[SPEAKER_00]: Tom, my dog is reactive, my dog pulls me everywhere, my dog won't listen to me, my dog demand barks, my dog X, Y and Z, and then I see them show up with a harness, I'm like, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: This one right here is probably going to tick some people off.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I did a sub-steck about this earlier this week, and I wanted to go more in depth about this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the harness is used widely by a lot of people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I see as just a human is I see a lot of dogs
[SPEAKER_00]: out there pulling their owners all over the place, typically.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I mean by that is maybe even people who aren't actually physically getting dragged, but the dog is in front of them just... FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
[SPEAKER_00]: there needs to be some sort of engagement in that walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: There needs to be some sort of like I am here and I'm also existing and a lot of people who walk their dogs in general, but specifically with harnesses do not have that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to explain something to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we talk about dogs,
[SPEAKER_00]: having some sort of engagement or care to turn around or reason to turn around.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing with kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: We bring our kids to a really fun place, but we have to walk to get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're walking downtown to go get breakfast or dinner with our kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: No matter the age.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, we want them to go, oh, look, lights, and oh, look at something in the window, or oh, look ice cream, what, of course, that's normal, that's natural.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what we don't want is them running in front of us and not caring about traffic and not caring about us, not caring about anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, just understand that.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people are like, oh, because I talk a lot about structure.
[SPEAKER_00]: I talk a lot about letting our dogs be dogs,
[SPEAKER_00]: only when it's safe, letting our dogs live a life of ultimate freedom when they listen to us, because that's the only way that that's safe, the only way that that works.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as somebody who has trained hundreds of super aggressive dogs,
[SPEAKER_00]: Dogs who are trying to hurt me, dogs who have a bite history or a kill history, I can tell you that that's one of the biggest contributing factors towards that aggression that reactivity and anxiety is the dog has no connection with the owner, they're just an autopilot.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't engage, they don't turn around, they don't listen, you guys are just roommates.
[SPEAKER_00]: You love each other, what's up, good to see ya, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's no real connection, there's no real, hey, is it okay if I do this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, can I have this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like there's none of that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you were to equate that to like humans, you'd be like, oh, that's being polite.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's having manners.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not just, oh, mine, oh, mine, oh, mine, oh, mine, oh, mine, thank you, bye.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, there's gotta be some, that's dangerous behavior, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And it, unfortunately, it ends up, you know, not helping that kid, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Or in this case, the vet dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, so, so that's kind of like the, and I want to just say I am not anti-harness by any means.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have harnesses for my dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is a time and a place for a harness, but the majority of people who use harnesses don't understand that they're not doing them their dogs favors or the relationship with their dog favors.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's just convenient and easy.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no training at all that has to go into a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the second biggest reason why people use harnesses is because their dog is choking themselves out on a flat collar.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if we think again, I am not anti-harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just, I care a lot about dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really want dog owners to really understand why dogs do the things that they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really deeply and passionate about helping dog owners live a better life with their dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: to be clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know there's going to be people in the comments and stuff thinking, like, bullshit, Tom just hates harnesses.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, again, I have harnesses for my dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I hated him, I wouldn't have him.
[SPEAKER_00]: So whenever a dog is on a harness, again, like a lot of people, again, two things is they're ignorant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ignorant is not bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just means you don't know, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: When I do things, I don't know, like learn how to write a horse or surf, or do you
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know any, I didn't ignore it to all that until I learned how I'm not.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, when you get a dog, you just assume, well, I'm just going to get a cool harness, but they're name on it, and that's fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or again, you get a dog that's hacking, coughing, and the dog is pulling so hard that they're choking themselves out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got to think about that for a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's really break that down.
[SPEAKER_00]: You put a dog on a...
