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Preface

About BKLN MannersTM

As a dog trainer in Brooklyn, New York, I’ve learned that diversity is not limited to people. The dogs I work with every day run the gamut: snorting French Bulldogs, athletic Border Collies, rescue dogs from nearly every continent, designer dogs like Maltipoos to Puggles, blind and deaf dogs, and the list goes on. While these dogs may appear quite different, there is a common theme among them. When their owners contact me for help, nearly every request emphasizes the word stop. “Max needs to stop pulling.” “I want Molly to stop eating garbage on the street.” “I wish Sam would stop barking at noises in my building’s hallway.” And, being an urban dweller, I understand these very normal human concerns. None of us wants to get complaints because the dog’s barking has been waking up the neighbors, and you can extract a half-eaten bagel from your dog’s slimy jaws only so many times before losing it.

Prior to becoming a trainer, I was that exasperated owner bemoaning my dog’s out-of-control barking and embarrassing leash-walking habits. My dog Batman, a then-young Chihuahua mix, had the typical vociferous Chihuahua reaction whenever our doorbell (or even the neighbor’s) rang, and he spent most of our walks practicing for the Iditarod, doing his best to drag me down the street. I tried using the methods of training I’d grown up with, which emphasized being a confident leader to my dog and “correcting” him when necessary. However, I wasn’t actually feeling self-assured in my leadership abilities, and both my dog and I became confused and frustrated, eventually giving up on training because it seemed that only certain people had the necessary character to handle a dog properly—and I wasn’t one of them.

Daily walks had become so full of miserable leash corrections that the mere sight of the leash sent my poor pup into hiding under the bed. I felt terrible. It wasn’t until I took a leash manners class with Sarah Westcott, founder of Doggie Academy, that I realized I could replace Batman’s rude behaviors with polite ones without using punishment. I remember the fourth and final class, during which the dog-and-handler duos walked around a city block full of the usual obstacles: bags of garbage awaiting pickup, discarded pizza crusts, workmen smoking on their breaks, kids whizzing by on scooters. The entire time, Batman only had eyes for me. There were no leash corrections, no harsh words, but rather the occasional treat for polite walking and gentle cues to tell my dog to leave those obstacles alone. Even better than the loose leash walking itself was the new appreciation I had for my dog. We were communicating and walking together as a team rather than fighting each other. Those four classes changed everything.

Shortly thereafter, I pursued a career in dog training with Sarah as my mentor, and together we’ve worked to adapt tried-and-true positive training techniques to the unique needs of our busy urban clientele. So as you leave your apartment, cringing because your dog is howling like a maniac, or as you get dragged from one shrub to the next on your walks, remember that I was once there, too. And now I’m here to help.

Many dogs have learned basic obedience but still have trouble in their daily lives with barking at noises, jumping on people, walking on leash, and engaging in naughty behavior when left alone. Learning the basics is useless if you can’t apply those skills to real-life situations, so I developed a group class at the Brooklyn Dog Training Center called BKLN Manners™ in 2016. As both a class and a book, BKLN Manners™ aims to teach you a few simple behaviors and give you the tools to practice them methodically so that ultimately your dog will be able to remain calm and polite even when faced with the perpetual distractions our urban environment throws at us. With consistency and practice, it’s possible that your dog can greet strangers without jumping into their arms, walk through a crowded farmers’ market on a loose leash, or accompany you to an outdoor café without stealing anyone’s sandwich.