The Unconventional Dog Trainer

Now I've been saying I was going to tell you guys a little bit about Ùna for a while now. But a lot of things have been happening, including, uh, my book, how to socialize your puppy, even if you don't have access to puppy classes, which is out now on amazon. com. So if you are raising a puppy or would like to not screw up your puppy, Uh, I highly recommend you get that book.

It is suitable for even the most difficult puppies, like Ùna. Now, to understand Ùna, we have to understand her auntie Delta. I used Delta's brother over Raven to get Ùna, because I really loved the fact that Delta is the most intelligent dog I have ever met. Like she humbles every trainer who tries to work with her because she believes she should be worshiped. 

There's just no other way to describe her. If she was human, she'd probably be a bit of a psychopath. Now, whether this is good or bad, I don't really know. You never know how Delta's going to behave, and you have to watch her because she's an extreme opportunist. She has. humbled some of the most experienced trainers.

So she is exceptionally good at being bad. And she surprises you all the time because you just, you just do not know whether she's going to get along with the dog or rip their face off. It is just, she's just that kind of dog. This is not good or bad. This is just information. And this is the problem with her is that she needs a very experienced handler in order to prevent her from getting up to mischief.

You cannot, thank you doggies, you cannot relax around her. You have to watch her. Ravy, that's enough please. Um, you have to watch her constantly and that's just life with Delta. And she's perfect. She is amazing if she's the only dog. Add another dog and she tries to eliminate them from the house. And this is unfortunate because When she's by herself, she is amazing.

When she's not by herself, she is horrid. And I say that with all the love I possess. I mean, I use Delta's brother in order to create another Delta because that's really what I wanted. I wanted another Delta and that is what I've got in Ùna, except I have 10 years more experience. I have 10 years more dog handling. 

And I have 10 years more strategies and I have sit and thought about how, what I would do with another Delta. In fact, I think I have got it pretty much as good as I can get it because Ùna behaves exactly the same way as Delta. In fact, In Ùna's mind, she is princess. Now, we have not made her queen, and we have not made her believe she's worshipped.

Because, which is the mistake I made with Delta. Delta was my pride and joy. I did everything for that dog. She wanted for nothing. And that dog, Yeah, like if anybody says a dog can't do something or they, there's a saying here, who thinks he's standing must be aware that he does not fall. You think you're a pretty good dog handler?

I'll hand you Delta's leash. You, you're going to learn a few lessons from her because she is exceptionally, exceptionally good at being bad. So anyone who's got any opinions about dogs. You handle Delta, and then get back to me about your opinions. Um, yeah, she's the most intelligent dog. With a, yeah. And so, Ùna is very much like that.

She's fast, she's snappy, she's snatchy. She's, uh, very hair triggered. Like, she's very very quick and she's very strong. Now, there is nothing that holds Delta back. Delta has the belief she can conquer anything, anyone, any dog, any, like, there is nothing that can stop her. That's her belief. Now, from day one, I have I've tried very hard to make Ùna believe she cannot conquer me, that she cannot pull me over. 

And that's hard work because she's exceptionally strong. She's like, so the technique these dogs use is, so they pull into the lead and then they kick off with their back feet, uh, to get that extra, um, 

traction and, um, yeah. And that is like. Delta breaks everything. She breaks brand new leather leashes, harnesses, she breaks everything. And if she can't break it, she'll just bite through it. I've seen her do it. She is just So, one of the things that we have to understand with a dog like Delta and Ùna is that You have to, you have to squash the belief in themselves, or not really squash it, just not create it in the first place.

Because once you've created that. You're screwed, literally. There is just nothing you can do to undo it. Um, there's a study, a Harvard study about, um, rats. Now, it's a horrible study, and I, like, cannot even imagine what kind of people come up with these studies. But, it's about rats. Um, they put the rats in a glass jar and then the rats drown in a very short time and then they take another bunch of rats, they stick them in the glass jar and before that time runs out of the previous group of rats that would drown, they rescued them and like, it was only like 15 minutes or so that the first lot of rats stayed alive. You, you'll have to get the study to get the exact numbers. I'm recalling this off memory. Um, and. The second lot of rats, before they drown, they rescued them, they dried them off, they gave them water, food, and those rats stayed alive three days before they drowned. That is the power of belief. And this is why fixing a dog who's escaping is so hard, because once they've got that belief that they can do something, undoing that belief in themselves, is almost impossible.

And that's the thing that Delta has is exceptional belief in herself. She'll take on Rottweilers. She's only 25 kilos. She'll take on anything and win. She just has that much belief in herself. I am not giving Ùna the opportunity to even learn to fight another dog because I do not need another Delta on my hands.

I like The idea of Delta, and I like the idea of a Delta who's that intelligent, amazing, but you can live with them, and they can live with another dog in the house. Now, one thing that became very clear very early on in Ùna's life is, That I tried, I genuinely, before Ùna, I used to pride myself on the fact that I very rarely needed training tools like e collars. 

But unfortunately, with a dog like Ùna and Delta, you really can't avoid it. using tools, because as I said, once they learn to pull, not only do they lean into the lead, but they kick off with their back feet. You cannot hold them back. Delta dragged, she became a military working dog and dragged soldiers around.

