When I first heard about virtual dog training, I thought it was a joke. I envisioned myself dangling a toy above my laptop like a portrait photographer at a mall, or chasing my dog around with my phone like a paparazzo as a trainer barked orders from the screen. 

I’ve been interested in doing some training with my dog Lola for a while. But dog training in person can be expensive and time consuming. Many trainers offered a lower cost for virtual sessions. So while I remained skeptical, I definitely liked the idea of saving time and money. Figuring there was nothing to lose, I decided to try it out. 

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Lola is typically friendly and social, but lately she has been possessive of tennis balls at the dog park. (She has been to the veterinarian, so it’s not because of some underlying medical issue.) I suspect it has something to do with the fact that my husband and I spoil her like crazy, and that we as dog parents might need to reassert some boundaries. 

A pointer mix, Lola loves fetch, making friends, and long walks on the beach. Her favorite foods are carrots and pizza crust and she dislikes vacuums and baths. Her aliases are Lolaplex, Lolibear, Lolita, Princess Whiskers, and others that are even more embarrassing if you can believe it.

Deciding that the kitchen was the ideal room for training, I pushed the table and chairs off to the corner, and positioned my laptop on the counter so the whole room was visible. With a full bag of training treats, we were ready. 

Who is training who?

"We train you to train your dog," said Michael Schaier, professional dog trainer and owner of Michael's Pack. The first lesson I learned is that dog training is actually training the owner regardless of whether the training is virtual or in-person. "That is dog training. That's always dog training."

Our attempt at introducing our dogs to each other. Credit: Mashable

With this revelation, the world of virtual dog training suddenly became feasible to me. Since dog training is really about human to human communication, why would a virtual class be any different? "The breadth and the scope of what you can do remotely is just remarkable," Schaier said.

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When the pandemic hit, Schaier thought his business was done. “There's no more dog training with what's going on in the world,” he recalls telling his wife. "Oh boy was I wrong. Like 180 degrees wrong," he said. To his relief, lots of people were getting dogs, and younger clients were more open to virtual training. Now, he can't keep up with the demand. Revenue is up 67 percent from last year, and last year was his best year. 

Granted, my training was just as important as Lola’s, but that’s not to say training me was a breeze. Schaier had Lola do some basic obedience work to get a sense of her baseline. Sit? No problem. Stay for 30 seconds? Nailed it. But when it came to lying down, she kept popping back up. 

“This is what remote training is all about. I need to coach you.” He explained to me how every time I lowered Lola into a down position, I had the treat in the same hand that I was using to signal the behavior. She wasn’t staying down because she wanted to keep the tantalizing treat in her sights. Smart girl.

Michael was able to observe how I worked with Lola.Credit: Mashable

Schaier was patient and clear. He told me to keep the treat in one hand and signal with the other. When I finally got Lola to stay in a down position while I backed away, I think it was more of a confidence boost for me than Lola. Especially since Schaier would agree with past teachers that following directions isn’t my strong suit.

Like I said, I was more thrilled than Lola at this point.Credit: Mashable

Feeling "empawered"

As proof that dogs have much in common with their owners, I too get easily distracted in strange new places. In the comfort of my home, however, I was able to give Schaier my undivided attention. "It makes it almost easier to train the owner remotely this way, because you're focused 100 percent on me," he said. 

And because I'm less distracted, so is Lola. "The dogs are getting full attention from their pet parent when they're in their most comfortable zone and space," said trainer Chloe Sternlicht in our next class. "We're able to sometimes work on more complicated behaviors in a virtual setting, because the dog is able to really focus."

Sternlicht is a professional dog trainer and pet services project manager at Petco. In response to the pandemic, it started offering virtual classes in June 2020. Since then, Petco has virtually trained around 8,300 dogs. 

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Not only does virtual training help with focus, it's a great solution for dogs who are anxious or shy. "They can come to a virtual session in the comfort of their own home, where it's quiet, where the dog can feel safe." And then work their way up to in-person, if that's the end goal. "I think they can work in tandem," said Sternlicht.

Sternlicht says what sets virtual training apart from in-person is the "hands-on element." It forces owners to take initiative in ways where they might not otherwise. "I can't reach through the screen and take a treat and place it to your dog's nose and lower them into a behavior," she said. "My pet parent has to do it."

With a new person in the room, Lola might have been distracted. But this way, she was focused on me. Credit: Mashable

After talking about the issues I wanted to work on, Sternlight had me teach Lola a redirecting behavior called “nose to hand touch” or “nose targeting.” It’s a useful skill that resets a dog’s system by having them touch their nose to your hand. After “loading a marker word” by saying the word yes and giving her a little treat 10 times, Lola was locked in and extremely curious to see where this was going. 

