https://www.rockemdogtraining.com/

Worthy of Wild, Dublin, CA (2026)

08/26/2022

Happy National Dog Day! So grateful to work with these amazing animals every day. Enjoy these portraits of our Worthy of Wild board and train graduates so far this year! Do you spot your pup?

06/30/2022

If you’ve done a training program with your dog, and are starting to experience some regression from all the great results you had, here are some helpful reminders to get back on the right track:

It’s the little moments that add up. Is your dog reactive? Impulsive? Insecure? Anxious? Maintaining engagement, believability, and a trusting relationship is not just about putting your dog into heel passing triggers. Make sure you are utilizing all the little moments throughout your day to maintain a dynamic where your dog sees you as the access to all things good in the world.

*Release past every threshold (crate, doors, car) via engagement with you instead of letting them bulldoze past.

*Reward behavior throughout the day! Not just on walks or during a training “session.”

*Maintain structure in your dog’s life! There’s a reason your dog was so successful during training, and it’s not just because of the reps put in during their training sessions. They were immersed in a lifestyle in which they had structure, predictability, and were set up for success in making good choices. We want to enable dogs to earn freedom & be capable of making good choices on their own, but some elements of structure are important to maintain indefinitely. Each dog has different needs in this regard. When in doubt, more structure is better than less! Keep utilizing your crate & place command.

*Be consistent with your tools per your trainer’s instructions! And make sure they are fitted and being utilized properly. Contact your trainer if you’re unsure about anything related to your tools!

*Be proactive, not reactive, in ALL regards. Give your dog information BEFORE they break all the way out of a command or react to a trigger. It’s easier to correct back into position if your dog is inching up off their elbows as opposed to leaping into the air. It’s easier to redirect your dog’s attention back to you if you interrupt them “loading” on a trigger versus exploding. And lastly, contact your trainer for support at the onset of any struggles instead of letting them compound!

Remember, training is a lifestyle, not an event. The life you will share with your dog is worth all the effort!

06/15/2022

*Available for Adoption*

Meet Wonder! This amazing girl is ready to find her forever home, and we are looking to place her through a unique program where we will integrate her through a hybrid training process. This means she would start bonding with her new family while staying enrolled in training through Worthy of Wild where we can cater her learning to your lifestyle.

She’s a little over a year, and we’re guessing a shepherd/cattle dog/collie mix. She’s about 40lbs, and extremely sweet tempered.

-Very dog social
-Bonds quickly with people
-Crate trained & extremely clean
-Content to be chill, but also up for any adventure
-Smart & biddable
-Food motivated & will eat anything
-Good toy & play drive
-Has been started on foundational obedience
-Very affectionate & cuddly

Wonder was surrendered to animal control with a relative to be euthanized, likely from a puppy mill situation where the owner had no use for the dogs anymore. She was picked up by rescue because the animal control officer couldn’t bear to euthanize her given how sweet she was. She’s been spayed, and likely went through one heat cycle prior. She’s healthy and UTD on shots.

Wonder is a special dog, and we’re looking to place her in a home that will help her reach her fullest potential. If you would like to inquire about her, email [email protected] to schedule a phone interview!

[videos of Wonder playing and training in the comments]

05/05/2022

Can you train a reliable recall without using an e-collar?

Simply put, the answer is yes! Getting there is not so simple, though.

Depending on breed, individual temperament and drive, it will take a dog various lengths of time to learn a reliable recall with an auditory cue only. A reliable recall, in my opinion, means the dog will recall on cue regardless of any competing motivator (ie. distraction) in the environment. In order to achieve this, the cue must be proofed in a variety of environments with a multitude of potential distractions with a long history of success.

There are highly skilled trainers who work without e collars and train their dogs to this level in order to provide them with off leash freedom. I respect their work.

Here’s the reality: owners are not dog trainers. And they shouldnt have to be in order to provide their dog with these privileges (responsibly)! Not only does the average owner not have the skill set to implement such learning effectively, they often do not have the time to dedicate hours upon hours of training to achieve this result.

