Conscious Dog Training

My favorite thing about Puppies in the Wild: The material is easy to follow - clear instructions, videos and breakdowns, the Facebook group/members are incredibly supportive, and I feel a genuine camaraderie amongst everyone here. Plus the trainers are awesome - sooo patient, helpful, filled with knowledge, and always willing to answer every question I have, and I have a lot of questions! The feedback we receive on the lives and the individual posts/comments have been incredibly helpful in shaping our training. The best thing I have learned from Puppies in the Wild: Love the dog in front of you. In the beginning, I had serious moments of frustration and regret and a lot "Why is my dog like this.." and the group/training made me realize I needed to adjust expectations. ALSO, in a weird way I think it's made me a better tiny human parent, because I realized I need to teach, reinforce, and reward behaviors I prefer, not always chastising and criticizing the behaviors I don't want.

My favorite thing about Puppies in the Wild is the feeling of community among people with the shared belief that fear free training is the best way. I love the thoughtful and thorough modules that not only provide video demonstrations but also present the science behind the methods. I also love the support from the admins and members. I am a MUCH better dog parent (& cat parent) because of Puppies in the Wild and Conscious Dog Training. I am thankful for this group.  The best thing I have learned from Puppies in the Wild is training doesn’t mean my dog "obeys my commands". Training is a holistic approach that takes my dog’s needs into consideration. The old, “only give the command once & if they don’t obey right away the dog is stubborn and you have to assert yourself as the leader” mentality is so wrong. If there is a pause between my request for a sit and her actually sitting, it doesn’t mean she is disobedient. I could go on and on - just know I love you all.

My favorite thing about Puppies in the Wild is the group of people that motivate me to keep training when it gets tough. My other favorite thing is the real life training videos that help us see the trainer work through real life scenarios we go through! One more thing is the ability to post our own videos to get feedback. Too many to pick just one! The best thing I have learned from Puppies in the Wild is to recognize, reward, and acknowledge all the things my dog is doing well. It's such a great shift in mindset from only looking at what our dogs are doing wrong so it really helps reinforce everything they do well to build those behaviors we do want and create a strong reinforcement history of what they do well!

My favorite thing about Puppies in the Wild is the community and support! I haven't posted much yet but I know I am going to be more and more and I have no fear that I am going to be judged! I also love how everything is broken down into simple steps that make it very easy to follow along! The best thing I have learned from Puppies in the Wild is slow is fast! And that puppies don't generalize so need to practice in all the different situations and not get frustrated when they don't do a "known" behavior in a new place!

My favorite thing about PITW is having a space that normalizes perfectly normal puppy behavior, and having advice on how to proceed! The best thing I’ve learned is that every interaction we have with our pups is reinforcing behavior. This has helped me so much in being mindful of interactions and shaping behaviors in the way we would like to go!