[SPEAKER_00]: anything connected to your leash and your dog is so disengaged and so could care less that you exist so much that they are willing to slow down the oxygen to their body.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're literally trying to get away with away from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're not trying to get away from you per se, but they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not trying to get near you.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're trying to get away from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not trying to get away from you because they don't like you.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're trying to get away from you because they want to do other stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: So your dog is pulling so hard that they're taking oxygen out of their body to drive forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they think, oh, well, this is bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: They look on chat, GPT or they go to the local store and
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, my dog chokes themselves out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, here's a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now your dog is doing the same exact thing, getting away from you, disengaging from you, pulling in front of you, but now they're just doing it safer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is the point of a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: The harness was literally invented for allowing dogs to pull more weight safer.
[SPEAKER_00]: sled dogs, draft pulling dogs, search and rescue dogs, maybe disability, service dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Harnesses are literally to help dogs pull safer.
[SPEAKER_00]: So anybody who puts their dog in a harness, I just want to be clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a great relationship with your dog and your dog listens to your dog's train, like my dog Lakota who's a level 3 dog, I could put a harness at her at any point in time and she's still going to behave the same as if she didn't have it on.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's still a level 3 dog, but the problem is that is not the road map for 99% of people who put a dog on a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: They put their dog on a front clip harness or a back clip harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Front clip harness is a really bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had Dr. Eva Frick on who's a chiropractor, DVM, veterinarian, is talked about how it changes the gate and it pushes all their elbows inside.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's terrible, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have that general walk or that easy harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're literally, so instead of, here's the problem I have with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first problem is is it pushes dogs further away from having a better relationship with their owners because it encourages dogs to pull harder, faster, longer, it encourages them to disengage.
[SPEAKER_00]: So really quick, let's just talk about, well, what do you want your dog to do?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm out with my dog, I want them to be a dog and do what they want.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when I say, he'll they heal next to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you have a dog that does that, then it's really irrelevant.
[SPEAKER_00]: But 99% of people who have harnesses on a dog, I would bet, actually, and I thought about doing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would bet a lot of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: that if you went out and you saw a dog with a harness and you set up two cones with 10 feet and I said I want you to walk your dog on a loose leash from here to here, I bet you money over and over and over and over and over again, people would not do it, couldn't do it, could not do it if they were on harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, that's my real issue is dogs with harnesses, it makes them pull further, harder, faster.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yes, your dog may love you, and yes, your dog is still cute, and lovely, and sweet, but you're literally like, hey, ignore me for the next two hours, or hour, or half an hour, whatever your walk is, just ignore me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if that's all you have with your dog, then I get it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have time to train, you don't want to train, that's fine, that's irrelevant to this conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when people come in to my facility or they are working with me online or they're at home you struggling with your dog and your dog is on a harness you have to understand why that harness is literally invented and encourages your dog to disengage from you and pull away from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't teach them anything it has no pulse, it doesn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only thing dogs have opposition reflexes, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So when your dog feels all that pressure broadly push against their chest, they're just going to pull.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're just teaching them the pull.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now your kids, your wife, even you, whoever's walking the dog, probably doesn't want to walk the dog because now the dog has more leverage to pull harder.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're digging down.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have, you have no real connection.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no pulse, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no feedback loop there versus a slip, a Martin Gell, even a flat collar, obviously a prong collar, a plastic pinch collar, even a head hulty, all those things have communication, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like imagine if we just threw the reins around the middle of a horse and just went out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be deadly, dangerous, awful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nobody would do that, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Cowboys do bear back, but, you know, they only do it for four or five seconds.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of people risk their lives doing that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyway, that's a different story.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the harness, again, is just one of those things that it worries me how many people question their training or frustrated with their training, but still wear harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: To me, that's like, doesn't make any sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, here's a $10 bill for those of you who are listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a $10 bill.
[SPEAKER_00]: You go, oh man, I have no money at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really need to save my money.
