How Dogs Can Make You a Better Man | MIKE RITLAND
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 9 minutes
Words per Minute
214.17398
Summary
Mike Ritland is a former Navy SEAL and founder of Tricos and Team Dog Online Training. He is also a New York Times best-selling author and the host of the wildly popular podcast, Mike Drop. In this episode, we discuss how dog training and dog handling can make you a better man.
Transcript
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I know that on the surface, the title of this podcast might seem a bit far-fetched, but
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I can assure you that what my guest today, Mike Ritland, and I cover regarding dog handling
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and training can make you a better man if you apply it.
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Now, obviously, I'm not making the comparison, and I don't want to make this comparison of
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humans to animals because clearly there are huge differences, but there's a ton of psychology
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that goes into effectively training dogs that can be directly applied to our approach as
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men, like developing patience, looking for feedback, adhering to first or foundational
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principles, how we can communicate effectively, but we also get into some other topics regarding
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our current cultural crisis, politics, and our job as fathers.
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You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart your own path.
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When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong.
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This is who you will become at the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you
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My name is Ryan Mickler, and I am the host and the founder of this podcast and the Order
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Man, we live in some interesting times, to say the least.
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Exciting times, too, because times like these present opportunities if we're looking for
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those opportunities, and we're making ourselves capable of handling those things when they
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So while everybody else is running around scatterbrained and trying to stay on top of
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things, if you've done a good job making yourself capable and ready and able to deal
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with the adversities and the struggles and the challenges of life, I think you're going
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to find yourself ahead amidst COVID-19 and the fallout from that and the political environment
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and the cultural crisis that we're in the midst of.
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And that's what it means to be a man, is to be prepared and ready for these types of interesting
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times, being prepared for catastrophes, challenges, struggles, all of the things that we likely
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So that's what I want to do, is give you the tools, the equipment, the resources, conversations,
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courses, everything that you might need to make yourself, again, more capable of handling
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these difficult circumstances when they come up.
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So we've got an interesting podcast lined up for you today with the one and only Mike
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He's back again to visit us because he's got some, always some great insights into what's
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going on in culture today, but also talking, of course, about working with dogs, training
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In fact, our two dogs, Sarge and Shiloh, one is a German Shepherd, the other is a greater
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Swiss mountain dog, have both been trained using Mike's philosophies and his tools and
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Before I do, I want to make sure that I mentioned my friends and show sponsors over at Origin.
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It's been a little while since I've talked about them, but that doesn't mean they're not
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In fact, they're constantly coming up with new products and services and they're working
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heavily on the nutritional lineup, which is Jocko Fuel.
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So if you're interested in checking it out, then head to origin, Maine, as in the state
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And if you pick anything up, whether that's their geese or rash guards or nutritional lineup,
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whatever, then use the code order, O-R-D-E-R at checkout and you'll get your discount.
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Then again, order, excuse me, origin, maine.com and the code order.
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He's the founder of Tricos and Team Dog Online Training.
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Again, his name is Mike Ritland, but he's also a New York Times bestselling author of
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three books, Trident Canine Warriors, Navy SEAL Dogs, and Team Dog.
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In fact, I think I was initially introduced to Mike through, I think it was Navy SEAL Dogs
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because my oldest son came home with his book from a book fair at school.
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And I saw that and Mike and I have been connected in some form ever since.
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He's also the host of the wildly popular podcast, Mike Drop.
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He's never at a loss for an opinion for better or worse, based on how you agree or disagree.
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But he's got opinions on the current culture, obviously how to train dogs and just generally
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how to become a better, more capable human being.
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Yeah, kind of the same old stuff, just winding down the Constitution crisis, we'll call it.
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It seems to be taking place all over the place.
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Things seem to be opening up in, well, I don't think they ever really closed in Texas.
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I'd say probably not to the same extent that it did in other places.
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But they had restaurants, gyms, pretty much what they deem non-essential, which even that
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list is, some of it you're looking at it and you're like, how are you guys deemed essential
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But to me, between that and how they've opened it up and just the restrictions and regulations
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that they put on people, none of it really adds up or makes sense.
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There's not a good rhyme or reason to most of it.
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And to me, what's most alarming is just how willingly people are okay to just hand over
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their freedom to elected politicians, which the whole point of it is that they work for
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It's that the government, their job is not to ensure your safety or to look out for your
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Like, really, their only job is to ensure your liberty and freedom and protect your
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I mean, no different than what you sit down and shove in your mouth every day, like, you
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know, to activity or lack thereof or, you know, how carelessly you drive or, you know, do
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you act like you're filming Jackass 4 on the weekends and do stupid stunts and dumb shit
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that, you know, puts your life at risk unnecessarily, which to me is every bit as irresponsible as
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You know, there's so many other things out there that are far more lethal or, you know,
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if the government decided that they had it in our best interest collectively as a nation
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to get involved with and regulate, and they don't.
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But then for whatever reason, this hotbed issue is turned into, you know, political football
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that I think is largely that, is that, you know, I think November 15th, you'll, you know,
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it'll be largely a blip on the radar screen, if that.
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But so, you know, for me, it's just frustrating, you know, to see it all transpire.
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You know, I did an interview fairly early on value attainment with Patrick David, and
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we were talking about it right when it kind of first started.
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And I equated it to, you know, about like the flu and, you know, took a lot of heat because
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the, the interview aired, you know, about a month afterwards, kind of right at the height
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of the panic, you know, and everybody's like, this dumb fuck, this guy is no idea, you know,
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and, and I've maintained all along, like, I don't think it's that serious, you know, are
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People die from a lot of things, you know, people die far more from a lot of other things
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that you never talk about, or, or, you know, the government doesn't get involved in whatsoever.
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And I don't think they should, you know, it's not an invite for the government to regulate
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You know, to me, it's simply a statement of saying, Hey, be consistent.
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And that consistency needs to be, you know, protect our, our rights and otherwise let people
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And with great freedom comes great responsibility.
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Uh, you know, and it, it should be a big boy rules type of, uh, association where, you
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know, that, that's what happens is that you get to pick what, what you want to do, but
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you get to live with the consequences if you make bad decisions.
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Living the way you want to doesn't absolve you of the responsibility.
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You know, it's like, like you said, if you go out and film jackass for this weekend,
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yeah, feel free, but you're going to get hurt or killed, or you're going to trespass,
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or you're going to do something stupid and somebody is going to shoot you or whatever.
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But you know that you can do it, but that doesn't mean you get to take yourself out of
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I, I made a post about, cause this $3 trillion stimulus package passed in the house just what
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And I had made a post about, look, if, if, if you don't want to pay back your student
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I had a bunch of people push back on that and well, you know, they're just kids.
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There's all kinds of bad characters and bad actors.
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You as an adult, we've deemed that 18 is an adult.
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You as an adult need to make a rational decision.
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And some guy came back and he says, well, you know, they can't make rational decisions.
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I said, okay, well, what, at what age is it rational?
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So really you're just talking about a competency issue.
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You're just saying it's a, it's a lack of competency.
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It's pretty pathetic how much that we try to like shelter and bubble wrap and coddle
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everybody from the consequences of their choices.
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I mean, to me, you know, my pushback on, on that mentality is real simple is that, you
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You know, you're, you're welcome to go gamble there at, at that same age.
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Like how, how, how much of a swindle job is that?
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You know, we're not, we're not putting stimulus packages together to, to bail people that can't
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You know, you're, and there's a million other examples of things that, you know, you, you
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have the opportunity and every day that you get up, you can make a choice to, uh, you
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know, to be a total bonehead or you can make a choice to, to make a good decision and
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And, you know, you know, as, as well as anybody, you know, that, that daily grind that, that
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is required to, to, you know, be successful at whatever it is that you want to do.
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Um, you know, that, that involves a lot of those decisions of behind door a is really
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sexy, fun and cool and instant gratification and, and requires zero impulse control and would
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It's not what I feel like doing, but that's what, you know, is the, whether it's a micro
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or macro decision, that's, what's going to get me, uh, you know, closer to where I want
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to be, you know, and, and the people that have the discipline to do that shouldn't be
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on the receiving end of punishment for, you know, the droves of people that, uh, you know,
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have the, Oh, shiny and get distracted and chase it, you know?
