The Motivational Method
A behavioral science backed way to train. We want your dog to want to listen, not to be forced. We want to teach you to become your dog’s best friend, someone your dog wants to follow.
Dog training is divided into two sides. Aaron developed a third option.
Two philosophies dominate the dog training industry: Force Free and Balanced Training. Aaron offers a new approach, led by behavioral science. He teaches you how to become your dog’s best friend, so your dog wants to do what you ask. He uses modern technology to motivate your dog, never force to punish.
Five ideas. Understand these, and you can train almost any dog.
Aaron boiled years of working dogs, service dogs, and family dogs down to five principles. They run through everything he does.
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1
Engagement is the name of the game.
It all starts with one question: does your dog even want to be near you, and want what you have? An engaged dog learns almost anything. A checked-out one fights you the whole way. So before a single behavior, Aaron builds the want.
What it looks likeA dog that sprints to you for the joy of it, before it is ever asked. -
2
We train in drive.
Aaron pairs himself with what your dog wants most, so listening becomes the thing your dog is excited to do, not the thing it gets made to do. Trained in drive, a behavior holds, because the dog is a willing partner.
What it looks likeRecall practiced while the dog is fired up, so it still works when a squirrel bolts. -
3
Physiology controls the psychology.
A dog's body drives its head. Get the state right, calm when you need calm, revved when you need drive, and the behavior follows. A lot of what looks like bad behavior is a dog stuck in the wrong state.
What it looks likeA settle that actually relaxes the dog, instead of a dog just told to hold still. -
4
Drills build skills.
There is no shortcut around reps. Aaron drills four core behaviors, come to me, walk by me, settle by me, and go to your place, in easy places and hard ones, until they stop being something the dog thinks about.
What it looks likeThe same handful of drills, run everywhere, until the dog just does them on its own. -
5
The recall is the most important command.
If your dog comes back fast, every time, no matter what, you have a safe dog and a free dog. That is why recall sits above everything else. It is really a test of the whole method.
What it looks likeA dog that turns off a chase mid-stride and comes flying back to you.
On a board and train, these five ideas become a nine-phase program.
The principles are the how. The nine-phase program is the plan: two pillars, backyard to Busch Stadium, every phase earned instead of rushed. Foundation and fundamentals first, then real-world reliability until it holds anywhere your family goes.
See the nine-phase program
A behavior isn't real until it holds in the real world.
Calm in a quiet room is easy. Aaron tests every behavior one level harder at a time, and only calls it done when it holds anywhere.
Backyard, then the park, then Home Depot, then Busch Stadium. Real places, real distraction, one rung at a time. A dog that settles at a ballgame settles in your living room without a second thought, and it never works the other way around. The videos Aaron films are that work: real dogs holding it together in real places, not posed photos in an empty room.
This method comes from real dogs, in real stakes.
Aaron did not learn this on a weekend course. He worked dogs in the 82nd Airborne, ran search-and-rescue across three teams, and started with two rescued wolfdogs in Oregon, one of whom, Luna, became the first wolfdog certified in search and rescue in the state. Family dog training is where he brings all of it home.
Common questions about the method
What is The Motivational Method?
Is it force-free training?
What does engagement mean?
How long does The Motivational Method take?
Why does Aaron train in real-world places?
See the method work on your dog.
Tell Aaron what your dog is doing and he will tell you straight how the method applies. Free consult, no sales pitch.
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