June 21st Date Fearfuldog Challenge is Due=$$$s to My Animal Rescues

June 21st of 2009, I had a very tough case of a dog named, Hoobie. He is an English Springer who was trained by me, and returned by his owners. This dog was biting or charging at his owners weekly. Hoobie had serious medical issues as a very young puppy, that caused him to mistrust humans. Humans were of course trying to save his life, but at such a young age he had not as yet learned to trust hands. Years later, Hoobie was out of control.

Hoobie was one of the most extreme cases of human aggression that I had ever had. A previous trainer who believed in treats offered Hoobie three cookies, and gotten bitten three times for offering from his hand.

As with many trainers that have been sold on a "one fits all process", fearfuldogs felt free to make negative comments to me not even able to answer questions on the methods I used that she supposedly knew so well.

" Would someone please rescue this dog! Koehler, molded downs, 2-4 hour training sessions, eegads! " D Jacobs http://www.fearfuldogs.com/

Clearly someone who also does not understand that not all training is formal training, but molding behaviors in everyday circumstances. Feeding, crating, walking, and interacting with Hoobie were all opportunities for training and correcting behaviors. It was not an easy journey. When asked what D Jacobs did not like about "molded sits" or " molded downs" in the Koehler method, the information shared back was typical of this political dog training movement:

"It is not because I am disinclined to debate the merits of the work I do with fearful dogs or how much I know or don't know about dog training, or the relationship I have with my own dogs. I will not read or contribute because it causes me too much distress to hear about how this dog is being handled."  D Jacobs http://www.fearfuldogs.com/

Oh, okay.   My personal opinion is that like all members of this political dog training cult, actually knowing what you are talking about and being able to talk specifics is of no value.   Understanding the science fiction of certain "scientific studies" funded by the political dog movement, who shock dogs on high levels randomly o collars not known about or used in the USA.   That is because it is unimportant to know how training occurs much less how electronic collars can be used on low levels humanely.   This is about the feeding frenzy for the dollars paid for dog training, and securing part of the market without requiring trainers to know much to anything about results.  Dodman and Dunbar are two of the main beneficiaries of this strategy.   Dr Dunbar, however, has recently been talking about the lack of standards in the dog training industry, that he himself has spearheaded!!!

Sadly his proteges do not feel this is referenced to themselves.   The damage has been done, and those that can not train to a standard have no idea how to recognize it, even if it's their own dog that does not improve or learn with their methods.   Blithely, they go on talking about theories and science, and can not recognize what the living breathing individual dog right in front of them is telling them, unless they react like a scientific laboratory experiment or communicate in just the way the general dog population communicates.

The APDT does little to dissuade their members that knowledge in the form of results is necessary to hand out CEUs to the professionals in their organization (meaning that CPDTS need only pass a multiple choice test, and then upkeep their education by, well, just any member *not a professional member in anyway* that is willing to put on a seminar.   Awesome, how great for the general dog owning public and the naive "trainers" who drank the sweetly poisoned punch when it was offered.

This "trainer" was quite brave in issuing the following challenge, which I can only guess she thinks that I did not keep:)  I guess that is she is ignoring requests for confirmation that she is keeping her end of the deal.   In the wrong assumptions that she has made about methods and me as a trainer, she made an equally wrong assumption if she thought I would ever let this go.   I am most like a terrier who will not give up until I have cornered my rat.  The truth is that I copied the whole web posting from http://mainepets.mainetoday.com/, including the below challenge made by Deb Jacobs of fearfuldogs.

"You are right, there was no need for me to be snippy, I am not by nature a snippy or confrontational person. I read your post later in the evening, actually I could barely read your post, it was so troubling to me. I have to think that you believe you are doing what is best for this poor dog. I will not be reading your posts or commenting again. It is not because I am disinclined to debate the merits of the work I do with fearful dogs or how much I know or don't know about dog training, or the relationship I have with my own dogs. I will not read or contribute because it causes me too much distress to hear about how this dog is being handled. I will credit you with being honest in sharing how you have managed this dog for the past 5 weeks. My guess is that after this dog is returned to his owners he will bite someone. The owners will blame the dog and you'll blame the owners. He may be euthanized, rehomed, given up, or kept isolated for the rest of his life. But I am willing to put my money where my mouth is and say that if in a year this dog is living happily and comfortably with his current owners, I will gladly donate $100 to your preferred animal rescue. I will also be willing to question my belief that most of the techniques you are using have no place in the modern age of dog training. I apologize for my rudeness. p.s. You can find my email address on my website at www.fearfuldogs.com should you want to get in touch with a year from now. I hope you prove me wrong, for Hoobie's sake."  D Jacobs http://www.fearfuldogs.com/

Well, Deb, I am in touch with you.   You seem to be ignoring me.   Don't think that  I am not armed with the orginal correspondence if legal action needs to be taken on my charities behalf for your payment.   That would just be another sad mistake on your part.

http://www.mannerlymutts.com/ Maine and New Hampshire Dog Trainer
http://mannerlymutts.blogspot.com/ Mannerly Mutts Blog

It's Okay to Admit Mistakes Isn't It Dr Dunbar?

There are two Dogstardaily postings that have me a bit puzzled. Dr Ian Dunbar talks on two trainers posts, that don't seem to be linked, where those trainers talk about mistakes they made with their dogs either under another trainer or with themselves.

Dr Dunbar goes out of his way to argue with these trainers own observations. What puzzles me is why? It's okay to acknowledge when we make a mistake or our thinking changes. Mistakes make us not change all things sometimes, but also recognize the individual personalities of dogs.

