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Make Your Dog A Good 'Citizen Kanine'

(WCCO) Nine short leashes, two feet and 36 paws. Seeing Curtis Johnson and nine dogs on a walk is sight that always gets a passing comment around Lake Harriet.

This may be the most mellow dog trainer you've ever seen, and keeping cool is key to his philosophy.

While people get excited when they try to make a point, Curtis Johnson, owner of Citizen Kanine dog training, says do just the opposite with your dog.

"The way that we provide feedback is really not the 'Hey, good dog! This is great, this wonderful!'" said Johnson. "It's the calm tone of voice, reassuring the dog that that's nice behavior and trying to keep them calm, and doing the things that we want them to do,"

And the dogs do what he wants. Molly, an 11-year-old lab needed to break years of bad habits.

"She's a squirrel chaser, she thought her job was to chase squirrels," said Johnson.

His "clients" are a mixture of breeds and sizes:

Mulligan is an Australian Sheppard. Little Oliver is a pug and beagle mix, known as a puggle. Aila is a German short hair pointer. Boris is a one year old lab. Another lab is named Kokee. The big black 100 pounder is Rocco the Newfoundland.

For centuries, all of these dogs were bread to work. That's why Johnson said activity is critical for dogs.

"A lot of the behavior that people don't like is really a dog just trying to do a job. It's a dog that thinks it should be doing something, barking at the neighbors. They can be very anxious and that's because they think that's what they are supposed to do. Dogs love having something to do," he said.

Johnson said while dogs may communicate differently, they are very smart. That's why owners need to be consistent and persistent with training.

"From an owner perspective what I want people to do is really have high expectations for their dog's behavior. And to really expect good things," he said.

At Java Jacks coffee shop in southwest Minneapolis, where he meets several clients, his methods have made life better for many dog owners.

Elizabeth Erdahl owns Molly and Oliver, and says about Johnson, "He gave me confidence to be the one that's in control of the dog. Molly was in control of me and now I'm in control of the dog."

Johnson's goal is to get owners to have dogs that are good citizens, and that really has more to with us, not our best friends.

Boris' owner, a woman named Cuc, said, "It's not about training the dog, it's about training the owner basically ... I've been officially trained by Curtis."

Johnson said these are his main points for dog training through Citizen Kanine:

• Have high expectations
• Be persistent and consistent
• Exercise good leadership
• Be calm when your dog gets overly excited
• Encourage with positive feedback
• Challenge dogs both mentally and physically with exercise and activity
• Once a dog knows a command, like sit or down, use it only once
• Spend the time with the dog

 

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