TRAINing dogs together

Allegiant Canine is committed to offering a holistic, effective, comprehensive approach to dog training and human coaching that leads our clients to a life of understanding, connection, and freedom with their canine companions! With our canine coaches, you will not only learn to train your dog, but also how to fulfill them!

How it Works

1. Begin Questionnaire

2. Book Initial Session

3. Build Training Plan

The quiet fight against ideological bullshit #dogtraining #nashvilletn #dogtrainer #caninebehavior

Meet Champ! This adventure, loving scruff is really opening up after only three sessions.

He absolutely loves long line adventures and rides in the car. He also loves rolling in the grass, personal play with his handler, and to play tag!

Help us find a forever home for this sweet guy feel free to tune into our full length, unedited YouTube’s daily Monday to Saturday every single week.

@russellrescue_tn #dogsofinstagram #nashvilletn #dogtraining

Maisie’s owners gave me permission to upload this video because it was probably one of the fastest transitions from neurotic, reactive, distracted walking, to focused, attentive, low arousal walking.

This is just a warm up to remind the dog how we walk. I start by teaching them about the pressure they will *find* then the pressure I will *show* them myself.

It’s not fun or sexy but it’s also not miserable or painful. Structured walking is one of those things I like to get out of the way so that I can really get moving with the dog.

I think trainers make this take wayyyy too long, and the average client is not interested in taking 6 months to learn to loose leash walk.

This was our first session teaching this, and I always consider results temporary until the client can duplicate the competency and confidence of the skill. C&L both absolutely killed it.

This became the structure that we could then correct the reactivity from because before there wasn’t a “way” that the walk was supposed to go.

#walkthedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram

As I understand, the different drive states more deeply, I am made astonishingly aware of the continuum between relevance and arousal.

The four different drives that your dog oscillates between as part of human society are exploration, engagement, education, and existence.

Exploration is high arousal and low relevance.

Engagement is high arousal and high relevance.

Education is lower arousal and higher relevant.

Existence is low arousal and low relevance.

All four are extremely important! Make sure that these opportunities and inevitability exist for your dogs, assign a verbal value to when you are stepping into that drive state, and then just enjoy being with your dog!

#DogTraining #Holistic #LetDogsBeDogs

Controversial opinion: Using food in dog training is not always the best option if I want to know a dogs emotions, self image, or belief system.

But it can be a powerful motivator for blank slate puppies who have everything going for them.

Murphy is a 5 month Bernadoodle who has done two sessions with me. The most important part of puppy training is letting the owner see the dog responding to the communication system. It’s a lesson in who their dog is.

In this video, I was explaining how I play the reverse yo-yo game to teach the ”Place” behavior.

I think it’s important to note that you can teach this behavior really well using all kinds of methods. Later in the lesson we perfected the behavior with pressure, and proofed it with punishment.

So the answer to the question is when the dog loves doing it, unless the leash is attached. When I have the ability to use pressure, commands can be introduced alittle earlier. No sweat.

But word association super early in the process is an extension of a humans impatience to get the dog into their language too soon.

We use market or bridge words to build the behavior, treating the exercise like a game, showing them how to win.

Then once we’re seeing pretty great intensity, speed, and consistency of offering, we assign a prompt to it.

Play as a for of payment is also something we experimented with yesterday. Food is just easier to explain to a client sometimes. Very little of this is truly free-shaping although I do discuss it as such when I allow the dog to offer whatever they want. It’s just shaping.

#puppytraining #freeshaping #dogtraining

Veterinarians, “Behaviorists,” rescue groups, and Ignorant Dog Trainers are all guilty of it.

“Get them fixed,” they say. As if it’s the fix they want. There is a psyop in this phraseology that causes people to believe it’ll solve all their problems.

It won’t. Spaying and neutering often creates more. I wonder if we looked at the data if the massive pressure to spay and neuter made any overall impact in the underserved animal populations or animal welfare in the United States.

I think it’s worth looking into. But there’s another industry that was propped up by the messaging of the industry - veterinarians. I have watched the price of simple ass procedures nearly triple in the last ten years. Now we’re having to take out insurance on our pets?! Come on man.

When the pressure and the price for something go up at the same time, pretty good chance there’s something afoot.

#psyop #spayandneuter #intactinfact

Over the last couple years, I’ve seen the dog training community get real nasty, and I have chosen to stay out of the drama.

But the longer I avoid it, the louder the voices of falsehood get. And it’s not just from one side. It feels ubiquitous.

So I decided to make a video that would get people’s attention. Not like my usual videos where I barely edit them but something that may cause people to think a bit about their ideology.

The dogs in this video were found on a property in rural Tennessee where they were abused and neglected. They don’t seem to be held back by this at all. Ralphie and Faiths full consult is on YT uploaded yesterday.

Dogs are intelligent. Dogs are resilient. Dogs move on.

I will vehemently fight against claims of the opposite by continuing to post boring, music-less, un-voiced over videos of me avtually getting results by healing the dog.

Without guidance from @larrykrohn @xjayjackx13 @daytodaydogtraining @trainlikeivan @michael_ellis_school there are a lot of dogs who would be dead.

Time to kick some ass.

#dogtraining #nashvilletn #dogsofinstagram #rescuedogs

You can hear us in the background making excuses for why Ruger wasn’t playing tug.

Maybe he’s tired
He just got dewormed
It’s raining

Once we fixed the “picture” of what he was used to play looking like, we changed the technique from dead squirrel to live squirrel, and we stopped trying to get the toy back from him and instead celebrated possession, he played for five mins straight like a wild man.

