Your Dog Isn't Perfect

Something I tell my clients on a regular basis and thought that I would share for those who get embarrassed from their dog.

[@goaticorn8702]

I thought the chicken was my headphones for about a solid 30 seconds before I realized what it was. lol "What an odd squeak thing coming from my headphones"

[@Krissykris1468]

Goaticorn not even kidding..... I did too! lol I didn't even know he was making noise!

[@pudelfreude]

We need more of your amazing videos!

[@vivianabedoyan49]

I really loved yo hear you again! You're always so clear and I agree with you in everything. Please keep doing your videos ❤️

[@melodyalferez8599]

Thank you so much for this video! It's funny because yesterday I was racking my brain about this because I have a reactive dog and at the end of the day I came to the conclusion that she will never be perfect. But i will always love her and continue to train her and devote my time to her. Again thanks so much for this video. It's really helped put my mind at ease ❤️

[@danajohnston1831]

Thank you so much for making your videos accessible! You make so much sense and have put my mind at ease.

[@lirons7291]

This is probably the best video by a dog trainer I have ever seen. Must see for every dog owner in my opinion.

[@Krissykris1468]

Aw, you're so nice! Thank you

[@lurveit]

I love this video. Have added it to my girl Luna's playlist as a little reminder to myself when I feel like I'm failing as a pet owner lol. ❤🐶

[@Corkatin]

I always assumed every behavior my dog does, bad or good, is a result of me letting them do it. Therefore, I am responsible for everything my dog does. Whenever she does something I didn't like I have to look at myself and improve myself for the next time the same situation comes. I feel there is always room for improvement and I never give up and say "well, my dog will never overcome that poor behavior". I also feel that my dog is better able to move into all situations the more I meet her needs: social, exercise, and leadership (ie, I take control of every situation, and I make all the decisions for her, in a fun calm positive way). I think it is more important to focus on self improvement than to focus on the dogs behaviors. The more confidence I achieve through self discovery, the better my dog becomes as a result. It's never the dog, it's always the human behind the dog.

[@kirstymacfarlane1620]

Loved this video! Nobody let's dogs be dogs anymore, I lost one of my gsds last year, Kashmir, to epilepsy and he was only 4. It's been a really tough year but my girl, Valentine, is thriving. She's a lot less people reactive, dogs I don't know how she's changed towards them because I don't see any when we are out. I appreciate every second I have with her and I am glad that we are getting to do things I haven't done since she was a pup. Like taking the bus into my local town, she loves it! I get 2 reactions from people, they either avoid us completely or I get "oh she's a beauty" and it's usually elderly men. My husband reckons it's because they will have had experience of gsds at some point in their life and they seem to get her. They're not offended when she ignores them which is a trait that all but one of my gsds has had. People need to relax, remember they're animals and enjoy every second you have with them because, as I found out with my boy, it can change in an instant xxx

[@RachelFusaro]

So much truth 🙌 This will be great to share when I adopt our my fosters ☺️

[@Danbbqman]

Really great video. I shared it with my wife. A great reminder that our dog is only "practically perfect"!

[@lidjamay]

Kristin I keep coming back and watching this! It is a good reminder!!! Thanks so much!! I love all of your videos but this one is so great!

[@LaurenMillerZoePhee]

Great video, Kris! I had all these high expectations for Zoe when I got her and didn't take into account her feelings on any of it. All she wanted to do was kill small furry things. She doesn't want to be an obedience or rally dog, she doesn't really even need me to live. I think I probably messed her up and helped along some of the anxiety she had by putting too much pressure on her. She does love doing tricks and things when she's in the mood and she enjoys going on adventures. We also worked a ton premacking her prey drive, recalling off of things. Our relationship has gotten a lot better after I let everything I wanted to do go and realized it's not who she is or what she wants to do. It also helped that I got Phoenix and she actually wants to play my silly games.

[@Sky2Mina]

Aww, I really needed this! Perfect timing. We expect way too much perfection of our dogs while we are not perfect either. How can we expect our dogs to be perfect while we make mistakes every single day. It's not fair. What we can (and should) do is manage and train :-) I really enjoy your videos!

