Training FAQ’s
We offer FAST, EFFECTIVE and EASY TO LEARN dog training throughout the Phoenix AZ area.
Would you like your dog to listen to you every where you go even with distractions? We can make that happen for you!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
WHAT CAN I EXPECT TRAINING WITH ALL-AMERICAN K-9?
We will be telling you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. We are honest, direct and to the point. Some people can not handle honesty. Your dog however, will appreciate and flourish in that reality!
You may see some temporary changes or confusion in your dogs behavior for the first few days of training after the initial lesson. This is normal, and YOU as the pack leader need to push your dog through this phase to allow your dog to process it and understand it. All dogs will recover from this. If your dog is anxious or nervous to begin with, that is already your dogs genetic predisposition. Training will NOT cure that. But it will assist in creating you as the pack leader and allow your dog to TRUST YOU and your decisions, they will trust what situations you put your dog in.
Dogs think black and white. If you create gray areas in training, you’re creating confusion and conflict. For example not allowing a dog to jump on people means not allowing them to jump (period). Letting them jump in certain situations or on certain people and not in other situations creates conflict and confusion.
Seeing your dog uncomfortable and confused is typically why people will stop training or pushing their dog. Instead make them think and problem solve. People are now afraid to make their dog uncomfortable, stating “he/she doest like that”. Personally my dogs do not have to be leashed in any situation or environment. I have happy balanced dogs that WANT to be with me and my family. They do not need to run off, say hi to strangers, react to unruly dogs. Because I provide all they need, love, affection, discipline, food, shelter, and I am the pack leader.
IF your child doesn’t want to clean their room, people will make them clean their room or there is consequences. People that refuse to push their dog or create consequences will always have an unruly dog. If you are consistent, FAIR and have balance in your relationship with your dog. You will have a HAPPY dog that knows what is expected from them.
If you want a happy dog more than a good dog… you get neither
If you want a good dog more than a happy dog… you get both
WILL THE TRAINING/COLLAR CREATE MY DOG TO DISLIKE ME, OR CHANGE THEIR PERSONALITY?
Only if do not have balance in your training.. if you are exclusively correcting your dog and not utilizing play, praise, interaction and also correction. You cannot just play and praise and expect good results, you also cannot just correct. Doing one without the other creates an unbalanced life for your dog.
DO I HAVE TO CRATE MY DOG?
Crating is an integral part of training. It establishes boundaries, structure, assists with preventing separation anxiety, and assists with potty training. It is NOT punishment, it is NOT abuse! Allowing your dog excessive freedom and sleeping in bed will most likely create conflict and disobedience.
ARE DOG PARKS OR DOGGIE DAYCARE GOOD FOR SOCIALIZATION?
NO! They create dogs to constantly lunge and pull to every dog they see. They also create leash aggression. Imagine if every person at a park was handing out $100 bills. You would be running to get to as many of them as possible, not paying attention to anyone else. Dog parks/daycare create more value in other dogs than in you. Your dog will ignore you whenever they see another dog.
Plus:
- Dog parks/daycare are full of disease
- Creates reactivity when on a leash
- Develop habits like resource guarding, humping/dominance, barking, aggression, jumping and more..
- Creates a high state of arousal and hyper activity around dogs
- No off leash control
HOW DO I SOCIALIZE MY DOG IF THEY'RE NOT GOING TO DOG PARKS/DAYCARE?
The term “socialization” is a double edged sword. It should be called “desensitize” your dog! The developmental phase for desensitization is at the age of 8-12 weeks. At this age you should get your dog used to loud noises, moving vehicles, IGNORING dogs and people. I recommend taking your dog to places that they will see (not touch) people and dogs (NOT PET STORES), along with loud noises and potentially stressful environments.
The key to success is NOT telling your dog “its ok” if they are nervous. Ignore that behavior and they will recover. Telling them “its ok”, petting them, holding them, consoling/comforting them, is praising the fear. You’re saying its ok to be nervous of whatever it is they are stressing about. Learning coping skills to deal with stress is good for your puppy. Babying and coddling your puppy will create an anxious and fear aggressive dog.
