Relationship-based Training

Relationship Dog Trainers focus their training on the positive relationship between the handler and the dog. They teach specific body language interpretations so that people can learn to understand the various emotional states of their dogs in any given moment. Aversive techniques are not typically used, reaching, instead, for ways to better communicate with dogs, grasping their wants and desires. Trainers using this dog training style honor a dog's state of mind and work with a dog to overcome any obstacles or barriers that might be in the way of the dog's compliance. Instead of demanding a dog to comply, relationship based dog trainers will teach various tasks in an underlying effort to have a positive relationship with their dog based on a mutual understanding of balance and trust.

Suzanne Clothier is one of the world's premiere relationship based dog trainers and her book entitled "Bones Would Rain From the Sky: Deepening Our Relationship with Dogs", Suzanne highlights several dog training experiences in which seeking to understand the dog's motivation of its bad behavior completely changed the way the owner responded to the dog. Her book is full of beautifully touching stories that bring the relationship between dogs and humans to a deeper level.