Why Your Dog’s Diet Might Be Making Them Sick | Antonio Diaz DSH #625

I tell people all the time, I get that you don't feel good or you feel guilty about creating your dog.

And I did that with my shepherd actually.

She was like 10 months old.

She mixed up the house.

She, I thought I got robbed.

And my dog is sitting there just happy.

And I'm looking at her and I'm like, thank God they didn't take you.

And I'm like, wait a second, they didn't take anything.

Oh, you did this.

Now I remember being so mad, but then I had to be mad at myself.

I was like, yeah, okay, you're mad mad at her, but she's a dog.

You're the idiot who let her out.

All right, guys, we got Antonio Diaz here, founder, owner of Leader of the Pack.

We're going to talk dogs today.

I'm excited.

Me too.

Very important topic.

I can talk about them all day.

Let's do it.

Dude, there's a lot of people not doing the right things with their dogs.

That is a fact.

When I go to dog parks, I get so nervous.

You go with your dog?

I used to.

I don't go anymore.

Oh, okay.

Too many fights.

We need to have a conversation if you're still doing it.

Yeah, man.

Too many fights.

Yeah, it's crazy.

I actually wanted to just go there and film and basically educate people on the progression of how fights break out.

And it's really an issue.

And people don't even understand it because they don't realize that.

People that are going there are bringing their crazy dogs who they have no control over to the dog park because it's an enclosed area.

And they're just like, this is the only way that I can get my dog to expel energy.

Yeah.

Last time I went, I brought my 35-pound mini Aussie.

Immediately got in there.

60-pound dog puts his chin on my dog's back.

And I was like, that's probably a fight sign or something right dominance dominance yeah so i just i left if i stayed it could have been yeah who knows it's no different than like you walking into a place and somebody walks up to you and puts their chest up to you like what's up bro yeah you know it's really a lot of times dogs do it just to see what kind of reaction they're going to get and whether or not you know a dog basically will say submits and just goes i don't want any problems and then other times dogs are like yeah i'm about that life and then you have a fight that breaks out yeah it's terrible man literally every time i've gone i've seen a fight it's it's not cool they need to figure out how to optimize those better i think i mean

well, first of all, there are like a bunch of rules that are, like, I know the one at Desert Breeze Park here in Vegas, you know, there's a whole bunch of rules there that I'm sure, and I know for a fact people aren't following.

Generally, what I teach, though, for my clients is to have a relationship with their dog so that they don't have to go to a dog park.

Bring your, I want, I want to be able to help people learn how to train their dogs to a point where they can trust them at a regular park and have a relationship with them to where they can either A, like throw a ball, frisbee, or whatever, or maybe just let the dog sniff around but have trust at the same time.

So give the dog the freedom, but have the trust and the ability to call them back to you or put them in a down or something like that.

Yeah, and I like that because I feel bad walking them on leashes because I know they're dogs and they want to walk around.

So I really wish they could be off leash.

I just don't know if they'll run away or something.

I mean, you know, training, but this is exactly what I do with my dogs.

Anytime I work with a dog, especially that I've when I've done it with rescues, like my goal is always to get them to be off-leash.

Because to me, I mean, it's just a beautiful thing to be able to have that trust in your dog.

And I honestly, I'll say this too: I don't think it's appropriate for every dog to be off leash.

I think there are some dogs that unfortunately need to be leashed, need to be physically controlled

for their best interests and those around them.

But at the same time, I think it's a worthy goal to have for anybody to have their dogs to be off leash and, you know, have freedom, man.

Like, it's really great to be able to do that.

Yeah.

So, both your dogs, how many dogs do you have?

Right now, I have four.

So, two, yeah.

So, two are, so they're all my dogs, right?

And my wife's, but

so we have two Yorkies, which are mainly like my wife's dogs.

And then I have Brooklyn and Logan, a Shepherd and a Dingo, and they're my dogs.

Got it.

So those are like, you know, the dogs that I take with me with my, on my sessions, help me with my clients.

And those are the dogs that most people know of on social media, too.

And what are some common problems you see when people are coming to you with their dogs?

Reactivity.

Okay.

Yeah.

That would be the number one thing.