HOW WILL MY DOG BENEFIT FROM YOUR TRAINING?
Your dog will benefit tremendously from training with us! Most behavior problems (aggression towards people or other animals, chewing, jumping, etc) are based off of a lack of exercise, discipline, and out of boredom! With our training methods, your dog is receiving top-quality obedience training, which in turn, allows you to give your dog freedom to run around OFF-LEASH and play! So by doing this training your dog is not bored because it is learning and being stimulated, it is running freely off-leash so it is getting exercise, and it is getting obedience/discipline! Not only does all of this greatly benefit your dog, but it also benefits you and your family! Remember, if you do not employ your dog and give it a job to do (training), it will become self-employed. A self-employed dog will cost YOU money!
DO YOU TRAVEL OUTSIDE OF PHOENIX?
Yes of course. We offer private seminars, or our Board and Train Program. If you live out of state we offer our Board and Train Program and assist you in making the shipping arrangements for your dog to come to and from AZ.
WHAT BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS CAN YOUR TRAINING SYSTEM FIX?
Jumping on people, play biting, destructive chewing, getting on the furniture, nuisance barking, being aggressive to people or other dogs and housebreaking are a few of the behavioral problems that we successfully deal with on a daily basis. There are a few problems, like human aggression, that may require special training, but the vast majority of behavioral problems can be remedied by any of our training programs.
WHAT IS A REMOTE COLLAR?
A “remote-collar” is basically a collar with a stimulation mechanism (similar to an electric fence collar). The collar is controlled by a remote that the handler uses. The remote allows you to maintain full control of your dog for up to 400 yards! A remote-collar gives your dog a lot of freedom and it saves you from worrying about your dog running off! It is not used as a punishment or a “shock” as many people assume, it is simply used as a device to communicate with your dog. It produces a subtle electrical current between two contact points located on the collar. In the old days this type of collar was used as “shock collar” and many inexperienced dog owners tried to use this device to scare their dog into submission. In our proven training methods we teach in our programs, your dog is never “shocked into submission” or abused. Unlike a shocking device, the remote-collar is used to get the dog’s attention and keep it focused on listening to the handler. It is the equivalents of someone tapping your shoulder to get your attention. We teach the dog to listen to those “taps” and that the “taps” mean, “I am trying to get your attention.” Training collars provide you with multiple stimulation levels. As a rule, most handlers find they can achieve their desired results using an extremely low level of stimulation, barely even perceptible to humans.
Las Vegas police K9 recently switched to using remote-collars on their service dogs about two years ago. Shortly thereafter, they took ‘top dog’ and ‘top agency’ at the Western States Canine Trials! Their obedience to the commands became faster, sharper, and instant because the dogs know exactly what is expected of them when given the commands! We teach and use remote-collars when teaching sport dogs for the highest level of competition of French Ringsport. During these competitions, the dogs are not allowed to wear the remote-collars, and they MUST listen with extreme precision! There is a reason that the top sport dogs, law enforcement agencies, military, and top federal agencies: patrol, detection, and search and rescue dogs are trained using remote-collars!
WHAT AGE SHOULD MY DOG BE TO BEGIN TRAINING?
Generally, we do not start remote-collar training on a dog until it is at least 5 months old.
WHAT IF I HAVE A SMALL BREED DOG?
No problem! Our Remote-Collar training system works on dogs of ALL BREEDS, and ANY AGE (above 5 months).
DOES THE REMOTE COLLAR HURT MY DOG?
Not at all. During our first meeting, we will put the remote-collar on your arm and you will feel how mild the stimulation is. One common misconception is the remote-collar will burn their skin. This is absolutely false. Other people think that it is like being shocked with a taser, this is also false. We became dog trainers because we LOVE dogs and we would never do anything to harm them in any way! Furthermore; we would never do anything to your dog, that we will not do to our own dogs.
WILL USING A REMOTE COLLAR RUIN THE RELATIONSHIP WITH MY DOG?
