Dog Training in Seattle with Sean McDaniel

As a trainer in Seattle over the last two decades, I’ve seen just about every dog behavior issue out there. In that time, I’ve also seen just about every dog training methodology too. If you’ve been researching training online for any amount of time, you’ve probably also come across many different philosophies and methods of training as well. I was originally trained in ‘purely positive’ clicker training, and operant conditioning and then went on to train in various non-food treat oriented methods.

In my first couple of years working with dogs and watching them interact with each other, I noticed that they use a balance of positive and negative feedback with each other in a social setting to develop group norms and rules. The strange thought I had at the time was, “I guess dogs never read the purely positive dog communication book?” So, in broad terms, we train a bit more like dogs train each other; with balanced, fair and consistent, positive feedback for the behaviors we like and fair, minimum-threshold negative feedback for behaviors we don’t like.

Food can be useful in training. However, if food is the sole basis of your relationship with your dog and your training, I guarantee that your dog will be unreliable in real life.  I use food with puppies all the time and in behavioral modification, but typically, I don’t use food treats as the basis for the relationship with our adult dogs. Ultimately, though, my larger bias is a bias towards results.  We use what works with your dog to get them to be functional in everyday life.  The goal is that our dog ultimately listens to us in functional settings without the reliance on food.

If you’d like more information about what my training is all about, please feel free to check out THE DOGS WAY PODCAST EPISODES 2 and 3.