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And, and, uh, you know, I think that's largely what this bill is.
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It's bailing people out that, uh, you know, that just haven't made good decisions.
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Of course, not all of them, you know, for anybody listening that says, well, there's
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a pick a bill or a, an earmark in there that, you know, helps some, excuse me, specific group
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and whatever it, you know, this is a generic statement, but that's largely what it is.
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You know, there's, there's a lot of money in that, that has nothing to do with what we're
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talking about and really is, is just bailing people out from making bad decisions or
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And, and, you know, that excuse that, Oh, they were 18.
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Well, you know, I joined the Navy when I was 17.
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And, and a couple of weeks after I turned 18, the summer after I graduated high school,
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So if 18 year olds aren't savvy enough, you know, to make decisions based on lending, which,
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you know, generally their parents are involved in some of that process anyway, uh, you know,
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then, then we shouldn't allow people to, to join the military till they're fucking 25,
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either that, you know, uh, or vote for that matter, like, or drive or all the other things
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And these dipshits were talking about lowering it to 16.
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Like if an 18 year old isn't responsible enough to take out a student loan to go to college,
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then he's damn sure not responsible enough to, to pick who should be leading our country
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Like it's, it's either you let people live their life and you've got to live with the
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consequences or you micromanage every single aspect of it.
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Uh, and there's absolutely no, uh, leeway in terms of people being able to make big boy
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You know, it's, you know, you talk about the doors that you can choose.
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I think sometimes it takes you going through door a and then screwing up and realizing, oh shit,
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like I don't want to be in that door and then walking backwards and closing the door and
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But I know for me personally, some of the best lessons were the most painful lessons.
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The one where I went in that door and I'm like, Ooh, I didn't realize this is what was
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Learned the consequence, got my teeth kicked in and then started making different choices
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from the negative ramifications of the bad choices I was making.
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No, there, yeah, there's no, no two ways about it.
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I mean, some of the best lessons I've learned have been some of the hardest ones.
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Uh, and that's something that I, I, you know, just, just before we sat down in here was having
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a conversation with my oldest child, uh, who's 15 and, uh, you know, and as a girl and is
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right at that age of, of, uh, you know, knowing everything and, and, uh, you know, just, you
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know, trying to, to get that point across of, you know, here's, here's what you want to
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Here's what you think is, is important, or here's what you don't care about, you know, and it's
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always a balancing act, especially at that age, I think, because they're, they're even
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younger than, uh, you know, than the 17, 18 year old college loan crowd.
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Uh, you know, so there's still a fair bit of immaturity there, but, you know, I, I try
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to, to give them the autonomy to make the mistakes while I still have the ability to, to control
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the consequences and manage their ability to make it or only make it so far.
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You know, because the last thing that, that I want and what I see with a lot of parents
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out there is, you know, that helicoptering that, that micromanaging every single decision
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that their kid makes or doesn't make, um, you know, and then ultimately now they, they
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hit 17, 18 and then you run into that, they get swindled with college loans or, you know,
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life just completely railroads them because they've, they've never had to face consequences
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And I think, you know, that's one of the biggest problems that we have is, is that is
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that, you know, kids, you know, now when they get to, to be out on their own, you know, they've
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never had somebody say, yeah, you know what, you can do whatever you want, but I'm not going
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to help you out when you fail, you know, or you can't pay, pay this, or, you know, you
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If you think failing is all right, I'm going to let you fail that.
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And you want to repeat the grade fine, you know, like there has to be some of that.
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And obviously that's an oversimplification in terms like you can't just let them do whatever
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they want, but there's got to be some, some leeway there where you allow them to make mistakes
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and fail and, you know, say, Hey, uh, what would you like to do in, in, you know, situation
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You know, even though I know you're going to regret this, I'm going to let you go ahead and
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Um, and I think that's important, you know, and it's, it's hard, uh, it's excruciatingly
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hard as a parent to, to watch your kids make bad decisions and let them do it.
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Uh, but I think it is, is paramount to their ability to be successful, productive adults
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and not a dredge on society the way so many of these entitled pricks that seem to be, uh,
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coming of age nowadays are that baffles me that, uh, that it's, it's become so bad.
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But I think you, uh, I think you hit on the root of the issue, which is it's painful.
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I'm not quite at the teenager stage with any of mine.
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But, but the point that I think you made that a lot of people overlook is that as a parent,
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Like the things that keep me up at night are not like what I'm dealing with my business
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or I'm going to pay the mortgage that has nothing to do with me and everything to do
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And I think what parent, what a lot of parents do is when they aren't willing to hold their
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kids as feet to the fire, they're not trying to save their kids has nothing to do with
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What they're trying to do is save themselves of the hardship, the pain, the frustration,
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the headache, the heartache of administering consequences for poor choices.
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I mean, to me, it's, it's the lesser of two evils and ultimately the easier path because,
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you know, it's kind of like staying in a relationship that you're not happy with because it's just
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easier than going through, you know, the breaking up, you know, phase.
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And, you know, and, and to me, you know, there's, there is that element of like, yeah, it's,
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it's hard to, to know better and to, you know, have somebody that you love and care about
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and would do, you know, pretty much anything for to watch them decide to do something really
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stupid, uh, you know, but, but you've got to let them do it.
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And, you know, one of the unique perspectives that, uh, that I feel like I've, I've attained
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over the years in dog training is, is very similar to that is that, you know, maybe even
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too much in that because dog training is, is so much more black and white and less gray
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than, than human relationships are because you don't have the ability to explain anything
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You know, I can't tell a dog, Hey, you go past this, like you're going to get a correction
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or, Hey, if you do this, you're going to get rewarded.
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Now, granted, you know, where a good trainer comes into play is, is manipulating the environment
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so that it's really easy for the dog to make the decision you want them to make.
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And then, you know, that, that becomes a condition responsible.
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Um, you know, but similarly with, with the, uh, corrective measures is that, um, you know,
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This is probably why it's not a good idea to go here or whatever, you know, but the, the
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neat thing about it is that it, it kind of turns into almost like an autopilot response
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from me is that it's really easy to look at the situation and say, you do this, this happens,
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And just remove my emotional attachment to it as best I can.
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Now, you know, I'm the first to admit, like, you know, there are times where, where they'll
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get under my skin and it's impossible for me to, to not take it personally, you know, especially
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when there's attitude and entitlement involved, things like that.
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But, um, but you know, ultimately I always circle back and cool off and then think about
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it and, and, you know, we come back and sit down and talk about it and say, okay, here's,
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And, and, uh, you know, go, go through it that way.
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But, uh, but I do like the, the perspective that dog training brings to, to all relationships,
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whether it's business partners, kids, spouses, you know, you, you name it, but.
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And, and, uh, I've never really trained a dog prior to our three-year-old German shepherd.
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And I used your training, which you and I have talked about.
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Um, and I'm like, man, this is actually like pretty easy when, you know, you use your training
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and it's significantly easier than if you don't.
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But then we have a one-year-old, uh, greater Swiss mountain dog.
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I'm like, that German shepherd is so, so much easier to deal with, whether it's temperament
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Just like children, they're all different and have their own different personalities.
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And that dog, you'll tell that dog to come and it'll just stare at you and just like almost
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look at you, like, I know exactly what you want me to do and I'm not going to do it just
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I mean, number one is that, you know, like you said, all dogs are different, just like
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with people, you know, cognition, you know, intuition, you know, the ability to read body
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language, you know, they're all, you know, pretty adapt and gifted to that.
