June 5, 2025 • 12 mins
In this episode, Amanda, a professional trainer here at BAXTER & Bella, coaches a client through a powerful behavior-changing technique known as the 10-1 rule. If your dog struggles with things like car rides, leash walks, harnesses, crates, baths, or nail trims, this episode is for you. Amanda breaks down how to shift your dog’s emotional response to these common stressors by creating more positive associations and building trust over time. Learn how to apply this simple yet effective strategy to help your dog feel more confident, calm, and cooperative.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
For today's episode.
I have a special treat for you.
I'm giving you a clip of a callbetween our trainer, amanda,
and one of her clients.
They are discussing a conceptthat can totally change how your
dog feels about doing somethingthey don't really want to do.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
(00:20):
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
(00:41):
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
Hi you guys, thanks for beinghere today.
I'm so excited for today'sepisode.
I think you're really going tolike it.
Before we get started, I justwant to remind you that summer
is coming.
We have a lot of classes andcourses that we are teaching.
One of the ones that I reallylike to highlight is called our
(01:03):
junior training course.
If you have kids in your homeand you have a puppy or a new
dog and you would like to teachyour kid how to interact with
the dog in the best way possibleand to help them get some
responsibility around it, butalso some excitement.
Uh, send them to our juniortraining course.
We have an online do ityourself step-by-step program,
or they can view it via zoom.
(01:23):
They can participate live herein a few weeks.
So jump on our website, checkit out.
It's called the junior trainingcourse.
Get your kids signed up today.
All right, let's jump intoAmanda and her client.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Enjoy, we're going to talk a little bit about the
crate, the car, the leash,watching you leave for work.
There's a lot of things withinthose topics that dogs really
don't love, so this is calledthe 10 to 1 rule, and here's why
it matters.
This rule isn't about justfixing problems after they
happen.
It's about preventing them.
We want to try to get ahead ofthe problem.
(01:56):
So if we can help our dogs formpositive associations before
fear or resistance sets in, wesave a lot, a lot of stress.
You heard of this before.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I have.
I've heard you mention thisbefore, for sure.
I still don't totally get it.
So what does it really mean,though, that 10 to 1 rule?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Totally fair.
I get this a lot because itapplies to a lot of different
things.
So think of it like this Forevery 10 times you expose your
dog to something they don'tnaturally love or don't really
like or are unsure about, onlyone of those times I want you to
include that unpleasant part.
The other nine times should beeither neutral or positive.
(02:39):
I mean ideally positive.
We want your dog to have thesepositive associations and
outweigh anything negative.
It's like we're helping theiremotional brain say positive.
We want your dog to have thesepositive associations and
outweigh anything negative.
It's like we're helping theiremotional brain say hey, this
thing isn't scary, it's actuallykind of great right.
Because when they first seethis crate or see you leave for
work or see the leash come atthem or see the car pull up, and
(02:59):
we start going right outputting the leash on and walking
home from the park or gettingour keys and putting our shoes
on and leaving right for work,and they start to get worried
and they start to create thisnegative association right off
the bat that this is scary andthis is not good, and so they
start to react poorly to thesedifferent things.
So we use this 10 to 1 rule toreally outweigh that negative
(03:23):
association so that the brain issaying this isn't scary, this
is actually kind of great.
This is how we build trust.
It's not bribery at all, it'sactually reinforcement.
It's this proactive teachingtrying to get ahead of it.
Let's use an easy example.
Do you ever struggle with thecrate?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yep, definitely.
My dog hates when I try to puthim in the crate.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Especially if the crate has only ever meant I'm
leaving now or you're stuck inhere.
So the 10 to 1 rule says ninetimes make the crate experience
very neutral or very fun.
Toss and treat in, let your dogwalk in and right back out over
and over and over.
Walk in, walk out.
Walk in, walk out.
Maybe toss in a stuffed Kongand leave the door wide open.