So, and that, so reactivity is like an umbrella term for what, what, like aggression,

basically overreacting, a lot of barking, lunging.

And there's varying reasons for why dogs are reactive, but that's more or less like an umbrella term to describe it.

But yeah, 100% reactive.

Yeah, my Aussie won't shut the hell up sometimes, man.

I need to figure out why.

Okay, give me the situation.

A lot of it's television.

Okay.

So certain noises will trigger him for some reason.

Gotcha.

If he hears something outside, he'll do it.

But it's never aggressive.

Yeah, so how long have you, how, how old was he when you got him?

I got him at eight weeks.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

How what was your socialization time like period?

So he was

attacked at a young age by a huge German shepherd bit straight through his ear just climbing up the stairs.

The German shepherd just bit him.

For no reason.

No reason.

And then he's been kind of scared since, plus COVID happened, and then he wasn't really socializing often.

Gotcha.

So it's not that high.

I noticed he's good with girl dogs, though.

Okay.

But he's not neutered.

Okay.

But in the house, he's barking at everything.

Everything.

Yeah, I would say based on what you described, probably more like fear.

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Or I would say like a what the hell is that response.

I think so too.

Yeah.

So his first instinct is to just yap about it.

I mean, honestly, when it comes to situations like that,

I feel like the formula is fairly simple.

For most people, that's a common issue too, like barking,

excessive barking.

and what i would say to simplify my approach across the board it's i would break it down like this as much as possible reward the dog for not for doing the right thing and in your case it would be not reacting when he hears a noise

recreating the scenario so try to make random noises happen yeah so that you can give him feedback.

And then for me, I'm not opposed to using corrections.

Like, for example, and I get the question a lot, like, what is a correction?

What's a meaningful correction?

And it really just depends on the dog.

So

a loud clap, ah,

hey, could be a correction, maybe a leash or a collar pop for the dog, depending on the intensity of behaviors.

It could be an e-collar correction.

So, but the idea would be, in your case and in many others, is to recreate a scenario where you can

get the dog to potentially bark, reward them for not doing it, or give them a correction when they do it to let them know that's not going to work, knock it off.

But more times, I would say, for the most part, 90% of your feedback for your dog should be positive reinforcement.

Just because it's,

to me, it justifies any corrections that you give.

If you're constantly like, hey, good job.

Oh, that was good.

Oh, I like that.

That was good.

And then you put your foot down and go, absolutely not.

Knock that off.

To me, it makes more sense rather than just focusing all day on.

don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.

But I tell people it's just like anything else.

If you start a new job and all they do is tell you how much you sucked and how many things you did wrong, you're probably not going to want to go back to work there.

But if they were encouraging you and saying, Hey, that's really great, and then you make a mistake and they say, Hey, don't do that, that's not going to work for you.

We'll write you up if you do that.

That makes more sense.

That approach is a lot more, um, I would say, manageable and tolerable as a human being.

And it's the same thing for dogs, right?

And you saw a lot of puppies during the pandemic not socialize, right?

So you see them come up as adults kind of all over.

Crazy, yeah, they can't, they don't know how to deal with the world.

And honestly, I feel there's a it's two parts to that, right?

So, during COVID, people were obviously afraid to come out of the house or just felt more comfortable inside.

Uh, and then, in addition addition to that, you have vets recommend not taking the dog anywhere until they're four months, 16 weeks, and all their vaccines have been taken care of.

The issue with that, though, is that eight to 16 weeks is a very crucial time for socialization.

You need to be getting the dog out.

You need to expose them to things and normalize everyday occurrences.

You know, a truck driving down the road, a motorcycle, kids yelling and screaming, strollers, bicycles, scooters, all these things that are normal to us.

Even for example, like we recently have a puppy that we got from a family member because they couldn't deal with it.

But

what was it?

Like the diamond-plated metal grates that are on the sidewalk?

Diamond plated.

Right.

Okay.

She was nervous of them.

And so, you know, I help my wife.

She's over it now.

But, and I, I often tell people, like, it's little things like that, where a dog will, like, as if their life depended on it, avoid just that weird thing on on the sidewalk.

