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The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
Quick, practical dog training tips in under 5 minutes—because training your dog shouldn’t take all day.
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The 5 Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
#143 Management Always Fails
Ever had that heart-stopping moment when your dog slipped through an open gate? You're not alone. Management tools—gates, crates, leashes, fences—are essential safeguards for our dogs, but they share one critical flaw: they eventually fail.
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Let's talk about management In dog training. Management refers to setting up the environment to prevent unwanted behaviors before they happen. Gates, crates, leashes, fences, closed doors all of those are considered management. And let me start by saying management is good, it's smart, it can help keep our dogs safe, it can prevent problems and it can give us some peace of mind. But here's the truth, and no one really likes to admit this. But management always fails. Not, maybe, not, it could, not, it might.
Speaker 1:Management will fail If your dog lives with you for 5, 10, sometimes 15 years. You will at some point forget to latch the gate. Someone will leave a door open, a kid will drop the leash, something will break or go wrong, because life is messy and we're human. So, yes, absolutely use management, but don't depend on it as your only plan. Management should be our plan B. Plan A is pairing management with solid training.
Speaker 1:Teach your dog recall cues like an emergency recall. If the door flies open, can your dog turn on a dime and come back to you? If not, that's a training priority. And come back to you If not, that's a training priority. I actually have a short online course that teaches step-by-step how to build a rock-solid emergency recall. It's simple, effective and could literally save your dog's life. I'll link it in the show notes if you want to check it out, but same goes for Leave it.
Speaker 1:If your dog sees a dropped ball or a squirrel or someone's sandwich at the park, will they stop and disengage when you ask? That's not about control, it's about safety. And finally, invest time in desensitization and counter conditioning. If your dog is reactive to strangers or nervous around other dogs, don't just avoid those triggers forever behind a closed door. Start teaching your dog how to handle those situations in small, safe doses, because if management fails and it will you'll want to know that your dog has the skills to cope. So, yes, use management, use it wisely, but back it up with training, because when that day comes and your dog slips through that open gate, you'll be really glad you did.