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But some way, way better than others, just like, you know, some people, it's way easier
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to train them in anything, teach them, you know, whatever skill set, you know, some people
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So dogs are similar that way, but where, where the nice thing about dogs comes in that, you
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know, it isn't really any different than people, but it kind of gives you a, almost
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a guarantee to be able to be successful is just in repetition, just like with, you know,
00:20:58.960
And I'm sure a lot of your listeners do, or at least understand it is, you know, there's,
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you know, pretty much every technique where, you know, some, you need to drill more for
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it to become, you know, muscle memory or condition response, you know, it taking place without
00:21:13.460
you having to think about it, you know, and whether it's body positions or certain, you
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And so with dogs, it's really the same way is that, you know, some dogs take way more
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repetition than others, but, you know, at the end of the day, ultimately there, there
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is a finite amount of repetitions that for every dog will get them to that point, you
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And so if, if you just, you know, create a classroom, no different than you do with
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children is that, you know, you remove the white noise, get rid of all the distractions
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and have an area that you go to that you're using food to shape behavior and condition the
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And, you know, there is a number of repetitions that at a certain point that that dog will
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do it just like that, because, you know, you've put that amount of time and it's just where
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it's tough for people is that if you've got a dog like that, that, you know, is a little
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bit, we'll call it stubborn, even though I don't like to anthropomorphize quite that
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much, but, you know, just maybe it's cognitively not as driven or needs more repetitions to
00:22:10.940
get the point across for whatever is it, you know, there's, there's a, you know, a kind
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of risk versus reward or, you know, almost a cost benefit analysis type of approach to
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it, where, you know, you have to ask yourself like, Jesus Christ, is this worth it? You
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know, and that's, you know, what it is with a lot of rescue dogs.
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I get asked all the time, you know, or can all dogs be saved?
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I mean, there, there are a very, very small, I mean, a fraction of a fraction of a percentage
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of dogs that are just hardwired and they're fucking crazy, just like with people, right?
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You know, whether, whether it's, you know, a combination of genetics and, and, you know,
00:22:47.760
it's nature and nurture, it's, you know, maybe they, they weren't fed properly and their brains
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didn't develop, they, you know, were, were castrated or spayed too early and they have
00:22:55.620
a hormonal imbalance and that, you know, there's some sort of chemical thing going on or they're
00:23:00.000
just plain, you know, their, their wiring is crossed and they're nuts, just like with some
00:23:06.180
What happens most of the time is that people get frustrated.
00:23:08.940
They inadvertently create all of these undesirable behaviors and then ultimately end up getting
00:23:13.600
rid of the dog for shit that they created, right?
00:23:16.160
That if they, if they would have just been consistent, the same way you are with trying
00:23:20.100
to get in shape, become a black belt in jujitsu, be a great chef, you know, be a world-class
00:23:25.940
Olympic lifter, you name it, is that any of those skillsets can be obtained if, if you
00:23:31.160
put the time in or consistent and have a blueprint print or a roadmap to get from A to B, just
00:23:37.000
like with anything else, you know, building a business, you name it.
00:23:43.880
And then back to my point of our all dogs savable is that, yes, uh, I think almost all
00:23:49.460
of them are, it's just with, with some of them it's, is it, is it worth taking, you know,
00:23:55.280
one person or several people's time where, where that's basically a full-time job for two
00:24:00.180
years to rehabilitate this dog, to get them to work and just live a normal life.
00:24:04.480
Like to me, no, probably not, you know, it's, it's not, not worth, you know, one or, or
00:24:09.980
several human beings entire existence to, to get this animal to a point where he's not
00:24:14.740
trying to kill little kids or, uh, you know, bite its owner or is so scared of every stimulus
00:24:19.980
out there that it blows its anal glands when a car drives by or, you know, when you have,
00:24:24.780
you know, levels of severity to that degree with dogs, in my opinion, that that's when you
00:24:30.060
kind of run into the, you know, could you, could you do it?
00:24:33.080
But it's really not worth, uh, you know, what it's going to take or it's just not real.
00:24:37.060
It's not that it's not worth, it's just not realistic, you know?
00:24:39.360
And so that's, that's kind of what you're faced with in those circumstances.
00:24:44.320
It's interesting coming from your perspective, you know, where you trained us, like some of
00:24:49.580
I actually, with my Swissie, I actually enjoy it because for lack of better terms, stubborn,
00:24:54.600
I get what you're saying there because you, if the, if I'm understanding you correctly,
00:24:58.440
the reason you don't use that word is because it's not like human stubbornness, right?
00:25:06.340
A hundred percent because what, and half of why people struggle so much with training their
00:25:11.160
dogs is because they look at it from the human perspective, right?
00:25:15.380
And so if you think about one real key concept with dogs, which is they don't think in a language,
00:25:21.340
So, you know, you and I, you know, we talk in a language, you dream in a language, you
00:25:25.080
think, you reason your way, problem solve through, you know, through an internal monologue that
00:25:31.580
And so now imagine going through your day where everything is like, it's A plus B equals C.
00:25:37.460
You're making a simple association with everything.
00:25:39.960
So even thinking that your dogs think the way you do sets people up for failure, thinking
00:25:45.320
that they have as complex set of emotions as we do set you up for failure.
00:25:50.100
You know, you, you really have to do your best to remove all of your emotional attachment
00:25:55.740
from it, uh, and, and really get, get that consistency.
00:26:01.300
And, you know, with my online training, I'm, I'm always, you know, impressed and, and continue
00:26:07.800
to be amazed at, at how many people, you know, have tried a lot of different things.
00:26:12.140
And once they just do it themselves and put the time in and be consistent, you know, they
00:26:17.060
have overwhelming success, you know, and, and that no doubt hinge hinges on your ability
00:26:23.500
And that's where, uh, you know, that, that coupled with, you know, not thinking of it
00:26:27.620
from a dog's perspective, which is part of removing the distractions is, is where people
00:26:32.160
Because if you, if you think of, you know, the 24 hour day broken down into one hour
00:26:38.480
You've got, let's just say liberally you're, you're spending three or four hours a day training
00:26:44.560
No, of course, even then you've got, you know, three or four hours a day that you're
00:26:48.500
training where you've got, you know, 20 to 21 other hours that now what is taking place
00:26:54.580
Well, if it's free time where the dog can self self discover all over your house, self
00:27:00.220
reward, uh, you know, can, can get into things and interact with other animals, you know, be
00:27:06.000
pet and have affection from, from other family members, you know, take long hikes and walks
00:27:10.840
and be completely independent of you and have no association with you during all of that
00:27:15.740
Now you're creating an, an overwhelmingly lopsided scenario where most of the dog's day
00:27:24.580
And all of the things that they're learning and figuring out in that a plus B equals C sequence
00:27:31.300
And so now, even if you're spending four hours a day, if, if those other 20 hours are spent
00:27:36.920
doing a ton of cool shit with, with no association to you, you're never going to win that battle.
00:27:42.320
And so, you know, you've got to do almost a bootcamp type scenario early on, not for the
00:27:49.120
The dog doesn't need to be created his whole life.
00:27:50.900
And then quite the contrary is that if you put that time in the same way you do with working
00:27:55.640
out and eating, right, or, you know, training and doing jujitsu and studying and recovering
00:28:00.260
properly and, and thinking about, you know, your next workout and how you're going to do
00:28:04.960
things and, and, you know, visualizing all that stuff is that that's what sets you up
00:28:10.040
And so if you remove all of that ability to do that by keeping the dog crated, when you
00:28:15.460
get them out, you're feeding them through training, you're not feeding them any less.
00:28:18.700
You know, you put the amount of food that he's going to eat for that day anyway, on top
00:28:22.820
of his crate, he goes in the crate, uh, before you get them out, you put some of the food in
00:28:26.840
a pouch, you've got a clicker, hook a leash to him, go out.
00:28:29.320
And now you're just reinforcing, you're shaping and reinforcing him, look, looking at you, making
00:28:33.680
eye contact, sitting, recalling, downing, you know, all the things that you want him
00:28:38.800
I typically will just walk around my backyard and every time the dog comes over to me, I
00:28:42.980
market, give him food and I walk away from him, you know, and three days later, the dog
00:28:50.360
And then from there, now you can shape, you know, all of the behaviors that you want, all
00:28:56.880
But it starts with that is that it's, it's making that association that every calorie that
00:29:01.020
that dog gets comes from you and over, you know, a few weeks to a few month period, depending
00:29:05.700
on, again, the cognition of the dog, how old he is, what other baggage he might have, what
00:29:10.160
his genetics are, uh, all of those things are going to contribute to how long you need
00:29:15.380
But with, you know, 99% of the dogs out there, it's, it's a couple of months at the most,
00:29:20.200
just like bootcamp or a police academy or whatever, uh, is that, you know, you're, you're
00:29:25.000
a total immersion type of approach, similarly to, you know, you learn a language far faster
00:29:31.360
moving to Spain than you do taking Spanish two hours a week in high school.
