By Lee Seibold, Owner of Lee’s Dog Training

When searching for a dog trainer, it’s important to understand the techniques that dominate the industry today. Most trainers—99% of them—rely on one or more of 10 core methods. These techniques are popular, but they’re also deeply flawed. If 99% of trainers are using these methods and they don’t really work, it’s no wonder so many people struggle to see lasting results with their dogs. This is exactly why you should hire me—because I don’t rely on the same ineffective methods, and I deliver real, lasting results. Let’s break these methods down.

1. Treat Training: Bribery Over Real Training

Treat training is the go-to method for many trainers. It feels great to reward your dog with a treat, and it’s an easy sell for trainers—it’s all positive reinforcement, and who’s going to complain about giving their dog treats?

The problem? Treat training is unreliable. Dogs quickly learn to only behave when they know a treat is coming. In real-world situations with distractions, treats lose their appeal. Owners who rely on this method often find themselves frustrated, stuck in a cycle of carrying treats everywhere or struggling when their dog chooses to ignore them.

2. Redirection Training: A Weak Fix

Redirection is a method where trainers show the dog what they should do instead of what they’re doing wrong. For example, if your dog chews your shoes, you take the shoes away and hand them a bone instead.

While this sounds logical, it’s often ineffective. If the dog finds the shoes more satisfying than the bone, they’ll return to them as soon as you’re not looking. This technique rarely addresses the root cause of the behavior and often leads to frustration for the owner.

What usually happens next? The owner becomes fed up with redirection not working and decides to remove the shoes altogether. This isn’t redirection anymore—it’s life avoidance, another flawed technique I discuss in section 4. Instead of solving the problem, the owner ends up tiptoeing around the dog’s behavior, leaving the underlying issue unresolved.

3. Misdirection: Distraction Over Discipline

Misdirection involves distracting your dog when they engage in undesirable behavior. For instance, if your dog chases squirrels, a trainer might tell you to change direction, block their view, or act hyper to get their attention.

While it may work momentarily, it doesn’t change the dog’s underlying behavior. The next time a squirrel appears, the dog will revert to chasing. Misdirection is a superficial fix that offers no long-term solution.

4. Life Avoidance Training: Dodging Problems, Not Solving Them

Life avoidance, also called “management techniques,” is about avoiding situations where your dog struggles. If your dog doesn’t like kids, you avoid kids. If they guard bones, you don’t give them bones.

This approach isn’t training—it’s a way of tiptoeing around your dog’s issues. Dogs trained this way never learn how to handle the real world. Instead, they remain unprepared and unpredictable in challenging situations.

5. Socialization/Desensitization Training: Misguided Exposure

This method assumes that exposing a dog to what they fear or dislike will eventually help them overcome it. If a dog is scared of children, for example, a trainer might recommend gradually increasing their exposure to kids.

Here’s the truth: this rarely works. Dogs are sentient beings with emotions and choices. Exposure alone doesn’t change a dog’s behavior—real training does. Without the right guidance, socialization and desensitization fail more often than they succeed.

6. Medication: Masking Symptoms, Not Solving Problems

When faced with aggressive or anxious dogs, many veterinarians recommend medication as a first step. While medication can help manage symptoms, it doesn’t address the underlying cause of the behavior. Imagine taking painkillers for a broken leg without fixing the fracture. Medication may provide temporary relief, but it won’t solve the real issue.

Even when medicated, aggression—whether it’s dog aggression, people aggression, or aggression of any kind—rarely resolves. Medication often serves as a crutch to mask the problem, but it doesn’t teach the dog how to behave differently or eliminate the underlying issues driving the aggression.

7. “Positive Only” Training: All Sunshine, No Accountability

Positive-only training avoids all forms of correction, focusing exclusively on praise and rewards. While it sounds appealing, this approach often creates spoiled, demanding dogs who lack respect for their owners.

Think of a rebellious teenager who’s never been disciplined a day in their life. They’ve only ever been told how amazing they are, given whatever they want, and shielded from consequences. What happens when they face real-world challenges or don’t get their way? They throw tantrums, act out, and struggle to respect authority because they’ve never learned accountability.

Dogs develop in much the same way. A dog raised with positive-only training becomes overindulged, lacking boundaries and structure. They often develop demanding, entitled, or even aggressive behaviors because they’ve never been held accountable. The parallels between spoiled teenagers and spoiled dogs are striking—both grow up feeling empowered to push boundaries, knowing there are no real consequences for their actions. Without correction, both end up difficult to manage and often create stress for those around them.

8. “Balanced” Training: A Misleading Label

Many trainers market themselves as “balanced” to appear rational and fair. In reality, balanced training often leans heavily on ineffective positive-only techniques, with minor corrections like timeouts, air horns, or sonic sound machines that fail to make a lasting impact.

This label is more about marketing than results.

9. Heavy-Handed Training: Results Through Excessive Consequences

Some trainers go to the opposite extreme, using heavy-handed techniques to force compliance. While dogs trained this way often love their handlers, their behavior is driven by the fear of heavy consequences for being wrong, rather than a genuine understanding of what’s right.

Heavy-handed training prioritizes results over a balanced relationship. Dogs may perform flawlessly because the stakes are so high, but this method risks creating a dog that operates out of compulsion rather than confidence. It can also suppress natural behaviors and lead to a dog that is less joyful and less eager to engage with their environment.

10. Odd Training Approaches: Beware the Gimmicks

Every now and then, I hear about trainers using bizarre techniques. One client told me about a trainer who placed her aggressive Rottweiler in a basement with a spotlight on a doll, encouraging the dog to “let out” its aggression. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.

Another example I’ve encountered is a trainer who told a client to tie helium balloons to their dog’s harness so the dog would feel “lighter and happier” while walking. Not only did this fail to address the dog’s behavior issues, but it also made the dog anxious and confused by the strange sensation.

If a method sounds strange or unscientific, it’s probably not effective.

Why Lee’s Dog Training Is Different

At Lee’s Dog Training, I don’t use any of these 10 methods. Instead, I combine common sense, proven science, and naturalistic techniques to create lasting behavior change. My methods are straightforward, effective, and humane, ensuring your dog respects you without relying on treats, avoidance, or heavy-handed tactics.

One question I often get is, “What exactly are your techniques?” While my methods are consistent across every dog I train, they’re applied in slightly different ways depending on the individual dog’s personality, behavior, and needs. Training isn’t a one-size-fits-all process—it’s a system that’s adaptable but rooted in the same proven fundamentals. This is why it’s extremely helpful to hire me as the expert to guide you through these little nuances of the system.

That said, I genuinely want to help. If you hire me, I’ll walk you through the process step by step. Together, we’ll implement the techniques that work best for your dog while staying true to the reliable methods I’ve perfected over years of experience.

The truth is, a well-trained dog needs both love and accountability. My approach focuses on building respect while fostering a strong bond between you and your dog. With nearly 100 five-star reviews on Google and Thumbtack, my results speak for themselves. When you work with me, you’ll get faster, more reliable results at a lower cost—and a happier, more confident dog.

Ready to experience the difference? Let’s get started!

Ready to see real change in your dog’s behavior? Book a consultation or sign up for our specialized training services and experience the difference that Lee’s proven methods can make. Achieve outstanding results faster than you ever thought possible.