When agility, search and rescue, Police, Protection or Sport dogs are used for work to search for lost people, evidence or narcotics it is NOT because the dog is highly obedience trained. The hunt happens because the dog and the human realize they are a TEAM. I cannot find the narcotics, or bite a bad guy. The dog cannot choose who is a bad guy or what odor is a narcotic or even self reward with a good petting or voice praise. Working with a dog is a symbiotic relationship. Each party realizes that together we are better than either of us is alone. The best training one can do with their dog is to reinforce this relationship. If this relationship were to be destroyed, there would no longer be a point to maintain the relationship. In other words, if the relationship between working dog and working human were destroyed, the work would cease to happen. I have worked thousands of times with my dogs…the relationship is quite intact, in spite of the fact that I use a remote-collar.
WILL MY DOG ALWAYS HAVE TO WEAR THE REMOTE COLLAR?
No. Your dog will not always have to wear the remote-collar. In fact, inside a park, your dog will quickly be listening to your every command without the remote-collar on. However, We always recommend putting the remote-collar on your dog before you take it outside off-leash. This is due to the fact that you never know what may get your dog’s attention, so, you still want to be able to maintain complete control of your dog. It’s like an invisible leash. We often compare your pet wearing the collar outside to a child wearing a seat belt. Parents drill into their children the importance of wearing a seat belt each and every time they get into a car. That one time the child doesn’t wear the seat belt could be that one time they are in a car accident and a seat belt would have prevented injury. It only takes one time for some outside stimulus like a running rabbit, cat or another dog to really catch their attention and without the collar, you have no way to stop him/her.
WILL MY DOG HATE WEARING THE REMOTE COLLAR?
No! Almost everyone is VERY surprised that they receive quite the OPPOSITE reaction from their dog. In a very short time, your dog will recognize the remote-collar. Almost every dog, when the see the remote-collar coming out will come running and sit down in front of you and wait for you to put it on them. Why? Because the dog knows the remote-collar means that they are going outside (to run, play ball, be free, etc) AND they know they are going to do training! A bored dog is a destructive dog; a trained/exercised dog is a HAPPY dog. They look forward to their training sessions because it stimulates them and gives them something to do. Imagine being at work on a slow day, the day drags and you feel sluggish. When you are busy, it goes by fast and you are energized! Now imagine a dog with no friends, no Facebook, no television, and no internet. Their only REAL stimulation is the training you give them and their time outside to run, play, and bond with you!
WHERE ARE THE PRIVATE LESSONS HELD?
At our location, or in a VERY public place… Generally, I do not like to train dogs inside of the house! Why? It is easy for dogs to listen when they are in their own park. It is a familiar environment, if your pet trains in an unfamiliar environment, with countless distractions, they will listen to your commands anywhere.
HOW MUCH TRAINING DO I NEED TO DO ON MY OWN?
The great thing about our training programs and methods of training is that you’ll only need to work with your dog about 40 minutes a day during the program and less after . We will teach you how to incorporate this training into your daily routine.
HOW LONG DOES THE PROGRAM TAKE?
Our No Leash Program is generally done in FOUR lessons. We also have a 2 week Board and Train Program and a Behavior Modification Program. All come with a LIFETIME guarantee!
WHAT IS CLICKER TRAINING?
A clicker is a small device that makes a distinct “click” noise. This is used to instantly mark the desired behavior. Then, it is immediately followed with a treat! This enables the dog to learn the commands much faster because you are instantly “marking” the correct behavior. In return, the dog knows it has not done what you are asking it to do until it hears the distinct “click.”
DO YOU OFFER A GUARANTEE?
Yes! We are so confident in our system and methods, that if you are not completely 100% satisfied we continue to work with you at no extra charge. No questions asked!
DO YOU HAVE ANY REFERRAL PROGRAMS?
not at this time..
CAN WE SIT IN ON ONE OF YOUR CLASSES?
unfortunately no. Since we operate as a in a park private lesson dog training company we can invite someone into one of our clients a park and private lesson to observe. BUT we can surely let you see video that we have taken of before and after lessons. or we can bring a dog to a park for a demonstration of what we can accomplish in a short time.