All the Dog Training Tools and When to Use Them

0:00 The equipment you choose could absolutely be the difference between failure and success. So, pay attention to everything in this video. There's a lot of dog training tools out there in the world, and I'm going to get to the absolute bottom of what's best for you and your dog and of course, your

0:16 training. My name is Tom Davis. I'm a professional dog trainer, and I've been doing this for over a decade, and I specialize in helping dog owners understand their dogs better. Any equipment is extension of us. It helps build, shape, mold, develop, communicate, and teach like a carpenter,

0:32 if you will. The tool assists us on the job, but it doesn't build the house that we're in or that we see in front of us. My point is is that the tools that we use are typically going to be temporary that we use and they help bridge the gap between communication. Now, that doesn't

0:48 mean that you're never going to put a leash on a dog or a collar on a dog or or a treat pouch on. just means the usage of the equipment is the thing that we're paying attention to. You can still wear them and use them and have them, but the usage is important because dogs just don't understand human languages,

1:02 right? So, that's why we use dog training equipment to help us communicate with our dogs effectively. Let's start with the flat collar. Now, this is great for wearing your dog's ID tags and other rabies shots and things like that, vaccinations. It's great for older dogs who just want to take things

1:20 slow and take their time on a walk. It's great to have on just in general to grab your dog if you need to, especially if you have multiple dogs. If you have a dog that takes their sweet time smelling the roses and the flowers and you've never had any issues with them pulling, you've never had any issues with

1:36 training them, you've never had any relationship issues, this is a great option. The martingale is similar to the flat, but has some action. So, the action of the collar engages and disengages, engages and disengages. So, it's a pressure system. And this is a great collar. This is a stainless steel

1:54 Herm Springer collar. A lot of the martingles out there are going to be cloth or nylon or some sort of fabric, but I like this one for exactly what I said. It can go pretty much into anything. The martingale collar is designed with two loops in it. So, you have this small loop and then you have a

2:09 bigger loop. The main loop goes around the dog's neck. So, obviously, it goes on like this. And the control loop or the smaller loop right here tightens when the dog pulls or when you the handler applies pressure. Like if you're correcting a dog or you're just moving a dog over or whatever, this is going to

2:26 tighten to give the dog some action or what I call pulse. It's a lot like adding pressure to a to to a horse rain or adding pressure to a break. The moment you let the pressure off, the car continues, etc. Now, this is great for dogs who back out of collars, puppies who are brand new to leash pressure, and

2:43 for dogs who are sensitive to pressure. The Martingale collar is my daily wearer for my my dogs. Both of them have it. Um, I just like the stainless steel collars the best. I can't find one big enough for my block head, but this one is Lakota's and I love it. We're going to be talking about the generator. So,

3:00 you guys can see that right here. And the gentle leader is a type of head collar that fits around your dog's nose and right behind the ears because that's where the pressure points are on in a dog. So unlike a traditional collar that we talked about before, this gives you the control and communication by guiding

3:15 your dog's head and where the head actually goes. So the body will follow where the direction goes. It's designed to reduce pulling by redirecting your dog's momentum without using too much pressure on the dog. Now, this is an option for people who cannot use collars because of their limitations or even the

3:33 legality in their country. Or if you have a dog that cannot have a collar on for medical reasons, this could also be a safe option for you as well. I don't personally use them because dogs spend way more time trying to get the thing off their face than actually training. And I personally just never really have

3:50 the time to acclimate dogs to that. And there's a lot of other tools out there that are actually more effective and more efficient. All right, we're going to talk about the harness next. Now, as a professional dog trainer, I don't recommend training with the harness when you're dealing with obedience and you're

4:04 dealing with behavioral work and when you're simply just trying to build a good relationship. I have never one time, not once in my entire career, seen anybody successfully train a hard pulling reactive dog on a harness without just pulling them away from the situation. Now, I'm a dog lover that

4:21 turned dog expert. I've been rolling around and tinkering with dogs literally my entire life. And my job is to help dogs. And if there was a piece of equipment that helped me do that and helped me do it faster, I would totally be telling you about it and be using it. But look, I'm a really big fan on what

4:38 is working and what works. If the harness works for you and your dog, use it. I'm just giving you my professional feedback here. Now, if you're tracking or you want your dog to pull safely, the harness is your absolute go-to cuz that's why it's created. So, think of sled dogs, working canines. When

