The Asset Method
Your dog isn't ignoring you.
- Try the first lesson free!
Every moment, your dog is putting a price on the world.
The smell in the grass. The dog across the park. The bird, the ball, the person at the door. You. Whatever is worth the most in that moment wins your dog’s attention.
So when your dog “doesn’t listen”, they haven’t decided to ignore you. They’ve made a very sensible decision: the thing they’re doing is worth more to them than what you’re offering. That’s not a character flaw. It’s how dogs work.
The good news? You can change the prices.
An asset is anything your dog values: a piece of chicken, a game of tug, freedom at the park and, if you do this right, you. The Asset Method is built on one idea: your dog is always betting on whatever is worth most, so you make sure you own the assets that win. It isn’t a set of cues or a particular technique. It works with whatever training you already do, because it’s about what you pay with and when, not how you say it.
It starts with your dog, not with a list of rewards. No two dogs get the same plan, because no two dogs value the same things.
Learn why your dog doesn’t listen. And change it.
The Asset Method in four parts
1. Know the value
See what your dog is really putting value on and how much. A quick sniff on a familiar path is cheap. A rabbit is expensive. You’ll learn to "pay" very differently for each, and you’ll stop setting yourself up to lose againts the world.
2. Build your assets
Two kinds. Your currency: the foods, games and life rewards your dog rates, ranked and used deliberately. And you: the games that can’t happen without you, your energy, your reliability as a payer. The dog decides what counts. Your job is to own and control the ones that matter.
3. Win the bet
Match the asset to the price. Cheap competition, cheap payment. Expensive competition, your best asset, every time. Redirection is for when your dog is about to lose the bet. Catching the good decision and paying it is where you want to end up.
4. Become the asset
Anyone can hand over food. Games can’t happen without you. When the fun comes from you, you become the thing your dog values most, and that holds up against the dog across the park in a way a quiet biscuit never will. Food charges the account. Games make you the asset. Use both.
One idea underneath all of it.
Your dog always bets on whatever’s worth most. We make sure that’s you.
Everything your dog wants can come through you.
A reward isn’t only what you hand over. It’s anything your dog wants in that moment, and almost all of it is already yours to give: the lead, the door, the ball, the park, the sniff, the friend across the road. When you become the asset, you own the account and you control the assets. Learn to turn what your dog wants into your payment, and your dog starts to see you as the fun, positive thing that all good things come from. That’s the foundation for a dog who chooses you, even around distractions. If you don’t become the asset, your dog will simply choose the other things.
Some everyday payments:
The park gate. Your dog checks in with you; the lead comes off and “go play” is the payment.
The front door. A sit and a moment of calm; the door opens and the walk begins.
The ball. A recall back to you; the ball flies again. Coming back becomes the fastest way to keep playing.
That irresistible patch of grass. Ten steps on a loose lead; “go sniff”. Sniffing becomes something you give, not something they steal.
A dog friend. Four paws on the ground; you get to say hello. Calm becomes the ticket to the fun.
A swim, a run, zoomies with a mate. Waiting for a release; off you go. The world your dog loves comes through you.
The rules that make it work.
Five principles every course is built on. Get these right and everything else you ever teach your dog gets easier.
Start with the dog in front of you. Your plan is built from what your individual dog values, so it will look different from your neighbour’s.
The dog sets the prices, not you. Match the asset to the price, and never bring a biscuit to a rabbit.
The account is earned and spent. Ask without paying and the balance drops. You never confront the environment; you outbid it.
Food charges the account. Games make you the asset. Use both.
Work with your dog’s nature, not against it. A chaser needs to chase, a herder needs a job, a sniffer needs to sniff. Provide for it, and use it as payment.
Deposits, spending and the balance.
Every time your dog chooses you and something good follows, you make a deposit. Every time you ask something of your dog while the world is bidding hard, you spend. Keep the balance higher than what the environment is offering and your dog keeps choosing you. Spend without depositing and, like any account, it runs dry.
Here’s the part most training quietly skips: the world never stops bidding. The bird will always be worth something. The other dog will always be worth something. There’s no point where your dog “gets it” and the competition stops. Training doesn’t remove the competition; it makes sure you keep winning it.
That’s why the most common mistake is also the most understandable one: the dog is going well, so the owner stops. The world keeps paying your dog for chasing, sniffing and pulling, every day, for free. If you’ve stopped paying for the choices you want, the balance tips. Nobody did anything wrong. The odds just changed.
So the account never closes. What changes over time is what you pay with, and how often.
This isn’t bribery. The payment grows up.
People worry they’ll be handing over chicken forever. You won’t. What you pay with changes as the account grows, and life rewards become the main payment. Here’s how it goes.
Early days: food does the heavy lifting. It’s quick, you can pay often, and it works almost anywhere. Lots of small deposits, in boring places, so the account builds fast.
Building the asset: games join in. Tug, chase, toss-and-race. None of it can happen without you, so you stop being the person with the treat pouch and start being the fun.
Real life: life rewards take over. The lead coming off, the ball, the sniff, the swim, the friend. Your dog is paid with the world they love, and it comes through you. This becomes the main payment.
Later: you pay less, on purpose. Cheap situations get a cheap payment or none; your best assets are saved for the expensive ones. The value you’ve built doesn’t disappear; it settles on you. That’s what “my dog just listens now” really is.
Every course is built on the Asset Method
Puppy, obedience, leash, recall, separation anxiety, crate and place, and reactivity: same foundation, different prices. Pick the course your dog needs right now, with 12 months access and the first lesson free.
Common Questions About the Asset Method
How is this different from marker training or Spotlights?
It isn’t instead of them; it sits underneath them. Marker words and location markers like Susan Garrett’s Spotlights are about information: they tell the dog a payment is coming, and what and where. Useful, and you can keep using yours. The Asset Method answers a different question: why would your dog choose you at all? Markers answer “what and where”. The Asset Method answers “why you”.
Will I need treats forever?
No. But you’ll never stop paying, and that’s the honest answer most methods skip. Early on, food does the heavy lifting. As you become the asset, the payment changes shape: a check-in at the park gate gets paid with the lead coming off, a recall gets paid with being sent straight back out to run. The world your dog loves becomes the payment, and it comes through you. The treat pouch gets lighter. The paying never stops; it just stops looking like training.
Does it work for a dog that chases, herds or follows their nose?
Yes, and better than fighting it. A dog that loves to chase will always love to chase. We don’t try to train that out of them; we make it an asset. The chaser gets to chase, on your terms, as a payment. The herder gets a job. The sniffer gets sniffing time as a reward. When you provide for what your dog is built for, you stop competing against their nature and start using it.
Can I use it with the training I already do?
Yes. The Asset Method isn’t a set of cues or a particular technique. Keep your marker word, your clicker, your games. It’s about what you pay with and when, not how you say it, so it fits whatever you already do and makes it work better.
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