[@keziaallen697]

All I can say is I AGREE.😀 💖 this is all so true, 💖💖💖💖💖thanks 💖💖💖

[@brittanymacdonald4380]

This video came at the perfect time. Literally a few hours ago I took my dog to see a lady for a massage as he has really tight muscles. Immediately when she touched a sore spot he growled at her, and she didn't adjust the way she was handling him and made me feel terrible about him growling at her. So nice to hear people be more understanding about these things

[@saganblue7134]

Thank you for this. My dog has issues but he is my darling and he does so many things well. Every dog is different and none of them are perfect. But they are ours and it's such an interesting puzzle to figure out what they love most to get them through their challenges

[@rhywnn]

Living with a high drive nut, is definitely hard, but at some point becomes perfect. It takes a lot of work, and understanding. I love my nutballs.

[@LauraHopkinsCDL]

About time someone spoke up on this point. My Collie pup hates cars etc and it will take a while to get her over it but as a trainer I know what I'm doing thank heavens. I think many folk see Border Collies as the "perfect"dog when in fact they are lots of hard work and only for really experienced handlers. Good job,thank you :)

[@merlin5567]

Thank you very much, Kristin. Another great video that helps me understand the behavior of my dog, who is perfect for me, with all his issues! I can not wait for the next video from you!

[@kimlersue]

When you are perfect then you can work on your dog's perfection@!

[@KoraMK2]

This was a great video! Keeping doing you.

[@janeevans1309]

Thank you for this video, it came at a time I was despairing of my 11 month old border collie as everyone's expectations are that he should be perfectly behaved. Your videos have helped such a lot and give me the confidence to train him properly, so thank you! I'm struggling with the chasing cars issue, Bandit just gets tunnel vision at the very busy roads we live near. If you have any tips I would be so grateful as I am terrified he will cause an accident and at my wits end! 😊🐶🤞

[@Krissykris1468]

Habituation is key. You need to give some distance until it's easy for the dog and do something else with him while cars are in teh background. Find something he loves, like ball? or frisbee? tug?. Each day work your way closer to traffic ( a park setting is beautiful for this as you have lots of room but traffic close by). It takes time! Also, if you can do herding with sheep, it will really help him focus his drive appropriately.

[@janeevans1309]

Kristin Crestejo, CDBC thank you so much for your advice, unfortunately we are in a very busy city so no sheep herding nearby but I was thinking about getting him started with some agility training to burn off some excess energy or should I just concentrate on him getting the basics right?!

[@pauldaly6420]

Yeah! ….my collie is called Luna and she’s also a psycho! 🤣🤣

[@pauldaly6420]

My last collie cross springer took 4 years to calm down too. My young collie (from working parents) is definitely making things harder…just too clever! 🤔 …and needs more 5 mile walks.! 😳 Superb videos, you explain things a lot more logical than other trainers. Others make us feel like we’re doing thing wrong. Maybe you’re more of an owner behaviourist by positively reinforcing us? 🤪🤣

[@analarson2920]

Thank you especially after I was told after decades of raising dogs and kids how and what I should train my dog to do. I am just developing her at age 5 mos. and everything in her time. We are trying to discover all of her tendencies so we can use them to our advantage as a service dog. Hey why not develop that way? So like I tell my kids you are all the same but you are all different and love that. Understanding too that we are not all designed for everything.

[@morganmae8595]

I'm so glad you made this video!! Both my dogs are so different! My male is dominant and protective and high drive and doesn't get along with other dogs. My female is submissive and independent minded and loves other dogs and loves playing fetch. I find myself constantly wondering why my male can't just get along with all other dogs like my female. It's unrealistic for EVERYONE to get along with EVERYONE all the time. I can't expect him to love playing with dog all the time.

[@juliaxxx687]

I love your video's 😄

[@Krissykris1468]

Thank you so much!!

[@miatreadwell1874]

totally agree

[@kargurorfwookiee2810]

gonna make my family watch this intro video, now I know i'm not doing everything wrong ty Kristen :)

[@Magicme79]

People say my BC/spaniel cross is what they would like in a dog. He's a charmer and he's super smart, but he's not a perfect or easy dog. Which is why he was in four different homes by the time he turned 2.5, when we adopted him.

[@pk1022]

Loved this video. I have always had anxiety about my dog, because it always seems everyone else's dog is perfect and mine is the crazy one. It was great to hear about how much time/effort you had to put in to to train one of your dogs. I used to feel like I was putting in effort to train and it seems a lot of other people don't do anything and have dogs that behave so well with other people/dogs. However, after hearing your story, I realize I need to put in way more effort and that all dogs are different. My dog loves the park, but when he jumps or barks at others I always feel so embarrassed, how do you deal with that? Also, is there a nice way to ask people to keep their distance from your dog if your dog isn't always great with new people. Also, there was a time when two kids started running toward my dog and yelling "puppy" "puppy". That totally freaked me and my dog out because I didn't know how he would act. Luckily their parents were able to stop the kids. Any advice on how to deal with that situation if it happens again? Kids often want to run up to my dog and pet him and I am not comfortable since he's not been around kids.