You know, I mean, we could alsotoss in a stuffed Kong, shut
(04:10):
the door for a few seconds, openit back up and take the Kong
before they're done, replacingit with a little pile of
scattered treats, leaving themwanting more of the crate with
the door closed, because that'swhen they get this cool Kong.
But anyway, you're justcreating a story in their brain
that says this place equals goodthings.
(04:30):
So only one of those ten timesdo you actually shut the door
and leave, leave.
That way the crate starts tofeel like okay, well, sometimes
it closes, but most of the timeit's fun.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So really you're just trying to get rid of the bad
association.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean.
Yeah, I mean we are trying toget rid of the bad association.
But there is something that Ireally want to point out here,
because that's not the wholepoint of this.
Ideally, we're not undoinganything.
Really we want to get in andtry to prevent those bad
associations from ever happeningin the first place.
Once your dog decides, I hatethe crate, or the leash means
(05:11):
something bad, or every time hegrabs the keys he's going to
work and he's gone forever.
You're now in fix-it mode andthat takes a lot longer.
So prevention is always easierthan intervention.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
All right.
So what about the car?
My dog doesn't want to even getin anymore.
We've had to make several tripsto the vet and back and every
time we try to put him in it'slike no way.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a really good example.
So again, the 10 to 1 rule.
We want to park the car, maybeopen the door, toss in some high
value treats, let your dog hopin, hang out for a second, hop
out.
No pressure, no drive, justpositive exposure.
We can do this with the car off, even, and then slowly turn it
(06:00):
on and slowly build up thatexposure to the car in a
positive way.
After a few of those we cantake a short spin around the
block or maybe it's just pullingin and out of your driveway as
a first and slowly building upthis positive exposure and then
make that trip to the vet areally rare one, not the pattern
we only get in the car to go tothe vet, or we only get in the
(06:22):
car to do A, b or C that the dogdoesn't like, and now we've
created this pattern that thisis what the car means.
So really try to keep up that10 to 1 rule where no pressure,
no drive, just positive exposure.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So you're really trying to just make a bunch of
good experiences so that therare bad ones don't make such a
big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah, exactly so.
Emotional memory in dogs isactually really real.
If something only ever reallyfeels scary or restrictive,
their brain wires that in.
But if nine out of 10experiences are neutral or
rewarding, you're buildingconfidence and emotional safety.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So what about the leash?
Mine literally hides every timeI pick it up and I have to like
chase them around to try to getthem, so I can hold them enough
, so I can get the leash on them.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah that.
I've heard that one severaltimes too.
That definitely happens.
Um, that usually means theleash predicts the end of
something fun is coming, orthey've made a game of it.
Uh, so, just like before, weneed to flip that script.
Pick the leash up, clip it on,give them a treat, unclip it,
maybe a few times.
You can walk a few steps andthen take it off again.
(07:36):
Do that throughout the day, notjust when it's time to leave
the park or not just when it'stime to go to the vet or when
it's time to do something theydon't want.
Practice clipping that leash onand off all day long, or even
just carrying it around andtouching it to their body and
giving them a treat.
Get them used to seeing thisleash in so many different ways
(07:56):
that, in general, this leash isactually something that's
awesome or actually quite boring, but never actually scary that
sounds like a ton of work.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Um, I mean, I get it, but it's kind of just I'm
trying to think how I could evenmake that all work.
It seems so time consuming.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, absolutely it does.
It does take a lot of time upfront, it totally does.
But honestly, you're savingyourself from a long-term
struggle.
You can spend two weeksproactively helping your dog
feel good about something, orsix months to even a year
sometimes trying to rehab theirfear after it's already set in.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That's fair.
But what about when I leave forwork, like on those rushed
occasions?
I've just got to get out thedoor.
You know how do you do a 10 to1 rule for that.
I can't pretend to leave ninetimes and then finally leave.
I mean that would take quite along time.
I'd be late for work every dayfair.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You don't have to do this every single morning, but
you actually can practice thisseveral times during the day.