And that's just to me, a lack of socialization and not normalizing it the right way.

Right.

You know, but that, and now imagine that same dog sees a motorcycle for the first time.

They're going to freak out.

Or every time they see a kid, they freak out.

So, socialization is really, really important.

I love that.

Now, you're probably qualified to answer this next question because you've trained thousands of dogs, right?

Yes.

So, there's that debate about like certain dog breeds being more aggressive, like pit bulls and stuff.

Are you a believer in that?

Because certain apartments won't even house pit bulls.

Well, I would say that statistically, we could say on the record that that's true.

But in my experience,

I have a long list of dogs that have shown aggression, and I've worked with pit bulls that aren't aggressive at all.

So I think, like, statistically, if you look at what we're presented with, then I would agree with it.

But we have to take some things into consideration, right?

So, for example, how many dog bites aren't reported?

And it's more common, for example.

So, and I'm going to walk you through this, right?

If a pit bull bites somebody, the severity with which that dog bites is a lot more versus, let's say, a golden retriever.

Typically, if a kid gets bit by a golden retriever, it's a family dog.

In certain households, that's not going to get reported so long as a kid didn't have to go to the hospital.

So in terms of the

frequency with which it happens, I don't know if we can ever have a clear number on that.

But I would say, look, if I'm being completely honest with you, if I walk into a house and you have a, if you have, give me five dogs that are out of control.

One of them is a pit bull, one of them's a Rottweiler, one of them is a German Shepherd, one of them is a golden doodle, and one of them is a

Pomeranian, I'm probably going to be a little bit more on guard than with the pit bull, the Rottweiler, and the German Shepherd, for sure.

Because they're bigger.

Yeah, they're bigger.

They could do way more damage.

So, and I think that plays a role into it as well.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, I never understood it.

I mean, because I had my Australian Shepherd's like 12.5% pit bull.

Okay.

And when I was applying for apartments in LA, they were denying us just for that little percent.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, I would say that there is certainly a lot of hate on pities.

But again, I can understand it to a degree.

If you go online and you look up dog fights, a lot of the stuff you're going to see is pit bulls.

And again, I'm not saying that that is 100% like, yeah, pit bulls are the worst.

But you also have to understand a lot of these communities that these dogs come from,

they're, I would say, encouraging aggressive behavior.

And that's another thing, too.

Pit bulls are the most common dogs used for dog fights.

So we have a long list of lineage that comes from the intentional,

you know, aggravating and aggressing the dogs.

So they're trying to create aggressive dogs.

And then how do we know that two generations down the line, when you get that little cute dog from the shelter, that that dog doesn't have the same genetic matter.

Genetic

to be more aggressive.

Wow.

And there's a lot of things when there's people talk about dogs that are like attacking out of nowhere.

I don't know if I entirely agree with that because I feel like there's always some subtle signs.

A lot of times people are just so blind to interacting with a dog and then they blame the dog.

Matter of fact, there was a video I posted not that long ago of a little kid walking up to a pit bull who was like on a street doing some sort of like little trick for his owner.

And the kid comes up with a water bottle and just hits the dog dog in the face and then you know he kind of the kid gets shooed away a little bit but he comes back and does it again and in that moment if the dog he the dog ended up turning around and kind of barking at the kid yeah but just imagine if he attacked the kid nobody would look at that scenario and say the dog was provoked they would just go ah pit bull attack the kid pit bulls are terrible of course you know and you know all these other things but i think that's important to bring to the conversation is what are people doing or not doing you know, not rep, excuse me, not respecting boundaries, pushing the dog, being aggressive with the dog, and then the dog ends up flipping the scrap.

And they get all the blame.

So they don't get put down for attacking, but they got provoked and then they attacked.

So, yeah, I mean, and just to kind of like round, like bring it back, I'm not saying that there isn't an issue, but for me, I don't hold any particular judgment towards dogs.

When I meet dogs, when I walk into somebody's house, if your dog is big as hell, I'm automatically and potentially aggressive.

I'm already going to be like, okay, I got to be on my toes.

If they're smaller and aggressive, but clearly less of a threat to me, yeah, I'm going to be a little bit more relaxed.

