Doug Parker Is The “DOuGTrainer”

“We’ve lost sight of how to raise, relate to, and be leaders for our #dogs. We’re labeling their behaviors and paying more attention to the labels than paying attention to their behaviors.” This is gold. —Nicola Cataldo

The DOuGTrainer’s Training, RDL, Is Holistic

In the simplest model, approaches can be based on Nature or YouTube. Where Nature is holistic—YouTube is not. Basing an approach on Nature, you'll win. Basing an approach on YouTube, it'll fail. Reflective Dog Leadership, RDL, is built on Nature and Nature’s evidence—not collected, disparate, YouTube, human opinion. 

Educate the Human—Not ‘Train the Dog’

Surprise! It's not ‘#dogtraining,’ it's people education or #peopletraining. The elephant in the room is that you consciously, or unconsciously choose… or not.

What Training Is the Best Training?

“The most effective training”—not “the quickest training”—is the best training. The quickest training will never be best. The current culture's “quick fix” mentality is a point of failure that gets dismissed and overlooked in all cases. That's bad.

Communication

“A dog's behavior is its communication,” which is genuine only at the moment of its behavior. The “in-the-moment” portion is necessarily included in its message. Its behavior is its message. That's why “our explanation of what they did” isn't ever totally right.

No Collars, No Clickers, No Treats, No Meds

Voluntary submission can never be coerced. Coercive collars are a point of failure.

When Is My Dog Relaxed?

When you see their cold, wet nose, and relaxed, open mouth breathing.

The Impossible-to-explain Training Paradox, Explained

Every moment, Nature addresses 100,000+ things: humans can best address a paltry 1 thing each moment, and incompletely at that.

So in fifteen moments—in perhaps as many seconds—a million and a half things have been addressed by Nature, while humans struggle to explain a solitary one. Teachers and trainers get tasked to teach each client these things while keeping up with Nature's pace.

Clients whose reveiws say, “It's hard to put into words, but it works” precisely put the impossible into words with those words. The levels of awareness and the levels of consciousness that get uncovered and transcended are what makes Nature work, which is what makes DOuGTrainer’s Reflective Dog Leadership, RDL, work.