Trust is the foundation of any relationship, whether it is a friend, a family member, or a dog.
Positive Reinforcement Training
Positive Reinforcement is one quadrant of a theory in (human) psychology known as Operant Conditioning.
Positive Reinforcement is the idea that a pleasant/desired reward is given as a consequence of a behavior being performed, making it more likely that the behavior will be offered more frequently.
While it is impossible in life not to experience the other three quadrants of operant conditioning (punishment for doing something, discouragement through the removal of a reward, or relief from the removal of something unpleasant), these teaching methods were categorized by HUMANS teaching other humans capable of communicating meaning and why something was happening.
Furthermore, we (and the community at large) do not believe it is right or fair to punish an animal when they don’t understand. Communication of an idea until the “light bulb” moment of understanding what is desired takes time and repetition. It would be incredibly unfair and destructive to trust (and a relationship) to take a being who is entirely dependent on you and set them up to fail and receive punishment as part of “learning.”
Scientific studies have also borne out the idea that positive reinforcement gets the fastest results with the least amount of “fallout” (negative side effects of training, mostly behavioral. For example, a dog that now shies away from human hands when they have previously experienced physical punishment).
Sources
The Power of Positive Dog Training – Pat Miller 2001
The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs – Patricia McConnell 2002
For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend – Patricia McConnell 2005
Don’t Shoot the Dog! : The New Art of Teaching and Training – Karen Pryor 1984
How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves – Sophia Yin 2004
Oh Behave!: Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker – Jean Donaldson 2008
Relationship-based dog training
Trust, Confidence, Happiness
Relationship-based dog training is more self explanatory than a clear criteria of training goals. In every step of your training, you are prioritizing your relationship with your dog. Building and preserving trust, fostering confidence, celebrating achievements, genuinely enjoying time and activities together are the ideals of relationship-based training.
First conceptualized by Suzanne Clothier, RBT has come to encompass a wide range of training techniques.
Through RBT we ensure our dogs have the skills to perform for any challenge, the confidence from proven experience overcoming challenges, and a the rock solid belief from your dog that you have their back.
Sources
How to Train Your Dog: A Relationship-Based Approach for a Well-Behaved Dog – Palika and Abbott 2022
Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs – Suzanne Clothier 2002
Developing Engagement and Relationship – Denise Fenzi and Deb Jones 2013
Game-based dog training
Have you ever wondered if your dog is a perennial toddler? You may not be wrong.
Game-based training may sound frou frou on the surface, but science has shown that learning happens best through repetition, a heightened level of excitement, and cooperation.
Organizing your training into patterns, behavior chains, and enthusiastic play builds baseline coping mechanisms in your dog that they can take anywhere!
Sources:
Control Unleashed: Creating a Focused and Confident Dog – Leslie McDevitt 2007
Happy Dog Training – Play is the Way! 2025
Gamifying Training for Your Dog – Julie Flanery course through FDSA
What We Are Not
Modern society loves to excuse rude, aggressive, and unempathetic behavior as the laudable traits of an “Alpha.”
The term “alpha” was first used to describe the leader or dominant individual in a group of animals by Rudolph Schenkel, a Swiss animal psychologist, in his 1947 paper, “The Behavioral Study of Wolves at the Zoological Garden of Basel”. He observed that wolves in captivity formed a social hierarchy, with one dominant individual, the alpha, who held the highest rank and controlled access to resources such as food and mating opportunities.
“Popularized by biologist David Mech in his book The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species (1970), the concept that wolves live in a rigid structure of domination, where a male and female fight to lead the pack, became a widely known belief. The problem? It was wrong.
Decades later, after more in-depth studies of wolves in the wild, Mech saw that the hierarchical, dominance-based model was born of research conducted on animals in captivity. In nature, packs are made up of families, and in fact the “leaders” are the parents of the young.
“When I wrote my book in 1970, everything we knew came from observations of wolves that were not related, but confined together. After years of field research, it became clear that the concept of ‘alpha wolf’ was wrong,” explains Mech, a senior scientist at the United States Geological Survey and adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota.
In 1999, to correct this equivocal view, Mech published the article “Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs,” in which he argues that the term “alpha wolf” does not apply to wolves in the wild, as they do not dispute leadership—they just form families.
However, changing a concept rooted deep in popular culture is not a simple task. Even after the article was published, the idea persisted in the collective imaginary and was widely used by the media and in public speeches on human behavior.” – Rodriguez 2025
Read more from credible sources
Debunking Dominance Theory and “Alpha” status