 Let's see, we are live, whoop, hey guys, live, live, live. I'm just figuring out my camera here, cool, awesome. So yeah, as you guys can tell, I'm live here at my office studio here at the house and I'll be working from here pretty much for the next couple of weeks. So I wanted to hop on live and answer some of your questions we did in the community post on YouTube. And I'm going to answer three questions that I got previously and then I'll start answering some questions here that we have live. Hey, and if you guys haven't yet, go ahead and say hello and pop in and leave a comment like this video and let me know you guys are here. So I'm going to start off with the first question from Kevin. And Kevin wants to know how to keep your dog occupied in the home. And he specifically has a German shepherd. So that's a dog that requires a lot of attention like all the other dogs that are home with with you guys. So with the coronavirus, obviously we're home a little bit more than than we usually are or a lot more than we usually are. I know that I am home for the next couple of weeks. I had a lot of travel booked up and now we're home. So if you're like me and a lot of other people and you're looking at your dog and you're trying to figure out the best thing to do and what to do, I'm going to give you a couple of tips on how to keep your dog exercised at home with maybe some new things that you haven't tried before that you guys can do as well as just in general, doesn't have anything to do necessarily with coronavirus, but giving you guys some tips on how to stay active with your dog at home. So the first thing I'm going to do is probably turn down this light, but maybe not. It looks a little good. First thing I want to talk about is there's a couple of things that you can buy for your dog that will make your life a lot easier with your dog. And that's going to be a prey pole is number one. So a prey pole is basically exactly how it sounds. It's like a fishing rod with a rope on it. And then what it does after that is it usually has a little furry thing on it. So it'll be like a fake rabbit or a little toy. And I'll link the description below after this chat. But that prey pole is really nice for people who are isolated in a small area, an apartment, or even if you have a yard, it's a great, great tool. It's very easy to use. I refer it to a lot of people that are handicapped who can't get out and walk with their dogs. And it's just really nice for getting your dog to run around and have a lot of fun. So there's the tug aspect of it. So you're praying around and you're basically just teasing your dog with it. It could be a teaser pole or a prey pole, however you want to say it. And you're throwing that around and the dog's chasing it and you're bonking it back and forth. And I can tell you for an example, my St. Bernard, he loves that thing more than anything. And then once they catch it, you have the opportunity to play tug. And it's just a good thing to do with your dog. And I know over a couple of times with my dog, he's pretty tired pretty quick. And that's something that you can literally hang out in one spot, drink your coffee if you're a coffee drinker or a beer depending on the time of day. And then you're able to play with your dog and you really don't have to do much. So that's something that you can do. I recommend that. The other thing that I recommend for getting your dog occupied and giving him something to do is just a basic walk. So going out with your dog and walking around your neighborhood. I know that sounds silly, but some people don't think that that's even in the wheelhouse. But if you live in a very congested area, obviously there's gonna be a lot of people around and that's maybe not the greatest idea during this coronavirus epidemic that we're dealing with. But walking your dog and exercising your dogs, if you live in a congested area, you can go to maybe on a hike and go somewhere where it's not so congested and you're able to go out and experience new things and get your dog out to smell new things and things like that. So obviously exercise, basic walks, basic hikes. If you can get out into a hiking area where there's not gonna be a lot of people, that would be another good idea. The other thing to keep your dog occupied in house is basic obedience training. So mind games. So having something for your dog to do mentally is a great idea. And I'll give you a couple of examples of what you guys can do at home to keep your dog occupied. Cora, come here. Oh, she's sleeping. So doing basic obedience. I mean literally sit and stay, going to the door, rattling the door, working on your thresholds, working on your proofing, getting your dog, just thinking about what you're doing next, why you're doing it and so on and so forth. So just basic obedience as well as threshold obedience. So if you're not that far in advance with your basic obedience with your dog, one thing you can do to start is basic, basic, basic obedience with thresholds. So going to your door and putting your dog in a sit and then going out the door will really switch up the routine and make your dog think like, wait a minute, why are you going and I'm not. So that will work on your