4:54 pressure is is distributed across the chest, it actually will trigger the opposition reflex. Your dog will pull against that. That's why the harness was developed. And that's probably why you're struggling with your dog if they're pulling because you use a harness. You're not really

5:10 communicating. You're managing, right? There's no pulse there whatsoever. The front clip harness is a different type of harness and it can help, but there's still not a long-term fix. And you might get less pulling at first, but you're still not teaching the dog to walk with you. You're redirecting them physically,

5:27 not mentally. So, you're physically pulling them back. You're forcing them back into position. You're forcing them away from the other dog. You're forcing them back next to you into a heel. And there was a study in the Frontiers of Veterinary Science and they compared the effects of neck collars, the things that

5:44 we've already talked about, and the back connection harnesses on leash pulling. Results showed that dogs exerted more force and pulled more consistently when wearing a back connection harness compared to your traditional neck collar or training collar. So, if you're all in on science, which has many flaws,

6:02 science says that harnesses are also not effective for your dog pulling and it could be dangerous potentially. So, moving on to the slip leash. The slip leash is a go-to for most, including mua, with a trained dog. A slip leash is a leash and a collar in one. It loops around the dog's neck, and it tightens

6:21 when the dog pulls and then loosens when they stop. You guys are probably seeing a theme here of pressure and release. There's no buckle on this. There's just one continuous piece of material and usually with a stopper to control how loose and how relaxed it gets and of course how to fit the collar or the

6:39 leash on the dog. Right? Small little tiny dog, bigger dog. It works through pressure and release. Exactly what we've been talking about, which is the core principle of a lot of dog training. Not just with physical pressure, but there's all sorts of reward pressures and it gets kind of complicated. But the moment

6:56 the dog gives into the leash, the pressure is released, creating clarity and communication and sometimes even creating behaviors that we've been looking for, aka the heel, aka the sit. We're using negative reinforcement to help shape the dog with using pressure. But this is designed for dogs. But when

7:13 we give a dog a correction, we are actually popping the moment that they do something that we want to discourage, which is a really important piece to dog training as well. So if you pull, you're just moving them away. you're not teaching them much like the harness. You could pretty much pull any dog away with

7:28 any of the equipment we're going to be talking about in this video. And you don't want to do that when you have a collar that has action. The slip leash isn't a great tool for super pullers because it's it could be dangerous if the dog pulls as hard as they do and the slip just keeps getting tighter and

7:42 tighter. And to be completely frank, the worst case scenario is it's just not going to work. But it's an excellent choice for trained dogs to pop on as a reminder and to give gentle communication where needed in in the conditioning phases after the dog is trained because even if your dog is

7:57 trained, they still need to get conditioned. It's like us when we get into the best shape of our life, we still need to eat right and still exercise to keep that training up. And the most important thing when training with a slip leash is when you get one, you have to get a spring-loaded stopper

8:11 like this one here. This is the No Bad Dog Slip that you can get on our store, which I'll link right here. in the description because a lot of them are super thick and the the the stopper is made out of leather and it's made out of nylon and it just ends up sliding down which then ultimately puts the slip out

8:27 of position which doesn't doesn't work. It's ineffective and it could be dangerous because it's in the wrong spot. Also, do you guys want one of these for free? The no bad dog slip. Follow me on Instagram. Take a screenshot that you follow me and DM me that screenshot and I'll pick a winner

8:41 at random to send this to you. Training leash. Now, I have trained thousands of dogs, like I've said before, and the training leash of preference is subjective on each person, but here is my feedback. Okay, this is a 4ft leash, and it's a comfortable material, and this is why I made my own, like a lot of

8:59 things you're going to see in this video. And this is what we call the gummy leash. It's really nice on the hands. And if you're handling dogs like me and my trainers do 6 to 8 hours a day, your leash is your best friend. And you want it to be comfortable. It's like the right type of shoes when you're

9:14 working in the kitchen or you're working on your feet all day. Your leash is what's going to help you remain comfortable in your job of working with dogs or if you're just a dog owner. Now, I don't like big thick ropes. It's too much leash for dogs. They're usually 6 foot and and it's just a a headache on

9:31 your hands, right? There's there's no pulse. It's too much. It's like a fishing line. Like the smaller pound test on a fishing line, the more you're going to feel, right? If you get a 100 lb test, you're going to be reeling in this fish and you're not going to feel them at all because it's so thick. So,

9:44 this is my go-to 4ft nice gummy training leash. Of course, all the equipment we'll be talking about is going to be linked below. I also have this O-ring on the end so you can clip here. And I mean, this is what a dog trainer will look like most of the time. Rewards, a major piece to all of dog training. Of