My suspicion on why he disputes these owners observations and feelings, is to fight the battle of dog politics. I wish we could all concentrate more on dog training, the lessons we learn, and the content that we can bring. Everything does not need to be disproven, it is not about egos here!!! Many Dog Personalites + Many Human Personalities + Many Pack Set Ups (a pack being more than one being) = Many Possible Solutions and Outcomes

I would love to have seen these postings that he is talking about, as I suspect there are some very important observations there. If anyone knows where I can find the originals, here is the links to Dr Dunbars most recent blogs:

http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/bad-puppy-classes
http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/can-too-much-socialization-ruin-puppy  (oops sorry, this one does have a link to Turid's blog, and I will have to read that momentarily)

My first dog, Jazz, had to suffer through my lack of experience when I was not a dog trainer.   Luckily she was a healthy and patient teacher.   Since the time where I was not even learning from a trainer, I have learned that putting pressure on the butt or back is not optimal and can make a condition that you haven't found worse.   I now mold my dogs, and wish I had known about that (Koehler of course) as a gentle way of guiding your hand down the back and cupping the bum.   Also great for discovering up and coming health issues in your dog's physicality.

There are tons of mistakes that I had made which I now know better.   It's okay to own and admit to them, and better yet pass off that knowledge to others, and perhaps you can avoid them from making a similar mistake.  Noone who is not evil does this with malice and the intent to damage their dog.   I do agree that guilt has no part in this equation.  I had a  client that made a similar mistake with her Great Pyrenes as Turid did.   In training, we found a better way to go about it.   If my client hadn't realized her mistake, you might thing her Great Pyrenes was unpredictable et.   To acknowledge and learn is a great thing.

http://www.mannerlymutts.com/
http://mannerlymutts.blogspot.com/
mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com
http://www.canineprofessionals.com/Public/CanineProfessionalsBlog.aspx
http://www.dognewsisgoodnews.com/pages/blogs
and coming to the Portland Examiner online soon!!!!

The Challenge Video/Spitting in Food

I have included a link that explains why some long time trainers include saliva in their dogs food. http://www.bharatbhasha.com/pets.php/41991 Now it's not that I am trying to dominate Hoobie, but I am trying to include anything and everything that may make him as accepting as possible that others handle things that he thought were his solely. This is also the process of teaching him that he does not need to aggress. He will get what he needs and wants by NOT AGGRESSING. I have never tried this, but I am not one to shirk a technique that may help a situation, especially if it does not harm the dog (it may harm me but not the dog LOL).

So here is my payment that I issued to Dogstardaily and the Dunbars to allow balanced trainers to talk about balanced training on their site!! Kelly Dunbar most likely did not know of the challenge, but she did indeed allow conversation for the first time from balanced trainers on why tools and methods work. Kudos to Kelly Dunbar. Again, I don't need them to talk about balanced training at all, but if they are going to say they are acquiring the term, bash it, or talk about it----they should allow for conversation that is not blocked or moderated.

The below is the video. When I say I will treat him with a lamb treat if he growls LOL, that is not what I mean. Since we are working with his meds, it's important that he get the meds so I don't walk away. What I do if he growls is I then do reps of sits and downs, and when he is not growling he gets a very small piece of dried lamb. Or I sometimes put that very small piece on the popsicle stick. He actually tends to be more cooperative when he's out of the crate, but I like him to be able to do either, so that the owners will have options of ways he can safely get his meds, but while also working with him to desensitize him to getting meds up high or down low as a normal thing. That is still working on the resource guarding issue.





One thing that I noticed is that his tolerance for both resource guarding and crate training went down when the two were combined in one exercise. So since this time, I have gone to doing them seperately again. One training time for resource guarding, the other training time for crate training. Normally it's not a problem for dogs to combine, but for Hoobie it seems the combo of the two just made his intolerance times four instead of divided by two. I want to go in the direction that makes both of these things easy peasy for Hoobie. Or as easy as they can be for him:) I think sometimes he may be almost as stubborn as I am LOL.

By the way, I think Hoobie has taken the crown from Hannah as most stubborn dog, and most stubborn Springer!!! Oh well, Hannah is still the Queen here when she visits, and Kate remains our teddy bear. Wonder what they would think of Hoobie??

Mannerly Mutts Dog Training
Mannerly Mutts Blog
mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com

Balanced Training/Positive Politics/Postively An Example of Abuse

http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/walking-fine-line#comment-2118

Dogstardaily.com is allowing for conversation of Balanced Training (and why this site is not balanced). I think this is excellent. There are many great examples here of what balanced training is from posters like thinkdog, allgooddoggies, and dogrealist to name a few.

What did pop up though from poster user name, reflxyon, is an example of real abuse by a positive extremist? First of all she/he got an idea to use hot sauce as a replacement for an e-collar or prong collar to test on her dog. I am frankly horrified! Why? Because the actual punishment (not correction) does not go away even when the dog is in compliance. You are teaching the dog nothing other than to be uncomfortable for a twisted argument that doesn't even make sense.

The danger in this, and this site, is the complete lack of understanding of other training methodologies and equipment, that allow for people who have not studied them to put their dogs deliberately through this kind of abuse. Rather than learn about the equipment and why it's kinder than hot sauce, instead they deliberately chose to torture their dog. This is the kind of scary "science" that goes on to prove something. It's the complete lack of knowledge that leads to these sorts of things, never mind the total myths out there that everyone takes as fact without further investigation.

However, reflxyon does make one very important point that I am sure was not intended. When a prong or e-collar is used correctly, this can be seen by the dogs happily working state. If the prong or e-collar was used abusively as was done with the hot sauce, the dog would neither be happy to see the collar OR go on a walk.

Similar stories abound on other trainers misuse of equipments, and now their dogs are scared of them. This usually happens when people decide to use equipment on their own (and according to the myths), and use it abusively with their dogs. They did not research the methods and true use of the collar. That is something that I never condone.

Mannerly Mutts Dog Training
Mannerly Mutts Blog
mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com

Dogstardaily/Dunbar Challenge

I normally don't make a challenge. However, since The Dunbars would like to own the word "balanced", and if as they say most dog trainers are balanced then....

Surely they will allow a balanced trainer to answer this post. I mean what is the problem if they are suddenly enlightened and balanced trainers, right?

See the reply named "wait a minute" from Cindy Bruckart. Cindy Bruckart has previously before been on boards arguing for Truly Dog Friendly, while not being a member herself. She was advocating for letting it take over APDT, and then everyone could just not follow the mandate. She also was a daycare provider that allowed dogs to hump in her daycare, and is now apparently a trainer. Yikes.

