A lot of times some other trainer will say "Well, my methods fix dogs and are easier to do!" Normally these trainers use pain or force when it comes to dog training. And, I will admit it just this one time...punishment does work BUT punishment must be done at the exact precise second, be the appropriate amount of punishment and let's be honest...most owners will fail on both counts. The punishment will come well AFTER the crime and the punishment will not fit the crime.
That being said, you're probably wondering why I'm talking about punishment when I abhor it so much. Well, Kayla, my assistant went to the State Fair yesterday. She went and was looking at the dogs and most of the dogs there from Illinois Humane of Springfield and Springfield Animal Protective League had on prong collars and shock collars. Now, if these organizations are SO up on the times why are they still using methods from the 70s?? Kayla brought it up and next thing she knew she was being yelled at by some cocky trainer named Joe Blankenship who is toting himself as a behavior expert. (The website originally stated he was a canine behaviorist but it suddenly has been changed!) According to his facebook page he went into business in July of 2013. I'm sure that month of classes he's been holding has made him an expert! I should also mention that as soon as Kayla brought up the fact she is in school for dog training he went nuts and demanded the cops be called to remove her. I'm amazed at how professional this guy is! A little girl of 120 pounds scared him enough to make him start screaming for the police WOW! Hate to see what he would do with a human aggressive dog. Oh wait, he would just hang it until it gives up or hold it down until it stops snapping at him. He is a graduate of Tom Rose Dog Training School. Good for him. Here is some of the reviews I found for that school:
"All I know is, I've seen some pretty piss poor "certified" helpers come out of there."
"The Tom Rose School is not far from where I live/work, so there are a number of the school's graduates working in my area. Please, please think about attending a different school. I've seen what happens to dogs those people have trained. Once perfectly confident, stable dogs suddenly develop all sorts of fear problems, complete with peeing all over themselves. I don't know what exactly is taught at the school, so it's possible the graduates aren't following the directions they were given, but I have to wonder why more than one of them thinks it's a great idea to start puppy training by sticking a shock collar on it and zapping it for every mistake. I know groomers and kennel workers who have worked alongside trainers who went through the Tom Rose School, and I've heard all kinds of behind the scenes horror stories that I could potentially get into legal trouble for if I repeated them here. "
Ouch! So, my question is simple...why is the Illinois State Fair still having people come in to help with dogs who have this kind of attitude? Even the gun dog trainer was speaking about positive reinforcement today! David Dodd who was one of the "experts" they had do demonstrations with Joe Blankenship was once dismissed from a court as a witness because the judge found he had no education or training in order to be a credible witness. Doesn't that speak volumes by itself?
So, here's my challenge to the Illinois State Fair (Department of Agriculture), Illinois Humane of Springfield, AND Springfield Animal Protective League and EVERY OTHER ORGANIZATION who is using these types of methods. Man up and learn to train a dog. Learn to train a dog so you don't have to cause them pain. Learn to train a dog so you can bond with them and have a mutual level of respect. Stop taking the "easy" way out and damaging dogs. Furthermore the AVSAB position statements can be found HERE! So, no need to believe me! Go look for yourselves. You can clearly see that the American Vet Society of Animal Behavior has denounced dominance AND punishment.
Now should you want to contact any of those people above who's voice makes a difference, here is their email addresses and how to contact them:
Department of Agriculture: agr.pio@illinois.gov
Illinois Humane of Springfield: jmcbridenator@gmail.com
Springfield Animal Protective League: http://www.apl-shelter.org/dotnetnuke/ContactUs/tabid/128/Default.aspx You can use the drop down box to change it to send the message to the president of the APL.
Demand that these people use better training practices rather than shocking dogs and using torture equipment!
Friday, August 16, 2013
Monday, August 5, 2013
Learning to Focus
Lately I've been working hard on organizing group classes. It's been a pretty good success. We had a lot of interest and our turn out has been good. I'm thankful the public is finally seeing that training is key to a happy and healthy dog.
