What does Holistic really mean?

The term Holistic is used to define the view that all aspects of people's needs or in this case your dog's, should be taken into account and seen as a whole. Put simply we are more than the sum of our parts. 

So in dog training terms a holistic view means taking into account the physical, psychological and social needs of a dog when putting together a training plan. The term 'Holistic' summarises very well the idea behind concept training- as we look at the emotional and physical connections behind behaviour, rather than looking at just the behaviour itself.

A Holistic view allows us to take a wider view when assessing behaviour and consider things like diet, socialisation, physical wellbeing and environment before building a training plan, which means we are really setting up for success from the start and also using any training time as wisely as possible to gain maximum benefits.