[@Renathe82]

I do agree with most things you say here. Dogs will discard some of their body language if you teach them not to (punish them etc.) I'm not so sure about going over to the dog while it's barking. Wouldn't that just make the dog think "ohh, hey I barked and you came, I can do this whenever"? I've always been told and practiced that if my dog barks, I will ignore her if she wants something (for instance go to another dog or want something to happen). That said, my dog isn't very vocal, and I had real struggles making her bark on command :D Looking forward to more videos! Even if there's long between em (hint hint :p) p.s. my dog is very close to perfect :D

[@jonathanboerema7849]

great video. how to help with dealing with separation anxiety because every time I go to work anytime someone still at my house they say my one dog just Howell's

[@peengoo]

Thank you for this video ... I have an adorable golden retriever 12 months old. He behaves very well with other dogs and humans. The only problem is he has a fear with water .. he doesn't swim, he goes in the water upto his neck max but not beyond that.We are working on in may be someday he'll swim and suppose he doesn't thats okay as well. Many people laugh in the dog park that he is not swimming and getting afraid of swimming in the water...people always say push him to go into the water but I don't force him ....Sometimes I go in the deep water with a toy to call him there but he gets afraid...He likes to retrieve the toy from the water but not from the deep water.. I go with him daily near a lake and play water fetching .. My dog is perfect for me and I really don't care if he is not for others.

[@GawgaCracka]

my dogs r perfect, though I myself, flawed, flawed, and more flawed...i have a female pit named Luna...shes perfect n my eyes and I love her....

[@jayceec3178]

Hi Kristen, Love you videos, they've helped me a lot since getting my border Collie last November at age 15 months, he's now 23 months and has come a long way with treats, patience and clicker training. I want to ask you if Border Collies grow out of herding, mine used to get in the herding position a lot and walk towards me slowly while I held a ball or frisbee but I have noticed he isn't doing it as much. I think he looks cute when he does it. His 2 previous owners didn't have farms or any other animals so I guess it's just bred into Border Collies. He also used to do it a lot while out walking him, if he saw anyone coming towards us, he would get in the herding position which worked wonders one early evening when a drunk man was walking towards us, the man crossed the road quickly lol. Anyway, did your dogs grow out of it? Or anyone else that is reading this.

[@Krissykris1468]

Hey! Some BC's grow out of it and some dont. If he's that old, I'm guessing that he's not going to grow out of it. I'd recommend doing premack principle training with the stalking behaviour so you can call him off it at any point in time. Look up my video on "different types of training methods" and you'll see a overview of the method. It works very well with herding breeds and you should see quick success if you spend the time training :)

[@miclkovich]

Hi, I'm not a good english speaker buy I'll try to explain myself as much as I can. I have a mayor problem with my dog... And I don't really know what to do. When I explain this problem to people in forums and so, they say always the same "find a proffesional" but I really need some tips, since I have things which make finding a proffesional a bit harder... I think my dog doesn't know how to do calm signals or how to interpretate them???? And I'm really worried about this. He is 1 year and 5 month old and I think I've never seen him doing calm signals or getting what other dogs want to say. He is really nervous when he goes out, and when he sees a dog he goes straight, with the tail up and the hears up. He usually goes to the back of the dog and he literally sticks his nose to the but of the dog... The dogs normally make avoidment signals like going away, but he follows them with the nose still in their back side. He doesn't really get that a dog doesn't want nothing to do with him until the dog tries to bite him. I know it is a big problem, but, is it normal with his age? Lastly, he recently got the habbit of snarling to some dogs and trying to attack them, like very aggresibely. Pulling the leash, pushing to the dog direction while snarling... I think he started doing this like two weeks ago... I'm really worried. What should I do? How should I ACT when my dog does the last thing? I know the first problem should resolve by itself, with the help of other dogs and time. But the habbit of snarling and trying to attack some dogs? Can you give me some tips? Also, I loved the video since I'm that kind of person. I want my dog to be like other dogs, I feel bad and I always think that I did something wrong and that's why my dog is like that. Thank you!

[@watchmoivies123]

My Border Collie has the same right hip stripe ! Has curls like yours too! Where is she from?

[@Krissykris1468]

I got her from a breeder in B.C. Canada

[@jennifernickel9792]

You should post more videos, they're so poignant 💕 you're the best!