implied stays. That'll also work on, if you're doing implied stays, that'll also work on your stay to get your dog to just think about what you're doing. So even if you have that down, that's something to work on because your dog is constantly moving its wheels to try to figure out what your next move is. So it's a really good exercise to do with really any dog, regardless of if you've worked on that or not. And then there's also the board brain games. So those are usually they're like a wood box or a wood circle and you can put treats in the board and the dog has to kind of rifle through it to see what's in there and they have to find it. And again, it's not so much about feeding them that way. It's more about them just doing something while you're working from home, watching Netflix, watching me on YouTube, whatever you guys are doing. It just gives them something to do without a lot of attention from you if you have other things going on. So the board games are nice. The other thing I saw in the comments, which is what I'm going to recommend too, is a basic hide and seek game with your dog. This is something that really anybody can do as long as your dog is motivated by something. And all you guys have to do is find something your dog likes. So if you have toys, treats, balls, a tug toy, any type of thing that your dog finds high value and they will search for it. This is a great way you guys can really get that mind working, especially if they've never done it before. And what you can do is flash it to them, get them excited, put them in a place stay or something like that, and then go away and put that item somewhere in the house. And if your dog's new or hasn't done it before, it may take them a little bit longer and you can put them on a leash and kind of guide them through that process. But you guys get the idea on that. That's a really, really great way to get your dog thinking. And that's something that you can do for all day. If you're feeding kibble or if your dog just likes food a lot, if your dog likes treats, you can take a handful of food and put it in different places throughout the house and just have your dog search pretty much all day. It's a really great way to burn some energy with your dog mentally. And it also gives you a good opportunity to work your dog's prey drive and also food drive because they're constantly searching for that item if it's a toy or if it's food. That's another really great exercise you guys can do is just play hide and seek with your dog, get them out and get them to work on that stuff. So we're going to be answering questions at the end of this. But if you guys haven't yet, don't forget like this video when you're here, let me know you're here. And the next question comes from Kayla. And Kayla, this is a great question. This is something I don't think I've ever gotten before. And this is how do I find balance in establishing discipline and structure with my dogs, as well as applying affection and giving them the, I think, the love that they need. And just so you guys know, I'm answering questions that are in the community board on my YouTube page. So that's where I'm pulling these questions from. So when we do this again, probably tomorrow, you guys can answer. I'll do another post and you guys can write down your questions. But so this is a great question from Kayla. And it's basically going over how can I be structured and disciplinary as well as affectionate and I think loving at the same time. It's a great question. And I think what happens is a lot of people don't, they take things a little too seriously where they think that just because you're disciplinary and you have structure with your dog doesn't mean that you can't be lovable. Like I love my dogs and like they're both laying in the couch right over here. And intermittently I'll go over and give them love and hang out with them and just be a dog owner and do whatever. So I guess to answer your question, Kayla, about how to balance those two out is just be very binary and a matter of fact when you're training and you're working. So if you're out and you're, for an example, if you say heal and you have your dog heal, you're not gonna then switch and say like, oh, I love you and hug them because I think that that's what the question was is how to be affectionate with your dog but not go over too much. But just be very binary with it. Like when you're working, you're working and when you're not, you're not. So making sure that you're structured and you're giving them the time to work and you're also giving them like the time to just be a dog and have affection with you and that's totally fine. There's absolutely nothing wrong from getting on the ground with your dog and telling them that you love them and give them belly rubs. There's nothing wrong with that. But you just have to make sure that that's not while you're working or if you say, hey, sit and then you get on the floor and you give them attention. That's kind of contradicting. So having your boundaries and your rules and structure would be a great idea to create that balance and have a good routine with them to say like, hey, this is what we're doing. And I guess, I think the real misconception is just