You know, maybe on Saturdaymornings when you're not going
to work, or Sunday mornings whenyou're not going to work, or
whatever morning you're notgoing to work, or when you get
home from work or you're homefor lunch.
You can practice so many timesthroughout the day where you
practice these fake departures,grabbing your keys, putting your
shoes on, opening the door, andthen sit back down or walk out
(09:26):
and come back 30 seconds later.
You know, sometimes when weleave for a few seconds and come
back really quickly, they startto also not have an
anticipation around how longwe're going to be gone and that
helps decrease anxiety quite abit about our departure.
So we can practice these fakedepartures all the time.
It doesn't just have to be rightin the morning before you leave
(09:48):
for work, but definitely put itin there as often as you can,
add in some treat scatters or afrozen Kong right as you leave
too.
I mean, say you have to go towork in a rush and you have been
practicing this 10 to 1 withthese fake departures all
throughout the week.
Then just put some scatteredtreats on the floor.
(10:08):
Give them a frozen kong andleave that.
That way you're teaching them.
This isn't scary.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It's peanut butter time when I leave so you're just
trying to make it a bunch of,like, little experiencers,
experiences that aren't that bigof a deal then yeah, exactly
dogs, exactly Dogs aren't beingstubborn or dramatic, they're
responding to patterns.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
If you shift the pattern, you shift the behavior.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So what else can I use this 10 to 1 rule for?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Anything your dog doesn't naturally love actually.
So nail trimming, that's areally common one.
Dogs don't love their nailtrims.
We can do 10 foot touches forevery clip, for example, maybe
bath time.
Dogs really hate bath time atthe beginning of their lives,
when they're little puppies andsome even further into life, and
we can totally rehab thatbehavior or just prevent it.
(10:56):
But we can do 10 tub visits forevery rinse.
Wearing a harness, that'sanother one.
We can give them 10 treats withthe harness being slipped over
their neck and slipped right offbefore we actually put it on
and go for a walk.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
That's fair.
I get it.
That works.
I'm totally for prevention overcorrection, so I think that's a
good place.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, that's totally the heart of it, right there.
If you remember one thing fromtoday don't wait for a problem
to start training.
Create positive associationsbefore negative ones even show
up.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
(11:54):
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
For today's episode.
I have a special treat for you.
I'm giving you a clip of a callbetween our trainer, amanda,
and one of her clients.
They are discussing a conceptthat can totally change how your
dog feels about doing somethingthey don't really want to do.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
(00:20):
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
(00:41):
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
Hi you guys, thanks for beinghere today.
I'm so excited for today'sepisode.
I think you're really going tolike it.
Before we get started, I justwant to remind you that summer
is coming.
We have a lot of classes andcourses that we are teaching.
One of the ones that I reallylike to highlight is called our
(01:03):
junior training course.
If you have kids in your homeand you have a puppy or a new
dog and you would like to teachyour kid how to interact with
the dog in the best way possibleand to help them get some
responsibility around it, butalso some excitement.
Uh, send them to our juniortraining course.
We have an online do ityourself step-by-step program,
or they can view it via zoom.
(01:23):
They can participate live herein a few weeks.
So jump on our website, checkit out.
It's called the junior trainingcourse.
Get your kids signed up today.
All right, let's jump intoAmanda and her client.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Enjoy, we're going to talk a little bit about the
crate, the car, the leash,watching you leave for work.
There's a lot of things withinthose topics that dogs really
don't love, so this is calledthe 10 to 1 rule, and here's why
it matters.
This rule isn't about justfixing problems after they
happen.
It's about preventing them.
We want to try to get ahead ofthe problem.
(01:56):
So if we can help our dogs formpositive associations before
fear or resistance sets in, wesave a lot, a lot of stress.
You heard of this before.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I have.
I've heard you mention thisbefore, for sure.
I still don't totally get it.
So what does it really mean,though, that 10 to 1 rule?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Totally fair.
I get this a lot because itapplies to a lot of different
things.