But for me, generally, I know that any dog has a propensity to bite.

They have teeth, they could bite.

And that's kind of my take.

What's your take on neutering?

So I have two male dogs.

One of them is neutered, one of them's not.

And they say that the one that doesn't get it gets in more fights or something statistically, right?

Yeah, well, I mean, the testosterone is going to be higher, but here's my take on it.

If you're going to neuter your dog, I would say wait until they reach full maturity.

So there's a

veterinarian that I followed years ago.

Her name is Dr.

Karen Becker.

She did a YouTube video about how she used to basically say to her clients, you know, in a nice way, like, hey, if you don't spay or neuter your dog, you know, go find another vet.

And

years later, she realized that a lot of these dogs were coming back with health issues that were directly related to spaying and neutering at a young age.

So generally for me, I tell people if you, and I agree with her when she speaks about if you're going to be an irresponsible dog owner, then you should probably neuter your dogs sooner because

you don't want them running around just getting everybody pregnant, basically.

But we have enough problems with dogs in shelters, so we don't need more.

But for me, if you're going to be a responsible dog owner, I would say wait until the dogs reach full maturity.

Now, this idea that neutering a dog is going to make them less aggressive or less dominant isn't necessarily true.

And the reason being is because we're talking about the potential for a habitual behavioral pattern, right?

So if a dog, it's like saying you have a behavior pattern, and now if we neuter you, all of a sudden that's going to change.

Not necessarily.

Your behavior patterns have been ingrained in you.

That's you wake up.

You don't even think about these things.

You're doing them subconsciously.

And I feel like it's the same way with dogs.

It is the same way with dogs.

There are times where people neuter their dogs and it changes absolutely nothing.

So there's no real scientific evidence that supports that neutering the dog will make them like less dominant or less aggressive.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Wow.

It's kind of like 50-50.

So there hasn't been any proof to say that it's true and there hasn't been any proof to say that it isn't true.

It's just kind of like, there's really no way to tell.

It's 50-50.

I felt so bad.

I don't think I would do it again for future dogs.

I mean, same.

I was convinced to spay my shepherd when she was six months.

So they basically, you know, I didn't know at the time.

So, and I definitely regret that decision.

I would have not spayed, I probably wouldn't have spayed her at all, or at least waited until she reached full maturity.

But yeah, as soon as she had her first cycle, she was six months old.

I brought her in and they spayed her.

And, you know, there's studies now that just show that there might be some long-term health issues because of that.

Yeah, these vets, man, similar to the Western doctors, right?

Exactly.

No prevention, just all put in a band-aid.

I don't know if I'm even a fan of all these vaccines that dogs are getting.

Same.

Well, funny enough, I had a friend who actually, her dog was vaccinated, and then he had a vaccine injury,

had a seizure.

Jesus.

And what we ended up finding out, or she found out, I should say, is that from a holistic vet that there's no dosage for each dog.

So in other words, if you bring your two dogs, let's say you have a 100-pound dog and you have a 10-pound dog, and they're getting a vaccine, they're going to get the same exact.

So exactly.

So why would we give the 10-pound dog the same amount, the same dose that we would give the 100-pound dog?

So, and then also there's recently, again, Dr.

Karen Becker is another proponent of this.

She talks about titer tests.

So, there's a way to actually test dogs for the antibodies to see if they even need the vaccine or not.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

So, that's another thing that I think people are becoming more aware of and awake to, that you may not need to constantly get these updated vaccines for your dog.

Just check and see if they have the antibodies.

And if they do, why get them vaccinated?

Yeah, it seems like the cancer rates in dogs are skyrocketing, man.

I've heard one out of two by the time they die.

Yeah, well, and I think a lot of that comes into what they're consuming.

Yeah.

You know, people, again, and I'm all about this, like health-wise, just for me,

very particular about what I eat, you know, being physically fit, et cetera.

And that definitely is applied to my dogs.

So they're on a raw diet.

Love, love their diet.

I think they're the healthiest dogs I know.

Wow.

So no kibble, all raw food.

Correct.

Yeah.

Well, and I'll be honest, like, I do use kibble as a, as a food reward for my dog.

