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Perfect Companion K9

Dog Behaviour Rehabilitation & Obedience Training

Me and a reactive GSD

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Transforming Challenging Dogs into Perfect Companions since 1996

Me and a Reactive GSD

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Richard Chan

Dec 13, 2018
4 min

Don’t take the dog home!

All the dog needs is NOT only love! When we become very emotional in trying to save a dog, we can often forget whether we can actually provide the perfect home for the dog. We may think we can give the dog the perfect home because we have lots of “love” to offer, but reality is, love is not really all that the dog needs. I see lots of dogs being returned to shelter and eventually being put down because they were being rescued by people who thought all they needed to give t

Richard Chan

Sep 18, 2018
2 min

The Monastery

A lot of people like to see a dramatic before video when a new dog comes in, and l have been asked many times why l don’t usually show those. It is because I don’t usually see the really bad “before” once the dog is here. But we all know owners will not pay thousands of dollars to send their dogs here if there is nothing wrong. What happens is that l spend a lot of time to help the new dog to feel safe and secure around me and inside my house upon arrival. I take lots o

Richard Chan

Sep 13, 2018
2 min

These are awesome but l can’t wait to get rid of them!

Someone asked me a question that l have been asked many times. I like to take this opportunity to address this in public. Q: lf l put a prong/ecollar on my dogs, do they need to wear them forever? How long before l can remove them completely? A: Many dogs have to wear a flat collar, martingale, harness, or a halti during their entire life. But for some reason, people don’t think there is anything wrong with that. But once they see a prong collar or an ecollar, they

Richard Chan

Sep 5, 2018
2 min

No “but..”, just don’t do it and thank me later.

Dogs are being rehomed or put down daily because of behavioural issues. This is a fact. It is also a fact that many of these dogs were once little puppies who were very loved by their owners. What happened? One common mistake l have seen new owners (or even experienced dog people) make over and over again is their misunderstanding on “socialization”. For some reason, many people mistakenly believe they need to find some doggie friends for their puppies, and they believe t

Richard Chan

Aug 22, 2018
1 min

You are a mirror

You are like a mirror to your dog. If you cannot stand being away from your dog for a second, your dog will likely also feel the same way and suffers separation anxiety. If you are very emotional, your dog will likely be reactive, too. Training can only help so much. You need to change. Instead of being the mirror, you can be the role model. If your dog is very obsessive, you can act independent. If your dog is very reactive, you can be aloof and calm. You can l

Richard Chan

Jul 25, 2018
4 min

The power of “no” and the power to protect

Harley just went back to Whistler BC after finishing his boarding here. We just finished a lesson with his lovely owners, who came here after an epic flight back from Europe. We went over something in the lesson that l like to talk a little bit about here. In order for Harley to feel safe and stop reacting, he needs to believe that his human can absolutely take care of the situations for him. This is about trust. There is a part of trust that is not often talked about

Richard Chan

Jul 13, 2018
3 min

A turning point in my career

Many owners were told they should use desensitization and counter conditioning when they have a reactive dog. They were told they should never use correction, they were told they should never punish the dog for reacting, they were told they should never make the dog uncomfortable. I was one of those people years ago. We were told we had to keep the bar opened so to speak whenever a dog appeared. We were told to pour high value treats onto a dog when another dog appeared

Richard Chan

Jul 11, 2018
1 min

What would you choose?

If you have to choose between giving up treating your dog like a human baby vs giving up your dog entirely, what would you choose? You may be surprised to know how many people l have met chose the latter instead. “I feel so sad about giving up my dog...but l think he will be happier with someone else.” Usually, what really happened is that the dog would have been really happy with the same person and would also behave much better if the owner could only stop humanizing th

Richard Chan

Jun 22, 2018
2 min

Why are you afraid to say no?

I have seen so many owners who were afraid to correct their dogs. Many of them have been to other training classes and they were told that if they corrected their dogs, their relationship would definitely be damaged and there would be fallouts and their dogs would turn on them. I have met owners with scars all over their arms, ladies who could not wear bathing suits due to numerous scars on their thighs, seniors with cuts all over their faces after being pulled and dragge

Richard Chan

Jun 14, 2018
1 min

Quality time

Q: l spend awesome quality time with my dog when we snuggle on the sofa watching tv together. Other than that, what else do you recommend l do with my dog? A: Spending quality time with your dog is not the same as coddling or snuggling with your dog. When l think of quality time, l think of spending time to train my dog, walk my dog, and play with my dog. These activities can challenge my dog, educate my dog, and encourage my dog. They are “quality” because they can e