So think of it like this Forevery 10 times you expose your
dog to something they don'tnaturally love or don't really
like or are unsure about, onlyone of those times I want you to
include that unpleasant part.
The other nine times should beeither neutral or positive.
(02:39):
I mean ideally positive.
We want your dog to have thesepositive associations and
outweigh anything negative.
It's like we're helping theiremotional brain say positive.
We want your dog to have thesepositive associations and
outweigh anything negative.
It's like we're helping theiremotional brain say hey, this
thing isn't scary, it's actuallykind of great right.
Because when they first seethis crate or see you leave for
work or see the leash come atthem or see the car pull up, and
(02:59):
we start going right outputting the leash on and walking
home from the park or gettingour keys and putting our shoes
on and leaving right for work,and they start to get worried
and they start to create thisnegative association right off
the bat that this is scary andthis is not good, and so they
start to react poorly to thesedifferent things.
So we use this 10 to 1 rule toreally outweigh that negative
(03:23):
association so that the brain issaying this isn't scary, this
is actually kind of great.
This is how we build trust.
It's not bribery at all, it'sactually reinforcement.
It's this proactive teachingtrying to get ahead of it.
Let's use an easy example.
Do you ever struggle with thecrate?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yep, definitely.
My dog hates when I try to puthim in the crate.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Especially if the crate has only ever meant I'm
leaving now or you're stuck inhere.
So the 10 to 1 rule says ninetimes make the crate experience
very neutral or very fun.
Toss and treat in, let your dogwalk in and right back out over
and over and over.
Walk in, walk out.
Walk in, walk out.
Maybe toss in a stuffed Kongand leave the door wide open.
You know, I mean, we could alsotoss in a stuffed Kong, shut
(04:10):
the door for a few seconds, openit back up and take the Kong
before they're done, replacingit with a little pile of
scattered treats, leaving themwanting more of the crate with
the door closed, because that'swhen they get this cool Kong.
But anyway, you're justcreating a story in their brain
that says this place equals goodthings.
(04:30):
So only one of those ten timesdo you actually shut the door
and leave, leave.
That way the crate starts tofeel like okay, well, sometimes
it closes, but most of the timeit's fun.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So really you're just trying to get rid of the bad
association.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean.
Yeah, I mean we are trying toget rid of the bad association.
But there is something that Ireally want to point out here,
because that's not the wholepoint of this.
Ideally, we're not undoinganything.
Really we want to get in andtry to prevent those bad
associations from ever happeningin the first place.
Once your dog decides, I hatethe crate, or the leash means
(05:11):
something bad, or every time hegrabs the keys he's going to
work and he's gone forever.
You're now in fix-it mode andthat takes a lot longer.
So prevention is always easierthan intervention.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
All right.
So what about the car?
My dog doesn't want to even getin anymore.
We've had to make several tripsto the vet and back and every
time we try to put him in it'slike no way.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's a really good example.
So again, the 10 to 1 rule.
We want to park the car, maybeopen the door, toss in some high
value treats, let your dog hopin, hang out for a second, hop
out.
No pressure, no drive, justpositive exposure.
We can do this with the car off, even, and then slowly turn it
(06:00):
on and slowly build up thatexposure to the car in a
positive way.
After a few of those we cantake a short spin around the
block or maybe it's just pullingin and out of your driveway as
a first and slowly building upthis positive exposure and then
make that trip to the vet areally rare one, not the pattern
we only get in the car to go tothe vet, or we only get in the
(06:22):
car to do A, b or C that the dogdoesn't like, and now we've
created this pattern that thisis what the car means.
So really try to keep up that10 to 1 rule where no pressure,
no drive, just positive exposure.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So you're really trying to just make a bunch of
good experiences so that therare bad ones don't make such a
big deal.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, yeah, exactly so.
Emotional memory in dogs isactually really real.
If something only ever reallyfeels scary or restrictive,
their brain wires that in.