So I use a high-quality kibble.

Um, and, and I take that with me too, like on my training sessions as well.

So where do you get the raw meat from?

Uh, from, from Walmart.

Really?

Yeah.

So every, pretty much everything that they eat comes from the grocery store.

Uh, bone-in chicken, leg quarters.

Um, and then we have, I have a veggie blend that I make them.

A bunch of different veggies, some oil, blueberry, flax seed, chia seed, mix that all up.

And then I do like chicken gizzards, beef liver.

We feed mackerel, pumpkin, Greek yogurt.

But the main source of protein for them is going to be the bone and leg quarters.

Interesting.

Yeah.

My dog's allergic to one of them's allergic to chicken.

And you can do other things like potentially venison, lamb, get them from butchers.

I mean, obviously it's going to be more expensive.

A lot of people think that raw feeding is a lot more expensive.

For me, I'm grateful and lucky that I get to feed them chicken because it's obviously the least expensive of the meats.

I did a comparison a couple years ago, and if let's just say you were buy like a four or average 12-pound bag of food with the kibble that I use versus the raw meat, I paid $4

per pound for the kibble.

For the chicken and all the goodies, I paid $2.20 per pound.

So, and in addition to that, the health benefits are, I mean, priceless.

I don't have to bring my dogs to the vet as much.

They're, yeah, just overall, it's awesome.

I love that.

Are you a believer in any supplements?

I know some people say CBD and stuff.

Yeah, so my wife handles all that and recently made a video on that too.

We do one's for joints, the joint supplement.

Another one is just like a general nutrition.

It's just some extra

vitamins and minerals.

And then I forget what the last one was, but

enzymes.

I think enzymes.

So enzymes, the joint supplement, and then just like a general nutrition stuff.

Wow.

Yeah.

I go hard with my dog health.

I don't even give them tap water anymore.

Yeah, same.

Crazy.

Yeah, I know.

I mean, but that's the age we live in, right?

People love their dogs.

And I think people are choosing to have dogs instead of having.

Which, you know, it's funny, but it's cool with me because I mean, dogs, the more people that have dogs in their life, the more people that need to learn how to live with those dogs and give them a good life.

So, and I think that's where the behavior and the training comes in for me because I know how much people love their dogs.

And I want to help them live really, really great lives with their dogs.

Absolutely.

So you've been doing this for a while.

Yeah, seven years, eight.

I think it'll be eight years in August.

But this is my life.

This is what I was meant for.

People always ask me, you know, like, how long I've been doing it, but I actually trained my first dog when I was like eight, nine years old.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I've loved dogs.

I remember having a thick book called The Book of Dogs, and it was just like all these different things.

And I would just read it.

And I just love dogs.

I remember snuck a dog in my house when I was like three years old, named him Max.

Remember that vividly like three or four.

Yep.

No, it was like, it's crazy because I remember two,

there was a big German shepherd like two houses down.

His name was Poncho.

He was like, he was the sand lot dog.

You ever seen the movie Sandlot?

Yeah, he was that dog for me and my friends as a kid.

And then there was a little dog named Benji.

And yeah, but just like, it's funny to me how I remember this stuff like very, very vivid.

Yeah, you're like the dog whisperer.

Yeah, Yeah, try to be.

Yeah.

Some people have that sense where they can pretty much communicate with them.

Yeah, I actually, so that's actually a whole nother topic.

Not something that I practice, I would say, regularly.

There's certainly times where I'm working with dogs where I feel very

influenced to like move a certain direction.

You can call it an instinct, you know, but I certainly try to, I, I, I.

very deeply try to understand where the dog is coming from and understand their personality.

And sometimes, you know, I look at dogs and I'm like, hey, hey, you know, you guys need to be a lot more guiding with your dog and more gentle.

And other times I meet dogs and I'm like, yeah, your dog's an asshole.

You know, like he knows what he's doing.

He's manipulating all of you.

And it's not, it's not to me too, like, just to clarify, I'm not, I don't look at dogs as like these creatures that are constantly trying to dominate us.

There are dogs that display dominant behavior, but as a general description of dogs, they are not trying to dominate us.

