Instinctive Obedience®
What do we mean by Instinctive Obedience®?
All dogs know how to sit, how to stay, how to lay down, and recognize the essence of displeasure. All dogs know how to smell and distinguish between different smells. They know these things Instinctively; they were born knowing these things. They begin to understand how to stop undesired behaviors from the very first time their mother begins to wean them.
We teach dogs to do these tasks – sit, stay, down, heel, smells – when we want them to do so. We are simply and EFFECTIVELY harnessing what dogs already know instinctively and making them commands. Dogs know how to smell and find things; they know how to guard, how to protect, and how to play. We give them structure and boundaries regarding how and when we want them to do these things. We must remember that we are in charge at all times. Dogs own nothing and have no control over us that we do not give them.
Dogs also have an instinct to be obedient. In wild dog packs, each dog has a job, or a role assigned to them. When a dog pack hunts, they do not simply chase their prey. Some dogs are posted strategically for ambush, others drive prey towards the ambush. If any dog fails in his posting or driving duties, they might be corrected – or they might be forced out of the pack, or even descended upon and eaten as food if the pack is hungry enough. Therefore, dogs have naturally evolved towards having a strong leader. All training works off dog’s instinct, whether we realize it or not.
Instinctive Obedience® is encouraging the behaviors we like and discouraging those behaviors we do not like in a healthy and safe manner for both humans and dogs.
Instinctive Obedience® comes from the basic commonalities of each and every training style the Hult family have experienced. They recognize the different strong points and weak points. Donnie Hult Jr., along with his father, developed a system to put the best of these points into use for everyday people in everyday life. This system is quite flexible – it works with anyone using electronic collars, pinch collars, clicker training, treat training – the things that come with Instinctive Obedience® fits into and enhances all of those.
What IS Instinctive Obedience® ?
Instinctive Obedience® is the dynamic, effective, and simple training system developed by Donnie Hult from decades of experience training police, military K9s, Search and Rescue dogs, Service dogs, as well as thousands of family pets and their owners. Donnie Hult, Jr. has been training dogs, dog trainers, and people trainers over 45 years. With his wealth of knowledge and connection to the animals he trains, Donnie can define exactly why a dog follows your lead or does not.
It is a method of modifying a dog’s behavior through encouraging desired instinctive behaviors and suppressing unwanted behaviors in a safe and healthy manner. Instinctive Obedience® requires consistent observation and interaction with the animal being trained. More importantly, the people around the dog, and the handlers specifically, must learn to lead so the dog follows.
There is a very subtle relationship between an owner and the dog. It is unspoken. Most people are aware of it to some degree when they “know” what a dog needs, whether it is food, to go outside to relieve itself, or to play. That instinct extends to very complex commands and situations. Owners and handlers just need to become more aware of their dog’s personality and how they will react to the owners’ body language and spoken word. In this way the dog becomes an extension of the owner and will react as desired. It is the MOST natural way that dogs and people interact.