BARKS from the Guild Summer 2012

Barks From The Guild Vol. 1, No. 2

June 2012

Is Fido a fraidy Dog?Is Fido a fraidy Dog?Is Fido a fraidy Dog? Dont Miss this Issue!Dont Miss this Issue!Dont Miss this Issue!

The Pet Professional Guild No Pain, Lots To Gain. Relationship-Building Between Pets and People.

(An environmentally force-free online magazine)

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Message from the Founder

The Pet Professional Guilds Organizational Development and Culture

As Founder and President of the Guild, the one role that I consider to be my ultimate re-sponsibility is our key strategic direction the direction for our future, our purpose and our am-bitions. Setting our organiza-tional strategy is very important as it identifies our purpose. This strategy lays down our action plans and how we will achieve

them.

The success and sustainability of our organization will be determined by how successfully we implement, manage and control our strategic direction. This is not just a role for the organizations leadership, but also a key role of each of our members. Each and every one of us is a stakeholder in PPG. We each joined to align ourselves as a group, to cre-ate a platform and voice for our individual and group training beliefs and philosophies in order to help us all succeed within our micro-business environments. We succeed in terms of positively impacting the lives of pets and their own-ers alike.

As an organization we need to remain stable during our growth. Stability is not to be interpreted as stagnation. We must consistently be looking at how we communicate our message, how we service the needs of our members and how we manage our culture as we develop and implement our goals. Several studies have documented that the most frequently-cited reason for an organization to fail is neglect of the organizations culture while focusing on the organiza-tions growth (Gross, Pascale, & Athos 1993).

The Guild Culture

The first document we established before the Guild even became a reality was the organizations Guiding Principles. This was not a small endeavor and these guiding principles underwent many edits and reviews. When the wording was complete and they were free of grammatical errors, I asked myself the following questions:

Do they encourage collaboration and do they place a (Continued on page 6)

Our key business purpose is to initiate a serious effort for the education of pet care providers and the public coupled with an emphasis on building collaboration among force-free pet

trainers and professional pet-care providers. We aim to publicize our voice for the profes-sion that advocates for mutually-agreed guiding principles for the pet care industry.

IN THIS ISSUE

Fear & Anxiety: When Medication Can Help Build BridgesB. Jordan

Play Date ChecklistOrr & Lewin PPG Best Practices & StandardsD. Milikan

Application of Force-free in SheltersB. Mattei-Miller Behavior Change Procedure for Dogs with Separation

DistressN. Tudge A Tale of PatienceN. Tudge

Canine Emotional Detox - D. Garrod Canine Thunder PhobiaJ. Visconti

Columns Founders MessageN. Tudge Book ReviewB. Mattei-Miller

Free Member Educational Resources Member Bragscontributed

Ask LeahLeah Roberts International Newscontributed

Member ProfileA. Steinker Product ReviewR. Ingram

The Guild Steering Committee Niki Tudge

Catherine Zehner Diane Garrod

Angelica Steinker Leonard Cecil Leah Roberts

Anne Springer

Contact The PPG Member Communication

[email protected]

Publication Information [email protected]

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[email protected]

International Communication [email protected]

Mailing Address

P.O Box Oxford, MS, 38655

Telephone 41 Dog-Train www.PetProfessionalGuild.com

Newsletter EditorC. Zehner

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Bethany Jordan, CDT, CVT, CPDT-KA The DogSmith Copyright 2012

Fear is a response to an experience. How is it that an experience can alter a dogs world, filling it with terror significant enough to affect learning ability and confidence? Ultimately, it is the brain that processes and internalizes learning and traumatic experiences. It is the brain that mediates all cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. It is the brain that initiates the body to act in times of fight or flight to survive when faced with threatening situations. It is within this brain that lies the canine; and within that our companion, family member, and friend. Understanding the function of chemical processes within the canine brain and brain-mediated responses to threat provide the key to understanding the fearful dog and how we can assist the brain to facilitate a positive learning experience.

Anxiety is a condition which commonly accompanies fear or may exist alone in a generalized or contextual state. Even though they commonly coexist within many conditioned emotional responses, it is important to differentiate between the two: fear is a normal response to realistic and imminent danger,1 and anxiety is not linked to an objec-tive source of danger and is more future-oriented.1 In other words, anxiety is the anticipation of danger or lack of reward2 and includes such feelings as apprehension, nervousness, and tension.3 Many dogs that suffer from fears and phobias also experience high levels of anxiety that can lead to excessive worry, strong somatic and physiol-ogic signs of arousal and increased vigilance,4 ultimately prohibiting them from exploring new environments or of-fering new behaviors.

As professionals, we can interpret a dogs body language to decipher a fearful situation. From the outside we look at the position of the ears and tail, body posture, and other fear or distance-increasing signals. This emotional re-sponse is referred to as respondent or classical conditioning and is a mechanism by which the dog can learn to predict events in the environment.3 An important development in learning theory literature within the last decade is the acknowledgement that conditioning is not a low-level reflexive stimulus-response process, but a highly com-plex cognitive operation.4 Such conditioned emotional responses are best altered through a detailed program in-cluding systematic desensitization and counter-conditioning, however; complex processes in the brain can have a paralyzing affect on even the most well-structured program. Therefore, the question remains as to why a behavior change program alone cannot always achieve the desired goal.