They are,

manipulators and they are

trying to learn what they can do in their life that benefits them.

And it's up to us to provide those boundaries for them.

You know, they're opportunists, basically.

Yeah.

I say that all the time.

I can see that.

Yeah.

They're 100% opportunists.

And some, just like people though, you know, just like, just like the kid in high school who nobody really put him in his place.

So he walks around thinking he's all tough and bad.

And then he, but he grows up and turns into an asshole, you know?

And we can call him a dominant person or he thinks he's an alpha or whatever but the reality is is that he's never been put in check and he's grown up to think that this is the appropriate way to interact with people and I find the same thing with dogs once they start to learn that hey that's not going to work for you anymore then the whole dominance thing goes away and they're like ah okay right that doesn't work for me anymore i should do this instead and we're like yeah that that that helps so a lot of the issues you're seeing are caused by the owners actually not the dog yeah because i think dogs well and absolutely and the main reason for that too is because we want dogs to live in our world.

If dogs didn't live in our world, then what, what would we care what they were doing, right?

If they got into a fight, if they were barking at each other, nobody would care.

But because it's our dog who wants to fight that dog, we're like, hey, how do I get him to stop fighting people or wanting to fight dogs, I should say?

So, and because we want them to live in our world, we have to teach them how to live in our world.

And I think, too, that everybody's world is different.

You might want a different relationship than the next person.

And you might say, hey, I don't really mind if, you know, when I ask my dog dog for a sit, if they lay down, but, you know, Gary over here is like, nah, man, if I say sit, I want my dog to sit.

And those are the kinds of things that I help people navigate through, right?

Sometimes people are like, I don't know, is this okay?

And I say, well, you tell me, is it okay?

Because there's nothing inherently wrong about the behavior that's happening.

It's just a matter of how do you feel about it.

And if you don't want it to happen, here are some things we can do to make sure that it doesn't.

And if you're okay with it, then let it, let it, let it fly.

Right.

So what do you think of crate training?

Because I love sleeping in bed with my dogs.

Yeah.

I know some trainers are against that.

No, I think crate training is great, not opposed to you sleeping with your dog.

Again, that's a situation for me that I would say, if that's your thing, go for it.

But if you contacted me and you said, hey, you know, when my girl comes over, my dog won't let my girl in the bed.

What do I do?

I'm going to be like, you can't have him in the bed because it's, I feel like that's a privilege now that has to be removed because of how it's gotten to his head.

He thinks he has the right to tell your girl or anybody else that comes into your room that they can't come on that bed.

And is that okay with you and if the answer is no then we need to do something about that right but in general i think crate training is great because if you use it correctly you're giving your dog a safe space to be in um you can teach them what i like to call downtime which a lot of people's dogs have no concept of in other words they're just like on a hundred until they get exhausted and then they turn it back on and then they get exhausted versus giving your dog an outlet and then teaching them downtime, which is there's times of the day we're not going to do anything.

We're not going to interact with you.

I just need you to chill.

And I think a crate does that.

Crate also helps with preventing issues like destroying property, you know, the furniture, chewing things, swallowing things.

I tell people all the time, I get that you don't feel good or you feel guilty about crating your dog, but how would you feel if you came home and found out that your dog like chewed on your sock, swallowed it, and now they suffocated?

And you walk in and you see your dog laying there, you know?

And of course, that's an extreme example, but why risk it?

Yeah.

Error on the side of safety.

You know, when you come home, your dog is going to be there.

You might feel a little guilty.

That's okay.

It means you have a heart.

I feel guilty too sometimes, you know, but there's things that have to be done.

It's like having a kid and they want to go to the party and you tell them you can't go to the party and they just hate life because of it and they hate you too and you feel bad, but you know that the wrong crowd is going to be there.

You don't want to put your kid in that situation.

And as much as it hurts you to tell them no, You got to do it.

And to me, it's the same exact thing with dogs.

Like, yeah, of course, I'd rather my dog just frolic in the house while I'm gone.

Yeah.

You know, and no, and I did that with my shepherd, actually.

She was like 10 months old.

Messed up the house.

She, I thought I got robbed.

I came home and I was like, oh, shit.

