I may be contacted for a particular issue and yet I propose exercises that are not directly related to it to begin with. Indeed, if I notice during the first meeting and/or afterwards that Doggy lacks certain skills to be able to properly implement desirable learning and that the undesirable behaviors disappear, I will then get down to making him acquire them.
For examples :
You call me to walk your dog without him pulling on the leash. During my assessment, we came to the conclusion that his main issue is not walking on a leash without pulling, but managing his emotions in reaction to certain stimuli. Depending on the stimuli in question, the training sessions may take place indoors (if the dog cannot stand being surprised, starting to associate his reactions with something unexpected indoors helps minimize the influence of other stimuli and that he also feels safe), outdoors at a certain distance (if the dog cannot tolerate bicycles, I will begin his training in a park where the distance will be reduced as his reactions progress, so that he can come across them without difficulty).
You are calling me so that your dog can stay alone without causing significant destruction and vocalization in your home. During my assessment, we came to the conclusion that his main issue is not destroying or barking, but feeling panicky as soon as he is alone. For me it is out of order to put him straight in a moment of solitude. We will establish learning steps so that he can relax as the separation gets closer.
Additional exercises
In several cases, I suggest exercises that do not seem related to the problem.
For examples :
I can suggest training Doggy to search for scents at the foot of trees or to play games like touching his human's hand, when I am called because he pulls on the leash ;
I can suggest training Doggy to relax, to settle down peacefully at home, to also get busy by himself autonomously even when his humans are there, when I am called because he panics during moments of solitude.
Get to the heart of the matter
If I put a dog who lacks the required skills directly into the environment where I know he is failing and into the circumstances that motivated his humans to contact me, then I am building a plan that is based on quicksand. I expose him and his home to uncertainty, to maintaining undesirable behaviors, or to having to disrupt them with no elegance.
Suppose I suggest you ski on a red slope, while you are still unsure as how to put your boots on the skis, will this be wise ?
Suppose I suggest you go sailing, even though you don't know how to swim. Potentially, this may not be a problem if you stay on the boat and are 200% sure you will stay there... In fact, starting by learning to swim can give you skills that will make your navigation more stress-free.
Furthermore, depending on the work to be considered, Doggy may exhibit undesirable behaviors because he is overwhelmed, both by sensory information (too many movements and/or sounds for him), by his emotions, and by those of humans. This state would make him incapable of serenely apprehending new learning, which he would be able to generalize and extrapolate.
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