There is a dog training program advertised online as "The Dog Training Secret." It claims to be able to cure 19 of your dog's behavior woes in just 6 days. Truth is, there are no secrets in dog training - although there are trainers akin to snake oil salesmen who would suggest otherwise.

Based on my research, Chet Womach's "The Dog Training Secret" mostly is simple positive reinforcement training and behavior shaping with a clicker. Effective? Sure. Secret? Hardly.

However there is a principle of dog training that is foundational to success when trying to crack the tough nuts: fearful dogs who have learned that displays of ferocity drive people away; dogs who refuse to lay down after every trick in my arsenal has been tried; puppy-pad trained dogs who absolutely refuse to poop outdoors; dogs who are so leash reactive that their owners have ceased walking them.

Since most dog training books focus on theories and techniques, this principle usually is not given its own chapter. It can be a difficult one to accept, particularly in a society hell-bent on instant gratification and immersed in the supposed half-hour miracles of television dog training celebrities. It sometimes is tough to convince clients the principle should be tried, especially when money is involved and the clock is ticking. It might as well be a dog training secret.

But once you have discovered it and decided to apply it, there are very few dogs that cannot be trained or fixed (and I have seen the principle work on the dogs that have made me beg for divine intervention). The principle does not work all by itself. It must be combined with a healthy dose of learning theory tempered with plenty of experience dealing with a variety of issues (which is why good professional dog trainers will never be replaced by books and videos and those claiming secret wisdom).

Without the real dog training secret as your foundation, the tough problems can be almost impossible to cure. But when you pay homage to the real secret, you can accomplish almost anything ... eventually. The secret is:

P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E