00:29:37.880
It's just hyper-focusing and then super concentrated so that the dog is, is drinking from a higher
00:29:43.580
hose, but is picking up all of that so that now a couple of months down the road, you've
00:29:47.460
got a dog that does everything you want them to do, stays out of the things that you don't
00:29:50.900
want them into, uh, you know, we'll recall, you know, even if there's traffic or a
00:29:54.780
squirrel running by or whatever, because you've, you've built that into them and conditioned
00:29:59.200
But just like with all of the other things that are cool to, to obtain being in great
00:30:04.500
shape, you know, earning a new belt in jujitsu, you know, learning how to, how to make something
00:30:08.580
from scratch, you've got to put the time in and be dedicated and disciplined enough, you
00:30:17.780
And once it's there, it's way easier to maintain that than, you know, living for 10 years with the
00:30:22.920
dog where he's constantly nagging and it's just a constant problem.
00:30:27.780
Men, let me hit the pause button on the conversation really quickly.
00:30:30.780
I want to introduce you to our newest 30 day course.
00:30:37.100
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You can do that after the podcast for now, get back to it with Mike.
00:31:46.480
Like, well, I mean, not only that, it's just, it's so much more rewarding because I've had
00:31:51.180
dogs in the past and I've been so frustrated and has less to do with the dog and more to
00:31:54.820
do with me because I take it personally, right?
00:32:00.080
But I've noticed with, with my dogs and going through, through your training is like, it's
00:32:04.360
just being a dog owner is so much better because I've built those foundational principles.
00:32:10.960
Like I've heard them referred to as first principles, right?
00:32:13.420
These are the things that once they learn and establish and adopt, then you can start
00:32:18.360
introducing more complex situations and circumstances and tricks and whatever else.
00:32:23.300
But it's funny because at this point with my German shepherd, my son's actually German shepherd.
00:32:29.640
Uh, he'll actually look to me almost for like approval in a way.
00:32:34.480
And there isn't a whole lot of communication that needs to happen, or at least that I can
00:32:39.160
acknowledge, but there's probably some sort of body language, nonverbal communication that's
00:32:42.880
happening that he is now recognizing and acts by the way that I think, you know, it's, so
00:32:48.720
it's kind of an, it's kind of an interesting phenomenon to see him work through that in
00:32:52.420
circumstances that he's never been exposed to before.
00:32:56.320
You're talking, your son has this with you or the dog is looking at you that way.
00:33:02.180
He's got a little bit more of independence than the dog does, but I'm talking about the
00:33:07.220
So, you know, it's a great point and it really highlights again, the difference between people
00:33:13.480
If you think about, uh, you know, if you've been in a Walmart parking lot, right.
00:33:18.060
And you see somebody from 300 yards away that, you know, you've never met this first time
00:33:25.380
And you can tell that they're having the worst day of their life, right.
00:33:28.880
Or, you know, on the contrary, they're, maybe they're having, you know, the best day of
00:33:34.040
Uh, but if you think about how overwhelmingly verbal we are, like, yes, we use body language,
00:33:39.180
use our hands, you know, we use social cues when we talk and that conveys certain points
00:33:46.320
But, but we're, we're overwhelmingly verbal in how we communicate, whether it's through text
00:33:51.820
or email, phone calls, you know, even zoom calls, whatever is that most of our, our communication
00:33:57.160
is, is, uh, is done through, through language, right.
00:34:00.320
So now if you think about how easy it is for us as human beings to now identify other human
00:34:06.520
beings and whether they're angry, whether they're sad, whether they're happy, whether, you know,
00:34:10.280
you name it, is that you get a pretty good idea of what somebody's intent is or their emotions
00:34:15.900
Now imagine a dog who that's their entire world, right.
00:34:19.900
Is that they don't, they don't use language at really at all.
00:34:23.860
Um, you know, they use some verbal, uh, cues here and there and then barking and whining
00:34:28.040
and things of that nature, but it's very limited by comparison.
00:34:31.340
98% of the way that they communicate is all non-verbally all body language, right?
00:34:35.740
So what it forces you to do is again, as think of it from the dog's perspective, but also be
00:34:41.260
hyper aware of, of what you are doing or not doing right.
00:34:45.480
Is, is that, you know, you see it a lot in detection dog training where the handler is
00:34:49.780
cueing the dog as to, you know, if, if he's, you know, it's almost like playing Marco Polo,
00:34:54.380
you know, where, where the handler, and this is why when you do it in training, you generally
00:34:59.320
don't want the handler to know where the odors are is because they usually will cue the dog
00:35:03.940
that they're there and they don't even realize they're doing it.
00:35:07.100
The dog's constantly looking for feedback, you know, but they're, they're constantly doing
00:35:12.860
Is that, you know, whether you're sad, whether you're, you know, whatever, is it, you know,
00:35:16.200
you've probably been in a scenario where you've lost your temper or gotten angry and your dog
00:35:20.700
was, was in the vicinity, but it had nothing to do with the dog.
00:35:24.120
And your dog recognized that and was like, fuck you, I'm out of here.
00:35:29.780
And so that, that tells you a lot about their ability to recognize your emotion.
00:35:34.780
And it's not that they can smell anger or fear or any of those other things.
00:35:38.020
Yes, there, there is a hormonal component that, uh, you know, that, that there's, you
00:35:43.340
know, you could argue that there's a scent picture there, but most of what it is, is
00:35:47.980
that, you know, when people are angry, they, they act a certain way.
00:35:54.900
And, and, you know, one of the, uh, adages we use in dog training is, you know, your emotion
00:35:59.520
travels down the leash and, and it absolutely does.
00:36:01.960
You know, so you've got to be very cognizant of what your emotions are a and be just generally
00:36:07.480
speaking, what your body language is, you know, they, they watch your eyes, they watch
00:36:11.440
You may just, you know, do, do this, or, you know, it's almost like, like a third base
00:36:16.120
coach in baseball, you know, a couple of little things that you don't realize you do every
00:36:20.800
time you tell them to sit or when you, you know, see them about to do something you don't
00:36:25.800
And, and, you know, it's almost like a tell in, uh, in card playing is that, you know, we
00:36:30.240
have all of these little nuances and, and micro, uh, movements that, that, uh, that we
00:36:35.460
have that we largely are unaware of because we're not paying attention to cue the dog to
00:36:40.120
So, um, you know, when, on those early parts of training, it's imperative that you are
00:36:45.340
really aware of, of removing all of your body language to the best of your ability and,
00:36:50.580
and really focus on, on not moving, not using your eyes, not cueing the dog, not, you know,
00:36:56.840
fidgeting or, or anything like that so that you're really using and communicating slash
00:37:02.300
teaching the dog that it's the dog's actions that determine the consequences.
00:37:06.320
Again, just like with kids is that, you know, if I put them in my classroom and I, you know,
00:37:11.180
I'll, I'll, we get to a certain point, I'll, I'll specifically or purposely put distractions
00:37:15.940
in there and, and I'll let him go mess with him.
00:37:19.080
And the second he stops messing with him and turns his focus back on me, I mark and reward
00:37:23.460
that so that I teach him, you know, the world isn't going to be absent of distractions,
00:37:27.640
but, but what you need to understand is that no matter what's going on, when I tell you
00:37:32.440
to come here or to look at me or to heal or whatever is that you do it.
00:37:36.620
And that's where the muscle memory and repetition comes in.
00:37:39.580
You slowly build in those distractions so that, you know, cause if you tried to go like, you
00:37:44.300
know, Hey, my dog is leash reactive and you say, okay, well, let's take him out on a leash
00:37:48.200
and put them five feet away from a dog that wants to rip his head off.
00:37:53.380
Like you're 12 steps ahead of where you should be.
00:37:57.500
You know, if you can't get his attention when nothing is going on and there's, there's no
00:38:01.780
competition stimulus wise, then you're damn sure not going to have a way out in town.
00:38:08.640
So, uh, so it's about building a repetition in where, where there's not a lot of things
00:38:14.400
going on and then you interject a little bit of distraction.