[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody's like, hey, do you want a popsicle for $10?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, bang.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, oh no, it's exactly what it's like to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom, my dog is reactive, my dog pulls me everywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: My dog won't listen to me, my dog demand barks, my dog X, Y, and Z.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I see them show up with a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: You've taught your dog to disengage from you, not care about you for the last, however long you're using it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now you're complaining that your dog doesn't listen to you and a lot of people think when you're so when your dog like barks and is a jerk and is reactive and is pulling or maybe just doesn't listen to you you have to realize that the leash work that you do with your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: is a direct correlation and will predicate your dog's training and how your dog listens to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if every day you wake up in the morning and you put a harness on your dog and you clip it on him and you go for a walk and your dog is dragging you every single day, everywhere you go.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why your dog won't come back to you when you call.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why your dog will eat a piece of pizza on the floor and not let it go when you say.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why your dog will jump up on the counter and steal your food off the counter.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why your dog is barking at people when they come in.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a reason why your dog is demand barking for et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a way of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like slap it a harness on your dog and just allowing them to do whatever they want is a way of life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like what we see with human psychology, if you see somebody that wears or listens or eats or what it like, you can correlate groups of people by how they dress and how they look.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, not always, guys, I'm talking generally speaking here, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we can put these things together, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, you have a Metallica concert here and you have a Garth-Burt concert here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have two people, oops, sorry, my mic just hit.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have two people walking up.
[SPEAKER_00]: One has a cowboy hat, a wrangler, and a cowboy boots.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other has a cutoff, tattoos, bleached, or dark black hair, died, and combat boots.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can put my dang money.
[SPEAKER_00]: that that person over here with the combat boots in the in the cutoff t-shirt in the Harley Davidson shirt is going to go to the talica and this guy over here that's wearing cowboy boots, cowboy hats, wranglers, it's going to go to Garth Brooks.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not hard, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the same thing that dog trainers will see when we see a dog misbehaviour me go, I bet that dog's been walking on a harness their whole life.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is like black and white, a hundred percent.
[SPEAKER_00]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, if your dog is doing search and rescue, if your dog is is pulling wait for competition, like you have to realize when dogs pull wait for competitions like at the fair or other competitions that are out there, they're wearing harnesses to pull.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have to mention this just because so many people wear harness on their dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, in the actual moment of putting a harness on your dog, you may think, oh, this is better because my dog isn't choking.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that just means you're, you're, you're kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your dog was choking because they don't listen to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't carry you on the leash.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're disengaged from you.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're unruly and it's really bad behavior and it's dangerous.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you put them on a harness so they don't choke, but the thing is still there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But because the dog isn't choking, they live the rest of their life on the harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, it is 100,000 percent directly correlated with putting that harness on your dog and allow them to do whatever they want.
[SPEAKER_00]: All day long with your dog doing all the other bad stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's directly correlated.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just went this women lessons today with my kids and the swim lesson teacher who's been doing this for probably longer than I've been alive, who's top 20 and whatever, like she's like one of the top instructors in the country and you know, there was a kid there having a really hard time, like, and I mean a hard time.
[SPEAKER_00]: My kids also have a really hard time, but they fortunately recover and I didn't, you know, I don't say anything, you know, this poor kid's trying to figure swimming out.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's stressful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Heck yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the instructors, that's something really interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this was just today.
[SPEAKER_00]: She said, you could just tell the kid hasn't been told no that much.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, ah, I can relate to that sister.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know exactly what that's like.
[SPEAKER_00]: You get a dog that comes in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can immediately tell.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can tell, though, I can tell how a dog listens to an owner on or off leash, what equipment that they wear.
[SPEAKER_00]: how they're trained, how they're not trained, what relationship they have.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my point is is the actions in which we see our dogs do throughout their life, everywhere in life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not coming back, stealing pizza, not letting it go, jumping on people, running away.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's because you've literally trained your dog every single day of their life when you go on that nice morning walk with your coffee or whatever you do with your dog to ignore me and do what you want when you want God bless.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's go for the walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just don't choke yourself because they hate hearing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you don't realize how much damage
[SPEAKER_00]: you're actually doing to your dog by allowing them do whatever they want.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why your dog doesn't listen to you, your dog doesn't respect you, your dog doesn't check in with you, your dog runs away from you, your dog eats stuff, they don't want that you don't want them to eat and then when they do get it, they won't let it go because you have literally since day one, every single day, have allowed your dog to do whatever you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, listen, I love dogs more than the next person.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will cry if I see a bad post, I will be sad if a dog doesn't do well, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why I've committed my entire life to helping dogs and helping people understand dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not committed to any camp of politics.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just know what works.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is my mission is to help people in my point by saying that is as I want you at home listening and watching this to understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: how devastating it is to allow your dog to do whatever they want, when they want, because people, we feel bad for dog sometimes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, whether they were in a bad situation or whatever, and we go, oh, you were in a bad situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So now I'm going to let you think that you have no rules, no boundaries, and you can get away with everything, was your leadership and structure.