Anyway I am willing to run around clucking like a chicken on video if Kelly or the editors of the site allow a balanced trainer to answer the question (without being edited) regarding the equipment and how it works. I expect it would be similar to my answer below:) I could also put each morsel of Hoobies disgusting fish food in my mouth before feeding him (video taped for your amusement of course). I am doing this because their are those balanced trainers out there that hope The Dunbars shifty spots have changed. However, what has really changed is that they realize the slice of marketing pie is moving away from their ineffective one size fits all methods. Or I should say one treat fits all!!

What would my answer be to Cindy (God I should look up my old ones, surely she should know this by now or at least what the answer would be):

No Cindy dogs don't enjoy punishment. That's rather the point. They are not being punished when taught correctly.

Let's start with the fact that correction does not equal punishment. If I move a dog's leg over for a straighter sit, that's a correction and it would need to be an over the top extremist to think that was a punishment. I am showing the dog where I wish their position to be. If you follow a method like Koehler (ignoring the pesky paragraph or two that gets the extremists underpants in a twist---and that one could simply not use) then you are GENTLY MOLDING YOUR DOG INTO A DOWN FOR MANY REPS. That way when the time comes and you need a cleaner way to communicate the correction, you don't need to remotely blow them in the water. Remember the handler is controlling the piece of equipment and the level of correction.

Metal chain collars can also be used simply as a mechanism for holding the dog there, just like flat collars but they don't slide over the head. In fact a flat collar can make the communication all that much foggy and confusing by simply chocking or straining against it themselves. This also places tension on one spot.

What dogs enjoy is the freedom that the collar gives them once they are trained reliably off lead, the many more things they can do with their owners. So ditto for e-collars assuming you are using a method or plan that allows you to do training well.


Mannerly Mutts Dog Training
Mannerly Mutts Blog
mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com

Sore Losers in Obedience/Assumptions/Action

I don't come across sore losers too often while I trial. Every now and then someone will regale you with a story that points out their training flaws NOT flaws in the dog. Recently this was discussed as a topic in dogstardaily.com, not under this view, but under the view of corrections being given and what was the right thing to do. Regarding that post as named "What Would You Do", I would have followed someone out of the ring if I had a real concern as to the treatment of their dog. People are much less likely to act out around witnesses than will. This also seems to me to be the more appropriate time to discuss this with someone, rather than before the "assumed act" even happened. It's hard for me to take this author seriously, as seems to be an extremist on one side of the fence. Therefore, anything that she might report may be overstated IMO.

What this post really spoke to for me, was a very small percentage of people who have adverse reactions when their dogs don't do well in the ring. To me, this is more of a training problem for the human, than a flaw in the dog:) Sometimes you don't see the problem until you are in the ring, and you notate it and move on. For instance, last trial with Jack, he was very interested in eating the horse poop flavored dirt rather than keeping a sit stay. So I wasn't angry with Jack, I just noted that we need to practice the sit stay (and down stay) with things he may like to eat on the floor around him.

One time, people assumed I was upset with Jack's performance because I hurried off. The reason I hurried off was that dog number 2 needed to get in the ring pronto for us to compete. I was actually hurrying off to be sure that Jack went to the bathroom first, and was situated comfortably before our spot came up. I heard the comment as I went by, but had no time (and frankly no interest) in correcting the assuming party. Jack just got a bit nervous at a wheelchair beep. We later worked on desensitizing him by finding similar audio beep files on the computer. No big deal. It was a very warehouse like situation too, and he was still getting used to booming echoes.

As a trainer and an owner, it's totally my responsibility, error, or learning in progress if my dog does not do well at a trial or in real life!! It's not his problem if he has not been taught that yet, or taught it badly. Not to say that I am against correction if the timing and situation are correct. A trial is not a time IMO where you really want your dog to experience anything negative, unless a real bad situation occurs (like another dog is on top of your dog or visa versa). Then that is not a correction in my book, and I am not even sure it's a punishment. It's owners taking responsibility for their dogs. I have been lucky enough not to witness this in competition yet. I have seen dogs break from position, play, walk to owners, walk out of the ring, bark, whine, et.... When any of those dogs are doing that, I am hoping that I have done my best training so my dogs won't follow suit in any way shape or form for their own protection. (ie avoiding dog conflicts)

There are times where you should ask or witness before assuming anything about another person. That is just wrong. I am not sure it was right that when the woman said her dog was going to get a correction, that the assumption was the worst. And if there was a suspicion there, that woman should have been followed out of the ring.

Unfortunately, some assumptions were made about Oprah in another post by this author. I was a little horrified that Dogstardaily.com allowed this. I mean you can't talk about all sides of training unless the website owner agrees, but you can potentially libel another's name without any facts? Hope they have a good attorney! You know there ARE more than a few purebred puppies that come into shelters. How does she think breed rescues came into existence????

Baby Enjoys Roxy and Harley

Here I am bringing a client's puppy, Jesse the Sheltie, out to the beach with my dogs. You will see me training my dog, Leon, to roll over while Jackie is behind me saying "Gosh Darn It I can do that". However, this video is really about lovely Harley and Roxy having fun with a baby running around on the beach.



Recently, dogstardaily.com wrote about babies and pictures in a different light. Most professionals know that dogs can look one way in a picture, but that the full story is seen more in movement. I am not saying that some people do not put children and babies in potential danger by taking still or video photos of them. Sometimes though, the dog is just stressed by the camera and is not about to bite or maul the baby, adult, or owner. Part of getting a dog used to the camera may be taking a few pictures of them so they learn the thing pointed at them is nothing to be concerned about. I can post my own picture of my dog, Jazz, looking stressed while she was alive getting her picture taken with me. She did not like the camera, but this did not cause her any injury and got her used to an occaisional picture being taken. In one picture she's like "noooooo!!!" In the other picture, she had gotten used to a little camera action. Still pictures and sometimes moving pictures do not tell the whole story in most cases.

To analyze a situation without the living and breathing beings in front of you, is to not understand what dog training is all about.



