Strengthening the Human-Dog Bond

Hey there, dog lover! Welcome to this episode of the Unconventional Dog Trainer. We hope you enjoy our battle tested, relationship based solutions for helping your unconventional dog shine, with your host, Luzelle Cockburn. Let's dive in.

Management fails, relationship based leadership saves lives. Hi, I'm Luzelle, the unconventional dog trainer, and what does that even mean? All right, so let's dive into what good leadership is. So, let's look at the qualities of good leader. So, just because somebody raises their voice and yells and screams does not make them a good leader.

I have met many people in leadership positions who never raised their voice, and yet I respect them, and I will do, I will move heaven and earth for them, because they're a good leader. And then I know people who yell and scream and I do not have the time or day for it, of day for them. In fact, basically, it means nothing that they go off their trolley.

It's just free entertainment for me. So what is good leadership really? What does it look like? Well, it's fair. It is, um, it's not that it's kind or unkind. It is Safety based. So if you feel safe with somebody, then if they grabbed you and bruised your arm to pull you out of traffic, you're not going to yell at them or get upset at them for bruising your arm.

You're going to be thankful that they pulled you out of traffic. So it's not about What you do, it's about why and how you do it. So one of the things I instill in my dogs from a very early age is the word careful. So if they go up to an electric fence or something that could fall on top of them, I say careful and my dogs I've heard that Experience has taught them that if I say careful They need to come back to me because that's where it's safe because I also don't go close to them I walk the other way and go Careful, I'm going this way because that's gonna lead to trouble.

My dogs learn that over time they can trust me. What I say is going to help them. Um, we also do a lot of things where just minor feedback from me gets me a result with my dogs. Now, Bear in mind when you have higher drive working dogs, these dogs were bred to ignore pain and any stimulus when they're in drive.

So they have got a really high pain threshold, especially if they're in drive. I knew a dog who would run the Delta, my Malinois, my first Malinois, would go through an electric fence just to get to the other side. She had an extremely high pain threshold. She also raised my pain threshold. Anyway, she was a dog that I really struggled with her because I wasn't a very good relationship based leader at that point.

I struggled a lot. I had no skills whatsoever. Over time I've become more patient. Patience is a quality of a great leader. That doesn't, patience and um, stuff doesn't mean that you're going to ignore bad behavior and stuff. It's. A good relationship based leader is understanding why your dog is doing something.

Are they stressed? Is there a basic need that needs to be met? So, are they hungry, thirsty, need to toilet? Are they, um, over excited, um, adrenalized? Or are they tired? I don't know if I've repeated any of those. But, um, you can find the, um, the list in probably one of my blog posts. Um, so these are important to understand because a good leader will not expect more of the dog than they are capable of doing.

Just like a good human leader wouldn't expect more of their staff or a teacher wouldn't expect more of their students than they're capable of. So you need to, a good relationship based leader means that. You have such a good relationship with a dog that the dog doesn't want to do the thing that you've said no to because they respect you that much.

They care and love you that much that they do not want to do anything that you don't want. And as a relationship based leader, too, you will treat your dog as kindly as possible. So, if I ask my dogs to do something, I will say, Schnewy! Sit, please. And that's how I speak to my dog. And I often get a sit, and if I don't, I just back it up.

Sit, please. Good Dog. So that's how I speak to my dogs. I don't need to yell and scream at them. I don't need to raise my voice because that's not what relationship based leadership is. Relationship based leadership is all about teamwork, working together, but The human is the one that needs to be in charge for safety's sake.

And a lot of the cues and, uh, whether you call them commands or cues, it doesn't matter what you call them, it matters how you deliver them. We get a little bit hung up on words, but what I really want to know is how those words are expressed. Hey, Schnooey! Can you sit for me, please?

Good dog. So what do you, how you're actually delivering your thing. Whether you call them a cue, you could still call them a cue