Episode #254 Remote Puppy Training, Real Results

In this episode of the BAXTER & Bella Puppy Training Podcast, we dive into the rapidly growing world of virtual and remote puppy training. With more families seeking flexible, accessible ways to raise well-behaved dogs, online training has become a major part of the industry — and it’s here to stay.

Amy breaks down what has changed, why virtual training works so well, and how handlers can adapt to make the most of remote sessions. She shares tips for keeping puppies engaged, avoiding common pitfalls, using the right tools, and balancing online learning with in-person support.

You’ll also hear how remote training aligns with BAXTER & Bella’s philosophy of relationship-first, stress-free, and practical training — empowering families to raise confident, happy puppies right in their own homes.

Whether you’re new to puppies or exploring virtual training for the first time, this episode gives you the strategies and confidence to make online training effective, fun, and lasting. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Remote Puppy Training
• 1:32 What Changed And Why It Works
• 3:35 Benefits Of Training At Home
• 6:15 Common Pitfalls And Fixes
• 9:05 Tools For Smooth Virtual Sessions
• 12:10 Blending Remote And In‑Person Work

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

When we created our company, we designed it to be an online interface where we could help clients around the world train their dogs from home. Many people thought we were crazy, but then COVID hit and everyone jumped on board. So today we're talking about virtual and remote puppy training. What has changed and what works? Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast. I'm Amy Jensen, founder of Baxter and Fella, the online puppy school. Here we are all about helping you create the best possible experience raising a puppy. From training tips to practical tricks, all aimed at fostering a happy, well-behaved dog who truly feels like part of the family. So if you are ready to enjoy the journey and strengthen the bond with your dog, let's get started. Hello everybody, welcome back to the puppy training podcast. I'm your host, Amy, and today we are diving into a topic that has grown massively over the last few years and continues to reshape the way families raise and train their dogs. We're talking about virtual and remote puppy training. In recent years, virtual training has absolutely exploded as more families are looking for flexible, more accessible ways to raise well-behaved dogs. And you know what? A lot of really good things have come out of it. So today let's talk about what has changed in the world of puppy training, why remote options work really well, common pitfalls and how to avoid them, tools that make online training smooth and successful, and how to make your virtual sessions engaging for both you and your puppy. So let's jump in. Now, what has changed in puppy training? Virtual training didn't just become more popular, it became more normalized. A few years ago, most people imagined dog training as I take my dog into an in-person class in a loud gym with lots of puppies bouncing around. And while those classes still exist and they can be great, especially for socialization, remote training has opened the door to something new. So let's say you're a family that lives in a rural area or maybe an underserved area where you don't have a lot of access to trainers, virtually gives you the option now to access expert trainers. Maybe you're a busy household and you can finally get help during nap time after work or between carpoils. Imagine being able to train your puppy while your kids are napping, right? Now puppies learn better in familiar environments. So an at-home environment is a less stressful place for your puppy to be. And as such, it'll allow faster progress. And maybe the biggest shift is people have become active participants instead of spectators. You can get on our program at any time of the day, watch a class, view a course, you can participate in Q ⁇ A's, you can send emails to us, you can read material, watch material. You get to decide what you do and when, and we're here to help you. Now, when training happens at home, you do the work, which means your puppy is listening to you instead of relying on a trainer's presence, which is nice. It's good that you can get the results that you're seeing us get as well. Now, remote training has made dog training more flexible, more individualized, and more family-centered than ever before, which we love. Now, why virtual training works? Sometimes it even works better, right? We've learned that puppies don't need a trainer's hands on them. Like I don't need to be able to come to your house and touch your puppy. They do need a trainer's guidance and a human that they trust, which is you. So it works out really well. If I can teach you to do what I do, then your puppy's going to give you that same response that they would give me. So here's why virtual training is highly effective. Number one, you're practicing in your puppy's real environment, as I mentioned earlier. Whether the issue is countersurfing, crate time, jumping, barking, remote sessions let us troubleshoot exactly where it happens. So I can see you via video and watch what your puppy's doing. And if you can't catch it in the moment, you can send me a video before we talk and I can watch them. And then we can discuss and actually set up a little session on camera where you're practicing with your front door. That's super nice. Number two, puppies stay calmer and are more focused at home. There's no overstimulation from new people or loud, echoey rooms, or 10 other puppies that are running