I was attracted to adding a dog photo here but I know that in doing so it will illicit an automatic response in anyone reading this article. I can impact your initial emotion with this blog by creating a more "catchy" headline and adding one of the thousands of adorable dog photos that I have so you feel good coming into this reading. I could also add a video of a dog biting a child and a much different emotion will be brought up before you read the first words on this blog. I will add a photo of myself with a dog but keep in mind I am choosing a photo that I feel highlights a wonderful relationship I have with a dog that is very special to me. There are photos of me struggling with dogs, dirty from a full day of work, snuggling with adorable puppies, rescuing dogs in terrible shape, and all of these would create a different initial impression of me towards you.
To begin all of the information I provide in these blogs or articles which will hopefully become a text to help build a better foundation for our relationship with dogs. While there will be images and videos added in some areas I will be trying to limit this as I would like the information provided to be as unbiased as possible as I utilize many types of training techniques and philosophies.
There will be biased information however because I am biased in my desire for us to have strong and valuable relationships with our dogs and for us to have honor and respect for those dogs. There is very rarely any information available that has zero biased pull and that must be understood by the reader or viewer.
My background dedicated to understanding dogs gives me credibility. I began my career dog sitting as a kid. As soon as I turned 16 and was legally allowed to I began working as a veterinary assistant. Enjoying helping heal dogs and keep them healthy led to my journey to Murray State University and earning my Bachelor degree majoring in Animal Health Technology. I graduated with honors and earned senior of the year in my program.
During my years at Murray State I volunteered with the Calloway County Humane Society and earned their humane youth of the year award. My volunteer work changed my direction from veterinary medicine to rescue work and training.
The catalyst was the rescue of a very sick 5 week old puppy named Tucker. He was an AKC STAR Puppy. After earning that title and going with me to classes, receiving the best socialization I was able to provide Tucker began to exhibit very aggressive behavior towards other dogs and people.
It took years of working against Tucker's nature trying to force a positive only style of training to fix these dangerous behaviors. Looking back I know that Tucker needed a strong leader and I was not who he needed me to be in our relationship. He compensated for this with very defensive behavior. While Tucker's level of obedience grew his behavior did not improve. I could walk him without pulling on leash but not without the growling and "stay away" attitude. I was NOT helping him despite daily 5 mile bike rides, food puzzles, slow desensitization, constant obedience training, and I was told to put him down because he was dangerous if i was not there to tell him what to do.
We worked first with a force free/positive reinforcement only training. Walked out on a purely aversive trainer who wanted to punish Tucker for the growling. This one session increased his distrust of strangers. I met a trainer in Ohio that wanted Tucker to stay with him for several weeks, which I was thankfully not willing to do. At a loss I knew if we didn't find help euthanasia was looking to be the only way to keep Tucker and everyone else safe from a dangerous bite. Never during any of this trainer did Tucker ever growl at me or my husband. I could trim his nails, brush him, handle him for blood draws, vaccines, take food and toys away, we had a very close bond, so close he didn't want anyone other than my husband a few close friends near me. I even trained him to wear a basket muzzle, head halters, and no pull harnesses.
My dog training career began when I met Bob Dover of Kentuckiana K9. Our first meeting we left Tucker in the car to share his background and the problems we were having. After a good chat Bob asked me to bring Tucker out of the car and NOT correct him for growling. We practiced Tucker's obedience behaviors, focus, heel, sit, down, stay, recall, and engagement with play.
After a few minutes of this Tucker was in a down stay in the heel position and I remember Bob asking me "So what's wrong with him? He is focused on you and follows every cue you give him." Tucker held the down stay all while tracking Bob with his eyes and occasionally growling. I told Bob that if he stayed aggressive like this I was going to likely have to put him down.
Our second exercise to demonstrate was to stand backed into a corner between a few storage units. Bob told me he was going to play as a bad guy, threaten me, and my goal was to hold onto Tucker's leash on a flat collar and encourage Tucker to keep Bob from coming over to hurt me. I also wasn't allowed to issues any obedience cues, only reward Tucker for trying to keep me safe. When Bob came into sight his body language was forward and aggressive. He yelled, cracked a whip stick, and challenged Tucker who was at the end of his leash giving his best to scare Bob off. But Bob kept coming for me/Tucker. I told Tucker he was being a good boy, patted his rear, and the fear was real (although my fear was that Tucker was going to seriously hurt Bob).
Bob put on a bite sleeve, this was my first time every seeing one in person. He got close enough for Tucker to bite him and boy did Tucker every grab that bite sleeve. Took is right off of Bob's arm, dropped the sleeve, and continued to growl and lunge at Bob. The exercise ended and Bob told me what I had was an incredible dog with a strong and natural drive to protect. Tucker pulled against the leash, lunged, growled, barked, and never showed any desire to flee, shut down, or run away. He kept Bob in sight and refused to let him near me during the exercise.
Before we left Bob was able to stand right next to us (plenty of leash for Tucker to bite him if needed). Bob became a sparing partner. We worked the obedience Tucker needed, nothing fancy, and taught an "on/off" switch for the protection.