because you want to train your dog and you want to be a little bit disciplinary. Has nothing to do with how much affection you give them. It just matters on the timing of that affection. So it's a really good question, but I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as you're being clear when they're working, they're working. Even when you tell, a great example would be Fido sit. The dog sits, you go to the door. If you do your stay command, you'll tell the dog to stay. You'll go to the door, you'll open it. It'll do this, right? And then you tell the dog, break, yay, good job. So that would be like the very definition of balance of, hey, buddy, do this. Great job. Same thing as kids when we say like, hey, you have to study. You have to sit down and you have to study for this test. And you have to make sure that you do a good job because you need to pass because it's important. Your education is important, so on and so forth. And you're really strict. You have to sit here six o'clock after dinner, study, make sure you do it. And then once the test is over and they do a good job, then you can reward them and give them all the affection. Or immediately after their study, you can say, hey, buddy, good job. Here's a, I don't know, a video game or something. I don't know. So anyway, so just having that balance clarity, I think, is the key to that question. So we're going to move to the next question and the final question before I get into your questions, which is from Megan. And Megan asks, how to train your dog to be a little bit or a lot more calmer at the vet? Now, this is a problem a lot of dog owners have. So again, Megan, I'm going to answer this question. And then after this question, I'm going to dig into your guys' questions here on the live. And if you guys haven't yet, do me a favor, like this video while you're here. And then when I'm done with this last question for Megan, I'm going to answer as many questions as I have time for right after this, which is a lot of time. So, Megan, it's a good question. I think a lot of dog owners deal with this differently. And a lot of people and a lot of veterinarians do not tell you how to do this. So one thing you can do is desensitize the veterinarian or veterinarian. I get lazy with my speech sometimes and don't say veterinarian. I say veterinarian. So I would say desensitizing the office. So going into the office and first of all, calling your vet and say, hey, listen, my dog hates your office. Is there any way I can come and train and just do a little bit of food motivation or a little bit of tug motivation inside your office facility and then just leave? I mean, be there for five to 10 minutes. Start associating that with something good instead of something bad. Now, that leads me to my next segment to this question. Very simple. Dogs typically don't like the vet office because of the reason that they're there. They're usually getting poked, prodded. Something's going on with them. They're sick. They don't feel good. So it's usually not a great association. And if you guys know, dogs really, really learn well through association. And they learn through, hey, food motivation, everything, keys, leashes, they all associate that with something. And it can go to the other end of the spectrum as well. And that's what happens with the vet offices is obviously when they're there, things aren't great for them usually. So I would say desensitization in the vet office, if you have room for it, if your vet is comfortable with you doing that, just calling the office and saying, hey, I'm going to come in and train for a little bit, that's my first step I would take. The other thing I would do, excuse me, and this is really big, is simply making sure that you have the right veterinarian for you. I talk about this a lot. Just like with human care, it's such a big thing. There's probably two or three vet offices in a small town. In a big town, there could be up to 10. So it's a very saturated market, if you will. There's a lot of offices. And I would say making sure you have the right vet for you is really the most important thing. Because I've dealt with clients, dogs, my personal dogs, moving around a little bit and on the road. Just like with humans, there's good doctors and then not so good doctors. They have no bedside manner. They don't really pay attention to cues. They take nothing into consideration. They're just overworked, whatever. So making sure if you're having a really hard time with your dog at the vet, that the veterinarian is comfortable with you, you feel comfortable with them. Most importantly, they need you more than you need them for the most part. I mean, when we're talking about just normal visits, you guys are their clients. And you have to feel comfortable with all of that. And you have to make sure that you feel comfortable with asking them questions and so on and so forth. So I think that that's a really big thing. It's just making sure you feel comfortable with the veterinarian that you're using. Because I've gone a lot of times where they're not that great. They're not comfortable with your dog, your size of your dog, your behavior of your dog. So I think just making sure that you have the right