10:01 course, we're going to be talking about rewards and how we can pay our dogs, how can we reward our dog, how could we encourage our dogs, how we motivate our dogs. Over the years, I have ditched some of the ineffective things that really don't really work. And I've honed in on the things that do. And I have

10:16 tried so many different dog training treats, so many different dog training toys. And of course, I'm looking for engagement. I'm looking for motivation. I'm looking for all the things drive. I'm trying to bring these things out. And for the last four or five years, I've been using beef liver. And it's

10:32 cubed, so it's easy to lure. It's easy to break apart. And dogs absolutely love beef liver. It's like every time in a seminar, people are like, "Oh, my dog's not food food motivated." Bang. The beef liver comes out and the dog's like, "Yes, sir. What you want me to do?" It's my absolute go-to. Which is why I made

10:50 my own. This is the No Bad Dog Nubs. This is my blockhead of a dog on here, Burly. And I took the old treats that I was using and I made them better. Much better. These babies are 100% grass-fed beef from cows right here in the United States. And again, see these cube shaped right here? You guys can pop them open.

11:09 You can use them. I'll use this one piece of food for a long period of time. I can hold them. I can lure. The dog can work them through. These are my go-to. You can get them again in the link below. If your dog has an allergy, then you can use kibble to feed them, which is also a safe and easy option for

11:23 anyone. Even if you, you know, maybe don't want to get treats or whatever, you can just use your kibble or whatever you feed your dog. But I like the cubed beef liver because it gets the dogs excited to work, which is my ultimate goal when I'm developing shaping, positive reinforcement, teaching

11:38 behaviors with dogs. The plastic pinch collar. This is a great collar that also has action, and it's really easy to take on and off. It's made with interlocking plastic links with blunt prongs that apply even pressure around the dog's neck when the leash is engaged. The action is similar

11:56 to a metal prong collar, but it's much softer material. So, it's great for dogs who don't have those big double coats, but it's not great for those dogs who do have big double coats. Now, when a dog pulls or the handler gives a leash pop on a collar like this that has action, the collar tightens evenly around the

12:13 dog neck, right? So, it's a safer collar to use if you have a really hard puller. So, this is great for the bigger, stronger dogs instead of the slip if you find your dog doesn't care about the correction. I always tell people for most dogs, get two small plastic pinch collars. They're really cheap and

12:29 inexpensive. Get them on Chewy. You can get on Amazon. Um, I'll link it below, but uh these are really, really nice to communicate. It's kind of my go-to for majority of dogs when they first start in leash training. And it's a great way to communicate with your your dog and to discourage things like jumping and

12:44 biting and pulling on the leash and all the things. This is just your enforcer right here, right? We set laws and we enforce them with things like this. And as a reminder, by definition, positive reinforcement is to encourage behaviors to happen, right? So, if you have anything, literally anything that your

13:00 dog is doing that you want to go away or you don't like, you will need to use correction. You cannot use positive reinforcement to discourage behaviors. This is a safety clip. You can get them in multiple colors. You can make your own. We have them on our site, of course, and I will link them below.

13:18 But the safety clip is crucial when training your dog. This ensures that when your dog applies pressure or you apply pressure to your dog's collar, and for whatever freaking reason in the world, this thing breaks apart and you still have your dog. This is absolutely lifesaving tool. Let me show you how

13:37 this works. This is something you need in your toolbox. Your leash goes onto your collar. Your safety clip will go onto your leash. The other end will go onto your flat collar. It seems like a lot, but it's not. Your dog is wearing this. Your dog is wearing this. your safety clip is

14:00 on your leash and attached to your flat collar. So, if the moment this comes apart, you still got your dog. Again, you can get these on our website. You can make your own. I've seen people use them out of carabiners and string and whatever. Um, we make our own just for you. Let's talk about the prong collar.