Carried out by chemicals, the brain utilizes two main systems to constantly change focus either to maintain normal balance or assist the body in times of significant stress. The first system is the autonomic nervous system, which functions to divert blood flow from non-essential areas to provide the muscles of escape or fight with much needed nutrients and oxygen during times of stress.5 The autonomic system also returns the body back to normal chemical balance after the stressor is gone. With the second system, a specific stressor can trigger neuroendocrine adjust-ments of the brain by activation of hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands (HPA axis), resulting in the release of chemicals such as cortisol and adrenalin5 which allow the body to function the most efficiently to either escape an attack or confront the attacker. The brain is not without limitations, however; in times of extreme stress, the brain will shut off all upper centers of reasoning and cognition and activate areas which allow for hearing, sight, mobility, and balance. In short, when in times of extreme stress, no learning can take place because the brain will disengage learning centers to allow for more efficient fight or flight.

In situations such as phobias, the HPA axis will engage rapidly, greatly compromising any chance of countercondi-tioning. According to David Appleby, a phobia occurs when fear is not extinguished, but remains at the same high level even though the conditioned stimulus is never again paired with the noxious unconditioned stimulus. 2 In cases of phobia, a single trial learning experience has left such an impact on the dog that the HPA axis will engage immediately with the next predictable cue of the same stimulus instantly placing the brain in a state of crisis for survival. For the phobic dog, or one who has extreme levels of fear or anxiety to early predictors of the stimulus, it can be almost impossible to build a more positive association when the brain immediately shifts into survival mode. Using the right medication at the right time for the right situation can help build a bridge to a happier, more

(Continued on page 10)

Fear and Anxiety: When Medication Can Help Build Bridges

From a Medical Perspective ...

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By Joan Orr & Teresa Lewin

When a child wants to go to at a friend's house, a re-sponsible parent asks some basic questions. For exam-ple: will a parent be home? Does the family have a pool? Is the yard fenced? Rarely does it occur to a par-ent to ask if the family has a dog and, if so, what steps will be taken to ensure that there are no incidents.

Doggone Safe recommends that parents visit the home of the family that their child wants to visit to meet the parents and the dog. We have created a checklist of situations to help parents judge whether it seems safe to leave their child at a home with a dog. We encourage trainers to copy this list and hand it out.

Red Light Criteria (do not leave your child to play at this house): Dog is chained or tied up or there is evidence that

dog is kept tied up; Dog seems uncared for; house smells like urine or

feces; Dog comes to the door barking and growling and

continues even after owner answers the door; Owner is rough with the dog, yelling, hitting or grab-

bing it by the collar to get it to comply; Dog seems afraid of owner or ignores the owner's

attempts to control it; Dog is a kept as a guard dog. Yellow Light Criteria (leave your child only if the dog will be crated or locked away the entire time): Dog comes to the door barking and/or growling, but

stops when told to do so and seems friendly when the owner answers the door;

Dog insists on getting between you and the owners child;

Dog is overly-excited and races about or jumps all over you and your child;

Your child is afraid of the dog; Dog holds his tail up in the air and wags it slowly or

not at all; Dog wags his tail low to ground or between his legs; Dog seems fearful and hides, retreats from you or

barks at you; There are multiple dogs. Green Light Criteria (leave your child if supervision will be adequate):

Dog is on a loose leash, in a crate or in a sit/stay or

down/stay when the owner answers the door;

Dog greets you in a calm and friendly manner with wagging tail when the owner gives permission;

Dog obeys the owner and the owner rewards this;

The dog owner agrees to supervise all interactions with the dog. The Rules for Other Peoples Dogs You should take the time to teach your children the rules for approaching strange dogs and interact-ing with other peoples dogs: No hugs and kisses; Dont take anything

from the dog, or ap-proach him while he is eating, chewing some-thing or resting;

Interact with the dog only if the parent is present;

Be a Tree and stand still if the dog is too frisky, seems threatening or otherwise causes concern;

Call home if you are worried. See Teresa's safety rules for more info at www.doggonesafe.com

Joan Orr and Teresa Lewin are the co-founders of non-profit Doggone Safe and co-creators of the award win-ning Be a Tree teacher kit, Doggone Crazy! board game and Clicker Puppy training DVD. Joan and Teresa have lectured and written extensively on the topics of dog body language and child safety around dogs. They are known for their work with clicker training and TAGteach and have co-authored the book, Getting Started Click-ing with Your Rabbit. Their websites are www.doggonecrazy.ca, www.doggonesafe.com, www.clickerbunny.com and www.tagteach.com.

Safety Protocols; A Play Date Checklist

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A Difficult Dog: The Joy and Journey of Rehabilitating a Dog with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Pica, Separation Anxiety, Noise Sensitivity and Aggression By Maren Jensen, Ph.D. and Angelica Steinker, M.Ed., CDBC, PDBC Rumble was a normal puppy. He investigated, pounced and loved all. Rum, as he is affectionately known, socialized with confidence and happiness, starting at nine weeks. He learned how to learn playing games. Maren, his owner, is a dog trainer and dog sport coach. Everything seemed on track for Rum to make a spectacular entrance into the dog sport world...

Six Months

Sexual maturity can be the onset for genetic mental illness in dogs, although the data on this is unclear because of early spaying and neutering. At six months Rum began showing stress when puppies approached him, but his love of people continued. During a routine nail trim, Rum attempted to bite Maren in the face. Previous nail trimmings had been done with food and many small approximations. There was no history that could explain this sudden shift in behavior. As is appropriate with most aggression, Maren remained calm and did not move away Maren wanted to avoid Rum learning that aggression works (please not that only a professional should take this kind of a chance as there is risk of being bitten with this strategy). Another problem appeared at Rumbles third vet visit when he showed stress during handling. During previous visits he had been very happy.

Soon Rum was biting Maren when she was handling him and his feet. Maren was bitten numerous times on her arms and legs. Most bites were nips, but occasionally he used his full mouth. Avoiding triggers of biting would have been ideal, but new sensitivities were cropping up quickly, making it impossible for us to anticipate all triggers.