around. So they tend to learn faster. Now, that said, it is good to take them to a class in person so that they can meet new people. They can meet other puppies who are also learning and be socialized to some loud, echoey rooms. But for the training purposes and practicing purposes, it is nice doing it in a quieter, more calm environment. Number three is you build independent skills right away. Virtual setups help puppies learn to settle, they can engage, and they work with fewer distractions, which pays off in the long run. Now, people also become more confident. So this is you. Instead of watching a trainer trainer demo everything in class, you are learning how to shape the behavior, mark the timing, and build skills in real time. And again, that nice thing is we can watch you practice that. We can watch you actually doing it with your puppy just like we would if we were in person, and we can coach you on your timing as needed. Number five is consistency skyrockets. When training is convenient, families tend to practice more and progress follows. Next, let's talk about common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Just like with anything else, remote training comes with challenges. Here are the top pitfalls and easy solutions. Number one, trying to train in a chaotic environment. When everyone is cooking dinner or the kids are playing, it's too much for your young dog. Let's choose instead a quiet, contained space with limited distractions. I have a room down in my basement that is pretty quiet. There's um is puppy-proofed. It's a great space. So try to find a space that has fewer distractions. Pitfall number two would be not having training supplies ready so that your session is going to go smoother when you're prepared. That means have the food rewards ready, a harness or leash nearby, some toys, and a marker, which we just use a verbal marker, yes. So that one should always be with you. But I know some people like to use an actual clicker, and that's great too. But have all of that gathered together and ready before your call. Pitfall number three would be going too long. Puppies have short attention spans. So sometimes we tend to push, push, push, push, push and make those training sessions just a little too long for them. Keep them short and fun. Keep them engaging and exciting and guessing. Um, but don't go over time. Five minutes at a time is perfect or less. Three to five minutes. That's great. Pitfall number four would be expecting our dogs to be perfect. You guys, they're not robots. You'll hear me say that a lot. Dogs are not robots, they are living, breathing creatures with their own minds and brains and personalities, which we love. So remember that virtual training requires patience. Any kind of training requires patience for you and your puppy. Celebrate the small wins, and progress will come little by little. Now, your dog's never going to be perfect. I'm not perfect, you're not perfect. I don't expect your dog to be perfect, but they can definitely learn and make progress. Okay, so next let's talk about tools that might make your remote training easier. Okay, you don't need to be fancy with tech. Here's what we recommend. You just need either a phone, a tablet of some sort, or a laptop with a stable camera. Okay, you don't have to go buy a fancy camera, it can just be your device's camera. A tripod is super helpful if you're going to use a phone you can, or a prop-up stand, whatever you want to use, but a tripod I find that you can just attach your phone to, set it up, and then we can see you and your room really well so that your hands are free. Another option would be some uh Bluetooth earbuds or headphones. It's just helpful so your dog doesn't hear my voice as an extra cue. Only you are hearing what I'm saying to you. Uh having a treat pouch for fast rewards, maybe a long line if we're going to do some recall sessions. Maybe we even head outside and do some training out there. Just take that tripod and phone with you. Baby gates or play pens are really helpful for easy management. I'm a big fan of play pens. Just having a little area to put your puppy if you need to go grab something or you can't wash them 100% of the time, or maybe you need to open that up and gate off a section of your room. Uh, play pens are super helpful. And then just your verbal marker, like, yes. Now, of course, access to a structured curriculum, video demonstrations, step-by-step guides, all things we provide here at Baxter Umbella will be helpful in making your training successful. Next, let's talk about balancing in person and remote training, right? The truth is you don't have to choose one or the other. You can do both. Remote training works really well for teaching foundation skills. Okay, all of that basic training, puppy kindergarten stuff, we teach you everything you need to know. It's useful for crate training, problem solving, house training, uh, teaching basic leash manners. We start leashwalking inside your home in a one-room area. So it's perfect for that kind of thing. Puppy biting, jumping, engaging with other people, any kind of reactivity prevention. We have a class on reactivity that we can coach you on virtually. We talk about cooperative care. So if your dog doesn't like nail trims or they're nervous at the vet's office or the groomers and you need to build some confidence, we have a four-week course on that. Um, and then trick training. We do fun things too. So if you have kids, we have a junior training program, we have a just for fun section where they can just learn tricks. And kids tend to love that. Now, in-person support is helpful as well. And you'll hear us sometimes say, hey, now that your dog knows all