But if nine out of 10experiences are neutral or
rewarding, you're buildingconfidence and emotional safety.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So what about the leash?
Mine literally hides every timeI pick it up and I have to like
chase them around to try to getthem, so I can hold them enough
, so I can get the leash on them.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah that.
I've heard that one severaltimes too.
That definitely happens.
Um, that usually means theleash predicts the end of
something fun is coming, orthey've made a game of it.
Uh, so, just like before, weneed to flip that script.
Pick the leash up, clip it on,give them a treat, unclip it,
maybe a few times.
You can walk a few steps andthen take it off again.
(07:36):
Do that throughout the day, notjust when it's time to leave
the park or not just when it'stime to go to the vet or when
it's time to do something theydon't want.
Practice clipping that leash onand off all day long, or even
just carrying it around andtouching it to their body and
giving them a treat.
Get them used to seeing thisleash in so many different ways
(07:56):
that, in general, this leash isactually something that's
awesome or actually quite boring, but never actually scary that
sounds like a ton of work.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Um, I mean, I get it, but it's kind of just I'm
trying to think how I could evenmake that all work.
It seems so time consuming.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, absolutely it does.
It does take a lot of time upfront, it totally does.
But honestly, you're savingyourself from a long-term
struggle.
You can spend two weeksproactively helping your dog
feel good about something, orsix months to even a year
sometimes trying to rehab theirfear after it's already set in.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
That's fair.
But what about when I leave forwork, like on those rushed
occasions?
I've just got to get out thedoor.
You know how do you do a 10 to1 rule for that.
I can't pretend to leave ninetimes and then finally leave.
I mean that would take quite along time.
I'd be late for work every dayfair.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
You don't have to do this every single morning, but
you actually can practice thisseveral times during the day.
You know, maybe on Saturdaymornings when you're not going
to work, or Sunday mornings whenyou're not going to work, or
whatever morning you're notgoing to work, or when you get
home from work or you're homefor lunch.
You can practice so many timesthroughout the day where you
practice these fake departures,grabbing your keys, putting your
shoes on, opening the door, andthen sit back down or walk out
(09:26):
and come back 30 seconds later.
You know, sometimes when weleave for a few seconds and come
back really quickly, they startto also not have an
anticipation around how longwe're going to be gone and that
helps decrease anxiety quite abit about our departure.
So we can practice these fakedepartures all the time.
It doesn't just have to be rightin the morning before you leave
(09:48):
for work, but definitely put itin there as often as you can,
add in some treat scatters or afrozen Kong right as you leave
too.
I mean, say you have to go towork in a rush and you have been
practicing this 10 to 1 withthese fake departures all
throughout the week.
Then just put some scatteredtreats on the floor.
(10:08):
Give them a frozen kong andleave that.
That way you're teaching them.
This isn't scary.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
It's peanut butter time when I leave so you're just
trying to make it a bunch of,like, little experiencers,
experiences that aren't that bigof a deal then yeah, exactly
dogs, exactly Dogs aren't beingstubborn or dramatic, they're
responding to patterns.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
If you shift the pattern, you shift the behavior.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So what else can I use this 10 to 1 rule for?
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Anything your dog doesn't naturally love actually.
So nail trimming, that's areally common one.
Dogs don't love their nailtrims.
We can do 10 foot touches forevery clip, for example, maybe
bath time.
Dogs really hate bath time atthe beginning of their lives,
when they're little puppies andsome even further into life, and
we can totally rehab thatbehavior or just prevent it.
(10:56):
But we can do 10 tub visits forevery rinse.
Wearing a harness, that'sanother one.
We can give them 10 treats withthe harness being slipped over
their neck and slipped right offbefore we actually put it on
and go for a walk.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
That's fair.
I get it.
That works.
I'm totally for prevention overcorrection, so I think that's a
good place.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, that's totally the heart of it, right there.
If you remember one thing fromtoday don't wait for a problem
to start training.
Create positive associationsbefore negative ones even show
up.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
(11:54):
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
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