And then it just, you know, like that, first of all, that, that feeling of like, okay, I've been violated, right?

And my dog is sitting there just happy.

And I'm looking at her and I'm like, thank God they didn't take you.

And I'm like, wait a second, they didn't take anything.

Oh, you did this.

And I remember this very vividly.

I left for work.

I was working on a strip and I was, I looked at her, she was in her crate and I was like, she's such a good dog.

And she's, she's such a good dog.

Yeah.

And I was like, man, I feel bad.

You're doing good.

I'm like, I'm going to be gone probably for like six hours.

All right.

I'll let you out.

And I came home, you know, and she just, she turned my couch into a futon, basically.

That was her one chance.

That was her one.

Yeah, she did.

And I remember being so mad, but then I had to be mad at myself.

And I was like, yeah, okay, you're mad at her, but she's a dog.

You're the idiot who let her out.

You know, you let your feelings get the best of you.

So, when it comes to that, I always tell people that story because it's like, look, I understand that.

I'm not a monster.

I'm not just like cold-blooded.

Like, yeah, screw dogs.

I don't have that, that mentality.

I don't think dogs need to like be our servants.

You know, I don't use terms like alpha and master.

Yeah.

To me, it's ridiculous.

I think of it more of like coexisting, but like with boundaries.

You know, I want you, I want you to have a good life, but you know, you can't do certain things.

It's as simple as that.

No, makes sense.

Just like kids.

Have you ever had to train a super aggressive dog where they were pretty much on site if they saw another dog or something?

Yeah, actually, one that comes to mind, a little pity mix.

She was, the thing is, is that the owner was letting the dog chase and kill rabbits.

Because they were like, oh, you know, they're a dog.

Yeah.

So the aggression was being fueled.

And now they started to look at other moving animals as targets, you know, fair game.

And so, yeah, I use an e-collar with that dog.

She did well.

Yeah, big, I mean, right from the get-go, just the correction helped.

And then at first, she was a little nervous of dogs because she thought the correction had something to do with them.

But after some passing, like I use my own dogs in training, so I bring them with me.

And she quickly was able to understand that it was her actions that were directly related to the consequences and not just the presence of other dogs.

Oh, wow.

So she could play with dogs now?

Well, we had a session where she was interacting with my dog.

It went well.

But, you know, things like that, it's important for everybody to understand that when you're dealing with behavioral issues and patterns of behavior, that we don't want to just be complacent too soon and give too much trust too soon.

So moving forward, like for me, I don't know, our sessions had ended, but I always leave people with an understanding that you still have to monitor the dog and observe them.

A good example that I like to use is if you have a bad habit, let's say you're, you know, scrolling on social media, smoking cigarettes, or eating sweets,

you you become like literally addicted to those things and this the there's no thought process you know maybe you enter a room and immediately you think food or you think whatever phone or cigarette or whatever the case is for dogs it's the same thing these some of these triggers become habitual patterns that to a degree they don't have much control over well what i like to help teach a dog is to think about their actions right but we also have to understand that just like the person who's trying to quit smoking cigarettes there's going to be that urge that has to be addressed.

The thing for dogs is that there's no conscious ability for them to go, oh, this is a bad behavior.

I need to be more mindful of that.

So we are their consciousness.

So we have to see it sort of

unfolding in their mind by observing them very closely and then helping them redirect or cut it off, for example.

So they react emotionally and you kind of be

kind of got to be logic, logical about it.

Which is why, too, dog training and behavior modification isn't, it's not it's simple in its in like for example i mentioned earlier you know reward the good behaviors correct the bad ones and that's a very oversimplified example or a description with

there is an emotional aspect that i think a lot of people aren't aware of when it comes to dog behavior which is why it's important to have a good relationship with your dog and something that i preach regularly and consistently with my clients right and some dogs don't seem to respect their owner yeah because they never had to there's never been any boundary and just like young kids who can kind kind of learn that they can push buttons and

there's no consequences, it's the same thing.

Like I see dogs that just jump all over their owners, literally walk on top of them.

And

I think,

I honestly believe that dogs have,

I would say at a basic level, like an understanding of

the

application of boundaries and then when there are no boundaries.