00:38:16.620
And once they, they understand that and now they understand, Hey, this is cool, but I don't
00:38:21.600
only get what I want when I look at him, you know, then you just build on that and then
00:38:25.540
you take them, you know, into your house and then in the front yard and then right down
00:38:28.840
And then you just slowly get more and more distracting, uh, you know, the same way you
00:38:32.940
kind of graduate through, um, elementary, junior high, high school in the college, et cetera.
00:38:37.740
And then you just slowly build that in with repetition.
00:38:39.880
And now you've got a dog that, you know, can walk by other dogs that are trying to kill
00:38:45.460
him and squirrels are running by and bouncing off his back and you throw a basketball in
00:38:49.100
front of him or, you know, and he, then he's just sitting there looking at you, you know,
00:38:52.220
he, he, healing through the gauntlet because you, you've taught him that that's the only
00:38:59.160
It sounds like this is an interesting perspective because it's helping me shift my mind a little
00:39:02.760
You're not trying to like control necessarily the dog as much as you help me if I'm wrong
00:39:08.200
on this, but almost give it autonomy, like allow it to choose based on the response.
00:39:16.580
You know, I'm not a religious guy, but a good analogy is, is Christianity and free will,
00:39:22.300
Does that, you know, you're saying, Hey, or with kids, like you want to go check out that,
00:39:26.940
that hot wire fence, knock yourself out, like maybe even literally, uh, yeah.
00:39:32.760
But I'm going to sit here and I like, I'm not even, I'm not going to look at them.
00:39:36.780
I'm not going to stay, you know, and I'm not going to do any of that, right?
00:39:40.880
Because what that does is it lures or accuse the dog.
00:39:43.760
What I want him to understand is that, Hey, no matter what is going on out there, is that
00:39:48.960
the only time that you're making that a plus B equals C references that when you turn and
00:39:53.580
look at me or come over to me, that's when, when it gets marked and rewarded.
00:39:59.160
And so now when I build in all of these other distractions, it can be active.
00:40:06.820
I mean, you know, things that smell, you know, attractive things that, that, you know, incite
00:40:11.400
their prey drive, you know, auditory ones that get their attention.
00:40:15.120
You know, all of these different stimuli that dogs are inherently going to check out and
00:40:19.300
show interest in is that I stand there like a telephone pole and the dog is hungry because
00:40:24.360
the only time he gets fed is when he looks at me and they learn that really fast.
00:40:28.080
You know, really fast when, and the key is, is exactly that is that, you know, put the
00:40:33.620
food in the pouch and they, and it gets marked and rewarded when they do what you want.
00:40:37.400
Now, if you're feeding the dog and then trying to go train, giving them three meals and bully
00:40:41.920
sticks and cow knuckles and, and, you know, all these different, you know, scraps and things
00:40:51.920
That's, you know, akin to saying, Hey, we just had a steak dinner.
00:40:55.280
And now, sweetheart, if you go clean your room and do a real bang up job, you'll get a free
00:40:59.960
They're going to be like, who gives a fuck about Brussels sprouts?
00:41:02.960
So it's, it's the same thing with them is that, you know, and again, you're not starving the
00:41:06.600
You're just, you're feeding him in a different way.
00:41:08.980
Like he's still getting the same amount of food, but he's getting it a handful at a time
00:41:13.020
for doing what I want him to do without telling him to do it.
00:41:16.080
And because the other big problem people have is what, you know, they'll, they'll bring
00:41:19.820
a dog in and they'll say, sit, you know, well, the dog's not sitting.
00:41:23.480
Well, he has no fucking idea what sit means, you know, or, you know, watch like the dog
00:41:31.100
And again, you know, one of the things that where people screw up to, to use another detection
00:41:35.220
work analogy is that if they're looking for marijuana, they're, they're not looking for
00:41:40.460
They're looking for whatever you've rewarded them for finding.
00:41:43.500
So if you've got your body odor on it, or you just had a bacon cheeseburger and that
00:41:48.560
grease is on it, or whatever containers you're keeping it in, or, you know, the certain type
00:41:52.500
of gloves that you use, you've got to proof the dog off of that stuff.
00:41:55.520
And so it's, it's no different here in that, you know, they're not going to understand anything
00:41:59.900
other than what they've been rewarded for finding.
00:42:02.740
And where people make a lot of mistakes again, is they let the dog self reward.
00:42:13.680
He gets nothing from you and everything from chasing a squirrel, right?
00:42:17.380
Whereas you flip that, you flip that script and say, I know you're hungry.
00:42:24.880
You get nothing until you come back to me, you know, and then you come back to me, bam,
00:42:28.520
you get fed with a primary reinforcer that you have to have to sustain your life.
00:42:32.580
And over a couple week period, you know, you can take dogs that didn't have high food drive,
00:42:37.300
that didn't really want to work, don't care about a tennis ball, give a shit about attention.
00:42:41.080
And now that they work like a high drive Malinois and are flashy and swinging their ass into
00:42:48.100
your knee and, you know, high step and, you know, focused attention healing through, you
00:42:52.860
know, a crowded area of kids and, you know, ice cream cones and hot dogs falling and, you
00:42:58.580
know, you name it is, is that it's, it's truly remarkable, you know, how well you can condition
00:43:03.860
a dog that's mind is already set up to, to work that way, to do really whatever you want.
00:43:11.760
Again, it's just, you know, how many repetitions is going to vary dog to dog, but, you know,
00:43:17.640
I've got tens of thousands of, of clients on, on the online training and, and you know, it's,
00:43:23.820
it's, it's really cool to see, you know, people that have struggled for years or, you know,
00:43:28.300
tried having other people train their dogs and whatever.
00:43:30.340
And then the reality is just like with kids or with a spouse or, you know, an employee
00:43:33.740
with, uh, or an employer or a boss with employees, whatever is that you've got to put that time
00:43:39.060
in, you know, yes, you can have help, uh, you know, and you can have help, you know,
00:43:42.760
people, you know, watch you train and tweak and do weekly lessons or even do board and
00:43:47.120
trains and then, uh, one-on-one sessions with them afterwards to keep it up.
00:43:52.620
Uh, but the most effective way is, is really to do it yourself and it's not complicated, you
00:43:57.360
know, it's far more rewarding to do it yourself also.
00:44:00.580
Well, I think people just want to, I agree with the rewarding side of it.
00:44:03.600
I think people just want to outsource it because it's easier, right?
00:44:06.480
It's easier just to pay somebody to train and it's easier to just like not have to worry
00:44:10.220
about it and then have it come back and it'd be, be this well-behaved dog.
00:44:15.460
Um, well, you've been doing that as a shelf life though.
00:44:18.260
Of course, you know, if you're having a hard time with your kids and you send them to boarding
00:44:21.740
school and they're there for nine months a year, whatever, and they come back and they
00:44:24.640
are, you know, drum tight military bearing laden little pricks that, you know, now are
00:44:33.820
If you give no feedback in terms of reinforcing the good behavior and, and, you know, continuing
00:44:39.600
to correct or, or extinguish the bad behavior, they're going to go right back to what they
00:44:48.920
If whoever does that, you know, works with you afterwards and teaches you and educates the
00:44:55.760
You know, cause I'm not naive to the fact that, you know, some people are like, look,
00:44:59.220
dude, I don't have two months, you know, to, to do that with my dog.
00:45:03.460
And in that case, do a board and train, but understand how to maintain it.
00:45:06.760
You know, it can't just be a, a handoff of the torch and, and, and, uh, you know,
00:45:11.940
you expect it to go well because it's just not gonna, I mean, no different than if you
00:45:15.840
work your ass off for 90 days and get in great shape and then stop working out, guess
00:45:20.920
You know, same thing, you know, so do dogs, uh, you're talking about them not being obviously
00:45:28.200
language driven 98% or whatever you said, but do they start to understand tone?
00:45:38.100
I'm like, obviously they know what that command means, or maybe it's just some sort of physical
00:45:42.640
cue that they're picking up on that we don't acknowledge we're doing, or it's both.
00:45:45.660
It's both, um, you know, where, where the command is going to determine whether or not
00:45:54.460
You know, one of the things I do, people are like, yeah, my dog knows it.
00:45:59.020
And so the dog, you know, you'll have a ball, a treat, whatever.
00:46:02.000
And you, you call the dog over to you and it comes and you say sausage or broccoli.
