers, and more importantly, I’ve worked with dozens of dogs.

I’ve seen the damage we unknowingly do to our dogs because that’s what we’re told we’re supposed to be doing.

But a lot of this information is more emotionally-based and the misinformation leads to severe damage to our dogs’ mental health and overall well-being.

Further, I’ve witnessed the role that genetics plays in dogs, both among our client’s dogs and with my own personal dogs.

I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned in this newsletter and offering advice for struggling dog owners.

I know you are all doing your best with the information you have been given, and my hope is that you’ll read my newsletter with an open mind and start to question the why behind what you’ve heard that you’re “supposed” to do or not do with your dogs.

Thanks for your support!