Richard Chan

Jan 5, 2017
2 min

Freedom

Our human view of freedom is often about letting our dog do whatever he wants. For an anxious/fearful/timid dog, this could however be interpreted as not having a leader to follow with no clear set of rules to observe, which can make such a dog more confused and insecure. To a dog, freedom is about not having to doubt and worry. It is about having someone who can guide and protect them. When we allow our dogs lots of freedom, we are also asking them to make lots of decisions

Richard Chan

Dec 31, 2016
2 min

Grandma vs dad

When grandma comes to visit, the kids are very excited because grandma will shower them with gifts, yummy snacks and so on. Grandma never asks them to do anything they don't like to do. Grandma will tolerate all sorts of inappropriate behaviour. The kids love both dad and grandma but they display very different behaviours in front of them. There are lots more self-control in their relationship with their dad. With dad, there are clear boundaries and they understand what they

Richard Chan

Dec 29, 2016
4 min

Jumping

"My puppy loves to jump on all sorts of people and he gets really excited... What to do?" We need to teach our dog how to be calm around people. To start, we need to be calm and we should ask other people to be calm around our puppy. Do not let all these people just come and make a big fuss to your dog. Teach your puppy to know how to be calm and relax around other people so he will not view them as a source of super excitement. Physical touch and praise are high value affect

He bites the hands that feeds him!

Richard Chan

Nov 16, 2016
3 min

He bites the hands that feeds him!

"Why did my dog bite me? I am so nice to him!" Many owners feel very puzzled, frustrated, and even betrayed, by aggressive behaviour from their own dogs. This German Shepherd in the picture used to attack anyone who came close to her crate, her owner, her house..,etc. It was a perception and relationship issue. Since l had Anja, she never showed any aggression even once about anything. Nothing at all. She is a very gentle, sweet, easy going dog. I developed a mutually respect

Out of control dogs

Richard Chan

Oct 14, 2016
2 min

Out of control dogs

When you have a dog that you cannot take out on a walk because he is just ridiculously out of control, you most certainly have a dog who is also ridiculously out of control inside your home. To have a well behaved dog, training has to start from inside your home. A lot of people just let their dogs run free in their homes. They struggle with the concept of leashing their dogs inside; they do not want to crate their dogs; they do not spend time training their dogs inside their

Impulse Control

Richard Chan

Oct 2, 2016
2 min

Impulse Control

Very often we let our dogs experience lots of excitement around other dogs; but once our dogs become a bit calmer, we try to ramp them up to play some more or we take them home. This will, overtime, create a dog with a single response whenever he/she sees another dog - extreme arousal. In the human world, we have more than one response in front of others- we can be very attentive (e.g. work, classroom), very active (e.g. sports), very aloof and quiet (e.g. library); we may no

You touch fire, you get burnt.

Richard Chan

Sep 23, 2016
2 min

You touch fire, you get burnt.

Sadie used to love chasing squirrels, skunks, cats, rabbits, and racoons. She had pinned a cat down and almost killed the cat when l first got her. I almost lost my finger when she took off after a cat on the street. I recently have adopted a cat in my house, and l walk my dogs around lots of squirrels multiple times daily. We walk past many squirrels when l and my dogs walk my kids to school every morning. We can't have a big powerful mastiff going after squirrels with a bun

Dont just stand there!

Richard Chan

Sep 9, 2016
2 min

Dont just stand there!

Many owners tell me their dogs will not pay attention to them once they see another dog in public. Their dogs just totally ignore them. The owners would become totally irrelevant. Their dogs never come when called and are simply put, impossible to control. You have to be someone that your dog really wants to be with in order for your dog to love spending time with you. You cannot be that person if you hardly spend any quality time with your dog. Spending quality time is about

Don't be like the teacher who lies.

Richard Chan

Sep 3, 2016
4 min

Don't be like the teacher who lies.

I like to take this opportunity to talk about the protocol of meeting a person or dog. I teach all my dogs to stay calmly by my side when a person/dog walks towards us. I also teach my dogs to engage in me. I teach them to wait for permission before they go say hi, if l choose to do so. Even if an off leash dog runs towards my dog in an off leash area and they want to play, my dog will stay by me until l give her the okay to engage. If l do not want them to say hi for whateve

Keep a close watch on the bubble.

Richard Chan

Sep 2, 2016
3 min

Keep a close watch on the bubble.

Your dog has a personal bubble. It varies in sizes depending on where he is, how he feels, and what he is facing. As your dog's leader, you need to be very in tune with how big your dog needs that bubble to be at all time. If your dog sees a trigger and needs a bigger bubble (i.e. more personal space), you can creat that by staying further away from the trigger. Distance is the key. You can just walk around, turn 90 degree, or make a u turn, to increase distance. Lots of dogs

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