00:46:06.380
And then the dog will sit is that the dog knows contextually when he comes over to you
00:46:10.300
and you have something he wants, when he sits, he gets something, he gets it from you.
00:46:20.240
And so when, when a dog truly knows that, and what I recommend in my training and show it
00:46:24.500
is, uh, you know, it's basically, you know, not saying the command until the dog does it
00:46:30.360
predictably without saying anything, without cuing him, you know, body language wise, whatever
00:46:34.080
the dog just sit, mark, reward it, sit, mark, reward it.
00:46:36.940
He just, he knows every time he gets the reward, bam, he sits, bam, you know, at that point.
00:46:41.080
And, and, you know, with 98% predictability and success, now I'm going to couple it with
00:46:45.400
the command and drill it until the dog knows it.
00:46:47.940
If you really want to see if a dog understands the command, have him go from downing up to
00:46:53.300
sitting, you know, and can do it from anywhere, you know?
00:46:56.160
So if you're standing behind, you know, the kitchen counter and the dog is walking and you
00:46:59.540
say down and the dog downs sit, the dog comes up into a sit, then for sure they understand
00:47:06.000
Now, you know, for a lot of people, maybe they don't need to understand the command and
00:47:10.880
they just need to understand the behavior through a contextual thing.
00:47:15.100
But, uh, you know, from a safety standpoint, I want the dogs to add a minimum recall and
00:47:24.780
So, you know, a car's going by and the dog's chasing a squirrel.
00:47:29.140
I want to be able to say, you know, Duke here, no matter what is going on.
00:47:33.020
That dog spins the fuck around and comes back, you know, and so those two commands and
00:47:37.680
healing the same way as if you're out in town with a dog and, uh, you know, who knows what's
00:47:42.800
going on, maybe, you know, other dogs are trying to, to get at it or kids or, you know,
00:47:47.400
there's a million scenarios that you can come up with where the dog not healing away from
00:47:54.680
And so, you know, no matter what's going on, I want to be able to say, you come here and
00:47:58.760
you walk with me no matter what's going on to wherever we need to get to go.
00:48:02.460
Like to me, at a minimum, everybody's dog should at least be able to do that.
00:48:07.080
I mean, to me, the basic five obedience behaviors is something that dogs should also be able
00:48:13.880
But, um, but at a minimum, I think just, you know, if you're going to own a dog, like
00:48:19.360
And, and again, that just comes back to conditioning.
00:48:22.200
What's your, uh, what's your take on socializing your dogs with other, with other people?
00:48:30.640
Um, you know, I would say it's kind of akin to saying, well, you know, do you want to
00:48:38.160
I mean, you know, ask yourself, you know, ask yourself, you know, and here's a huge misconception.
00:48:45.040
I think that we have more as a Western society, there's other parts of the world that seem
00:48:50.140
to get this a little better than we do, but it's, it's the play date mentality.
00:48:56.040
Go, you know, go be pet by so-and-so, you know, the big, the big question you need to
00:49:00.660
ask yourself is why do you want your dog to interact with other dogs, with kids, with
00:49:04.540
other, other people that, that aren't, you know, immediate family members.
00:49:08.360
If it's an immediate family member, yes, absolutely.
00:49:10.920
Of course, because they're going to be around more often.
00:49:13.700
If it's anybody else, no, I don't want you petting my dog.
00:49:18.780
I don't want you touching him, looking at him, you know, feeding him any of those things,
00:49:22.860
because there's no reason for it, uh, dogs, you know, and again, I'm not of the mindset
00:49:29.860
or mentality that, uh, that dogs are, are wolves at their core and everything is, is a complete
00:49:36.200
parallel, but there are a lot of, um, you know, traits that are passed down through, uh, you
00:49:45.020
And if you think about any predatorial animal is that, you know, they don't go and just intermingle
00:49:50.080
and, and mixed it up with other animals, right.
00:49:52.440
Is that, you know, they're, they're with their group and that's it.
00:49:55.600
They don't, yeah, they don't need, you know, to, to be socialized with all these other things.
00:50:00.600
And so, you know, one, one of the, I've got a YouTube video that, um, where I talk about
00:50:06.040
that is that, you know, here's, here's why you shouldn't socialize your dog is that, you
00:50:10.320
know, and, and I think it's, it's a little bit of semantics or it's a terminology issue
00:50:14.680
where, uh, you know, a lot of times people assume that, that socializing, you know, every
00:50:21.180
Well, to me, that means that the dog needs to be tolerant of everything, right.
00:50:25.840
Is that I need to be, I need to be able to, and should be able to take my dog anywhere and
00:50:34.340
I don't want a dog that has to play with other dogs and get along with them.
00:50:42.300
Uh, and I think it's foolish from, you know, cause what I can guarantee is if your dog
00:50:46.760
never interacts with other dogs, guess what's never going to happen.
00:50:49.540
The dog's never going to get in an accidental fight.
00:50:51.740
He's never going to catch some weird fucking disease that some other dog has.
00:50:55.660
Uh, he's never going to bite a child for pushing the line or, or, you know, doing something
00:51:01.940
He's never going to knock somebody's old grandmother over because she couldn't handle him bumping into
00:51:06.580
her or whatever is that you're never going to have those problems.
00:51:09.440
If your dog, no matter what's going on, is looking at you for direction, right?
00:51:14.140
Is that that, again, that, that should be the goal is that I don't take my dogs to dog
00:51:18.460
I take my dogs all over the place with me, but when we go there, they're focused on me.
00:51:23.360
And that's on purpose is that I don't want them self-rewarding with other people and now
00:51:28.780
desiring affection from complete strangers, you know, for a number of reasons, you know,
00:51:35.520
But, uh, and, and I, again, I feel that way with other dogs, with, with other people's
00:51:39.900
children, with, with, you know, strangers, you name it, is that it all fits into the same
00:51:44.280
category is, is there's no reason for it, you know?
00:51:46.820
And on the contrary, there's a bunch of reasons why you wouldn't want them to interact with
00:51:51.780
all of those people, you know, again, for all the things we've mentioned.
00:51:54.260
So, um, you know, to me, it's, it's a terminology issue where I think most people have, uh, have
00:52:01.680
the wrong idea of what a socialized dog means, you know, again, not to beat a dead horse, but
00:52:06.480
to me, you know, having a dog that's, that's socialized means that you can take them into
00:52:14.120
Uh, you know, to me that, that is what socialization means.
00:52:18.200
I, I guess by that definition, most people would assume that socialized, if we're using
00:52:22.480
that, that way of describing it equals well-behaved, right?
00:52:25.900
That they think, oh, this dog is well-behaved because it can get along in all these environments.
00:52:30.380
And you're saying, no, it's not, that doesn't necessarily mean that dog's well-behaved.
00:52:35.060
I think, you know, it's one of those, I think it's just misguided.
00:52:38.100
And that I think what, what most people assume is that if I let my dog interact with all these
00:52:42.880
other dogs, he's going to be social to them and not fight with them.
00:52:47.060
Is that if you, if you don't let your dog interact with all these other dogs and he's
00:52:51.560
And again, you know, to me, no, is that, you know, the, the other half of the equation
00:52:57.420
that you have no control over is that other dog, right?
00:53:01.000
Is that, you know, dogs are animals the same way we are.
00:53:03.360
I mean, when you go up and meet somebody, you know, there's a limit as to how much grab
00:53:08.760
assery and, and I fucking and, and social challenging and dominance that you're going to take
00:53:15.220
And so dogs are largely that way also is that, yeah, they may, they may be cool at
00:53:19.600
first, you know, but then the other dog comes here.
00:53:22.460
And so now your dog goes here and then he comes here and it's like the baseball bat thing.
00:53:26.560
And now they're in a fight, you know, for, for nothing, right.
00:53:29.660
Is that if you want to keep your dog from, from, you know, being a pain in the ass for
00:53:36.740
Don't let them interact with other dogs because now you're doing two things as one is that
00:53:43.340
And then two is that you're, you're presenting an opportunity for things to go wrong over
00:53:49.780
Um, so again, the, the easy way around that is to become the dog's universe by doing all
00:53:55.820
the things that we talked about and then, you know, building that conditioning in.
00:53:59.660
And then now, yeah, I'm going to take him to home Depot.