Within a month of the aggressive nail trimming event, Rumbles issues generalized to include other dogs, including dogs he had grown up with. His aggression during nail trimming and vet visits escalated. Maren temporarily stopped trimming his nails. Soon any handling of Rum became a source of stress. Touching any part of his body triggered displacement behaviors and Marens cuddly affectionate puppy could not be touched.

When modifying aggression, is important to teach a dog to relax, this is done with slow, calm petting or massage. In Rumbles current state, this was impossible. Maren began a very rough scratching type of massage on his face and then gradually built up to his head and neck. This was the only touch that Rum enjoyed. After months of massaging, she was able to touch Rumble all over again and this quickly generalized to all familiar people.

Sensory Integration Disorder

In humans there is a new disorder that is being called sensory integration disorder. Children affected by this dis-order show touch sensitivity, have high pain tolerance and they may be unable to respond to certain sensory infor-mation. This leads to an inability to plan and organize sen-sory information and what needs to be done in an appro-priate and automatic manner which in turn may cause fright, flight and fight or withdrawal responses. Rum had high pain tolerance, fight and withdrawal responses. Play-ing at home, he would slam hard into the walls and never flinch or yelp. Doing agility he would fall off of obstacles and never bat an eye, even when he was visibly injured. Rum shattered one of his puppy canine teeth, requiring the vet to pull numerous pieces out from within the gum line, but Rum was still tugging like a maniac and eating. It seemed that he did not process the feeling of pain normally. Treatments for sensory integration disorder are similar to dog agility training, in addition Maren added balance exercises intended to help integrate senses.

Athleticism

Parenting a dog with multiple mental health issues is particularly challenging when he is born to run all day. Com-(Continued on page 20)

Behavioral Modification A Case Study

As a puppy Rumble occasionally showed some mild stress but nothing that would prepare us for what was to come.

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high priority on developing and maintaining pro-fessional and productive relationships?

Will they help us avoid organizational conflicts? Do they encourage us to work towards perfection

and are they relevant and necessary to our pur-pose?

Can we self-actualize and is it possible for us to operate at this level and in accordance with these principles?

Do they identify key standards of conduct for our membership and leaders?

Are they supportive of our pets welfare and well-being?

Will they have a cohesive effect on those that choose to join us?

Will they help engage, educate and unite pet pro-fessionals advocating for the use of humane and effective training and pet care procedures?

And last but not least, are they innovative and do they set performance standards for the member-ship unlike any other professional organization?

Our Guiding Principles define our values and norms and they form the basis of our corporate culture. They are our code of conduct our due North, our compass setting. The culture of our organization af-fects everything the organization touches. It impacts

each of our members, it shapes member morale and well-being, and it will ultimately determine how effec-tive we are in achieving our goals and advocating for our mission.

The Guilds Key Charter

The Guild key charter states:

1. By combining and coordinating our knowledge, efforts, skills, talents and passions to pursue a common purpose, we can accomplish far more together than any one of us could possibly ac-complish alone;

2. The Pet Professional Guild was founded on a commitment to provide educational resources to pet industry professionals and the pet-owning public while emphasizing our collaboration of force-free pet trainers and pet care providers;

3. We aim to publicize our voice for the profession, advocating for mutually-agreed guiding principles for the pet care industry. Pet Professional Guild members and affiliates focus on a pets physical, mental, environmental and nutritional well-being, a holistic approach to the care and training of family pets.

To ensure we can fully implement our charter and work within the guidelines of our Guiding Principles, I am challenging each of us to help shape and mold our culture. We all need to focus upon:

(FOUNDER, continued from page 2)


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The PPG - Pet First Aid Certification Program

Date: Thursday, July 26, 2012

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (CDT)

Location: Internet webinar

Dog Park Etiquette & Safety. Learn About Dog-Dog Play by Carol Byrnes

Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2012

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (PDT)


The PPG - Pet First Aid Certification Program

Date: Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 (CDT)

11:30 AM1:30 PM


A Recipe for Behavior Modification Success: Be-havior change for dangerous problems using ante-cedent control by Angelica Steinker

When: Friday, September 07, 2012

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EDT)


What is Ethical and Humane Training? Grisha Stewart

When : Thursday, September 13, 2012

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (PDT)

Location : Internet webinar

Free Member Educational Resources Here is a great (and free) YouTube series discussing different aspects of learning theory done by Sophia Yap of Singapore.

Sophia Yap majored in psychology, piquing her interest in animal learning and behavior and prompting her to question, How do animals learn? What are some envi-ronmental factors that help animals to learn better? She found these questions and the experiments con-ducted to answer them fascinating, with enormous real-world implications and applications. She keeps contin-ues to follow the science of ethology and the neurosci-ence of learning. At present, she is working as a high school teacher where she finds practical application of learning theory helpful in teaching humans, too.

1. Learning and Behavior: Introduction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJpb6f2MzQ0

2. Fixed Action Patterns - How to test? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BklqnfLgb8U

3. Behavioral Genetics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amigdPlJJTw

4. Habituation and Sensitization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gWxImqiGx0

5. Classical Conditioning I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUWh4ObY-2o

6. Classical Conditioning II: Temporal Contiguity is not Enough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGt4Aa_NAy8

7. Rescorla-Wagner Model and Dopamine Jackpot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC4V8dJxGRw

8.How to teach children to read and can humming-birds time? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leOhyCX2zCE

9. Do Animals Have Temporal Maps? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ0Sfov8hBU

10. Operant Conditioning I: The 4 Quadrants http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXOdX8ooxLw

11. Operant Conditioning II: Shaping and Schedules of Reinforcement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juK1mAeFYRc

12. How Punishment Works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f77lDaAsoQ

Upcoming PPG Member Educational Programs

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Defining, Determining and Maintaining Best Practices within Our Force Free Organization. By Debra Milikan, Dip.ABST, Dip.DTBC, PABC

The question of how one defines determines and maintains best practices is one that troubles in-dividuals, organizations and pro-fessions alike. In the fledgling, unregulated industry of animal training, the Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has worked in con-junction with James OHeare (President of the Companion Ani-mal Sciences Institute and Direc-tor of the Association of Animal Behaviour Professionals) to de-liver to its members a guided de-livery system for best practice.