E collars are phenomenal tools when used responsibly. While some would argue that they achieve faster results only because they utilize negative reinforcement to strengthen behavior, I argue that while from an operant standpoint this is true, they also achieve faster results because the added reinforcement and clear communication helps the dog confidently understand what’s expected of them.

When a dog has been properly conditioned to an e collar, owners have a safety net should there ever be a competing motivator in the environment for which we have not trained.

Dogs lives are far too short. In my perspective, I’d rather fairly create that safety net, be willing to apply a split second of pressure should my dog be unmotivated to follow through with a known command, and be able to provide my dogs with incredible biological fulfillment during as much of their lives as possible than to spend many months to years proofing recall while never being 100% sure I’ve trained for every scenario. I want my clients to be able to easily and responsibly give their dogs this gift, too.

02/06/2022

Worthy of Wild is excited to be launching a new training program tailored specifically for prospective owners of a rescue or shelter dog!

Introducing the Rescue Right Program!

Adopting a dog from a rescue or shelter can be a wonderful experience. Because dogs in rescue end up there for a wide variety of reasons, from accidental breedings to unfortunate life circumstances to behavioral issues, the unknown history of a dog both genetically and environmentally can result in unpredictable behavioral outcomes in their new home.

The Rescue Right Program is a hybrid board and train program offering a unique service that supports owners from the pre-adoption process through the dog's lifetime.

Interested in finding out more? Program details and inquiry forms are now up on our website.

www.worthyofwild.com/rescue-right

01/13/2022

“FRIENDLY” ≠ SOCIAL

“Don’t worry, he’s friendly!” …the quintessential statement we all hear from owners with an out of control dog approaching another without permission.

There are many dogs who go nuts every time they see another dog, even more so if they get the chance to interact. The majority of owners out there perceive these dogs to be “friendly.” Clearly, they LOVE other dogs, right?! And other dogs who don’t accept pushy behavior from a dog they’ve never met before? They must be antisocial…

The reality is, a lot of these “friendly” dogs are actually lacking in social skills which results in rude behavior when it comes to interactions with other dogs.

-Rushing up to a new dog
-Making direct eye contact/staring
-Getting in another dog’s face
-Putting their head or paws over a dog’s shoulders
-Barking and/or lunging at a dog
-Ignoring calming or warning signals from a dog
-Muzzle punching at a dog

It’s actually fairly uncommon for dogs who do not already know each other to immediately play upon meeting. And it’s quite rude for a dog to engage in any of the above behaviors when greeting a new dog. Healthy greetings involve relaxed body language, typically an approach from the side or along an arc rather than head on, and lots of mutual and reciprocal sniffing to gather information about the other dog.

A truly social dog is one who is able to calmly and confidently meet and interact with other dogs, who can appropriately read and respond to other dogs’ signals & boundaries and appropriately communicate their own, and who can engage in balanced play OR peacefully share space with other dogs.

Dogs who communicate discomfort with another dog’s behavior through avoidance signals or through corrections like growling or barking the dog away from them often have great social skills. And dogs who want to bee line to every dog they see more often than not lack good social skills.

Social skills can be inherent, but they are more often acquired through thoughtful selection of your dog’s social interactions, healthy exposures that promote neutrality, and training and structure that fulfills and balances the dog overall.

12/06/2021

The Wild Pack has a new member… meet baby Breeze the whippet!

12/04/2021

TRUST & RESPECT ARE NOT TRANSFERABLE

The easiest part of dog training is teaching the dog skills and commands, the hardest part is earning the dog’s trust and respect.

Often the most challenging experience for clients is getting their dog to behave for them the same way they do for their trainer, or to behave for one partner the way they do for another. Dogs absolutely behave differently for different people, and the reason is that the dog has a different history with each individual that determines whether they feel trusting and respectful of that individual.

