Our Positive Crossover Journey

I began my Dog Training journey back in the Year 2001. Both me and my lovely wife, Debra, have been attending to almost all the Dog Shows in Singapore. We were impressed and inspired by the TOP Dogs competitors who never stop stunning us with the highest level of Dog Obedience and Dog Agility. 

  

We went to the Best Corrective-Based Dog Trainer at the time, began our dog training, went through the CROSSOVER from Corrective-Based to Reward-Based and/or Positive Training Concept and I never looked back. 

  

Let's time-travel back to the Year 2001. That was the year we purchased our Border Collie, Max. We do have another Border Collie, Benji, whom we couldn't manage as we didn't conceive the thought of training him. 

  

Thank God, we decided to train Max when we received him at 3 months old. Max was a dramatic boy and one who loved to show off in the limelight.  We started training Max with a corrective-based trainer, the finest at the time, and there were also no positive dog trainers.  After completing my Basic Obedience Class, we rapidly advanced to the Intermediate Level; however, for whatever reason, I was not successful in advancing to the Open Level. At the same time, I was also involved in Singapore Kennel Club Obedience Competitions. I was introduced to e-collar to improve our prospects in the competition. 

  

I was so competitive that together with another doggy classmate, we issued the challenge to a new Positive Dog Trainer to compete with us in the ring. However, it did not materialize. 

  

I was lucky to be experiencing quite a success, finishing most competitions as first runner-up and runner-up. After earning my Novice Obedience Champion title, I continue to work diligently on training Max for the intermediate level, spending all my weeknights in training. I was so sold on Corrective-Based Techniques that I will not contemplate another technique.  I remembered a training session, where I saw two police officers seated in my training ground. I continued to train max for about 15-20 minutes and when I concluded, the police officers approached me and mentioned someone called the police to lodge a complaint about animal abuse. I was stunned. Max was such a drama dog that when I corrected him using the e-collar he would yelp in agony. The police officers told me as they personally saw my training, that there was no case pertaining to animal abuse and told me, the police would close the case. 

  

However, there was another training session, when I was just exercising max for a recall front. As he was sitting directly in front, I reached out to grab my phone to check my email, max was so scared that he urinated as he ran off. He thought I had reached out to my e-collar to shock him. At that moment, I was stunned and lamented how a training session was so harsh that my dog ran away in terror. At that moment, I decided to seek a more humane training technique. That began our quest for positive dog training. 

  

The Crossover Journey begins here. Thanks to many of our friends in the doggy community, we begin our online education, books, and overseas training visits to learn, validate, and explore new knowledge and skills. With the knowledge and technique, I have successfully crossover and there's no turning back. 

  

After effectively converting to positive dog training, I can see how happy and willing my canine training partners are. I am very grateful to Max for so many winning events and TOP the national competitions for six consecutive lines, you can see our winning in the About Us section.