Definitions of best practice vary with information sought. Some definitions are purely result-driven;

Methods and techniques that have consistently shown results superior to those achieved with other means and which are used as benchmarks to strive for,1

whilst others take a wider view of the subject, believing the defini-tion is, a process, method, tech-nique or activity that conventional wisdom considers to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other tech-nique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular con-dition or circumstance. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications ... A given best practice is only applicable to par-ticular condition or circumstance and may have to be modified or adapted for similar circum-stances. In addition, a best practice can evolve to become better as improvements are dis-covered.2

The particular condition or circumstance to which animal trainers desire to establish best practice is training ani-mals thus modifying their behavior. Friedman3 suggests that a standard needs to be set to determine procedures for behavioural change. She states, without such a standard, we are likely to intervene on the basis of effectiveness

PPG Standards and Best Practices

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alone, without due consid-eration of humaneness. To be maximally humane, our interventions should be as un-intrusive for the learner as possible and still be ef-fective.3

Carter & Wheeler4 cite Al-berto and Troutmans four-level intervention hierarchy where Level l interventions such as differential positive reinforcement schedules are considered to be the most socially-acceptable while maintaining the high-est amount of counter con-trol for the participant (i.e., least intrusive).4 This hier-archy proceeds to Level II which includes extinction procedures which involve terminating reinforcement that was previously avail-able to the student.4 Level III interventions include time-out procedures (denying a student the opportunity to receive reinforcement for a fixed period of time4) and response-cost procedures (removing specific amounts of reinforcement contingent on problem behavior4). Level IV, the most intrusive of the levels, includes un-conditioned aversive stim-uli, presentation of stimuli which causes pain, condi-tioned aversive stimuli and overcorrection procedures.

Friedman3 agrees with Carter and Wheeler4 that social acceptability is an important component of compliance with an inter-vention and also that the degree to which the learner maintains control while the intervention is in effect3 is

of importance. She believes that considering the continuum of learner control is essential to developing a standard of humane, effective practice.3 She goes on to say that research demonstrates that to the greatest extent possible all animals should be empowered to use their behavior to control significant events in their lives, i.e. to use their be-


...Least Intrusive Effective Behavior Intervention (LIEBI) OHeare, J. (2012). The least intrusive effective behavior intervention (LIEBI) al-gorithm and levels of intrusiveness table: 2012 updated version. Association of

Animal Behavior Professionals.

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well-balanced companion.

Psychopharmacology assists the brain and therefore the canine in two main ways: specific medications known as anxiolytics can assist with anxiety by elevating the threshold for reactivity to early cues or predictors, and antidepressants can provide a long-term feeling of resil-ience, flexibility, and over all wellbeing.6 By incorporat-ing one or both types of medications in the right situa-tion the fearful dog can begin to learn more positive as-sociations to the stimulus while building confidence to explore their environment and offer new behaviors, which is vital to a successful behavior change program.

The most common anxiolytics used in canine behavior belong to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, and includes such medications as diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), and clonazepam (Klonopin).7 GABA is a neurotransmitter in the brain that functions to control spontaneous nerve firing. Benzodiazepines func-tion to make GABA more efficient, resulting in an eleva-tion of threshold by decreasing impulse nerve firing or the instantaneous startle response.2 As with all medica-tions, benzodiazepines are not without side effects. The most common side effects include mild sedation, muscle relaxation or increased appetite; however, some dogs may experience paradoxical excitement.7 Benzodiazepi-nes also decrease inhibitions; therefore, pet owners should be aware that they may see an increase in unde-sired behaviors that relate to impulse control. For this reason, these medications in particular should never be given to a dog who has displayed aggression while fear-ful as there is the potential for a decrease in bite inhibi-tion resulting in a dangerous situation.6 Anxiolytics used in combination with antidepressants has proven to be very effective therapy to assist with behavior modifica-tion.

Many medications are considered antidepressants. Col-lectively, they function to affect the amount or efficiency of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.7 In the brain, serotonin is directly linked to obsession, compulsion, and mood control as well as the modulation of aggression.7 Norepinephrine is linked to excitement, attention, and arousal while as dopamine is central to the reward system and has a large influ-ence on motivation.5 Depending on the type antide-pressants can increase the threshold of reactivity, de-crease aggression, increase resilience while providing an overall feeling of well-being. Therefore, such medica-tions can help jump start a behavior change program by chemically decreasing the amount of reactivity to a stimulus within the brain, and facilitate learning a new association of a previously threatening stimulus.

Animal Behavior in general has reached a point where we are constantly discovering new bridges allowing both professionals and pet owners to expand the boundaries

of the human-animal bond. By understanding fears, anxiety, and phobias and how each affects the brain re-spectively, we can have a thorough understanding of what that animal is experiencing and how the right medi-cation can facilitate successful programs for behavioral modification.

Bethany Jorrdan is the owner of The DogSmith Washington County (FL) and Southern Alabama. She holds a degree in Animal Sciences from the University of Florida and is a Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT). She served for three years as the Head Techni-cian at an animal clinic, two years as a Surgery Techni-cian with the Veterinary Heart Institute, two years as the Emergency Technician at Affiliated Pet Emergency Ser-vices and two years as the Medical Director at an ani-mal refuge. Her reputation and growing expertise was then noticed by the University Of Florida College Of Vet-erinary Medicine where she spent four years as a Sen-ior Floor Technician responsible for teaching students pursuing Veterinary Medicine degrees.