Imagine you are back in school and have one teacher who teaches with great clarity, is fair in their grading and feedback, is kind and compassionate in a way that’s genuine, and also unwavering and consistent about boundaries and accountability like finishing your homework, doing assignments on time and treating others kindly.

Now imagine you have another teacher who loves the students, but has lesson plans that are unclear and disorganized, gives out good grades on assignments that haven’t earned them, and provides very little feedback on students’ learning and progress. They let it slide when homework isn’t completed, and they’re avoidant of addressing conflict between students.

Would your behavior be the same with each of those teachers? You’re the same student showing up in each classroom, but the way each teacher shows up for you determines the respect you have for them, the trust you feel in them, and ultimately the behavioral choices you make with them.

Creating a relationship with your dog in which there is mutual trust and respect requires that you show up as the believable, clear, compassionate, fair and consistent teacher they need and deserve. Only then will they have the trust and respect in you to behave in trustworthy and respectful ways themselves.

11/29/2021

STRUCTURE = FREEDOM
The structure, boundaries, and accountability of training lead to the freedom, inclusion and fulfillment that we all want our dogs to have. Without creating a language, we can’t communicate. Without leadership and believability, we can’t rely on consistent behavior. Without a history of reliable behavior, we can’t trust our dogs out in the world.

So many owners are afraid of implementing the structure and boundaries that are needed in their lifestyle with their dog to create successful training results. They are reluctant to remove what they perceive as freedom from the dog. From the dog’s point of view, the freedom to pick which area of the house they are going to nap in pales in comparison to the freedom to move their bodies in nature uninhibited by the tether of a leash or the confines of a yard. The freedom to charge the windows barking when they see something outside or to run the fence line at the sound of another animal on the exterior does not live up to the freedom to enjoy meaningful interactions with humans they love or to romp around outdoors with their dog friends they trust.

In all actuality, those “freedoms” are reinforcing choices and mindsets that are potentially unhealthy, unsafe and sometimes don’t even feel good to the dog, which in turn, creates behavioral patterns that make it more difficult to trust your dog with actual freedoms that genuinely feel good to them.

It’s always interesting to me when, for example, someone will criticize my choice to leave my personal dogs crated when unsupervised and argue the desire to indulge their dog with the freedom to free roam the house at all times, but then when I ask if they want reliability off leash for their dog to explore, they respond with, “oh, well they don’t need that much freedom.”

So, I ask you, which kind of freedom do you believe is more enjoyable to your dog?

Structure and training will create a relationship in which your dog sees YOU as the access to all things good in life and is motivated to listen to you, thus enabling a dynamic in which their behavior is reliable enough to reward them with freedoms that are genuinely fulfilling to them.

11/25/2021

Happy Thanksgiving from my pack to yours! 🧡

11/09/2021

Kai wants everyone to know that training is not work, it’s FUN!

10/27/2021

Arlo got a lot of attention out on his field trip to Home Depot, and it really put his training to the test!

Arlo came in with good basic skills, but very little engagement. His environment was SO much more rewarding to him than his handler. He would sometimes take high value food, but spit out his kibble or turned his nose up at it, and was far more interested in investigating his environment. This led to over-arousal and dog reactivity.

Now Arlo’s default is to be engaged, and he loves feeling connected to his handler and working entirely for his kibble. His training has provided him with clarity when structure and obedience is expected, and when he can engage with his environment and enjoy the world. This allows him to get the attention he loves when appropriate, run his heart out and be a spaz when appropriate, play with other dogs when appropriate, and still be tuned in and ready for information about what’s next when it’s given to him. He now sees his handler as the provider of all things good in the world, instead of seeing them as holding him back from fun. He’s worked hard, and I’m excited for his relationship with his owners to blossom even further when he goes home!

Worthy of Wild

08/26/2022

06/30/2022

06/15/2022

05/05/2022

02/06/2022

01/13/2022

12/06/2021

12/04/2021

11/29/2021

11/25/2021

11/09/2021

10/27/2021

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