Because there are dogs, for example, who you watch another dog try to step on top of them and they're going to to go absolutely down.

They're going to turn.

Yeah, and they're going to snap at them.

Other dogs will straight up fight.

And then other dogs are just,

yeah, they don't care.

And I feel like you find the same types of personalities in people.

Dogs are walking all over people or they're going crazy.

And I ask them, like, hey, does that bother you?

And they go, no.

And I go, okay.

All right.

You know, and if it's something that needs to be addressed, I'll let them know.

But for the most part, I'm just like, hey, live your life with your dog how you like.

As long as the dog isn't going to be hurting anybody, I'm not really here to change that.

i'm here to change the things and work on the things that you want done and then we'll address anything on the outside that doesn't seem to have a role in that and we'll address those if needed yeah how many people come to you with separation anxiety issues with their dogs quite a bit but the truth is is that not that many dogs actually have separation really so i mean obviously there are dogs with it but For example, recently I had a client consultation that I did and the lady said separation anxiety.

So I said, okay, great.

What does the dog do?

Describe the behavior.

She says, oh, I have a video for you.

So I watch a video and she leaves.

Her mom and dad are home, and the dog is at the door howling.

And I'm like, not really, not really like the textbook definition of separation anxiety.

Obviously, the dog's a little worked up because the owner left, but it's not anything that's that difficult.

Separation anxiety in its truest form is

like probably one of the most difficult things to work on because of the way that it has to be addressed.

Separation anxiety, for a clear description for everybody watching and listening, it's like the dog literally goes into a panic attack

and they cannot come out of that until the owner comes back.

So they'll pee and poop like on themselves all over the house.

They are destructive.

It's again a full-blown panic.

It's like scratching at the door, unable to self-soothe in any way.

That's what separation anxiety looks like.

You know, dogs that are just whining a lot when people leave.

It's not, could it continue on to be

separation anxiety?

I would say yes, potentially, but that in and of itself isn't necessarily separation anxiety.

Yeah.

My mom's dog has food aggression.

Okay.

And I had to pin it once, like the Caesar Milan technique where you pin the head to the ground.

And he doesn't even want to come near me now.

So I think, I don't know if I went too hard.

Yeah, possibly.

I mean, I'm not a fan of that.

I'd be lying if I said I never used it more in the, more in like self-defense.

I've had dogs that have come at me and I'll pin them to the ground.

Yeah.

But that's, that's the extent of my use of it.

I know that other trainers use it, you know, know, like Cesar Milan.

For me, though, the thing with that, too, which is one of the reasons why I don't teach it, is because not a lot of people can do that, feel comfortable doing it.

And I think that if not done correctly, then you leave yourself open.

Like you said, now the dog's afraid of you.

You don't even come near me now.

Yeah.

You feel terrible.

And so that's, and then like, imagine that's your dog now and you were instructed to do that.

And now you have a relationship issue where your dog's afraid of you.

I think there's a healthy boundary when it, or like a healthy amount of fear with, with regard to like the relationship with dogs and just in general, even with humans, you know.

A lot of times there's a healthy, like, for example, maybe you don't speed because you're afraid of getting a ticket.

That's a healthy fear.

Now, every time you get in your car, are you panicked about getting a ticket?

No.

And I would say that that is a healthy fear.

Same with a dog, let's say, who is.

not listening well.

The correction acts as a consequence enough that's strong enough for the dog to go.

I don't like when that happens.

Maybe I should do what I've been taught to do.

That's what we're looking for.

Not a dog who's literally afraid to make mistakes.

So there'd be a big difference there.

Yeah.

So a little healthy amount of fear is, I think, good.

Agreed.

Yeah.

Antonio, it's been really insightful, man.

I learned a lot.

My friend people get some dog training lessons from you.

Leaderthepack LV.com.

L-O-T-P-K9Training.com.

And then my Instagram is at Leader of the Pack LV.

You can find that on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube as well.

Cool.

So link it below, man.

I'm going to sign up as well for my daughter.

Appreciate it.

Look forward to it.

Yeah, man.

Cool.

Thanks for watching, guys.

And I'll see you next time.

Peace.