Training, Treatment, or Education

This post may help you better prepare as you consider enrolling your dog in any training or rehabilitation program. 

When it comes to behaviour modification and treatment planning, some clients may approach the process with the mindset that the goal is simply to “fix” the dog and have them “fully trained” by the end of the course. For years, dog owners have been led to believe that training is a quick fix, that a single session can permanently change a dog’s behaviour, or that a board-and-train program can resolve issues and return the dog fixed for life.

This perception can create unrealistic expectations, focusing on immediate ROI rather than the long-term value and process involved. In turn, this may lead to unnecessary stress and frustration later on. We believe in being transparent and honest about what behaviour work truly involves. After all, we are working with an animal with feelings just like us.

While I understand where this expectation comes from, this is not the role of a behaviourist. Behavioural treatment and therapy are not the same as fixing a broken clock. A dog, a sentient being has feelings and ability to make decisions of its own, they cannot be treated like a product. Instead, our process is about helping dogs heal through a gentle, evidence-based approach that requires time, patience and consistency.

As dog behaviourists and psychologists, our role is to provide a scientific and ethical approach to helping dogs. This includes identifying root causes, ensuring ethical care, and implementing a structured treatment plan. It does not involve guaranteeing satisfaction or promising specific results. Outcomes depend on many variables, including the client’s readiness and commitment to work as a team, the dog’s external stressors, the suitability of the approach, the duration of treatment, and the reasonableness of expectations. Many of the dogs we work with present severe behavioural challenges, and it can often take months or even years before owners begin to feel satisfied with the progress made.

In such cases, a quick fix may often seem very appealing. However, this serves only to meet human expectations rather than genuinely helping the dog. Suppressing behaviours at the expense of the dog’s comfort and safety is not a meaningful solution. Moreover, the risks and side effects of quick-fix methods can be significant.

In many severe cases we receive, dogs have previously been “fixed” using aversive techniques. Over time, when the side effects begin to surface, these behaviours often become far worse than before.

We put 200% effort into every single case and place safety, ethics, and professional judgement at the forefront of our work. At the end of any program, owners must take over this responsibility and continue providing the same level of commitment and consistency for their dogs.

How does Stay&Train program benefit puppies?

When it comes to sending dogs for training program, owners may have already experienced behavioural issues with their dogs, often find it challenging to help their dogs without assistance. Our goal here would be to figure and treat the root concerns, then pass on the information to the client. With a dog that has a solid foundation, training becomes easier when owners take over. This concept is often more straightforward.

However, if a puppy is new, training and treatment may often sound pointless, sometimes even sending them for daycare. After all, most puppies may not display severe behavioural concerns.

While most owners may wait for behaviours to surface before considering training for their puppies, there are plenty of advantages if we start early, and this is actually one of the key point that sets us apart from military style bootcamps. The thing is, all dogs regardless of their age would already have their DNA mapped out before they are even born, naturally this includes puppies. Meaning if you have a puppy today and it behaves seemingly calm towards different stimulus, it may not be long before you see changes, this is something that most owners are not prepared for. In short, it’s just a matter of time before dogs begin to behave how they are genetically preprogrammed to. That said, while we can’t fight against DNA, it is possible to alter them by conditioning new skills that can potentially reduce the need to practice undesired behaviours. On the other hand, it’s also possible for owners to subconsciously create undesired behaviours. The latter is exactly what’s happening with most dogs.

How we work with puppies is by practicing a unique framework that is not seen anywhere else. We follow a strict system consisting of the 3 steps - observation, diagnosis and early intervention.

This may sound easy, but observation and diagnosis skills are one of the hardest skill dog trainers and behaviorists can master. Problem is, most professionals in the industry spend as little as 2 hours on a dog and then consider them a case that they’ve worked with, some even include group classes. While for us, the time we spend with each dog is at least 300 hours. Having gone through thousands of dogs through their lives, we get to catch subtle signs and potential issues very early on before it even becomes a problem.

“You’ll start to see the benefits when you come across a need one day.” That is what I always say.

We have cases where owners cannot feel much difference in their dog’s day to day life, yet one day when something serious happens, they start seeing the work that was done with their dogs. For example, I’ve worked with a poodle named Coco since he was a puppy, there were no major issues back then. Yet I observed that he was a bit more sensitive towards touch and may potentially bite out of fear, even though groomer and his owner felt he was calm. The owner trusted me as I’ve worked with his previous dogs, we spent time desensitizing Coco to potential stimulus, focus on confidence building and also increased his resilience towards fear. As he matured, he did showing signs of mild aggression which I predicted long before, which we managed to reduce to a very minimal level, when stressed, Coco would then growl to warn the groomer.

Years later, Coco was suddenly unwell and had to visit the vet, this was his first time seeing a doctor for illness. He was shaking and terrified of everything around, this is where the owner remembered what I told her and was able to react according to what we had predicted and covered before this day. The vet had to check Coco’s paw and give him a jab, the owner then directed the vet to reach out her hand towards Coco and requested for paw, just like how we practiced when he was young. This exercise is not the usual paw trick that you may have seen online. Coco heard the words and associated the actions with positive emotions, which is what we aimed for during exercises. His whole face brightened up a little, then proceeded to give his paw to the vet to let them check and even finish the jab without much trouble. If we had not done this work, Coco could’ve bitten and today’s story would’ve been different. It works the same way with situation like children, multi dogs family, sound etc, very similar to humans in this regard when we implement psychology.

“Dog training works like a relationship, it depends on whether you value speed or time.”

If you want speed, a lot of trainers are already doing that. While cheap and fast, the side effects are plenty and opens up potential for new undesired behaviour to manifest over time. As a behaviourist and psychologist, we work with plenty of dogs that came from this background. While impressive in the beginning, most dogs may start developing behaviours like aggression and reactivity over time, costs will then will be multiplied.

If you value time, we are one of the very few professionals in the world that has the experience and knowledge to make this work. Skills stay much longer, dogs enjoy the time with you, training becomes education. We treat training like education for children, and with behavioural issues, we go through proper treatment plan.

“As compared to treating issues later on, early intervention provides dogs with a much better quality of life as they age.”

As we get to go through the lives of dogs in different phases of their lives, this in return allows us to experience and work hands on with dogs 24/7 for a prolonged period, to fully understand and experience the position of dog owners and their dogs in the range of thousands. Simply put, if you are buying a puppy, would you listen to a professional educator who has studied about dog breeding, or a breeder who knows about the process and experience to breed and deliver dogs? Now, what if there’s a third option - someone who has both the breeding experience and is also an educator?

With this, we are able to predetermine what a puppy may be like as they turn into adult. We then take full advantage of the individual puppy’s strengths while working towards reducing undesired behaviours. This is most effective before a puppy reaches maturity, usually for dogs under 6 months old.