veterinarian that's best for you and that you feel comfortable with. There's really, really, really great, great veterinarians out there that are great with behavior and understand it and respect it and aren't going to shy away from it and ask for help when they need it. So I would say just making sure that it's the right one for you as well and maybe shopping around and talking to some people about maybe some of the things that you're dealing with, because I've had veterinarians that are just so afraid of the dogs that I bring in because of their breed or their size. And the dogs can tell. I mean, they know that. And then that makes a bad impression on your dog. So those are the three questions I'm going to answer. Because I'm home for the coronavirus for the next this week and next week, if you guys want to hop on here and hang out with me every day, I'd be happy to do that. This is a lot of fun for me. And all we're going to do is just answer the questions that are in the community post that I'll probably post once a day and then I'll answer the next day. But now I want to answer some of your questions. So if you have them, bring them on in and I'll answer a couple. And then we'll get back at it tomorrow just because I don't want to make this a 25 minute video. Let's see. OK, so Bryce has asked, I have a German shepherd puppy and she nips. Good question, Bryce. Dogs who nip puppies who nip typically it's within the first four weeks of after you getting that puppy, dogs will knit because they don't know that you're a human and you're any different from the siblings they just came from. So you have to realize that that it's a very instinctual. Hey, I'm trying to play with you. If you watch puppy behavior when they're very young, I mean, still with mom, they're rolling around and they're TVing and they're biting and they're playing once they can start walking and all that stuff, of course, you know, between six and eight weeks, they can do all of that. And just like when you see an adult dog, you'll find a lot of dogs will do the same thing. They'll play with their mouths, but they know after a couple of times that their dog is, you know, that you are human and you can't play that way. So the best thing to do to curb it, a lot of people give puppies fingers and extremities and that's something you don't want to do because it gives them an opportunity to play with your fingers. So I've taught people this all the time that if you just make a fist to your puppy, they can't bite anything and they become pretty bored. So that's like a really quick thing that you can try. You can also correct the dog when they do it with just a slip collar and a leash or a slip, slip leash or just by taking their, their neck and just kind of pulling them away, but don't give them anything to do. I see a lot of dog owners kind of antagonize their dogs with their fingers and play this little game and make it very dramatic. And they love that because they think you're playing. So ignoring the behavior to some extent would be also a good decision because it'll disengage them and they'll get bored and then maybe go play with one of their toys. And that's the other thing I would suggest is just making sure that you have toys for them to play with. So no fingers, ignoring it to certain extents. And then you can also correct them with just a basic leash and tell them to leave it, but also knowing that at some point a puppy is going to start teething and they need to bite stuff. So we're going to answer a couple more questions. Let's see. Yeah, you're welcome, Bryce. Lots of German Shepherd owners. Mac, I have a session just about a dog and a cat. I would suggest you go in to watch that because that's a pretty good video we've done recently. Joey, I have a ton of videos on pulling on the leash, tons, probably 50 on my channel. You can go check that out. I'm trying to find some stuff that's not on my channel to help you guys out. Leash pulling, all that stuff's on my channel. That's a good question. DHS, dogs should never be off leash in public unless a dog park. Too many dog owners think that they can control their dog and their leash and they can't. Yes, I agree. I guess it's not really a question. Yes, I agree. Having dogs out in the public is tough because you have to depend on everyone else for reliance on their recalls and making sure that they're not only not aggressive, but not diseased by anybody. Have I considered a Malinois? I have a Dutch Shepherd and I have a Malinois. So I would say yes, I've considered it. Yes, I've had the travel with my dogs. I lived out of a van for four weeks and they were on the road with me and they did great. They had a really good time. This is another good question from Mariam. Basically she has two dogs that got into a fight after playing tug-of-war and the dogs have been isolated for a year now. Will they ever become friends again? That's a really great question. So if you have two dogs that have gotten into a fight, will they ever become friends again? That's a good one. I would say a lot of dog owners and a lot of people in general don't understand animal behavior. Animal behavior is very primal. They are not politically correct. They do not care. They