References 1) Marks IM (1969): Fears and phobias. New York: Aca-demic Press.

2) Appleby David and Pluijmakers, Jolanda: Separation Anxiety in Dogs: The Function of Homeostasis in its De-velopment and Treatment, Cambridge University Press, 2002 pp205-207.

3) OFerrell, V.: Problems of Emotionality, Manual of Ca-nine Behavior, 2nd edition. Gloucestershire, British Small animal Veterinary Association, 1992. pp 103-104.

4) Grillon, Christian: Startle Reactivity and Anxiety Dis-

(MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE, continued from page 3)


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orders: Aversive Conditioning, Context and Neurobiology. Society of Biological Psychiatry 2002. 52: pp 958-975.

5) Browd, Carroll. And Kolb, Carol: Veterinary Neuroscience UFCVM 2000.

6) Dodman, Nicholas H. and Shuster, Louis: Psychopharmacology of Animal Behavior. Blackwell Science Inc, 1998.

7) Curtis, Terry Marie: What Medications to Use for Various Behavior Issues- and Why. Proceedings of the Latin American Veterinary Conference, Lima Peru, 2010.

8) Gray, J.A.: Fear and Frustration, the Psychology of Fear and Stress, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridge Univer-sity Press, 1987 pp 174-206. Glossary of Terms Anxiolytics: (also antipanic or antianxiety agent) is a class of drug used for the treatment of anxiety and its re-lated psychological and physical symptoms.

Antidepressants: A psychoactive medication which produces changes in behavior and/or motivation. While only three antidepressants are FDA approved for use in Veterinary behavior ( Clomicalm, Anapryl, and Reconcile) ; many more are used off label with data extrapolated from human psychiatry. Antidepressants have a wide range of

effects on neurotransmitters and a wide range of effects with the general use including anxiety, fears and phobias, compulsive disorders, etc. Antidepressants are classified

into three main types depending on the action of neurotransmitters including Selec-tive Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Tri-Cyclic Antidepressants (TCAs), and Monoamine Oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

Counterconditioning: A respondent conditioning process in which the learners pre-vious conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus is changed. Countercondition-

ing is used to change a conditioned emotional response from fearful to joyful, or anxi-ety to relaxation.

Increased Vigilance: Defined by the Association of Psychiatry as a prolonged state of attention and awareness. With increased vigilance, the animal is on constant alert for a potential unexpected threatening stimulus.

Neuroendocrine: Cells that receive neuronal input (neurotransmitters released by nerve cells) and, as a consequence of this input, release message molecules (hormones) to the blood. In this way they bring about integration between the nervous system and the endocrine system.

Neurotransmitter: The canine central nervous system uses chemicals called neuro-transmitters to transfer information from cell to cell. The main neurotransmitters that involve canine behavior include Dopamine, Norepinephrine, Serotonin, and GABA. Depending on the composition, some are excitatory and some inhibitory.

How much, what type, and how each is received by the nerve receptor will deter-mine mental and emotional function.

Paradoxical excitement: unusual levels of excitement or hyperactivity

Respondent or Classical Conditioning: Occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (that elicits an unconditioned response). After conditioning has occurred, the neutral stimulus itself elicits what we call a conditioned response, and the neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. The conditioned re-sponse is also referred to as a conditioned emotional response, and is performed as a reflex behavior (no thought process involved).

Single Trial Learning Experience: When a conditioned response occurs after one exposure with a powerful uncondi-tioned stimulus. For example, a dog develops a phobia to loud noises after experiencing a hurricane. Taste aver-sion is also a very powerful unconditioned stimulus that can result in a single trial learning experience.

Systematic Desensitization: Changes problem conditioned emotional responses by teaching relaxation at low levels of the threatening stimulus, developing a hierarchy of fear and then incrementally and gradually exposing the ani-mal to the stimulus starting with the least intense and working through the entire hierarchy level by level.

(Continued from page 10)

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By Leah Roberts My dog barks when I'm not home and the neighbors are complaining. How do I stop him?

Dogs bark for a number of reasons. When you're not home and your dog is barking, the most com-mon causes are loneliness, boredom, and alerting to a perceived threat (i.e., the sight of people walking by the window or the sound of noises from neighbors). When this happens, it's natural for people to think in terms of how do I stop this behavior? But the most effective and reliable solu-tion would be to determine the cause and change the situation so that the dog no longer feels the need to engage in the behavior. That usually means being patient, committing to a program of both management and therapy, and realizing that there is no magic wand that will instantly cure the problem, especially if it's been going on for a long period of time.

Management

Crating: If possible, confinement to a crate can be helpful. A dog that is properly conditioned to enjoy being crated can feel safer and less driven to guard the entire home area. Also a crate can be placed in an area in the home that is quieter, and away from windows to avoid visual stimula-tion. Here's a video by Rebecca Lynch of K9 Clicking showing how to teach a dog to like his crate. If a crate is not an option, confine the dog in an interior space, and keep windows and blinds closed to cut down on stimulation.

Masking Sounds: It can also be helpful to play music or videos so that the sounds outside the home are easier for your dog to ignore. There are CDs called Through a Dog's Ear that calm some dogs, and also several videos that are made specifically for those dogs who enjoy watching TV.

Calming Products: Thundershirts and DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) sprays and plug-ins work to calm many dogs, and may be helpful for your barker.