That dog is extremely strong. And I did not need I like to train with as little tools as possible. I like to use relationship as much as possible. And you can do a ton with that. For most dogs, you don't need tools if you've got the relationship in place, except for Delta and Ùna, and dogs like them. 

Unfortunately, Ùna got past me one day, I was working on her issues with cows, and one day she got past me and chased the cows. It was that day that, and that can cost a dog their life, they can be shot for that. And quite rightly so, too, because there's a lot of money tied up in cows. And it's an animal welfare issue too.

How dare a dog cause so much stress on a herd of cows. It's not fair. So that day, she was seven months, eight months, maybe. That day was the day I decided she needed to be taught cows are off limits and that's the day we used an e collar on her. Um, and it took a long time. I couldn't even handle her that day.

I had to ask a friend, Toni from Dynamic Dogs. She both handled her and applied the e collar because I was too close to this dog at this stage. Um, I, this was the first time I'd really lost against Ùna like, and it's not about winning and losing. It's just, I, I, I, she was, it's the first time she learned that she can do what she wanted.

And I knew that it was going to be the start of creating a very difficult dog. If I didn't get control of it that day. And so Toni helped with that. And this is the thing. A lot of people think they can DIY, um, training their own dog. And when it comes to e collars and stuff, especially if they don't have the experience and I didn't, um, I had never really used an e collar up to that point.

I had them. I just didn't really use them. So because of my lack of experience and my lack of confidence and the closeness How close I was to Ùna. I felt that me using an e caller, I would use it unfairly. I would use it incorrectly, and I would be inconsistent. And so Toni applied both the e collar training and she handled it because Ùna was strong on that long line.

She really pulled, because we went in with the cows and had the conversation. And that collar, to get Ùna to even hear anything above the cows, that collar had to be on full tilt. There was no There's nothing that, like, this is the thing, the power of these dogs self belief, the power of these dogs in drive, like, you, there are, you've got nothing.

If, and this is why, um, I am not a fan of banning training tools. I definitely believe they can be used a lot less, and if people used relationships, They would need a lot less tools, but honestly, for the safety and welfare of all animals and owners, because I created a monster in Delta. So, the problem is, how do you walk a dog like that? 

Like, if your dog is like that, and without the use of prong collars or e collars, you've got nothing. You, like, and ultimately, a dog like Delta much prefers a prong collar to a head halter. So to me, if a dog finds a head halter uncomfortable, why would I, um, and she can remove muzzles. Why would I force a dog to cope with a head halter?

If they're quite comfortable wearing a prong collar to me, that doesn't make any sense. And to me, it's kind of feels like we are not training the dog in front of us. We have a variety of tools and I don't believe they should be banned because we need. Every dog needs something different. Every dog is different. 

Banning a tool or saying, you can only use this that's available is actually unfair because we're not training the dog in front of us. We're training to our viewpoint. And the fact that I didn't want to use an electric collar, that was my preference. I don't, I don't like using an electric collar. I much prefer using a tool like a prong collar.

The reason being, I can apply the amount of, uh, tension that's needed in that moment. But with an e collar, I'm relying on buttons and I, Can't feel the intensity. I'm applying. And so I'm still not a fan of an e collar. I still prefer a prong collar much more, especially if it's used carefully and the way I like to use my prong collars is, um, I hold them with two fingers and I just apply light pressure and it's just to  and it's actually much better on the dog's neck because it doesn't crush their throat their trachea

um, so I much prefer that tool. So here's the thing, Ùna and dogs like Ùna and Delta are just, why should they be put to sleep? Just because they need more, just because they're harder to handle, just because they need a training tool. That's unfair. If owners really love their dogs, and this is my attitude to dogs, if an owner really loves their dog and wants to live with their dog and is prepared to do the work with their dog, who is anyone else? 

That is going to say no to them. You don't have a right to say an owner has to put their dog to sleep just because you want to ban a tool. It's unfair on the owner. It's, it's unfair on the dog. Um, and not just that. And we're not talking about like Delta's. If Delta is handled correctly and Ùna is handled correctly, they're not a danger in society without the tools to handle these dogs. 

They will be and then those banning these tools, you really have the blood of the dog, the blood of the person or dog they injured. You have all that blood on your hands because you are working from your emotions rather than what's best for the welfare of everyone. And like, it's really hard to talk about tools like this because.

Ultimately, I understand why people want to ban them. It's so easy to misuse them. And I have seen people with e collars who have created dogs who bite because of a bark collar used incorrectly. I have seen people create reactive dogs because They're hard on the dogs and they just slap and zap and zap the dog for any little misdemeanor so the dog becomes so stressed that they become reactive. 

I'm not talking about people who misuse the tools, but I do feel like instead of banning these tools, I'd much rather Um, have them in better hands, like maybe somebody who, um, you need to sit a test or prove that you can handle the tool. I'd much rather that than banning of a tool. Anyway, I've talked long enough and I hope this has given you some insights.

This is started as a talk about Ùna and became a talk about tools. Um, I hope you got some insights from this. Happy training and see you in the next episode.

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Luzelle the Dog Trainer & The Chompy Malinois