Want your dog this well behaved around strange people? Mannerly Mutts, Maine's Dog Training, can help. Call Robin Rubin, Maine and New Hampshire's Dog Trainer, at 207-361-4395. Or E-mail mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com for your Massachusett, New Hampshire, or Maine Dog (or Puppy) training needs.

Ian Dunbar's Training "Trinity"

A Ian Dunbar's observations in the following video:

• (A) Some of Ian's Observations (note he seems to be talking about mostly puppy training vs adult dog training):

• Profession different as no one does what you tell him to do (example given stuffing toy with moist kibble-----of course)



• Vague terms like leadership (wrong or just not specific enough?)



• Owners Just Get It All Wrong

• (B)Three skills:



• 
  
  
  (1) Reward/Correction



• (2) Differential reinforcements - different levels of rewards



• (3) Punishment - stimulus which decreases the preceding behavior (according to Ian maybe it shouldn't be painful or fearful)

Above you can see the main points that I got out of Ian's following video:

The first premise is that dog training is unlike any other profession. I am sure that quite a few teachers will be surprised to hear this! Having been in another profession in my life, that of an accountant in a public accounting firm, I would have to submit the difference is not that people magically listen to your advice in another profession. Additionally, one of my biggest beefs with Ian's talks (while charming and funny to those not looking for any real content), is the way he talks down to people, or doesn't even think that there may be a valid reason why an owner is objecting to a solution. In accounting, I had plenty of owners of corporations not listen and not take advice. In one extreme case, they were arrested at an airport as they smuggled their "non reported" cash out of the country. Unfortunately, the officials did not assume this was just a matter of skimming off the top, but thought it was a drug deal. In other cases, upon listening to the client, we needed to find another or method or way for them, BECAUSE WHAT THEY EXPLAINED MADE SENSE.

If you suggestions make sense and end up working, you get an owner that will follow your advice and methods to the best of their abilities (there is a learning curve you know based on the expertise of the client). People are not by nature stupid or ignorant, but they do expect that you will somehow prove what you are saying, and your experience with what you are saying. It could be that day that they get the proof, or it could be the next week that you see them. If the proof doesn't come along after they ARE LISTENING and doing the work, you will loose your credibility.

It also makes sense to screen clients so that you don't take people's money, who are simply not willing to train their dog. Most screening programs that a knowledgeable dog trainer creates can screen out about 95% of people that don't want to do the work with their dog, thereby saving them money and wasted time. Letting a client know, generally, what you are all about can help with that too. I think too many trainers will take on anybody just for a quick buck, rather than contemplating whether they will be able to help this person and dog out at all.

Premise number two, people use leadership as a vague term. Maybe, but I argue that every term is vague without a definition or example. These are not ground breaking observations here, people. I have several definitions and articles on leadership and what it means for my clients. It is not a vague term. And if it is vague, does that mean you discount leadership as a wrong way to go about things? I think we can all point to leaders (people that we want to emulate) that went about it well, and those that went about it badly. My first mentor in dog training is a very talented intelligent individual, but IMHO they went about things very badly. Their leadership skills were good in some areas, and counter productive in others. One can have good and bad leadership skills, and the trick is to pull out the good ones and give even more examples of good leadership skills. To me, the bottom line of leadership in a human and canine partnership is that the human is responsible for care and safety of the animal and all those around the animal (or canine). While I tighten up a bit more in that definition in my own writings, I think this is not a vague definition or mandate.

Premise number 3, owners just get it all wrong all of the time. I wish that were true (my bottom line would expand considerably), but I see some pretty well behaved dogs out there, who did not have the services of a dog trainer. Owners may get some things that they don't know about, or don't understand, or haven't figured out for themselves yet.....wrong. Not all owners get it wrong. Certainly if their dog is still alive by the time they see you, owners do not get EVERYTHING wrong.

The fact that Ian is saying this, is making me believe that he might actually be talking to dog trainers. I am hoping all these simple concepts are being shared with Novice Dog Trainers, and not Professional Dog Trainers. Many of Ians talks go like this, with no real knowledge being passed on at the end of the lecture. If you are going to talk about the actual definition punishment in dog training theory, for Gosh Sake be a little more detailed in the history of where it came from. That could be knowledge that someone, who knew very little to nothing about dog training, could take away from such a lecture.

The "trinity" that Ian then expands on is basically just the first point. Correction and reward are part of training. Really you don't say? The he talks about rewards being more or less depending on action. Then he equates correction with punishment !!!! Yipes, and says that it doesn't have to be scary.

By the way, punishment is an action that has taken place due to 1) failed training or 2) failed opportunity for training. A correction is an act that redirects the dog to a different (or correct) behavior. There is a huge and definite difference in MY dog training world between the two.

Punishment example would be:

More than one dog in a room. One dog is guarding something, but the human in charge does not see or pick up on the body language. Next thing you know, one dog is going for the other dog. I would jump in with a very strong body posture and tone of voice. I would most likely then confine the offending (and/or) non-listening party. However, this is not a correction or a training method.

Correction example would be (in the same instance):

More than one dog in a room. One dog is guarding something. Human notices and says "Let's Go" or "Crate" or "Sit" (we are assuming the dog knows, really knows, these terms) and redirects the dog to another action. Human does not stop watching at this point, but watches for an opportunity to continue the lesson.

If a dog has not been reliably trained to these commands, this might instead be the stepping on a dragging leash and walking the dog away from the area.

Dogs Competing for Their Lives/Owners Competing for Their Rights

In the dog training world, legislation may be coming soon to regulate the dog training profession. As with all legislation, this is something that I could both welcome or be concerned about. I would welcome it if it did so to secure professional conduct and results. I do not welcome it, if it comes just to ban tools or methods. I also do not welcome it if it is to bring training to be prescribed by veterinarians who know nothing about training dogs. I also don't want to see this trend promote or degenerate the expected training performance of the professional dog trainer (as a result of some current trends in dog training today).