Enrichment

Giving a dog something special to do can also help make time alone more pleasant. A hard rubber chew toy that can be stuffed with food and frozen can give your dog enjoyment for quite a while. There are a variety of food puzzle toys on the market that can be used to make alone time more fun for your dog. These toys should be reserved only for the times when you are leaving him alone, and picked up as soon as you get home. One of my favorite food-dispensing toys is the Buster Cube. Because of its shape it's more difficult for power chewers to be able to destroy it, and the difficulty level can be adjusted as your dog gains skill.

If you're gone for long periods of time, another helpful solution may be to hire a dog walker, not only to break up your dog's day and provide enrichment, but to give him the opportunity to elimi-nate instead of being uncomfortably forced to hold it for too long. There are professionals available or you may be able to engage a trusted friend or neighborhood kid.

Get Your Neighbors Involved

Neighbors who complain about barking aren't necessarily bad people or dog hat-ers. It can be very annoying to hear a dog barking on and on, and can try anybody's patience. If you approach these neighbors, apologize for the inconven-ience and let them know you are actively


Ask Leah

13

By Beth Mattei-Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA BOOK: Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us about All Animals Author: Karen Pryor Publisher: Scribner/New York, NY, 2009 Cost: $15 U.S./ $19.99 Canadian for paperback $25 U.S./ $32.99 Canadian for hardcover In Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us About Animals, Karen Pryor lays out some incredible stories that will introduce and/or reaffirm the fact that clicker training is a wonderfully versatile and humane teaching tool through an assort-ment of stories about clicker training different species from fish to humans. Though Reaching the Animal Mind is not a training manual in its purest sense, it does have a small section at the back of the book that does tell you how to train simple behaviors for cats, dogs and people. From the stories, you can easily usurp practical advice for everyday training issues such as creatively clicking your way out of a training corner, working with fearful animals and how different person-alities respond. Sprinkled throughout the book is some advice on how to handle doubters. Pryor does such a superb job bringing the reality to light without focusing so much attention on it that it becomes daunting. It is strewn within uplifting stories that helped me understand the long road ahead and yet appreciate the huge strides that positive force-free training has made. The stories are fantastic, eye-opening and sometimes quite humorous but my favorite chapters of the book were Chapter 9 titled Questions and Chapter 10 titled Answers in which Pryor recaps her journey to find out

the whys of clicker training by enlisting the help of other scientists. She writes about the SEEKING circuit, the work of Jaak Panksepp and its importance in under-standing why clicker training works so well. Pryor writes, according to B.F. Skinners daughter Julie Skinner Vargas, Skinner felt that his great discov-ery was that the postcedent, not the antecedent, gov-erned behavior: not what happens first, but what hap-pens afterward. Thats the main point in this book: when we stop pushing at the front end of the string and instead attend to what happens as an outcome of our actions and those of others, we can not only accom-plish marvels, we can commune on a whole new level with other minds. Yes! This is what force-free positive training is all about. Pick up this book and enjoy the stories and the versatility of the click. The book has a complimentary website : www.reachingtheanimalmind.com It lists videos and papers that supplement the book.

Beth Mattei-Miller has more than 10 years of experi-ence working with dogs and other animals. Most of her handling experience came from six years of shelter work where she handled virtually all breeds of dogs (and other animals) and helped teach volunteers how to train the dogs in their care to make them more adoptable (among many other responsibilities). She lives in Pittston with her husband, daughter, son and animals. Beth is a CPDT-KA, a CBCC-KA, a profes-sional member of the APDT, a C.L.A.S.S. evaluator and an AKC CGC evaluator and devotes considerable educational volunteer work.

Book Review

working on the problem, most people will be much more tolerant. Ask them to help you by letting you know if what you are doing is working is the barking lessening? Staying the same? Getting worse? Your neighbors' input can be helpful to you.

It is also a good idea to audiotape your dog's barking so that you know with what baseline you're starting out. Though most complainers won't be dog haters, sometimes there's that one who is reacting completely out of pro-portion to the problem. If you find out your dog is barking for 10 seconds every 2-3 hours, for example, well... that's what dogs do. That's not a barking problem, that's a neighbor problem.

Bark Collars NOT an Option

There are three types of collars on the market that are manufactured to stop a dog from barking. All of them use

(ASK LEAH, continued from page 12)


14

Ray Coppinger 10./11. Mrz 2012 in Clickerzentrum Schweiz, 2716 Sornetan

von Nico Feider, ballance.lu Dog Training, Luxem-bourg

Den meisten wirklich Hundeinteressierten wird der Name Raymond Coppinger wohl ein Begriff sein. Er schrieb zusammen mit seiner Frau Lorna das Buch mit dem simplen aber prgnanten Titel Hunde (Dogs in der englischen Originalausgabe).

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich das Buch nicht besonders schtzte als ich es das erste mal las. Mir schien es, als ob die Autoren Hunde nicht mochten, -zu oft wurden Versuche und Beobachtungen beschrieben, deren Um-stnde ich persnlich so auf keinen Fall gutheien wrde.

Da der Name Coppinger immer wieder von allen nam-haften Hundebuchautoren und guten Hundetrainern auf-gegriffen und seine Theorien und Erkenntnisse zum Teil heftig diskutiert werden, dachte ich mir, es wre eine gute Gelegenheit dieser Legende bei seinem 2Tages-Seminar im Mrz 2012 in der Schweiz zuzuhren.

Im Vorfeld erreichten mich Gerchte, dass Ray Cop-pinger alt und geistig nicht mehr ganz auf der Hhe sei. Da mein Englisch auerdem recht bescheiden ist, hatte ich einige Bedenken, den Ausfhrungen des Referenten (trotz vorgesehener sinngemer bersetzung auf Deutsch) berhaupt folgen zu knnen.