Next, I was instructed to rub treats all over my hand and hold it out to her about a foot away from her nose. She looked at me. She looked at my hand. She tilted her head, and raised her dangerously seductive eyebrows. Unyielding, I kept my open hand in front of her.

Desperate, she offered up her paw for a handshake — her crowd-pleaser move that usually plays big. I stayed firm.

Unsure of what to do, Lola goes for the tried-and-true handshake.Credit: Mashable

She began to think deeper. I could see the wrinkles form on her velvety forehead. Sternlicht told me to wiggle my fingers to entice her. Her nose twitched as she picked up the scent and she moved towards my hand. Then I felt her cold wet nose. “Yes!” I shouted and gave her a well-deserved treat.

After some deliberation, Lola decides to sniff my hand.Credit: Mashable

Without a trainer there in person, I felt a greater sense of responsibility. I realized that I had to observe Lola's behavior more closely, make note of what she was reacting to, what frustrated her, what she noticed, what she smelled. I had to tune into her thought process so I could make my next move.

The face of delighted shock when we got it right for the first time.Credit: Mashable

I'm no animal expert, but it makes me wonder if the training would have the same effect if Lola had learned it from a trainer first. As if the physical presence of a trainer would have somehow diluted our dynamic. Instead, we were learning together and bonding as a result.

At the start of every virtual session Sternlicht tells her clients, "Any success they see with their dog through this session is literally all them. I'm just walking them through it." When Lola and I successfully did the behavior Sternlicht was teaching us, I felt accomplished and empowered. "That is the magic of virtual training."

Animal instinct

As opposed to Schaier and Sternlicht who ventured into virtual training because of the pandemic, Roman Gottfried has been doing it since 2009. At the time, Gottfried was working all over the country helping people who foster or adopt rescues. He needed a way to cut down on travel time and expenses, so he started doing online consultations.

Gottfried discovered that there were real benefits to virtual training. He describes rescue dogs as a black box because we don't know their history or background. So for him, a stranger, to enter a dog's space could be traumatizing for the dog, or dangerous for him. On top of that, Gottfried believes that the foundation of any training is a strong bond between dog and owner, and his presence might take away from that. In other words, "Why do I need to be at your house to walk you through the process? Because it's not really hands-on work. It's about you and your dog's relationship."

During our live session, Gottfried showed me training videos and drew on them like a coach going over a play.Credit: Mashable

When the pandemic hit and everyone started adopting dogs, Gottfried correctly predicted that there would be a surge in behavioral issues. "There was no vetting in place. You couldn't do home visits." So he decided to focus specifically on working with dogs that people wanted to surrender to shelters.

At this point, you might be wondering how virtual training could ever work for dogs with deep-seated behavioral issues. Sure, basic obedience and skills training, but what about aggression and trauma? How could someone possibly understand and treat this over video chat?

Gottfried says a common misconception is that a trainer needs to see the dog behaving badly in person to fully understand. But through clues like the owner’s tone of voice and body language and the dog's signals and responses, he can quickly assess what’s going on. 

He told me a story about a client who came to him because her Cocker Spaniel was peeing on her son’s bed. Sensing that something didn’t add up, Gottfried asked the client’s child about it. Then he asked the client about any recent changes or disruptions. Eventually he figured out that it was the child who was wetting the bed because the parents had been fighting lately. To protect the child, the Cocker Spaniel would jump on the bed and cover up the pee stain. This only took one session. 

“You need to look into the family system without judging it, without saying what happened. Just tapping into that and seeing what the dog sees from their perspective.”

Basically, after 12 years of virtual training, Gottfried has seen it all. "Everyone thinks that their case is unique or the worst ever." That being said, he understands how emotional and intense it can be, and that it's always unique to the dog and human who are experiencing it. And that's the key to doing this work. "You need to be intuitive, and you have to be an empath." 

Over time, he has learned to do all of this over Zoom. Actually, he says, not being there in person helps him focus and avoid distraction. Otherwise, "I would be busy looking at the house, looking at the dog, looking at these people's voices and not being able to tap into it in my safe space."

Now that we know what's possible, Gottfried says he doesn't see virtual dog training as a passing trend. For Schaier, he still has clients that say there's nothing like having a trainer there in person. "The end goal," he says, "would be to see this online, and for my business to just continue to grow and grow and grow."

Just taking a break before we commence our training again. Credit: Mashable

After three Zoom sessions, three trainers, and many treats, I feel confident and determined to work on what we learned. Since keeping up with our training, Lola has gotten better at her basic commands, and almost immediately touches her nose to my hand when I hold it out. Even in the short time Gottfried and I had to talk about Lola, it was enough to connect some of her behaviors to the fact that she was separated from her mother and dropped off outside of a shelter. (Stay tuned for the follow-up to this story:Does my dog need therapy?) In the meantime we’ll keep training each other.

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