There are those in the dog profession, who feel that a measurable test of their skill in training a dog is useless or unnecessary. I disagree strongly, especially when reviewing what is going on with our world and the world of pet ownership today. One way professional dog trainers keep up on their skills is to compete in measurable tests of their training skills. I want this to become a requirement for all professional dog trainers in the future in order to keep our business and profession as successful as it can be. Success being measured in not only the ability of dogs to keep their homes or acquire their homes, but also in the ability of owner's to keep their rights of enjoyment of their dogs AND dogs to keep their rights to be able to exercise unencumbered (but not untrained).

My Concerns: It has been in the best interests of the Veterinarian community to secure market share by taking over the industry of dog training as well. They have done this by emphasizing scientific and behavioral studies in dog training, rather than also (or at all) focusing on skill in dog training. Every dog trainer should be aware of the theories, methodologies, and their history. However, being able to actually train a dog to a measurable standard (there are tests out there put on by the UKC and AKC) is equally important. These groups largely believe that it should not be required for a dog trainer to show any measurable skill in training a dog. They say things like "it's unimportant, people just want companion dogs" or "why spend all this time on a behaviorally challenged dogs when there are all these other "nice" dogs out there. (article to follow on some future date)



People like Ian Dunbar, of Dogstardaily.com, has been one veterinarian that did not sticking to his introduction of puppy classes and the correct upbringing for a dog. Although having earned nothing beyond a Companion Dog title on his own dog, he considers himself the authority figure on dog training at advanced levels and in adult dogs that have behavioral problems. In my opinion, this has been a great marketing scheme for him and others, which is motivated primarily by greed not by accomplishment or concern for dog and owner welfare. His stay on the Association of Pet Dog Trainers created a huge rift in the dog community, and offshoot organizations such as Truly Dog Friendly and the No Shock Collar Coalition. Names that sound innocent enough until you realize the misrepresentations and lack of knowledge of the dog training tools in question by these very groups. These groups and Dogstardaily seek to suppress and misrepresent the truth, which is apparent in that they do not allow open discussion unless it directly agrees with their views. For instance, you can not discuss how the Koehler Method of Dog Training ACTUALLY works, you can only discuss the bad parts of it, inaccurate or not. You can not explain the modern technology of e-collars that now offer various levels that include very gentle and almost imperceptible levels. You can not talk about how these are not used mostly as aversive or coercive, but as a gentler piece of equipment than the training collars with the additional benefit of better timing and off leash control. You can not discuss these things with these groups unless you misrepresent or present ONLY the cons to this group of "trainers".



NOTE: The Koehler Method of Dog Training is a progressive training program that relies on the owners putting the time and effort in to train their dogs. The problems usually come about when people do not follow the instructions in the book, go to fast, and become frustrated. Becoming frustrated and too harsh to dogs IS NOT ANY PART of the Koehler Method of Dog Training, in my opinion.



It's the results of these marketing tactics that cause misinformation to leak out to your average dog owner, that concern me most. Also the trend of some Veterinarians, such as Tuft's own Dr Dodman, who have in the past gone for medicating a dog rather than training a dog. Some of this has reported to have changed at Tufts, but I have had talked personally with at least two owners who did not find their answer in a pill as prescribed. Additionally, there was my own experience before I became a dog trainer, where I was expected to fax in the problem to Dr Dodman for my faxed back medical analysis. I am glad I was intelligent enough not to do that. Not all dog owners are aware of the pitfalls of these practices and the lasting harm that can be done.



This redirecting of the training industries to professionals who do not regularly train dogs to any standard AND do not recognize their own limitations, has increased the lack of knowledge that average people have of dogs and how they learn, in my opinion. Dogs that are studied in laboratory settings are not in real life situations. Theories, while good to know and contemplate, do not account for the flesh and blood living right in front of you. Unfortunately this has caused more and more people to be unaware of how to train and care for a dog. Instead, they expect a dog to be more and more like a stuffed animal, without the will to exercise, explore, and be an active living being.



My Hope: If there is legislation coming to regulate the dog industry, it takes an unexpected and welcome turn. One, it should require all dog trainers to demonstrate, through testing to a standard, their ability to (at the very least) train their own dog to this standard. I think further, that they should be able to train a client and the client's dog to take the test as well.



A multiple choice test of other skills and understanding of methodologies and science can also be given, but the tests for certification as a dog trainer through state or federal law need to include proof of skills. There are organizations out there that do give these sort of tests through Video and live demonstrated ability, I believe they should be included in the legislative plan. The NADOI and IACP both give certifications based on demonstrations of skill. IACP is in the process of revising their video taped test to be taken by dog trainers that will be titled as professional. The NADOI already requires uncut video tape of the demonstration of a trainer's abilities. There is no sane reason, in my opinion, why a professional dog trainer should not be required to submit proof of their actual ability to train. There should be NO EXCUSE as to someone in the field claiming that this is not necessary. If you are a professional dog trainer, you should be able to train a dog, at minimum, in basic obedience in a measurable way.

Behavior modification needs to be based on client satisfaction ratio, I think. It's relative to what the dog was, what the client expected, and is there improvement in both the lives of the dog and the clients. A multiple choice test in behavior theory will not flush out those results, although it may be useful just to be sure the dog professional is aware of these. However, a multiple test on theory is just a memorization exercise. Many times a dog of a different upbringing may give signals that veer from the path of theory to the path of reality.

What is the harm in not expecting professional dog trainers to be able to take a measurable real time test of their skills?

Here are just a few examples of legislation that is currently overtaking the United States by storm, due to poor or sloppy or no training?

Breed Specific Legislation
Limits of Numbers of Dogs that Can Be Owned
Dogs Banned from Public Areas
Leash Laws that Do Not Allow for Any Off Leash Places Outside the House

If professional trainers do not have the skills to train a dog, how will owners be able to train their dogs? Who will they learn from? Distaste for dogs in the non-dog owning public will grow, and these laws will continue to infringe on the rights of the responsible dog owning public.

