06/18/2026
Dog Training: Beyond the Quick Fix
An entire industry has been created selling you the idea that there is a quick fix for every problem.
Marketing and popularity dictate a video for every problem; a quick fix solution. And, for every fix there are three more problems created, for which there's another quick fix. It leads to a form of restlessness wherein people are rarely satisfied with improvements in their dogs, because there are always more problems not yet fixed.
I get asked nearly daily to create a video about specific problems (I saw your video on loose-leash walking, but what about loose-leash walking a reactive Golden Retriever?). These can be helpful to see, but the mentality over time has shifted into hyper-focus, instead of looking at the big picture.
Good, all-encompassing dog training creates a foundation wherein problems melt away holistically. If you understand how all things connect, you stop seeing things individually, but as a whole. You have to fix the whole and stop looking for quick solutions.
Teaching people to be actual dog handlers, to stop looking for quick tips and tricks, to start seeing the whole and the connection of all things, means rewiring our minds from the TikTok and YouTube conditioning and marketing over the past decades.
So if you have a problem, it isn't living in isolation. It's part of a whole picture. And you have to look at, and address the whole—exercise, nutrition, mental stimulation, leadership, socialization, and consistency—for the symptoms to melt away. Exercise is nutrition is basic obedience is socialization and so on—they all roll into each other.
- adapted from a post by Amy Skinner