00:54:04.720
Um, but I'm, I'm going to have him around all of these different things and he needs to
00:54:08.440
be able to deal with it, but he needs to just pay attention to what I'm doing.
00:54:13.660
So he can tolerate all of those other things, even to a point where another dog comes up
00:54:19.100
to him and he's still ignoring the dog and looking at me.
00:54:21.640
It's one of the things I do with my personal protection dogs is that, you know, I'll use
00:54:25.380
other dogs to come running up and bump into them and, you know, have a ball in their mouth
00:54:29.340
and go under them, you know, and that dog is still just looking at me, even when another
00:54:33.680
dog is messing with them behind the fence, barking, trying to, trying to attack them.
00:54:37.200
I want that dog, no matter what's going on is he's paying attention to me because that
00:54:43.040
is your, your most effective seatbelt and insurance policy to, to, to increase your chances,
00:54:49.480
your percentage chance at, at no, no problems happening with your dog.
00:54:54.280
Uh, again, in any environment, did you learn all this stuff on, on your own?
00:55:01.100
Is this like trial and error and you've figured all this stuff out?
00:55:03.820
Like, how did you get to the point where you are?
00:55:08.320
Uh, I've, I've been very fortunate, uh, in being able to train with and, and learn under,
00:55:15.820
you know, some amazing dog men over the, over the last 20 years in a host of different capacities,
00:55:21.500
you know, not just in police dogs, but in hunting aspects and others.
00:55:25.800
Um, you know, so for sure, I, I, I owe, you know, too many people to even name, frankly,
00:55:34.140
I mean, to me, again, it's a lot like jujitsu where, you know, you're under the tutelage
00:55:38.680
of a lot of people, you know, some of them are at your level.
00:55:43.400
Some of them are worse, uh, you know, and it's a collective, you know, absorbing of,
00:55:48.220
of all of that in conjunction with thinking about it yourself and learning yourself and
00:55:54.820
And then, you know, some of the things that work for me, maybe don't work as well for other
00:55:58.420
people, similarly to jujitsu with dog training.
00:56:01.640
It is, and I guess similar to jujitsu there, there's some basic principles that just exist
00:56:06.560
irrespective of body type and age and sex and, you know, things like that.
00:56:10.660
But within the spectrum of those principles, there are nuances that exist that, you know,
00:56:15.800
maybe you focus a little more on certain things or whatever, where I've learned a lot
00:56:19.480
on my own is through the warrior dog foundation dogs.
00:56:22.380
You know, we've taken in, it's, it's been in existence for 10 years.
00:56:25.080
Um, it'll be 10 years this August, we've taken in almost 200 dogs and, and of all of
00:56:31.560
these dogs right now, we've got 25 of them, you know, and every single one of these dogs
00:56:35.620
are dogs that come to us because they were with a unit and they got to the point where
00:56:40.860
they were going to be euthanized because they had become such a pain in that unit's ass.
00:56:45.580
Even if it's because they're, they're old age and they're being retired or some of them
00:56:49.440
are, you know, a year and a half or two, and they're just such, such a pain in the ass to
00:56:52.840
deal with that we get them is that, uh, you know, every one of them was to the point where
00:56:57.100
if you guys don't take this dog, we're going to put them, put them to sleep, you know?
00:57:00.820
And so for them to even come to us, you know, they've already checked a lot of boxes and
00:57:06.000
then have 12 strikes, uh, you know, against them to the point where they were going to
00:57:10.760
And these are dogs that, you know, have tens of thousands of dollars, you know, put into
00:57:16.460
So, you know, no department is, is going to, you know, decide this easily.
00:57:20.640
Like they, they've given the dog a number of chances.
00:57:22.940
They've given the handler a number of chances, trainers, other handlers, et cetera.
00:57:26.600
Uh, and so for the dog to get to us, it's, it's a pretty severe case.
00:57:30.080
And so, you know, these are all dogs that you're not going to, you know, slap your dick on the
00:57:34.980
counter and show this dog who's boss, you know, a bunch of other people have tried that
00:57:39.000
and have wound up in the hospital for doing it.
00:57:40.780
And so, you know, you, you have to think smarter.
00:57:43.760
And so that a lot, a lot of these lessons that I've talked about, you know, yes, are, are
00:57:48.260
for sure, you know, there aren't things that I thought of there, you know, concepts that
00:57:52.000
have been around for a while and that other people, uh, far smarter than me have, have,
00:57:57.900
But, but in that hands-on experience of having, you know, dozens and dozens of dogs over the
00:58:02.680
years that are all different, but the same in certain ways, um, and having to figure out,
00:58:08.340
you know, we've got to be able to, to work with this dog.
00:58:11.140
We've got to be able to, you know, clean his kennel out.
00:58:15.540
Then we've got to be able to put them in a crate.
00:58:17.240
Got to be able to take them to a vet without, you know, us getting bit or the vet getting
00:58:23.240
We're not operating at a high level with these dogs, but you know, the normal day-to-day care
00:58:26.960
we've got to be able to, to accomplish with these dogs.
00:58:29.800
And so kind of by default, you're forced with a, you have to figure out how to be able to get
00:58:35.080
these dogs to do it and that's overwhelmingly how it is done is, is using food and, and
00:58:41.080
positive reinforcement to just condition the dogs to do what we want.
00:58:44.660
You know, something as simple as, as muzzles, right?
00:58:47.040
A lot of dogs, when they're, they're driven and they're, they're predatory and they're
00:58:50.400
dominant and they're, you know, type A personality or double A, they don't want a fucking muzzle
00:58:56.280
They associate it with fighting because, you know, a lot of units do a lot of muzzle work
00:59:00.240
where they're putting the muzzle on and then sending the dog into, to attack them.
00:59:04.100
And so they have that association of muzzle equals be a motherfucker.
00:59:09.180
And, uh, and, and so, you know, something as simple as just, you know, smearing peanut
00:59:13.060
butter or, uh, pill pockets because they're pretty malleable and mashing four or five of
00:59:18.600
And you're just sitting there casually and the dog comes over and again, I'm not calling
00:59:25.500
And when the dog comes in and he just puts his face in the muzzle to smell it, I'm going
00:59:29.960
to mark it and let him, let him eat some of it.
00:59:31.700
And then I'm going to pull it back and let him go do his thing.
00:59:34.020
You know, just something as simple as that, like instead of making him wear the muzzle
00:59:38.040
and fighting him on it, you know, I've got the straps pulled all the way back and I'm
00:59:43.160
And so it may take a dozen of those sessions before I even try to put the strap around it,
00:59:49.580
Uh, and you know, over a few weeks time you get to where now you can put it on him.
00:59:53.040
And now once it's on him, now he's a pain in the ass.
00:59:55.360
Well, now something as simple as taking a soccer ball and kicking it and letting him
00:59:59.140
play with it, with the muzzle on, instead of fighting me and having that, you know,
01:00:03.180
conflict, I'm going to, I'm going to kick a soccer ball around and now he gets to play
01:00:10.260
And so it's figuring out, you know, things like that muzzling, creating veterinary exams
01:00:15.600
is, is manipulating the environment so that I know a, I'm making it really easy for him
01:00:22.060
And B is that if things do go horribly wrong, you know, we've got some mitigation protocols
01:00:27.700
between fencing and crates and kennel runs and long lines and things like that, that we
01:00:33.060
can, you know, get our way out of it relatively easily and take as little damage as possible
01:00:39.340
But that's where a lot of it comes from too, is just that, that hands on, you know, because
01:00:44.400
if you can do that with a dog like that, now you're, you're dealing with, you know, the
01:00:49.460
neighbor's labradoodle that, you know, just doesn't, doesn't like its feet being touched
01:00:53.520
or whatever now is, is kind of a walk in the park by comparison.
01:00:56.640
So the neat thing is, is that, you know, dog training is dog training when it comes to,
01:01:01.700
you know, no matter what A and B are, how you get from one to the other is largely the
01:01:09.300
Well, I, you know, I want to be respectful of your time.