I've also picked up more private session clients which means I am keeping busy. Between homework and clients and a day job, I'm pretty sure sleep is becoming more and more optional. We do not advertise. We have fliers and cards, but all our business comes from word of mouth (and perhaps my big mouth, but that's another story). We survive off client referrals and we are thankful for each and every person who refers us!
Let's see, in the last two weeks, I drove almost to Arkansas, met a dog who reminds me so much of Greyson it could be his long lost twin (other than she's 8 months old and no where near the same breed mix), had Greyson get extremely ill, had to tell a family their dog is dog aggressive and they shouldn't let him try to make new friends, oh and we secured a building for training classes.
Back to the whole dog aggressive thing though. It's something I have experience in. I live with it day in and day out. Sometimes it's called Dog Reactive, Dog Selective or downright Dog Aggressive. Greyson didn't start out this way. He played with the neighbors dogs when he was young. I thought he would be golden with all dogs. Imagine my surprise when he wasn't. It really made me step back and review what I could have possibly done wrong.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not what was done wrong. It's not what I didn't do with him. It's just...well...he's a dog. And just like humans, not all dogs like all other dogs. Greyson has playmates. He has Cupcake. Being that he doesn't enjoy 99% of the dog population doesn't mean that he can't have a full and happy life. It means we work harder to avoid situations that will set him up for failure.
So how do we do that and exist you ask? I taught Greyson to "Focus". We started out small. I asked for simple eye contact at first. Just glance at me and you get treats. Of course, Grey being Grey and being highly food motivated helps here. Look at me and boom you get cheese cube! Suddenly I had a dog who always wanted to look at me. Please note: I did NOT feed him cheese every time he looked at me. We did it to the point where Greyson was willing to play the lottery with me in hopes of getting treats.
As we slowly upped the ante, we moved out in the real world. Obviously just being in the living room wasn't going to work. He HAD to leave the house sooner or later. So, I sat down and wrote out a training protocol to train Greyson with a cue of "Focus". I then had it proofread by two others, one being a CPDT Trainer and the other being Kayla. Then I put that baby in motion.
In no time Greyson was making some great strides. Then we hit a plateau and we stumbled back a few steps. It was my fault though. Anytime you increase Distance, Duration, Different Environment, or Delivery of Reward you have to lower other criteria. I didn't do that. I realized it though and we moved on past it.
The "Jackpot" came at the pet store when someone with a small dog came around the corner as I was paying on a retractable. One quick "Grey Focus" and he was on it! He sat looking up at my nose like it was going to jump off my face and do tricks. As soon as I was done paying I think I shoved about 5 treats in his mouth as I was loving on him and "Good Boy"ing him like crazy. A situation that could have become very volatile VERY quick was saved by a single word and a lot of saying the word in sessions throughout a few weeks.
The kicker of this is even though Greyson knows the cue for "focus" it has to be practiced. Training isn't something you can do, chalk it up to being known and never work on it again. Training is continual. We have to keep up sessions with our dogs. It not only strengthens the bond with them but it keeps their minds active and honestly it's tiring to a dog. I'll never forget a session with a client and their German Shepherd where the dog was exhausted from working and went and laid at the door to go out. Keep the sessions short and focused. Use everyday events as a training exercise! Going for a quick stroll? Take your treat bag and work on "heel" as you go. Your dog will be exhausted and satisfied at the end!
So, in close, having a dog who doesn't like every other dog you meet isn't the end of the world. It doesn't mean you can't ever leave your house again. It means you have to have a very trained dog who is well behaved is what it means. Can you go to dog parks? Nope. Can you go off leash all the time? No (and there are laws against that anyway for a reason). Can you go to doggie daycare? Nope! But your dog can still go places with you. Your dog can be a Canine Good Citizen, a champion trick dog, or just a dog who his family loves and takes him on vacations with them. It doesn't change who your dog is, just changes what you teach him to do!
And for now I leave you with a picture of Greyson from this morning. He decided it wasn't worth it to get out of bed. Please ignore the goopy eye (he's still getting over being sick).