Um es kurz zu machen: alle meine Bedenken waren unbegrndet. Ray Coppinger ist ein sehr netter und in-teressanter alter (-ja, das stimmt, er ist ber 70) Mann, der viel erlebt und erforscht hat. Seine einfache, lo-gische und trotzdem fundierte Art, Zusammenhnge zu erklren und auf den Punkt zu bringen, hat mich fasz-iniert. Fr den Forscher Raymond Coppinger gibt es keinen Ruhestand; er ist immer noch begeistert und seine Augen haben dieses Leuchten, wenn er ber Hunde redet (und immer wieder NUR ber Hunde...)

So erklrte er beispielsweise am ersten Seminartag seine beeindruckende und recht einleuchtende Sichtweise, wie der Hund seine kologische Nische selbst gefunden haben drfte, -zwar wohl mithilfe der Prsenz der Menschen, aber ohne deren bewusste Se-lektion. Die durch Menschen gezchteten Haushunde, wie wir sie kennen, machen nur einen kleinen Prozent-satz der weltweiten Hundepopulation aus. Die richtigen Hunde seien berall gleich in ihrer Form und wrden sich lediglich dadurch unterscheiden, dass sie

um den quator kleiner und zu den Polen hin etwas grer und schwerer wrden (dies natrlich aus dem ganz einfachen Grund, dass die Rechnung: zugefhrte Energie geteilt durch verbrauchte Energie grer als 1 sein muss)

Diese Hunde lebten zwar wohl in Menschennhe und knnten ohne die Menschen nicht berleben. Jedoch seien sie nicht im eigentlichen Sinn domestiziert, genau-sowenig wie es die Millionen Tauben sind, die in vielen Grostdten leben. Bei diesen Hunden wrden sich die Eigenschaften weitervererben, die wesentlich sind, um in der spezifischen Nische exist-ieren zu knnen und nicht die, die wir Menschen aus irgendwelchen Schnheitidealen heraus kreieren.

Ein Punkt, den er am zweiten Vorlesungstag im-mer wieder hervorgehoben und erklrt hat, ist die Wichtigkeit der Lerner-fahrungen von Hun-dewelpen. Was den meisten serisen Zchtern und Trainerkol-legen wohl als nichts wirklich Neues er-scheinen mag, hat er in seiner enthusiastischen und mitreienden Art mit Fotos, wissen-schaftlichen Auswertun-gen...(z.B. auch aus den schrecklichen Kinder-heimen unter Ceauescu in Rumnien) zu einem so span-nenden Thema gemacht, dass wir alle (so denke ich) ein wenig frustriert waren, als es hie, wir mssten nun doch aufhren, -wir htten sowieso schon fast eine Stunde berzogen.

Ich habe meine Ansicht in Bezug auf die brutale Sachlichkeit vieler der im Buch beschriebenen Ver-suche und Erkenntnisse gendert . Die Allermeisten die-ser Tests wurden vor vielen Jahren durchgefhrt und zu dieser Zeit gab es nicht die gleiche Ethik, wie es sie jetzt vermehrt (zum Glck) in vielen Forschungsgebieten


PPG Worldwide Reports on...

15

Seminrio com Ray Coppinger, 10-11 Maro 2012 Clickerzentrum na Suia, 2716 Sornetan

Por Nico Feider, balance.lu dog Training, Luxem-burgo (traduzido por Claudia Estanislau, da Its All About Dogs, Portugal)

O nome Coppinger muito conhecido como per-tencente dupla Raymond e Lorna Coppinger,

responsveis pelo livro Dogs: A New Under-standing of Canine Origin, Behavior and

Evolution. Este trabalho e tem sido tpico de discusso entre os enten-didos da cinofilia desde que surgiu no mercado. Por isso e apesar dos rumores que o Dr. Coppinger est velho e j no est na sua mel-hor forma, eu decidi participar

neste seminrio de dois dias na Suia, mesmo apesar

tambm das minhas dvi-das acerca de como e n f r e n t a r i a u m seminrio todo em

ingls. A palavra mais importante e aquela com a qual o Dr. Coppinger nos queria im-pressionar durante o primeiro dia de seminrio era nicho. Um nicho um local ecolgico habi-tado pelos animais, que

seja ou perto de, ou tenha mesmo a ajuda activa de

ns, humanos. Uma vez que este nicho seja fundado, as

caractersticas que tornam possvel existir dentro do mesmo,

so passadas de gerao em gera-o. Neste sentido, existe um grande

diferena entre, viver dentro desse nicho e ser realmente um animal domesticado, da mesma forma que os pombos vivem com os humanos, mas no so domesticados. Isto claro aplicasse a todos os ces ferais e semi-ferais, que constituem na reali-dade a grande maioria dos ces no mundo todo e a aparncia deles que est tambm dependente do nicho onde habitam no tem nada em comum com os ces design fabricados pelos humanos e que habi-tam nas nossas casas.

Felizmente, as minhas preocupaes revelaram-se sem fundamento. Apesar da sua avanada idade de bem mais do que 70 anos o seu vasto conhecimento e experincia transpareceram bem, fosse durante o seminrio ou mesmo depois deste enquanto bebiamos uma cerveja, atravs da forma como ilustrava e expli-cava os seus vrios pontos de vista cientficos. E apesar da sua forma muito rgida e cientfica de expli-car o comportamento usada no seu livro, foi muito in-teressante ouvir que ele deixou de procriar e correr com ces no tren por causa do facto da sua tica ser um obstculo para fazer o que fosse preciso para gan-har. Um dos seus pontos principais focados durante o seminrio foi a importncia das experincias e aprendizagem adquiridas pelos cachorros. Apesar de no ser nada de novo para muitos de ns, ainda as-sim foi muito interessante ver atravs das muitas e variadas fotografias e estatsticas cientficas a vali-dade dos seus pontos de vista.