01:01:11.160
I know you've got another commitment, so I want to get you out of here on time, but yeah,
01:01:14.400
I've just, I've been impressed with the training because I've never been able to train a dog
01:01:18.180
the way that I have with, with my two that I have now and largely in part to you, but
01:01:21.960
not only that, it's, it's just made me a more thoughtful person, which is a lot of people
01:01:27.040
will hear that and they'll be like, oh yeah, you're talking about training a dog.
01:01:30.660
And crazy enough, like it's just made me a more thoughtful, even maybe empathetic person to think,
01:01:36.920
okay, well, how can I get this dog to voluntarily want to do that?
01:01:42.360
And, and that's just maybe a more well-rounded person.
01:01:46.040
I mean, there's a lot of similarities between, um, you know, dog training and, and just relationships.
01:01:51.380
I mean, it's a relationship just like everything else, you know?
01:01:53.980
And so, um, you know, it was interesting when I was on Jocko's podcast, you know, he, he went
01:01:58.940
over the book team dog, which is what the, you know, team dog.pet lessons are, are formulated
01:02:03.360
off of, you know, and there was a number of excerpts when he read it, he's like, dude,
01:02:14.300
It is, you know, you know, and, and again, the nice thing with the nice thing that you
01:02:18.760
gain from doing it with dogs is that, you know, you, you have the ability to, to now apply
01:02:23.360
it to, to all of your personal relationships without kind of thinking about it.
01:02:26.940
You know, you, you can just default to those reinforcement strategies and, and not overthink
01:02:32.840
it because I think, you know, one of the problems we have as human beings, especially with training
01:02:36.620
dogs, but even with each other, as we overthink, you know, or we don't project and put ourself
01:02:45.660
You know, if you, if you can't step into that dog's mind and understand how the world
01:02:50.280
works, you know, in, in his mind and how he views it, you're never going to be successful,
01:02:54.980
you know, and it's, it's largely that way with, with all of our human relationships.
01:02:58.300
So, um, you know, just, it, it helps you grow in those areas in a way that, uh, that I think
01:03:04.240
most people would, would consider an unintended positive consequence, but it's for sure applicable.
01:03:13.160
Hopefully we'll be able to get you up to Maine.
01:03:14.660
I know we're going to do that before this whole, whole coronavirus COVID-19 fallout, but we'll
01:03:20.900
Cause I know you're doing some work with origin and I want to talk about mic drop too, because
01:03:24.940
you're having some conversations that aren't always, aren't always popular or well-received,
01:03:38.780
Well, Hey, uh, as we wind down, let me ask you a couple of additional questions.
01:03:41.940
The first one, and I've asked you this before when you were on the first time, but, uh, what
01:03:48.120
You know, to me, it's just doing what is necessary, you know?
01:03:51.360
And, and, you know, to me there, there is, I think, uh, maybe a misconception as to, you
01:03:57.740
know, being a man means, and it's this aesthetic, you know, image of, of what being, you know,
01:04:06.960
It's, you know, what you do, whatever it is that you want to do, but, but you handle it
01:04:12.540
responsibly, you know, is that you take accountability for whatever it is that you want to do, you know?
01:04:18.060
And, and, and to me, there's, there's just simply, there's doing the right thing and
01:04:24.100
And so it's, it's whatever you engage in being is that you, you make a net positive impact
01:04:34.060
It's not, you know, having to do super masculine things again, it's, it's whatever it is that
01:04:38.520
you want to do, but, but do it well, be accountable, uh, be net positive and, and don't shortcut
01:04:44.940
shit and do the wrong things and take advantage of people.
01:04:47.480
And, and, you know, to me, that's, that's the essence of it in the most simplest nutshell
01:04:56.140
Learn about the training, everything else you got, how you have going on, including the
01:05:02.100
So teamdog.pet is the online training that I talk about.
01:05:04.860
It's 99 bucks for a full year of unlimited access.
01:05:07.360
Plus I get in the forums, the message forums every, uh, every Monday morning and answer
01:05:12.460
questions, um, uh, tricos.com is where I've got, you know, my leash and collar, my crates,
01:05:18.840
CBD oil, um, dog food and treats, uh, all the different tricos products that I've developed,
01:05:24.360
uh, over the years, uh, are available there as well as the personal protection dog, uh,
01:05:30.900
Uh, mic drop doesn't have its own URL, but if you go on micritland.com or just, uh, search
01:05:36.220
it on YouTube or iTunes, you can listen to a mic drop podcast.
01:05:39.580
And, uh, last but certainly not least the warrior dog foundation, uh, as a warrior dog
01:05:45.940
Again, we've retired almost 200 dogs in the last 10 years, uh, all of, you know, which
01:05:50.580
come from special operations units, police departments, uh, federal law enforcement, you
01:05:57.220
We've pretty much taken a dog from, from them as an entity, uh, thus far.
01:06:01.580
And, uh, and you know, it's for sure a labor of love.
01:06:05.300
It's something that, uh, you know, we all get bit and, uh, and it's, it's a heartache
01:06:09.920
sometimes, but, you know, when you walk through that kennel facility and look into the eyes
01:06:14.360
of every single dog and, you know, you know, damn well that every single one of them would
01:06:19.320
be, you know, in a box full of ashes on somebody's desk, if we hadn't taken them in
01:06:24.840
is a pretty neat feeling to be able to be a part of that.
01:06:27.860
Uh, and so, you know, we don't have any federal funding there, there isn't grants or federal
01:06:33.220
funding from the, from the U S military or the, or the department of defense or the U S
01:06:37.560
government, generally speaking, uh, for, uh, our organization or any of them like it,
01:06:43.560
Uh, so all of our support is garnered from private individuals and things of that nature.
01:06:48.400
So, uh, if you want to check it out, go to warrior dog foundation.org, you can donate
01:06:56.760
I will say, unless you own your own home, don't have any children or other pets, uh,
01:07:02.120
and have an understanding how to, how to care for these animals, at least at a basic
01:07:06.800
Um, you know, we're, we're not interested in adopting dogs out other than into those
01:07:12.120
environments because it's such a liability, but yeah.
01:07:15.320
So just keep that in mind if, if you do apply, but, uh, but we're always looking to, uh, to
01:07:23.340
We'll sync it all up so everybody knows where to go.
01:07:25.900
I know we've been able to talk and build somewhat of a friendship, but, um, you've
01:07:30.480
had a direct impact outside of even that on my family, just because of the way that you've
01:07:34.440
helped me train my dogs and help my kids get involved in that process.
01:07:38.120
And, um, it's just brought us closer together, which is something I really wouldn't have like
01:07:42.460
initially considered, but it's actually been, like you said, one of those unintended
01:07:46.200
benefits of, uh, working together and working through your programs and courses.
01:07:51.640
And to me, like that's, that's the biggest compliment and, and, uh, you know, purpose
01:07:57.680
So I'm humbled to have, I have you feel that way and, uh, and honored to be a part of it
01:08:02.680
because it's, uh, to me, that's just a win all the way across the board.
01:08:10.460
You know, I say a lot of things I don't mean, but, uh, this is one of those things where
01:08:19.860
I hope you enjoyed as much as I always do when we have our conversations.
01:08:26.880
One that I aligned with very closely, which is why we're, we're probably friends.
01:08:32.260
If you're interested in training a dog, if you want to listen to his podcast, if you want
01:08:35.640
to pick up any of his books, like he put all the information out there, just make
01:08:38.720
sure you tag along, you follow him, uh, you connect with him.
01:08:42.380
He's very responsive and a lot of wisdom and valuable information to share, uh, connect
01:08:48.320
with him on Instagram, uh, me as well, wherever you're doing the social media thing, connect
01:08:52.920
Let us, let us know what you thought about the show and the conversation.
01:08:55.300
And, uh, let's keep, let's keep the conversation alive over on the, over on the socials.
01:09:02.880
Uh, please, if you would, again, remember the 30 day to battle ready course.
01:09:06.700
Uh, you can check that out at order of man.com slash battle ready.
01:09:10.920
And then also, if you would leave a rating and review climbing in the charts, we're making
01:09:14.640
our moves and this is going to be a great year for what we're doing here with order
01:09:17.420
of man, which is to reclaim and restore masculinity.
01:09:24.540
All right, guys, we'll catch you soon until then go out there, take action and become
01:09:29.940
Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.
01:09:32.400
If you're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be,
01:09:36.780
we invite you to join the order at order of man.com.