14:20 Now, the prong collar or some some people call a pinch collar cuz you pinch it to take it off is a behavior shaping tool made of interlocking metal links with blunt prongs. These are not sharp. These do not hurt the dog. They are sitting evenly around the dog's neck. Now, of course, this can certainly cause

14:38 discomfort, but it's important to know that the prongs themselves are not sharp and they're not cutting into the dog's skin. That's absolute crazy gibberish talk. When the pressure is applied through the leash or the collar tightens slightly, this creates a uniform pressure around the dog neck. So, it's

14:54 not like a a flat collar or harness that applies a bunch of pressure crushing their shoulders, crushing the in all of the vitals that are right here. And of course, not being effective and and efficient. This is the safest tool to use for heavy dog pullers who are strong. And I'm sure you guys have seen

15:11 these before. A lot of people don't know what they are or how they're actually used, but this is a Hermspringer prong collar. I'll leave the link below. We sometimes sell them. They're usually out of stock, but let me just explain. Also, just just as a side note, if you guys are new to dog training and you're

15:26 looking for a place to start right now, you can save $100 off my Kickstarter course that goes over all the things like the five basic commands that every dog needs to know to have the best relationship, the healthiest relationship with your dog. You can use this code right here on the bottom of

15:40 the screen. hit the link in the description or head over to tomdaviscourses.com. Let's get back with the prong collaller. So, the prong collar guys functions again as the pressure and release principle that we've been talking about. So, when the dog pulls, you apply light pressure. You

15:54 correct the dog the moment that they pull. You correct the dog when they jump on somebody. You correct the dog when they don't come back, when you say come. These are all essential parts of dog training. When the dog yields to this leash pressure, the pressure releases and the moment that the release, we

16:09 teach the dog, no more of this, more of this. We reward the dog, right? So, we then pair these things together. It's a happy balance of like guys, this is the world that we live in, right? Everything is balanced out. Good job, bad job, right? It's communication. It's clarity. Communication, clarity. Communication,

16:30 clarity. Now, if your dog lunged and tried to jump on anything that could be dangerous or can hurt them or other people, you can pop this collar and create an uncomfortable correction. There's absolutely nobody out there that would say that the prong collar doesn't create discomfort when you apply it as a

16:46 correction. Now, this is one of the best practices for communication. And for some reason, there are people out here in the world, which is okay, that feel that their dog should never feel discomfort. They they should never know what that is. And as somebody who has worked with canines literally my entire adult career

17:03 and and spent time with wolves and wild dogs, aggressive dogs, therapy dogs, police dogs, the dog next door, dogs on planes, dogs in cars, literally any way you can have a dog, I've done it. And this is the absolute best way to ruin your dog. Anthropomorphism is something that exists in a lot of dog owners, which is

17:23 totally normal. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's it's it's really detrimental to understand that dogs, as we're talking about tools in training and you're trying to figure out what the heck is right and you're getting torn everywhere. The definition of that is the act of attributing human traits or

17:41 emotions or intentions to animals and in this case dogs, right? So, we put all of our emotions like dogs are actually humans and they feel the same and they act the same and they they work with each other the same. And that's not the the case, guys. Most dogs are absolute savage animals. We love them. We care

18:00 for them. They're our best friends. But don't ruin them by treating them like a human because guess what? They eat their own poop and they kill other things like cute little bunnies and they'll kill other dogs and they'll kill your cat. They don't care. We have to remember that. So, the only reason why I'm

18:15 mentioning this is because anytime somebody sees something, they don't understand, like a prong collar. They think all these are like little sharp blades, which is absolutely insanity. I can't believe people think that, but they do. Um, that's not the case. That's why you're on this video. Um, if you

18:28 don't like it, that's totally okay. This is the reality of of dogs. But, um, back to prong collars. Proper fitting is absolutely crucial to the prong collar. It needs to sit high right on the neck like this photo right here, just behind the ears, fitting snug, not tight. Now, I really highly suggest if you're if you

18:47 have a hard puller, you have a dog that's not listening, doesn't care about corrections, doesn't care about your leash pressure, watch this prong collar tutorial that I'm putting up here and learn everything you need to know about the prong because there's different sizes, there's different metals, there's

19:00 different there's different types of prong collars, and you need to make sure you watch that video before you dive into that or watch it after this video. the remote collar or the electric collar or e-collar for short. An e-collar is a remote communication tool, not a shot collar. Good e-collars have adjustable

19:18 levels. They have adjustable stimulation from barely there to a strong correction. Hey, I'm here to enforce and reinforce training from a distance. This is the only thing on the world that we are all on that can enforce behaviors entirely off leash. So, it's a lifechanging, life-saving tool. It's

19:38 it's a low sensation. It isn't electric pain. You can't you can't fry your dog with something like this. You can't electrocute him. You can cause discomfort by turning it all the way up, of course. It's it's like a muscle stem. It's the same technology that we use in TENS units that I use at the