Build drive, curiosity, frustration, possession, and cooperation, and you’ll get engagement and fulfillment like you’ve never seen before.

Someone amazing needs to adopt this Ruger Booger from @a.freedom.journey asap!

#malinois #offleash #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #nashvilletn

My beautiful 🤩 princess 👑queen 🌹 made me the most amazing “snack” tonight. I am so grateful for her insanely good judgment and sense of taste and style.

@traderjoes you knocked it out of the park with this Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce 🌶️ ! @coorsbanquet pairs really nicely!

#snack #girlfriend #dogtrainer

Otis the French bulldog is not an aggressive or reactive dog. Hes an insecure dog whose world was very small due to past behavior.

Home Depot trips are NOT the only engagement or kinds of walking this dog gets.

Lesson one was an evaluation to see what was up and to show his people he wasn’t really aggressive. Lesson two we taught the communication system and reintroduced Otis to the neighbor boy who he bit. Lesson three we introduced him to Mila and they had a blast -‘#. Lesson four we went to Shelby dog park (yep) and also let him observe the geese off leash for the first time in public. This video is most of lesson 5.

Since the FF / +R / Positive only community cannot seem to find my YouTube I’ll just post this video here.

I actually show all my work with my clients’ permission, so if you’re gonna come at me with “Poor Dog,” actually be willing to see what you’re criticizing.

At some point people start becoming a sheep / robot / parrot of an ideology instead of saying

1. Did it work?
2. Did it improve overall welfare?
3. Did the dogs emotional state improve?

There is another video of Otis at Shelby Park, and I’ll ask @amieledford if I can share. This is where we worked on the biological fulfillment side of things.

The bigger picture still involves much more freedom and play, and yes an occasional punishment. Because sane people know that fair, clear punishment creates clarity, trust, predictability, and freedom.

Stop listening to the liars who aren’t even dog trainers who won’t show their work or sometimes even their faces.

#frenchbulldog #offleash #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram nashvilletn

#frenchbulldog #offleash #dogtraining #nashville

Just wanted to take a moment to brag on these guys for trusting their dog, for giving him what he needed instead of what they thought he wanted, and for being willing to impart meaningful punishment when needed.

#frenchbulldog #offleash #ecollar #dogtraining #caninecoaching

I was out at the rescue sessioning with Big Biscuit, and Mandee introduced me to this sweetheart… She is available for adoption @a.freedom.journey #bordercollie #adoptme #dogsofinstagram

If there is anybody who is willing to literally foster this dog in a low stress environment to let this behavior, die off, I believe that it totally will, and he will be capable of going into a home, potentially with dogs, potentially with kids.

Canine rehab takes leaps faith sometimes. I have now done nearly 10 sessions with biscuit, and he’s doing incredibly well. (check out his YouTube video stack)

I don’t think that it’s gonna take this huge intervention of training to get him where he needs to be… Everybody in the rescue and training industry will say that this dog is dangerous, and ultimately that comes down to lack of experience and fear of liability… It’s a real thing! I get it… But behaviors that look like aggression or dominance sometimes die off when we stop giving life to them

Is there someone out there who’s willing to believe in biscuit?

#Foster @a.freedom.journey

I’ve been going back thru my video that I recorded for clients to pick out some helpful clips for the everyday dog owner.

Lucy is a dog that’s needed that aggressive side validated and accepted. It is insanely easy to get a result with food. But I want a cooperation level that’s way higher than that.

Play is not something that has to be taught to the dog. It’s something that has to be learned by the human. Become a student of your dog, not a dictator.

Connection will get you much further than control and compliance.

Learning so much about play from these people. Please study them!
@larrykrohn @nextleveldogs @daytodaydogtraining @trainingwithoutconflict

#playwithdogs #caninebehavior #dogtraining

Cleo & Kim are an unstoppable duo. I cannot tell you how proud I am of the confidence, the drive channeling, and the level of trust!

When I first met Kim in this exact spot, I was recalling Mila from even shorter distances, and Kim said “my dog could never do this.”

Well, ya just did my friend. Hell yeah. Not done. Just getting started. Doesn’t even know a single tool yet. But the emotional state is 🤩

#caninerehabilitation #dogtraining #offleash

Even on a dreary, rainy day biological fulfillment is necessary. What’s better than actually chasing an actual squirrel?🐿️

@a.freedom.journey #dogtraining #offleash #bullybreedsofinsta

It’s not hard. Just do things the same way each time and the dog will learn. Not complicated.

Right after our play session, we did some obedience work, which we RARELY do, but Mila stopped short because there was a little boy she wanted to say hello to.

She laid down as the little two or three years old reached out gently toward her. And she just raised her nose to his hand and let him just coexist for a second.

As I get older and realize that these moments are sacred and numbered, I started bawling my eyes out. Thank you to the momma with her kids who was so respectful.

Just a reminder the most memorable moments are not the ones you captured on video.

Can we please normalize using green spaces for our dogs for what they were intended for instead of a pretty picture?

Amelia was my first dog walking CLIENT, and I’ve never really offered the service before, but she got a lot out of it and we will definitely be doing more of these!

If you think that a 45 minute structured walk is for your dog, maybe it is, but is it more for you? I don’t hate walks. I actually think they’re super beneficial, but if it’s all structure all the time and there’s never any of this, your dog’s missing out, and so are You

#DogTraining #dogsofinstagram

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TRAINing dogs together

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