[@Katenonie]

This is the most important video I have ever seen! Lily (1 1/2 golden) has a hard time learning to be off leash. She does it fine on leash (dragging or being held, or short of long lead, and on any collar) but is bad off leash. Any tips?

[@kevinpollard9010]

Kate Reiff . It's not too much to expect your dog to be good off leash. I'm sure Kristins dog goes off leash and behaves.

[@Katenonie]

Kevin Pollard that is not what I was saying. I was saying I don't know how to transfer on leash to off leash. Now we have pretty solid off leash ob in some places and I am working on getting her off leash in parks with other dogs and people

[@kevinpollard9010]

Kate Reiff I am sorry, I misunderstood.

[@miatreadwell1874]

my dog barks and growls when something isn't normal and we encourage him... And also when he wants attention. My dad tho doesn't really listen to me with dog training, he told him off when buddy growled at him while having a bone and he wants him to heel he is very firm, he loves Buddy and plays with him but when i tell him something about dog training he gets annoyed

[@zoharkosower4283]

just keep doing you. show him your way makes sense and works better. only thing you can do.

[@kevinpollard9010]

Your dog should never grow over a bone that is a serious problem. That's not just him being imperfect. That could end up with some getting bit.

[@RedSun215]

i love you

[@Krissykris1468]

Thank you!!!!

[@ashlynngonzalez1064]

We have a Brittany Spaniel and we want her to be able to roam the house and not have to be in a kennel when inside though she is very spastic and I know I can't fix that because that's just how Brittanys are but is there a way I can get her to want to stay in a general area of the house so that she's not racing all over.

[@Krissykris1468]

Slow training, allowing her free range for short periods of time while giving her something to do, such as a kong wobbler or treasure hunt. Then as she has success, increase duration of you leaving. But if she has separation anxiety, you will need much more help from a qualified trainer/consultant.

[@ashlynngonzalez1064]

Kristin Crestejo, CDBC Thank you she does have slight separation anxiety but I think she has mostly overcome that.

[@kevinpollard9010]

Animalsforever31 . Kristin gives good advice. You could also teach the place command. A dog can be taught to be calm. It won't happen overnight but just extend duration in little training sessions.

[@ashlynngonzalez1064]

Kevin Pollard she has been taught the place command but I want her to eventually graduate to that just being a home base.

[@kevinpollard9010]

Animalsforever31 . Ok I understand.

[@safiyyahkhan9867]

please can u start doing cat tricks?

[@hl5273]

You never even met my dog. My dog is perfect. Just look at her pic

[@ashlynngonzalez1064]

HC L do you ever have to train your dog? Because if so she is not perfect. And no dog is perfect because every dog has an issue that needs to be overcomes through training.

[@ichol78]

Could you do a video how help dog who is sceared of everything? His so scared that he poops and pee. I have practice in animal shelter and slowly working for him to adjust to people, just sitting with him in a cage. He is avoiding people, don't eat in a day, just at night when nobody goes around him. There's not much videos about this content. He can't go for adoption at this state. It would be big help for this dog and any other that will come to the shelter.

[@Krissykris1468]

The problem with making a video on the behaviour at discussion is there are so many variables as to why the dog would be so fearful. In order to have a successful program for a dog like that you'd need to understand why the dog is fearful. A video with such vastness wouldn't do any good unfortunately, that's probably why you're not finding any.

[@mr.krabzstudios2675]

MY PUPPY IZ PERFECT ME NO LISTEN TO UUUUUUUUU!!!!😡🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬😡😡😡😡😡🤬🤬🤬😡🤬🤬

[@kcsilverwing4263]

YES people have got to learn about dog behavior! The right information not from uneducated people like Cesar Millan!!!

[@keziaallen697]

I agree, he's great, but how can he call himself a dog whisper when he has to use punishment. It might get quicker results but I believe 99% of cases only need positive reinforcement and I believe some dogs can change if you give them a little love ❤️

[@kcsilverwing4263]

Kezia Allen I didn't say he was great. Cesar Millan is an uneducated self taught TV celebrity

[@kevinpollard9010]

KC Silverwing regardless of the fact that you don't like ceasar ,don't knock being self taught. Years of working with dogs and getting hands on experience,beats sitting in a class room for a few months. The very trainer you just watched had years of experience before going to school and I bet she would not trade any of it. If you had serious problems with your dog and had the choice of going with someone who had worked with cases like yours for years, or someone with no experience but just out school, I know you would go with the first trainer.

[@vikingdogmanship]

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