Tucker's aggression was not the problem, it was my perception of Tucker's aggression. We did a few sessions to put Tucker's aggression 'on' and 'off'. Letting Tucker know when it was good to be protective and when he wasn't allowed to be. Tucker was 2 years old when I learned to focus on the dog in front of me. No more meals skipped to force Tucker to be hungry enough to work, no daily 5 mile bike rides to get his as exhausted as possible, and adding training tools to help put me in the lead and let Tucker know if aggression was warranted we would work that as a team. He enrolled in group classes to practice his natural defensive behavior.
Tucker and I would go on to earn the AKC CGC, Rally Novice, AKC CD (also earning high in trial that weekend!), and dabbled in dock diving, lure coursing, and detection work. I was able to become the confident leader that Tucker needed me to be for our relationship to be at its best. Tucker became my working dog, helping me train other clients, demonstrate behaviors, have fun, and keep me safe on my travels. I rarely went anywhere without him and when it was time to retire he spent his last couple years with my brother and his family.
What type of dog trainer am I? There are so many, balanced, force free, positive only, e-collar, coach, behaviorist, master trainer, LIMA, cynopraxis, NePoPo, and many more. If I was to try to label my dog training I would say I'm a holistic dog trainer. I work the dog in front of me, listen to the needs of the dog's handler or family, and cut any nonsense.
If I were to attempt to label my training style I would say that I am a holistic dog training. Train the dog in front of me, meet realistic expectations for the owners, and not waste time training behaviors that aren't necessary to meet the training goals.
To further my education in training I earned a certificate as a dog obedience trainer and instructor (DOT/I) from Penn Foster. Then completed Michael Ellis's Principles of Dog Training 1. As someone who loves to learn I followed those up by earning a Master of Science in Human-Canine Life Sciences from Bergin University of Canine Studies.
For companion dogs there are typically the same needs across the board. Ability to walk the dog without pulling, reactivity, and make walks enjoyable. House manners, meaning the dog is not counter surfing, being reactive at doorways, and able to "settle" in the house even if guests are visiting. At the top is wanting the dog to recall or come when called regardless of distractions, which is a big safety.
This leads me to focus on a few items for the dog. How to focus on their owner under distractions. Focus is everything, if the dog does not focus on their owner how are they going to be able to follow cues that are taught? Once we establish good focus and engagement between the dog and owner everything else comes fairly easily. Focus is the gateway to a solid recall which we begin working on very early.
We then teach no pulling on leash and this sometimes is helped with different training tools. At the same time inside we work on a "go to bed" or "go lay down" cue. This puts the dog into a relaxed down-stay either on the floor or on a dog bed or crate. A strong "sit" allows for easy stops on walks, polite behavior when meeting new people (if the dog is comfortable with people).
All of the training is done using motivators that make sense to the dog I am working. This can range from reinforcement using praise, petting, playing with a toy, treats, head halters, prong collars, e-collars, slip leads, or harnesses. All of these tools are based on the dog's needs to accomplish the goals for the family or owner. Like people dogs have different learning styles and different needs for training aids.
I do not force a dog into a single philosophy. Training equipment used to correct a dog is just as important as equipment used to reinforce appropriate behaviors. Think of a coach teaching a sport to someone who has never played it before. The coach being able to lead the player to the right direction for success. Setting the dog and owner's up for success is very important. If every training lesson is too stressful we won't make progress, there is a balance to building stress levels only as high as the dog is able to be successful during that session. Some days that means there will be steps backwards and re-evaluating our techniques.
Speed is another item of focus for me. The faster we are able to train the dog to meet the goals the faster we will reduce stress and complications causing the behavior challenges are home. This includes stress not only for the dog but also for the dog's family. This is not the same things as rushing the training process. The speed for training comes from understanding what the dog needs to learn the behavior to a high level and the ability to adapt the right reinforcers for training to be successful.
To start off it is important to remember what a dog is. It is estimated that dogs began to live with humans and domestic around 30,000 years ago. This means we have a long history with our canine companions. Dogs are closely related but not necessarily directly domesticated from the grey wolf. Wolves, coyotes, and dogs are able to reproduce together making wolves and coyotes very closely genetically to our domestic dog. In addition dogs can become feral or survive without close relationships with people and these dogs are able to adapt to a more "wild" lifestyle.
Dogs are a predatory animal. This means that we can have a natural fear of them, especially dogs with wolf like characteristics such as pointy ears and a dark face. This is the reason why German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dobermans, and similar breeds are selected for military, police, and protection work. All dogs have dentition (teeth) similar to wolves and coyotes. Selective breeding has led to "softer" looking dogs such as the Labrador Retriever, Beagle, and other floppy eared and lighter colored coat breeds.
Remembering that dogs are predators is important because even small breeds of dogs can bite and inflict injury. While dogs can be very social, not every dog is going to get along with other dogs, animals, or people.
Proper breeding, early socialization, and early training are critical to helping a young puppy grow up to be social and with a low level of aggression or fear. Dogs with unknown breeding and training from a young age are at a higher risk for problematic behaviors that may not be suited for a person's typical lifestyle. Proper breeding is important for us to be able to retain the values necessary in different breeds. This does not mean that rescue dogs or dogs with unknown backgrounds are not friendly but they may lack appropriate social behaviors with other animals or people. Rescue dogs are most commonly surrendered due to behavioral issues. Be prepared to seek help with addressing any behavioral concerns.
(more to come)
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