will eat babies. They will kill people for fun. It's pretty insane how much animals just don't care about what we care about. But with that being said, it can also work to your advantage to say that if dogs have a fight over something like an item, if they're both playing with one thing, that can become extremely problematic for dogs who are not integrated well together or maybe there's a lack of communication within that pack. But I would say two dogs playing with something that's very high value can become very stressful and could really be prone to aggression issues. So I would say, yes, I think that they can become coexisting again because you have to understand that the fight was about something very, very high in reward. So it could be maybe considered resource guarding where they're guarding something of higher value or higher resource. And you're only typically gonna see that type of behavior when that's around. So puppy proofing the house, I'm sorry, not puppy proofing, but proofing the house, removing all things that are valuable. So water dishes, food dishes, balls, toys, you even putting them on a leash, exercising them together. So go about it, exercise them together, bring them out for a walk and really, and chances are I've seen dogs go like this, no teeth like really doing anything, they're just fighting. And of course it's kind of traumatic for us and we freak out. But I've seen dogs go crazy like this and there's all this and they didn't do anything. Now in my experience, dogs who don't do anything in that time, that's a decision that they've made. They don't do something for a reason. Dogs have the power to crush things without a lot of problems. So for them to throw their teeth at each other for a couple seconds and not do anything is a decision that they've made. So you really have to audit the situation and ask yourself like how bad with the fight was. Now if they did latch onto each other, again, you have to consider that was it over something of really high value? And if it's yes, then you're gonna have to manage those high value rewards around the house. And like I said before, get them out, exercise with them, put them on a leash, integrate them back into the house slowly with using gates and then taking your time, making sure you're not feeding them together, making sure that if they're playing it separately and really removing the variable of why they fought in the first place. I'm gonna answer another question. And thank you guys so much for jumping on here with me. I know that this whole coronavirus thing is something that we've probably never dealt with, definitely have never dealt with in our lifetime and it's something that we're all trying to cope with. And I'm really happy to have this community on YouTube and be able to still work and do my job and be able to do what I'm passionate about and help people with dogs. So I appreciate you guys hopping on here and chatting with me and just hanging out because we have nothing else to do and I'm really grateful for you guys. If you haven't yet, if you guys are here, like this video and if you're watching this after, like this video and leave a comment below and let me see your questions. But thank you guys. We're gonna continue to do this every day if you guys wanna hang out with me and talk about dogs. I'm going to do one more and then I'm gonna sign off and probably bring my dogs for another W-A-L-K. Can dogs have mental issues? Yes, they can. Just like humans. Okay, I'm gonna answer this last question. The best way to become a dog trainer, this is a question I get all the time. I have a podcast about it. It's one of my first podcasts I've done and I would suggest if you haven't listened to my podcast yet, it's no bad dogs podcast. You can search about any podcast platform but I'm gonna answer this really quick because a lot of people are asking me this big time about becoming a dog trainer. So the dog training industry is a very gray area because, so for an example, I'm not a certified dog trainer but I certified dog trainers for colleges. I'm a mentor trainer for the Animal Behavioral College across the United States, which means I kind of help all of their students before they become certified and making sure that they have their hands on skill sets in order to become a trainer. But I also know a vast array of other professional dog trainers who are extremely talented in what they do also are not certified because they made a decision instead of going to school and reading literature, they have made decision to go out and work in the field and actually get hands on experience for a couple years instead of reading a book. For me personally, I'm not, my brain isn't set up that great with reading literature and comprehending a lot of this stuff. I have read a couple of books on animal behavior, watching videos and things like that or seeing pictures, but I've spent the majority of my career shadowing other dog trainers. I worked with Wolves in Colorado for five summers. I was an animal control officer, so I was in court, I was legally bonded by the town to make sure dogs are being treated properly. So I got a great deal of information from that and I've been professionally working with