We have a saying in our home, “Train it or manage it.” When it comes to dealing with our dog’s behaviour, it seems there are really only two choices. We can either train our dogs to do things in a way that we like or we can manage their situation so that they don’t have the opportunity to do things we don’t. It’s a practical decision.

Dog trainers can, and frequently do, debate which techniques for teaching a dog to do a specific behaviour is the most effective. There is some flexibility in how we teach our dogs to do something new. But what about those cases where our dog is doing something we don’t want them to do? What training methods or techniques are available for dealing with those cases and how do we choose?