"The Greatest Gift You Can Give A Dog, Is The Freedom To Think!"

Discover the hidden secret to transforming your dog into a self-sufficient genius! Say goodbye to traditional training methods that rely on treats and tools. Tony Nila's revolutionary approach to latent learning taps into your dog's innate intelligence, fostering cognitive skills and enhancing behavior naturally. Watch now to learn how this groundbreaking method can deepen your bond with your pup and unlock their true potential. Don't miss out on the future of dog training!

Contact: Tony Nila (Canine Cognitive Specialist) http://Tony-Nila.com Cognitive learning is learning that takes place without a reward or training, but when something motivational presents itself, such as learning how to open a gate, how to not chase squirrels, or my favorite example of all, when a friend of mine went unconscious on a nature trail, his dog took his shoe and started running up to people with it. When they went to look for the owner, they found my friend just off the trail. His dog saved his life! The canine demonstrates the cognition to know what to do without practice, with zero training, without drill, and without ever demonstrating it before. So, in fact, they are observant and learn like children without you being aware of it. ​ Learning is not the same thing as training. It’s like a hobo dog that never needed training to know how to be good in public and knows how to ignore dogs while it’s with the owner without ever being trained to do so. It’s an experienced old soul. It’s like the old show The Littlest Hobo or Lassie. People often use dog training to suppress and control a dog, and it makes it more difficult for them to pick up on new things because they don’t often have the ability to make mistakes or observe them on their own. ​ People often control a dog and over manage because they are afraid the dog will be in danger. When that happens, training has to be maintained and always practiced like a drill for the rest of a dog's life. If you don’t keep up on the training, the dog will regress. If that happens, the dog reverts to being more aloof and naive, making puppy-type mistakes because the puppy never learned it on their own latently as they were growing; they got sidetracked by obedience commands. ​ The puppy was never allowed to explore or express themselves as well as make mistakes because everything they do is controlled and managed. ​ The goal is we want to raise a dog not train a dog. Imagine a mother duck being followed by her babies, and one of them didn’t pay attention to know how all the others got to the other side of a fence. The mother doesn’t race back over to help; she helps by staying nearby to let her baby know that she’s safe, and she waits patiently for her to figure it out. She then focuses on her mother much better and ignores fatal distractions in the future. So if you wanted to get a dog off leash “without training,” you teach the same lesson the same way as a puppy. ​ You play hide and seek, you play chase, but you’re the only one that runs away; they have to always chase you. Then Tada! You have a hobo dog! ​ Traditional training can’t duplicate this . A trained dog only comes to you when you call them, and it always has to be reinforced somehow. So when raising a puppy we want to teach tasks that are symbiotic to us through daily interactions and chores, similar to a service dog that makes them feel helpful, so they grow up doing things that helps them feel useful and appreciated.

Crate Training Made Easy: Why Unpredictability is the Key to Stress-Free Crate Time Crate training isn’t just about teaching your wolfdog where to go—it’s about creating a calm, safe space they respect and want to return to. One of the most effective strategies is unpredictability. Your wolfdog should never know exactly why they’re being asked to go into the crate. Is it for a snack? A feeding? A brief reset after an offensive behavior? This unpredictability helps prevent your wolfdog from associating the crate with a single event, like “time-outs,” which could create resistance. Pro Tip: What should you do if your wolfdog refuses to go into the crate? According to our wolfdog puppy program, absolutely nothing! Yep you heard me right. You need to be okay with a wolfdog making an independent decision, in fact that’s the whole point of this program, is to promote a wolfdogs cognitive reasoning through experience. But first here’s what NOT TO DO and why. When a wolfdog makes a choice that puts you into a predicament, DON’T Allow them to pull you into that predicament with them. THERES ONLY 3 WAYS you can respond and it’s NOT number 1. 1. Address it directly, food bribery, or training collar. Don’t get me wrong, you’re definitely going to win the situation, but you won’t win the war. In fact you will ALWAYS have to MAINTAIN and MANAGE your relationship like this forever once you do this. Your wolfdog won’t accept anything less from you in the future. It’s like instead of teaching your kids how to support each other as a family unit, you can only motivate them by the promise of a reward. 2. Remove accessibility to you and your space. 3. Leave them in their choice long enough for them to realize why they made a choice in error, for which they hold themselves accountable and use their cognitive reasoning to solve a life puzzle through their OWN experience. In this example we are going with step 3. If your wolfdog refuses to go into the crate, it doesn’t mean you have to change your intentions, it’s best to demonstrate that their decisions don’t dictate your response. Simply close the crate door and remove access to it while you leave to retrieve a treat. Place the treat inside without granting access, walk away (walking away is the most important part of this step), and allow your wolfdog to process their missed opportunity ON THEIR OWN. Ta-da! 🤗 now they are dying to want to be in the crate! Once they’ve calmed down and lost interest, safely remove the treat and try again much later (not directly after). This teaches your wolfdog that the crate isn’t about rewards or punishment—it’s about trusting your intentions and the experience of them making better decisions in the future, that create a symbiotic relationship, one which benefits the both of you. DO NOT EVER BRIBE OR HAVE A TREAT IN YOUR HAND when asking them to enter the crate. EVER! Do this for one week and your puppy will resolve this mistake ON THEIR OWN without working on it directly yourself. It’s best to avoid confrontation or bribery. Breakdown of the Learning Process: 1. Type of Learning: * This is latent learning, where the wolfdog is allowed to experience the consequences of its choices without direct intervention. By withholding immediate rewards or confrontations, the wolfdog processes the scenario and adjusts its behavior over time based on internal reasoning rather than external pressure. 2. Mechanism: * The key is operant conditioning with a focus on negative punishment (removal of access to the crate and treat when the wolfdog makes an undesired decision) and positive reinforcement (creating an intrinsic desire for the crate over time without bribery). 3. Core Concept: * The emphasis is on cognitive reasoning rather than pure conditioning. The wolfdog learns that its own decision-making impacts its access to desirable outcomes, fostering self-regulation and trust in the puppy parent’s intentions. 4. Outcome: * The wolfdog develops a neutral or positive association with the crate, not tied to rewards or punishment, but rather linked to an understanding of the crate as a beneficial space. This results in a more sustainable behavioral change, as the wolfdog’s motivation stems from its own experiences and reasoning. This approach aligns with Tony Nila’s philosophy, focusing on cognitive engagement and trust-based relationships rather than relying on reactive or reward-based methods. It is also reflective of higher-level comparative psychology principles, emphasizing the wolfdog’s capacity for learning through experience and independent thought. Share your experiences below! How has crate training worked for you? What challenges have you faced? Let’s help each other create calm, confident wolfdogs. 🐾