dogs for 11 years now and it's something that I've always been attracted to and I'm very, very transparent about that. But at the same time, I do lend a lot of hands in college things regarding dogs and experience because I have a lot of experience because I went out and what we're doing doesn't have a lot to do with science and medicine about administrating things. It's more about, hey, here's a problem, can you fix it? And so to start, I would suggest because dog training is a big, wide thing, right? So when you're a dog trainer and this becomes very problematic in a lot of different cases when say you wanna become a dog trainer and then you become certified because I have a ton of certified dog trainers that come and work with me and shadow the work that I do because I primarily work in relationship development as well as behavior modification. And when you go and get certified for a dog trainer you're wide like this, which means you know basic stuff. You know heal, sit, you know some canine behavior but they don't really pass you through the course until you're then got your hands on experience for a certain amount of hours depending on the college. So with that being said, I tell people much like anything else in the professional fields is finding a specialty in what you wanna do. Do you wanna do service dog training, behavior modification training, basic dog training, off leash dog training so on and so forth. You can compartmentalize very separately. And that's what I would suggest people to start is figure out what you're gonna be best at. Maybe going out and shadowing with a trainer to see what you like if you don't know what avenue you wanna take because for me, I stay in my lane. That's why I don't post a lot of videos on basic dog training because it's not what gets me really excited. It's not what jumps me out of bed. I really like problematic issues and dealing with dogs who have issues learning I find very, very fun. But it's something that I focus on primarily is behavior because that's why I got into this industry in the first place is I was able to do stuff with dogs that many other behaviorists and trainers could not do. And that's something that I'm very grateful for the innate ability to do that. But as far as like getting into it, that's what I would do is go out, shadow somebody, figure out what avenue you wanna pick and figure out where you wanna go with your dog training career and what makes you motivated to work. Is it shelters, therapy, whatever, and then go that route. The ABC, if you're United States, is a pretty decent college that has a lot of mandatory things and a lot of curriculum that you have to pass in order to become certified. And then they're gonna have you go out to a mentor trainer, which I am part of the mentorship program with them. I've also been working with a couple other colleges on and off with dealing with canine behavior. All of my trainers currently all have four-year degrees in Bachelor of Science with a study in canines. So there's different colleges that have specific canine degrees if you're looking to get a little bit more in depth. But there's a lot to it. So I would just try to figure out where you wanna go. A couple of schools that I would suggest to look into in the United States are Michael Ellis's school in California, Santa Rosa. He's a great teacher. I've worked with him a couple of times. I'm actually going out maybe next month to be working with him again. And then there's also Tom Rosa's school as well in the United States, which is another really good school. And then we do shadow programs as well on our end seasonally, depending on my travel schedule. But that's what I would recommend is find out what you wanna do, find what drives you, and then work with somebody who develops in that field. That's what I would do. So anyway, guys, this has been great. This is the longest live I've ever done. I'm excited to do this again tomorrow. If you guys are watching this after, hello, thank you for joining us after we're gonna do this again tomorrow. Turn on your notification bell. That tells you when I'm going live and when I'm ready to post stuff. And you guys can hop on here and hang out with me. And as of right now, like I said, I have podcasts, no bad dogs podcast. We have the merch you guys can visit on my website or in the description below. I will be in Cleveland, Ohio, May 16th and 17th as of right now. Obviously as things progress, it might change, but I will be in Ohio next month. And I hope that it doesn't get canceled. And if it doesn't, I hope to see you guys there. But thank you guys for joining me. And again, if you're watching this now or after like this video. So if you guys are like, man, how can I help that guy, whatever, like this video, subscribe to my channel and leave a comment below and let me know if you have any questions or if you like this live video. Because the algorithm in YouTube, that's how this stuff works. The more people I can reach and the more people I can help. And I'm trying to do the best I can to reach as many people as I can to help. So like this video, subscribe to my channel, leave a comment and I will talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye.