Southend dog training?

[igglu]

I have a thirteen week old poodle cross and am bamboozled by all the different training methods. I've got her to sit, lie down and wait (to a degree) but need to up the game now for walks, toilet training, which is still hit or miss, amongst everything else.

I'd seen recommendations online for Southend dog training and have watched a few videos, but am not sure if I should follow those methods. He does seem to get results but recommends a slip collar and i don't know if they're a good idea, she's only little and it feels a bit harsh. On the other hand she is getting a bit reactive when I try to take things off her sometimes so I do really need a method that will work.

Does anyone have any experience with the Southend methods or can suggest an alternative? Tia

he seems very aggressive

not for us. I like zak george and a few others on youtube

Would not touch with a barge pole. He has had lots of run ins on social media and is not afraid to be aggressive in response.

He approves prong collars etc and aversive training. Just look at the facebook page. Many of the videos have corrections that are just not necessary he even says himself this will upset some people.......

He's a typical bully who has a big dog and feels the need to dominate it, which is ridiculous. He seems to take pleasure in causing controversy and upsetting people and can't tolerate people disagreeing with his methods. He doesn't appear to have any qualifications to train dogs as far as I can see. That old fashioned style of training appears to get quick results but can cause more issues and certainly isnt necessary for a puppy. Try looking into reward based training instead and if you need a trainer then look for one who uses up to date methods who also undergoes continuous development themselves.

Kikopup on YouTube has an incredible resource of videos including a playlist for new puppies if you want to learn more

I have watched a few of the videos and my take on it is this.
The basics that are promoted such as the art of attention ie getting good engagement from your dog, using markers such as duration etc, working hard on the basics such as lead walking are really useful. Conceptually I think these are important things to do with your dog.
Then it goes up a level and it appears he has done lots of work with reactive and dogs with issues and advocates other methods like prong collars etc.
The basics are really useful but the next level stuff is too much for me personally. I cannot see a time that I would feel happy using any of that.
However, I like that they advocate for making sure you have good recall and not to just shout out, my dog is friendly whilst it runs up to a reactive dog on lead.
I think it is a bit like when you have a child and there is so much advice it gets overwhelming and you have to do what works for you. I am taking our dog gundog training and the principles are similar on the basic level but I find the SDT training video basics useful inbetween. But that is as far as I would take it and i look at kikopup and zac George too depending what I am looking to do at a particular time
Hope that helps

Can I just add i definitely don't and wouldn't use a slip lead so I think as with anything you use the bits that work for you and not the other parts.

Thanks everyone. I've had a look at prong collars and they look horrific, so I definitely won't be going down that route.

I think I will try some of the basics as Riverhouse suggests but I can't ever see that I'll need to use some of the other methods.

It's so tricky knowing what's best for your dog, I want her to be a well trained, lovely dog, but not using methods that would cause her discomfort or pain. She can be a stubborn little so and so though!

You want a behaviourist/trainer that only uses positive methods - no slip leads or prong collars or aversive methods like water bottles, shaking stones, noise aversion etc.

Have a look at the Facebook Page "Dog Training Advice and Support" - they're very much an advocate of positive training methods and they have lots of files for basics like toilet training, walking to heel etc.