I apologize In advance for the bad lighting during the video… I feel pet owners should carefully assess what they are doing to encourage unwanted behaviors in the first place. Once they can identify where their pet is getting the energy from, stop the energy flow and the dog's behavior changes, fast.. Do you over excite your puppy with a high pitchy voice? If so, STOP! I have a rule in my house, keep your mouth off me, period. I don't waste a single second attempting to figure out what I can't see. I can't read an animal's thinking; all I can see is its actions. It's unimportant why a puppy would put his mouth on me. I just know that it is not acceptable behavior in my home, thus my pets do not engage in it. I don't have to yell, spray, or make a big deal about it since I don't do anything to promote it in the first place. I also believe that pet owners should consider what they are doing to foster undesirable behaviors in the first place. Stopping the energy flow and the dog's behavior alters quickly after they've figured out where the energy is coming from. In my case there aren't any. None. Zero. I, nor any of my other pets, partake in the behavior in the first place. As a result, mouthing behavior has little chance of establishing itself. My puppies immediately recognize that I am not a littermate, so they don't treat me like one, and I never do anything that would encourage my puppy to believe that I am an odd-ball-canine-replacement. I don't interfere with mother nature, so when a puppy enters my environment, it's already set up to be excellent. I let the realities of nature lead the way. It would theoretically be a sort of "extinction," which is defined as the loss of a behavior due to a lack of reward. It's psychology 101. However, if nipping/mouthing became a habit, I would have to take proactive measures to prevent it. Thankfully, I've never developed an undesirable habit. It's fantastic. Because when I teach new behaviors, I do so without having to deal with trashy behaviors that should never have happened in the first place. I enjoy spending time with my dogs, and we value independence. I live in a wooded region with only nature for company. I require my canines to be alert. They can't be barking at Bears, harassing Deer, or squirrels. I have to trust them to keep their cool. I don't attempt to make evolution better. When you look at animals in the wild, all you see is elegance. Then we, as humans, acquire them, and all you see are issues. LOL. I cling to what comes naturally to me because it works for me. STEP ONE OF TRAINING: What are you doing to cause the undesirable behavior in the first place? If you don't figure it out, it'll take months, if not years, to solve issues that should be addressed in hours. So start constructing a list; some examples are provided below. Do you use a high-pitched voice to over-excite your puppy? Stop if this is the case. Do you promote rough play with toys, such as tug of war? If so, stop. Do you become upset when he bites you and stay at his level on the floor to engage with him? If this is the case, come to a complete stop and walk away. When he's playing with you, are you acting like a puppy companion and pretending to howl in pain? If that's the case, stop yelping and start barking like an older dog demanding attention. A good example is the video below. https://youtu.be/KHBe0jT6S3U If the above structure is not effective, we'll need to start working together remotely. You may reach out to me. I have a monthly VIP membership to help coach clients from puppy to adult. Your quest has ended if you've been looking for dog training in Orange County. Learn more about some of the top dog-training authorities in Orange County. We have received extensive training in canine ethology, learning theory, reading canine body language, and behavior modification. Your go-to person for dog obedience training in Orange County is dog behaviorist Tony Nila. Does your dog jump, pull, or try to escape through the door? We can assist! Don't hesitate to contact Tony Nila, a trusted name in Orange County dog training, if you require a professional. visit: http://GrumpyPuppy.net

Join Tony Nila at the Autonomous K9 Academy as we delve into the transformative power of latent learning in dogs. Our Neuro Nurture program challenges conventional dog training by focusing on the dog's ability to learn independently, fostering confidence, problem-solving skills, and a deep-seated understanding of their environment. This video explores the scientific basis of latent learning, contrasting it with traditional operant conditioning methods, and highlights the shortcomings of the current dog training paradigm. We advocate for a return to understanding canine behavior through a scientific lens, emphasizing behavioral genetics, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science. Discover how latent learning can lead to profound behavioral changes without reliance on rewards, punishments, or training tools, and learn why a deeper understanding of canine cognition is essential for a harmonious relationship between dogs and their owners. Dive into the revolutionary approach of the Autonomous K9 Academy with Tony Nila, where we explore the power of latent learning in dogs. Discover how our Neuro Nurture program leverages scientific principles to enhance dogs' independent decision-making, confidence, and problem-solving skills without traditional training methods. This video unveils the secrets behind dogs' innate abilities to navigate their environment, control their behaviors, and make beneficial choices on their own. Join us as we challenge conventional training with a blend of science-based psychology, behavioral genetics, and evolutionary psychology to foster a deeper bond between you and your furry companion. The second segment of the video further elaborates on the principles behind latent learning in dogs, emphasizing its effectiveness over traditional operant conditioning methods. It also critiques the current state of dog training and the pet industry, advocating for a more natural and scientifically backed approach to understanding and shaping canine behavior.