I've also picked up more private session clients which means I am keeping busy. Between homework and clients and a day job, I'm pretty sure sleep is becoming more and more optional. We do not advertise. We have fliers and cards, but all our business comes from word of mouth (and perhaps my big mouth, but that's another story). We survive off client referrals and we are thankful for each and every person who refers us!
Let's see, in the last two weeks, I drove almost to Arkansas, met a dog who reminds me so much of Greyson it could be his long lost twin (other than she's 8 months old and no where near the same breed mix), had Greyson get extremely ill, had to tell a family their dog is dog aggressive and they shouldn't let him try to make new friends, oh and we secured a building for training classes.
Back to the whole dog aggressive thing though. It's something I have experience in. I live with it day in and day out. Sometimes it's called Dog Reactive, Dog Selective or downright Dog Aggressive. Greyson didn't start out this way. He played with the neighbors dogs when he was young. I thought he would be golden with all dogs. Imagine my surprise when he wasn't. It really made me step back and review what I could have possibly done wrong.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not what was done wrong. It's not what I didn't do with him. It's just...well...he's a dog. And just like humans, not all dogs like all other dogs. Greyson has playmates. He has Cupcake. Being that he doesn't enjoy 99% of the dog population doesn't mean that he can't have a full and happy life. It means we work harder to avoid situations that will set him up for failure.
So how do we do that and exist you ask? I taught Greyson to "Focus". We started out small. I asked for simple eye contact at first. Just glance at me and you get treats. Of course, Grey being Grey and being highly food motivated helps here. Look at me and boom you get cheese cube! Suddenly I had a dog who always wanted to look at me. Please note: I did NOT feed him cheese every time he looked at me. We did it to the point where Greyson was willing to play the lottery with me in hopes of getting treats.
As we slowly upped the ante, we moved out in the real world. Obviously just being in the living room wasn't going to work. He HAD to leave the house sooner or later. So, I sat down and wrote out a training protocol to train Greyson with a cue of "Focus". I then had it proofread by two others, one being a CPDT Trainer and the other being Kayla. Then I put that baby in motion.
In no time Greyson was making some great strides. Then we hit a plateau and we stumbled back a few steps. It was my fault though. Anytime you increase Distance, Duration, Different Environment, or Delivery of Reward you have to lower other criteria. I didn't do that. I realized it though and we moved on past it.
The "Jackpot" came at the pet store when someone with a small dog came around the corner as I was paying on a retractable. One quick "Grey Focus" and he was on it! He sat looking up at my nose like it was going to jump off my face and do tricks. As soon as I was done paying I think I shoved about 5 treats in his mouth as I was loving on him and "Good Boy"ing him like crazy. A situation that could have become very volatile VERY quick was saved by a single word and a lot of saying the word in sessions throughout a few weeks.
The kicker of this is even though Greyson knows the cue for "focus" it has to be practiced. Training isn't something you can do, chalk it up to being known and never work on it again. Training is continual. We have to keep up sessions with our dogs. It not only strengthens the bond with them but it keeps their minds active and honestly it's tiring to a dog. I'll never forget a session with a client and their German Shepherd where the dog was exhausted from working and went and laid at the door to go out. Keep the sessions short and focused. Use everyday events as a training exercise! Going for a quick stroll? Take your treat bag and work on "heel" as you go. Your dog will be exhausted and satisfied at the end!
So, in close, having a dog who doesn't like every other dog you meet isn't the end of the world. It doesn't mean you can't ever leave your house again. It means you have to have a very trained dog who is well behaved is what it means. Can you go to dog parks? Nope. Can you go off leash all the time? No (and there are laws against that anyway for a reason). Can you go to doggie daycare? Nope! But your dog can still go places with you. Your dog can be a Canine Good Citizen, a champion trick dog, or just a dog who his family loves and takes him on vacations with them. It doesn't change who your dog is, just changes what you teach him to do!
And for now I leave you with a picture of Greyson from this morning. He decided it wasn't worth it to get out of bed. Please ignore the goopy eye (he's still getting over being sick).
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