19:54 chiropractor cuz I got pulled around by dogs my whole life. And if you use correctly, it becomes the cleanest, most effective way to communicate with your dog, especially when they're off leash. But let me just break down a little bit on how it works if you're unfamiliar. So you have the remote with full control of

20:09 the stimulation level. So if I turn this dog traller on, you're going to see that there's a screen. It goes all the way up to 127. Now we typically condition on a four to five. You teach the dog at that low level, pay attention to me or come back to me when this turns on. I want you to do something. It's in conjunction

20:28 with pre-nown behaviors. At no point in time is this going to be punitive. when you when you're introducing it, it is simply something to communicate. And the beauty of the remote collar is it goes off leash a mile, a half a mile. The stimulation pairs with the structure and timing of training. So, it's again

20:47 another tool that you're using to communicate and to clarify. But a well-trained e-collar dog is relaxed and responsive and confident, not afraid. They're off leash, they're happy, everything's great. I have so many videos proving that with tons and tons of evidence if you want to see it and

21:04 not because you don't believe me but because you want to learn more. You guys can watch these videos right here to of course dig deeper because this video is on tools in general, not just one particular. Moving on. Now, these are the main pieces of equipment that most dog training and dog trainers will use

21:19 or dog owners will use. Some other ones are pretty self-explanatory, so I'm going to go over them really quick. Some things that may not fit on this table in this room, but the crate. Now, we talk about crate training. It's a process of teaching your dog to go into their crate calmly without without having to force

21:35 them in there and without using it as punishment. The dog is a calm, safe place, not a punishment, not a jail cell, and is definitely 100% not cruel because it keeps the dog safe. If you don't understand these things, let me explain. When you're doing crate training, right, the crate becomes their

21:53 own place. It's the only part in your house that is theirs, that is like their own room. It's their own privacy. It's their own, I'm going to go relax. I'm going to go chill. There's too many people over. It's thunder. It's lightning. I'm I'm tired. It's it's the place to go and recharge. It's one of

22:08 the most effective tools to to balance things out when you're raising dogs, when you're raising puppies, rescues, dogs with anxiety, when you're potty training, what are you going to do when you, you know, uh don't can't watch the dog every two seconds? And if you have a new dog or you have a puppy, you really

22:25 want to start crate training as early as you can because what if you want to go out? What if you want to go take a shower, right? And and these are things, well, I'll just leave my dog out, right? I've had tons of clients that have had dead dogs when they get home because they ate this and they ate that and they

22:38 ate the pills and they ate this, they got into dog fights, blah blah blah blah blah blah. The crate is a safe place to put your dog. So, when you're at work, when you leave to go to dinner with your family, when you come back, worst case scenario is is maybe there's a little pee and poop in there because uh they're

22:51 not trained yet. But the crate is a wonderful place to start when you're starting to teach your dog boundaries and limitations and structure. I have my own crate that I work with Impact on. You guys can check out right here. So, that's the crate. The treat pouch. This is where you keep all your goodies. This

23:09 is where you keep your nubs. you keep your rewards. Every single time I train with any of my clients dogs or any of my personal dogs, the treat pouch is on me. I even have one with a squeaker in it. Wonderful. Uh mine also comes with a little pouch here that you can put your credit card, your license, your wallet

23:28 in. It ties right up. You can wash this. It has a little poop bag dispenser. Not included with bags, but again, this is something that you guys can get. You can wear it cross-bodied. You can run around your hips. This is my go-to treat pouch because I like all the things that I can

23:42 do with it. The long line. Picture me holding a really long line. We are working on getting our own, so those might be available, and if they are, we'll link them right here. But this is a great tool when starting off leash for long distances. It's great for starting your your recalls and to keep your dog

23:58 on a leash further away from you. Pretty self-explanatory. Last, but certainly not least, falls under a reward as well, which is going to be a tug toy. Now, this could be the no bad dog tug or simply a ball. It's a great way to build engagement and a great reward for most dogs that have that drive to play tug

24:16 and they have prey drive. This is not a chew toy. This comes out when you're rewarding your dog. Good thing I didn't talk like this the whole time. You guys are being annoyed. The the tug toy, guys, is is a great way to build engagement. Uh I Lakota had TPLO surgery in the last year, so throwing ball with

24:33 her really has been limited. So, I've been playing tug with her. absolutely loves it. These are great, great, great tools for dog training. All of the things that we've talked about here are all part of the picture. These are all part of the picture. I hope this has been helpful. Happy training. Peace out.

24:51 I'll see you in the next one. [Music]