A ZEN DOG HAS A ZEN OWNER!
Rather like learning to drive, a 60 minute lesson once a week is only the beginning when learning new and unfamiliar skills. What is needed to make those new skills 'stick' and become automatic is constant, consistent, practice.
The success of any dog's training will depend very largely on you, the human owner, to continue the process throughout the other 167 hours of the week! :o)
That is why Natalie will include the owner in most of the training sessions. . . which are designed as much to teach you the techniques of handling and communicating with your dog! Even people who have trained dogs in the past are surprised at how simple, effective and fulfilling Zen dog training can be, for animal and owner alike.
CALM & CONSISTENT
Let's extend the driving lesson analogy. Remember how repetitive (and consistent) the directions given by your driving instructor were; Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre. . . Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre. . . Clutch in, first gear, check your blindspot etc., every time, consistently.
Do you also remember how calm your instructor remained, despite your best efforts to kill them? Ask yourself this, had every error been met with a raised voice or cruel sarcasm, would you have looked forward to the next lesson? Regardless, you would have been a bag of nerves and learned nothing.
Now recall how chuffed you felt when the instructor said 'Well done, you managed that roundabout perfectly', 'Good use of the mirror' or 'Very well anticipated. . . do that in your test and you'll have no problems'.
That sums up the Zen method, and your role in its success, perfectly.