Here are some other organizations unconcerned about the quality of training a dog and owner may be taught, in my own opinion:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (if you don't know their agenda, you should educate yourself)
Humane Society of the United States (Ditto)
Truly Dog Friendly (wants to direct methods and tools to be used, but does not place any emphasis or reliable training or the rewards of reliable training to both family and dog)
Dogstardaily.com (Ditto, and has many members from the Veterinarian community who have not trained dogs to any standard, as well as the main portion of their trainers that do not believe in training to any standard, of either their own or their clients' dogs)

Friday Blog Fishing

This is my rant for the day, after reading my "favorite" social networking site DogStarDaily.com, and managing not to bash my head against my desk into sweet oblivion. This has been building up for awhile, so these may not refer to recent postings.

Actually, DogStarDaily.com has surprisingly had quite a few posts on the fact that some of the rabid advocates of the "middle of the road" spin off of the "truly dog friendly" phenomenon use aversives.

(TRANSLATION: for most of my audience who doesn't know the politics of dog training. These people pretend to not be extremists while blocking comments, limiting posts, and not allowing answers from their blogger to information the blogger posted about. If you need to hide and control it, there is something there to hide folks!!)

No not aversives, you say (which may include the word no, body molding, or a leash correction)!! Yes, those that have been preaching to the choir, can not honestly say that they don't use aversives. Apparently they just like to in secret, so they can demean others who use methods that largely aren't aversive and compete with them in the market. Or that's my opinion anyway.

In the spirit of venting and serving up my Friday blog fishing in a different way, I am listing these as "there must be something wrong with me, as I don't do the following":

I don't have a "heart dog" as some trainers claim to. All my dogs and pets have been or are my heart dogs or pets. It's like saying you have a favorite child. Huh, that's positively dog freindly? Luckily dogs don't need therapy LOL. Or maybe they do and just can't ask for it!!

I don't accept payment for services before meeting with or talking to the client.

I don't ever wish that I did not have dogs, didn't have children, or wasn't doing what I currently do right now. I'm thinking some of that training some people don't like too much to do, or do well might help this situation.

Being bitten is not all in a days work. I have been bitten once, and deflected on once since starting. Both my fault, of course.

I am unable to train a dog fully around all distractions in two weeks. (It's the same blog as above, sigh)

If I have to hold up a cookie to get a command performance, then I have not trained the command. (It's the same blog as above) heavy sigh

I don't serve dogs or allow them to manipulate everything around them. (I do what is in their best interests to protect them and their freedoms. We have a partnership and both have duties to perform in that partnership.) This has more to do with what makes the human feel good, not in the best interests of the dog and family.

Dogs will obey commands, even when I don't have a treat or toy in my hand (unlike in this photo) once they are trained. A trained dog also does not need corrections. I don't consider a dog trained if I can only get them to perform with treats or corrections.

I am not afraid to give straight answers to questions, not conflicting answers or the run around. Still am very unclear as to what titles or designations her dogs may or may not have beyond CGC, TDI, or Rally titles LOL. And if you look on her blog bio or her website, you will be equally as mystified.

Then try and figure out, does this trainer use aversives or does she not? Hmmm, different answer everywhere you go. Then she says one should "show not tell". Sure saw this trainer doing a lot of telling on the Greatest American Dog, though sadly this trainer did not win. In fact lost to a dog owner. Seems she can't honestly say she doesn't do this just to live with her dogs, she just doesn't want anyone to know this:) Or heaven forbid, correctly try techniques at home that aren't even aversive.

I don't misrepresent training methods that I have supposedly learned by linking them to articles that inappropriately depict them. In my opinion, a person that does this hasn't learned very much about the method, as claimed in the blog. The article even talks about negative reinforcement correctly LOL. Negative simple means to take away, and reinforcement means to increase. It does not need to be aversive or a yummy treat, for the love of DOG. Koelher relies on you showing a dog gently and patiently with many repetitions. Those that don't do their homework and don't understand the method, may do harm to their dog as this blogger seems to be admitting she has.

I don't have promotional pictures of my dogs where they look afraid. Also can be found by scrolling down here.

I have a real problem with allowing dogs to hump other dogs. I would certaintly not leave them at a daycare that allowed this.

I don't put people down or demean them or villify them if they want a well trained dog. I understand that most people want the best in safety and freedom for their dogs, and that's why they do the best obedience training that they can.

I really feel for any of the general public that would give this social website with blogs from such "experts" any credence, whatsoever. The shame is there are some knowledgeable dog trainers on there somewhere, who very infrequently post. The main posters are people with minimal experience dog training, or who won't answer a straight question about their experiences dog training. IMO, this is all about money. Note that the bloggers have their products advertised on this site. Ian Dunbar's products are prominently displayed as well. He is notably well known for creating a huge divide in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, before trying to play both sides of the fence. Unfortunately, the reason he is doing this is not for the dogs, but soley IMO for his own profit. This couple of Ian and Kelly Dunbar can jaunt off to here and there all they want, but IMO they are hurting dogs and the profession of dog training in seeking to dominate the market.

Just my humble opinion of course.

New Celebrity Trainer on Dog Star Daily

Do you remember the Greatest American Dog TV show? There was one trainer on there that continually attacked others for their methods not being as "positive" as hers. Meanwhile, let's be clear, she wasn't competing against all trainers. In fact, she lost to a dog owner!! However, she has apparently had 25 years of experience, and based on a reply to me on her blog on Dogstardaily.com, she is quite arrogant and self righteous.

Dogstardaily.com has allowed their bloggers to go on quite a tear against traditional training methods and tools lately. Since their newest blogger professed to have many years of experience with this, I inquired as to her previous experience with metal training collars. In other words, the actual specifics of how she went to it "back in the day". I was contacted by Kelly Dunbar, and in her e-mail she said that this was off topic to discuss the use of a metal training collar. Meanwhile, as always happens with these folks, it's completely on topic and correct to bash anyone that tries to use them. This particular blog was about the failure of the trainer to listen to the owners of the dog or address their needs beyond telling them "okay let's try as usual" after they let her know their dog was working better for them with the metal training collar.