[SPEAKER_00]: that tanks the dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the war.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the most worst-case dogs either not listening or being aggressive has come from dogs who have been in the bad situation, who owners feel bad and they dump all love and affection on them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And now the dog is dangerously out of control.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather, it's not listening running away, not recalling, but still the happiest go lucky, nice to stalk in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: But just almost gets hit by a car, eat something they shouldn't
[SPEAKER_00]: the dog is the opposite end of this spectrum where they are aggressive and mean and nasty because now they're attached to this person who has proven to them that they have no idea what they're doing and now they feel like they have to protect them and the owners are like I don't understand what happened I'm like well you gave your dog love that they've been craving their whole life and nothing else no structure, no boundaries, no rules, do what you want, when you want now the dog is protecting you and being having resource guardians so I digress but harnesses
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, I just want people to understand the risks of using harnesses on your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not for training your dog obedience.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not for communicating with your dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want your dog to be self-operational and do what they want when they want, put them on a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we do for such and rescue dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we do for mobile assist dogs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to make the decisions because you are trained to.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you put a harness on a dog and do the opposite of that, you're really digging a hole that you're not going to want to be in.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to cost you lots of money and time to get out if you want to get out.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what they see a lot of dog owners do.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of my clients come in.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've dug a hole so much by babying their dog, allowing their dogs to do whatever they want.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I tell them all those routines that you've made out of.
[SPEAKER_00]: Convenience, harnessing flexies, known engagement, no training, do what you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're on a harness in a flexi, so therefore I'm not getting dragged because you're 15 feet in front of me, not paying attention to me eating rabbit poop.
[SPEAKER_00]: when i tell them you have to now go backwards and basically start from scratch it's so much work that they just disconnect from their dog and just continue to allow them to do what they want it's so sad because in what i'm not and i'm not saying like when people are watching there's like my dog loves me this is bullshit i'm not saying your dog doesn't love you and i'm not saying you don't love your dog but when i see a dog drag somebody out the door and not engage with them their entire walk i know that they're in a completely disconnected state of mind and it's extremely unhealthy
[SPEAKER_00]: period.
[SPEAKER_00]: And harnesses are a big contributing factor to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that equipment, you know, and guys, it's pretty objective here, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody out there, you see a harness.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see them with a bunch of treats and they're doing this, they go sit in the dog sitting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, if you take all that shit away, the dog is clueless.
[SPEAKER_00]: that I will not listen, that I will not engage.
[SPEAKER_00]: You go outside, oh, all that disappears.
[SPEAKER_00]: You guys, I mean, I have hundreds of videos here on social media and on YouTube alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you guys have listened to my podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: You've heard all these people say, I don't understand what's going on with my dog.
[SPEAKER_00]: They won't listen, you know, we go over the whole thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's my cup of tea for today, y'all.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys are listening to this and Spotify or anybody else, anywhere else, make sure you follow us.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're listening to this on my YouTube channel, this is my second YouTube channel, welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for joining us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the comments below, please let me know what your thoughts on this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to know the general public, you know, because obviously I'm just sitting here by myself talking to a camera.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is really important to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as a professional, I see it every day and it sucks.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me know what you guys think.
[SPEAKER_00]: And subscribe to my YouTube channel.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys want to see more stuff like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for watching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will talk to you on the next one.