the basics and you've worked on the intermediate skills, go find a class in your area, right? This is great for highly reactive dogs that maybe need to go out in the environment and work on seeing other dogs. Now, we teach you how to do that carefully and we structure that because we're not just going to go right up to another dog immediately if you have a reactive dog, but we walk you through that process. And then you do need to go out into the world and practice. So signing up for a class in your area would allow you to be in the presence of other dogs. Um, if you have severe aggression cases, that's something that we don't handle online. We can coach you about it, but we really suggest you get some in-person help if you have a dog that is showing um true aggression. So if your dog has a bite history or there's a case where they have bitten someone, we will refer you and we can help you find a highly qualified in-person trainer that lives close to you. Uh, specialized sports. So again, once your dog has the foundations, go out and get involved in an agility course if that suits your dog, or some scent courses where they get to go out and track things. There's so many dog sports out there that you guys can get involved with and do together to build your bond and have fun living your life together. So, all of those are great reasons to go find some in-person help. And again, we can refer you to people or trainers that we are aware of in your local areas if you reach out to us. So, most families we find benefit from a blend. Start online where puppies learn best and then add in person practice as needed, or once the foundations are strong. Now, making virtual sessions engaging for your puppy is not hard. A successful online session is less about the screen and it's really more about you. So here's how to help your puppy stay focused and excited. We're going to use uh food rewards in our training. And we like to use a hierarchy of food food rewards, meaning their dog food or their kibble is gonna be kind of at the lower end of what they're interested in working for, depending on your dog's breed. We work with a lot of doodles, and a lot of doodles, the kibble's not gonna cut it for most things, right? But we start there. Maybe we try like a basic Cheerio. If that doodle's not gonna work for a piece of kibble, most will work for a Cheerio. Even half a Cheerio, right? And then we build up to higher value rewards like a piece of chicken or steak or um a little bit of peanut butter or some cheese. So we're limiting obviously the dairy, but some is fine. And your dogs love it. So if I am working on something that's an expensive behavior, like a recall, or I have guests coming over and my dog has a hard time greeting guests properly, or uh maybe they see other people on leash, or not unleash, I guess their dogs on leash or their reactivity issues. We might use higher value rewards to get us through some of that training. So have a hierarchy of things available. I use a lot of like diced up carrots, diced up apples in that mix as well. So number two would be keep sessions upbeat and short, like we talked about. We want your dog thinking, this is so fun. I don't know what's coming next, and I can't wait to see, right? We want them to enjoy working with you. So we use positive reinforcement because that motivates our dogs to want to keep working with us. Number three is incorporate play. We use a lot of play in our training. If I can make it a game, we make it a game. They're fun to play. I love it, my dog loves it. It's way more fun than just doing a boring drill, right? So tug, fetch, chase games, hide and go seek, these maintain energy and engagement. Number four is to switch between training and movement. So we follow sit and stay trainings by recall training so that your dog is sitting still, but then they get to get up and move around. And we'll kind of go back and forth between those. We also do what's called a recess. So if we've been working for a minute or two, then we give your dogs a recess and we play a game. And then we go back to the training and then we play a game. And then we always, always, always end on a win. So try to finish with an easy behavior and lots of praise. Your puppy doesn't need to understand the actual Zoom call or the video call with the trainer. They just need to understand you. And that's where the magic happens. At Baxter and Bella, we've been teaching online long before it became mainstream, and we believe deeply in this approach. It works, you guys. Our philosophy centers on training real people in real homes. We empower you to handle your own dog with confidence. We focus on relationships, not perfection, and making training doable, accessible, and fun. Now, virtual training naturally supports all of this. It meets families where they are, it keeps training consistent and low stress, and it helps puppies learn in the environment where they spend 95% of their lives home. So, remote training isn't a backup plan or a lesser option. It's one of the most effective, practical, and modern ways to raise your dog. Thanks for listening, you guys. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week. Reach out to us if you need help. We'd love to help you. Happy training. Thanks for tuning in to the Puppy Training Podcast. I hope today's tips help you feel more confident and excited about raising your dog. Remember, with a little patience and consistency, you can create a loving bond and a well-behaved pup who's a joy to have in your family. If you found this episode helpful, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow puppy parents. For more resources, visit Baxter and Bella online. Until next time, happy training.