The usually diplomatic Kelly Dunbar also sent me another e-mail saying that I don't belong at Dogstardaily.com, a publicly promoted website to the public and trainers coming across as the authority of dog training. She claims to only want to promote progressive new ideas, and the other ideas are just old fodder, and there is plenty of places to discuss them. She thinks I have a problem with that. I don't, I have a problem with a site where she admitted to not being the authority of training or behavioral problems, that instead spends a lot of their time bashing other methods. Perhaps that's because they have no real accomplishments to crow about? Perhaps that is because they are unable to speak on the correct way to train with a tool that they are quick to harp on and on and on about how bad it is?

In any case, the nice thing to know is that I do have their attention. And no, I won't just go away, they will have to deal with me at least. As a member of the IACP, Ian Dunbar has not directly violated any code of conduct, but I personally think that he does not deserve a membership in an organization that he clearly does not respect. If that membership is honorary only, it should be pulled IMO, unless or until there is an unfettered voice on that site and the bloggers include people from all walks of dog training, not just the one sided face they are trying to promote.

Do you need your dog trained? Call Mannerly Mutts at 207-361-4395 for your Maine Dog Training needs. Or you can e-mail Maine Dog Trainer, Robin Rubin, at mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com.

Past Present and Future First Dogs

I have been getting requests from professionals in different fields of canine service and retail to join groups pleading with the Obamas to get a rescue dog/puppy. I have been reading blogs or messages on group boards of people who want to be the trainer to the presidents new dog. It's a subject that has the dog world's knickers in a twist. I bet President Elect Obama wishes he had kept the puppy promise to himself already.

As far as the dog or puppy that they adopt, I only hope they choose one that is right for them and their family. This is a long term commitment, and not something to be taken lightly. Everyone needs to be ready to pitch in and be a part of that dog's life. I care mostly that this dog won't end up in rescue (imagine the scandal there) or given to a housekeeper or.... The family shouldn't be pressured into where to get the dog, but only to pick the correct dog for their situation.

I find the rescue situation especially alarming, since some misguided advice is to be sure it's a "pit mix" (note mix by the way) so people can know they can be nice dogs. Of course they are nice dogs!!! However, they need a bit of discipline and training. The wave of keep everything fun for the owner, rather than meet a dog's long term training needs, is what keeps Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) alive and well. Imagine a Pit mix bites the next reporter. The following blog, http://celiasue.wordpress.com/, that I enjoy for dog-friendly travel and marketing advice wants the family to pick a Dalmatian/Pit mix. Not that I am against that, but if that was the breed, I would say find a very qualified trainer who can prepare the pup for public life. Neither is considered a bomb proof personality in a dog. Neither breed is particularly hypoallergenic either, as the President Elect needs.

Next high profile behaviorists or dog trainers want to be the trainer to the President Elect's dog. I can't even imagine the amount of offers that he has most likely received. For a job like this, the trainer (note I didn't say behaviorist) needs to be well versed in obedience and how the ability to perform commands reliably leads to a confident, well adjusted dog, that will be in the public eye. Some of behaviorist Ian Dunbar's fans are calling for his submission to a possible line up of dog trainers. By the posting of his experience in obedience on his blog, http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/major-issue, and the belief that K9 Games will replace this valuable skill in the future, making obedience in either training or competition obsolete, I feel he is quite unqualified for such a position.

It's not that I don't like K9 games idea. I do, in fact it's being used in classes by accomplished trainers, such as Margot Wood, in their weekly group classes. Games of baseball, musical chairs, tic tac toe, are all used as a fun and competitive way to improve their skills in real life.

K9 games seems to focus more on a solitary dog performing in front of a crowd, which has it's place too. But obedience really does prepare, if the obedience trainer wants to prepare, for real life situations when you are very close to strange dogs and strange people for long periods of time.

The children nor President need to compete in obedience, it's important that their trainer is qualified to know what is involved in a public, strange, and busy environment for the dog and from the dog's perspective. JMO Because most behaviorists don't give any credence to the sport of obedience that has been around as the standard for awhile, or quit after qualifying with a CD on their own dog (ie not competing various breeds, and various dogs not owned by them OR training other people to handle their own dogs), they have no idea the beneficial properties that this has to the dog. Therefore, they can not properly instruct a client to more than be sure the human has fun, feed the dog, medicate them, or purely management techniques.

On a less serious and fun note, Time has a pictorial of different first dogs!!

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1830236_1746240,00.html

Review of DogStarDaily.com

Recently an online site created by the Dunbar family (Dr Ian Dunbar) was brought to my attention. It was brought to my attention in the same thread that compared traditional dog training to "war dog training", which I found a concerning phrase. Now, as far as I know, The Monks of New Skete did not specialize or perhaps even deal in the training of "war dogs". Not that I even know what that statement could mean. I believe the poster may have been trying to say working dogs. Dogs in the military have all sorts of jobs that do not require "aggression" or a "hard dog nature" as implied. However, I found this "war dog" idea as a pretty standard thread of DogStarDaily.com. I should disclose that I am not an actual fan of The Monks of New Skete, at least how their older manual existed.

Bill Koehler, while having been in the military, became famous due to a series of training books aimed at group lessons for pet dogs (through the AKC obedience tests that were out there) , tracking dogs, and hunting dogs. While they may not be heavy on the treats, they are all about praise and partnership with the appropriate tools. In fact, before going to Margot Wood's seminar on her Bedrock Training Method which is an offshoot of what she learned on her own and from Bill Koehler, the metal training collar (also known as the choke collar) was not my tool of choice at all. Seeing it in this method, I realized how easily it was applied to train a dog to be on no equipment at all, and not with "heavy handed" corrections. It was a huge part of accomplishing a successful goal this year of getting Jack his Companion Dog title. Mr Koehler was very well known in the movie and commercial side of dog training as well. In his books, I don't see methods talked about that advocate the breaking down of a dog so the "stronger rise and the weaker fail".

That being said, are there some parts of his book that I don't use? Yes, some of the suggestions that are separate from the methods of dealing with "real hoods", I don't use. First of all some of the "real hoods" are probably dogs that don't belong in your average dog owners home. I say this having worked with dogs that have or are capable of biting a human or animal. I say this also having rehabbed them from wanting to do this as any sort of common occurrence. So I am not saying that dogs can not be rehabbed, especially from behavioral problems that have cropped up due to misunderstanding the needs of their dog for direction, leadership, and discipline (remember a time out in a crate can be discipline, and saying no can be discipline, as can restraint by leash and collar).

Second of all, I have never met a dog with a housebreaking or barking issue that wasn't fairly easily solved with regular old training or medical attention. 95% of his books, however, I do use. I see no reason for throwing out a perfectly extraordinary way of training my dogs for a couple of items that I have never seen fit to use with a dog and aren't even part of the "method". It was a different time, and he was the grandfather of an amazing dog training method. I would love to ask Mr Koehler about some of his recommendations, but he has been dead for sometime. There are a handful of people that trained with him or took his classes that may be able to answer some questions or speculate on what he would change now, if anything.

There are always things in dog training that we can take or leave as we see fit. However, the sect of people calling this "war dog" training has just found another argument that is too general to possibly be disputed. Some techniques that are used with dogs, are used with humans in these arguments. When relevant points, written evidence, and facts are logically discussed, what happens is the use of "extinction" (common purely positive technique in if you ignore it, it will go away) comes into play. If we ignore them long enough, they will go away. It's somewhat insulting when these are used on the human parties involved, especially since it's gloated so much about in certain circles. "War Dog training" was a new excuse to me as to why not use "traditional training", as "science" was the old one. It's a general term used to be way more important than it actually is. Science, as it turns out, is the observation that dogs like food as payment. It is also the more important facial expressions on dogs and body language. However, the thing it is not, is a total dog training program for every temperament of dog!! Canines still remain individuals regardless about what are theories are of "how things should run".

The other tactic that is used is to suppress information and make sure everyone allowed in spews the same lines. Look up "traditional training" on the Dogstardaily.com site. Go on, find out if I am lying there, and be sure to read beyond the first paragraph. I have let the Dunbar family know of my disdain for calling traditional training the "darkside". Kelly Gorman Dunbar offered the following in her e-mail "I am going to change any old verbiage that is negative or inflammatory. That is not where I want to take the site." The unfortunate thing, is that's going to be well over fifty percent of the articles that are on there, and the site has already been taken in that direction. Also, the question of how this recently developed site, allowed all these old and negative articles to get on there? There are plenty of new blog postings with the same mantra going on. You need to be an approved author to blog, though not comment. Your comments are however monitored, and this has been a frequent theme in the more fanatical movement that strove to take over the APDT.

When I expressed my concern over new dog owners finding this site with very simplistic information, Kelly Gorman Dunbar offered the following "Ian's big focus is the prevention of behavior problems and early puppy training. That is how he thinks dog behavior problems can be resolved, by teaching people to prevent them". Well that would be all very well and good, if this was disclosed or promoted anywhere on this site in any way. As she disclosed to me in her e-mail "This is a starter resource and we" (believe she meant do not here) "promote working with trainers for anything other than the basics." Which is a good thing, as the accomplishments or graduating class photos of some of the esteemed bloggers there are not too impressive.

It's as likely that an adopter of a rescued adult or someone that did not bring puppy up exactly right in the first place, may very well be the visitor to this site. It's promoted as being the best minds in the industry, and there is no doubt that it's all advice slanted towards one direction and in one discipline. This is why I am so careful as to point people interested in this field towards the open minded trainers. Such organizations are able to speak on the strengths and weaknesses of any method, and through the actual experience of dog training. They also have alliances with people in the biology and behavioral science arena, that may be able to understand that there are limitations to a persons' knowledge, even if they are possessed with a Phd.

Now that being said, I have always maintained that someone who was a merger of the two (training in a measurable way, and not just beginning Novice type stuff) would really be top notch. However organizations and people that instill shame and fear, instead of references and help for dog problems that may be easily solved using another method or tactic.

I could say a lot more here about touching a dog and dog training, and how important touch is to dog training. No I did not say smack or even correct. Touching, shaping, and molding are not domination exercises, but socialization exercises and letting the dog know they can trust you. There is nothing wrong with correctly handling your dog. Nor is there anything wrong with saying the word "No". Dog is about to get into the face of an older dog trying to sleep "No", may distract the dog an avoid an incident. Or perhaps you let the older dog do that, as he is likely too, if you can trust that no over reaction will occur. There is nothing wrong with saying no. This is where this movement becomes so darned dangerous. Now something simple is considered "dominance", "extreme war dog training", and words like tradition that meant practices of a long time are re-termed to indicate "smacking", "helicoptering", or "violence". Excuses are made later that "oh, we weren't talking about you, we were talking about the general "them".

Additionally, if your dog works happily without treats, why would you want to train him to work only for treats? If you don't need to bribe your dog to want to be with you, I don't see why this would be a requirement in dog training. The "Food Critic" article on DogStarDaily.com seems to be suggesting (beyond that traditional is the dark side") to treat your dog at any cost.

At a later time, I will talk about the movement of "pet dog trainer" vs "dog trainer". You can see it in the professional titles of two professional organizations "Association of Pet Dog Trainers" and "International Association of Canine Professionals". How did this come about, and what was the disconnect here? It will be a very interesting article on how the dog training profession views dog owners, and how this effects the philosophies involved!!

Dr Ian Dunbar has a long history with the "Association of Pet Dog Trainers" and it is believed that his business model is part of what started the disconnect amongst philosophies. I believe there are a couple of articles out there or videos in which he may express his regret at this. He has become an professional member of the "International Association of Canine Professionals" which is home to many traditional dog trainers. In my opinion, he is a shining example of someone trying to get it both ways, and hurting animals, people, and organizations in a perhaps unexpected way in the process.

Dog training is a method that improves the relationship, and does not only address a symptom. If you do this the right way, your dog will "wag more and bark less":)

Got a behaviorally challenged pup or adult dog. Call Mannerly Mutts at 207-361-4395 or e-mail mannerly_mutt@yahoo.com.