...the Ray Coppinger Seminar, March 2012

gibt.

Abends beim Bier erklrte mir Ray, warum er seine groe Passion, Schlittenhunde zu beobachten und mglichst zu noch erfolgreicheren Schlittenhunden zu zchten... auf-gegeben hat. Er sagte, dass die Tatsache, dass er weiter-hin bei Schlittenhunderennen gewinnen wollte, ihn soweit gebracht hatte, dass er sich nicht mehr so ohne Weiteres im Spiegel anschauen konnte.

Meine Heimfahrt (von etwas ber 5 Stunden Autofahrt) war nach diesem Seminar keine Spur ermdend oder langweilig. Die Erzhlungen und Aussagen von Ray Cop-pinger beschftigen mich bis heute. Ich berdenke mein Hundewissen zu einem gewissen Anteil bzw. setze es ab und zu in einen anderen situationsbedingten Kontext. Das Buch lese ich gerade noch einmal in der originalen eng-lischen Ausgabe. Jetzt, da ich einen der beiden Autoren kennenlernen durfte, verstehe ich vieles in dem Buch ganz anders als beim ersten Lesen und -ich finde es grossartig!

Danke Ray Coppinger und Danke Leonard Buzz Cecil, der es mir ermglicht hat, an diesem tollen Seminar teil-zunehmen,

(Continued from page 14)

16

Ray Coppinger's Seminar, March 10-11, 2012 Clickerzentrum Schweiz, 2716 Sornetan By Nico Feider, ballance.lu Dog Training, Luxem-bourg (translated by Leonard "Buzz" Cecil, Auf den Hund Gekommen) The name Coppinger is of course well known as belong-ing to Raymond and Lorna Coppinger, who are responsi-ble for the book Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution. This work is and has been a topic of discussion amongst dog people since it appeared. So even though there had been some rumors of Dr. Coppinger being old and no longer in his best form, I decided to attend his two-day seminar in Switzerland, also despite my doubts about my own capabilities with the English language.

The most important word Dr. Coppinger wanted to im-press us with on the first seminar day was "niche." This is the ecological place the animals habitats, either next to, with or with the help of us humans. Once this niche has been found, the characteristics necessary to exist within it are given on to further generations. And in this sense, there is a difference between inhabiting such a niche and actually being domesticated, in just the same manner that pigeons live with humans but are not domesticated. This also applies to feral and semi-feral dogs, which make up the vast majority of dogs worldwide and how they look - which is niche dependent and has nothing in common with the human-designed pet dogs we have at home.

Fortunately my concerns on both accounts proved to be unfounded. Despite being well past 70, his vast array of knowledge and experience came over well, be it during the seminar or over a beer after the session(s), as shown by way of the simple but clear way he could illustrate and explain his various scientific points. And in spite of the rather rough, strictly scientific manner of explaining be-havior in his book, it was interesting to hear that he quit breeding and racing sled dogs because of his own ethical stance getting in the way of doing what might be neces-sary to do to win. One of his main points of the seminar was the importance of the learning experiences accrued during the puppy age. Although this is not new to many of us, it was still interesting through his many and varied photos and sta-tistics, showing the validity of his points. At the seminar and through the five-hour trip home, this made a lasting impression on my way of thinking about dogs and how I thought about his book and cold scientific manner I'd per-ceived it having been written before hearing him in per-son. In fact, I'm reading the entire book once again and am finding it to be terrific.

Seminar van Ray Coppinger, 10-11 Maart 2012 Click-erzentrum Schweiz, 2716 Sornetan door

Nico Feider, ballance.lu Hondentraining, Luxemburg

(Vertaald door Annieke Lamers, KiaraLuna Clicker-training) De naam Coppinger is natuurlijk welbekend als be-horende aan Raymond en Lorna Coppinger, die verant-woordelijk zijn voor het boek Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution. Dit werk is en was onderdeel van discussies onder hondenmensen sinds zijn verschijning. Dus ondanks de geruchten dat Dr. Coppinger oud en niet meer in vorm was, heb ik besloten om zijn 2-daagse seminar in Zwitserland te volgen, hoewel ik twijfelde over mijn beheersing van de Engelse taal. Het belangrijkste woord dat Dr. Coppinger ons wilde meegeven op de eerste dag van het seminar was niche. Dit is de ecologische plaats die dieren innemen, of dat nu naast, met, of zonder de hulp van ons mensen is. Wan-neer deze niche gevonden is, worden de kenmerken die nodig zijn om binnen die niche te bestaan, doorgegeven aan volgende generaties. Op deze manier is er een ver-schil tussen het innemen van zon niche en daadwerkelijk gedomesticeerd zijn, op dezelfde manier dat duiven met mensen samenleven, maar niet gedomesticeerd zijn. Dit is natuurlijk van toepassing op wilde en halfwilde honden, die samen de overgrote meerderheid vormen van alle honden ter wereld, en hoe ze eruit zien wat niche-afhankelijk is heeft geen enkele overeenkomst met de door mensen ontworpen huishonden die wij thuis hebben. Gelukkig bleken mijn zorgen over beide zaken onge-grond. Ondanks zijn gevorderde leeftijd van ruim boven de 70 kwam zijn enorme kennis en ervaring goed over, of dat nu tijdens het seminar was, of met een biertje na de sessies, zoals aangegeven door middel van de een-voudige, maar duidelijke manier waarop hij zijn verschil-lende wetenschappelijke punten kon laten zien en uitleg-gen. En ondanks de ietwat grove, strikt wetenschappeli-jke manier van uitleggen in zijn boek was het interessant om te horen dat hij gestopt was met het fokken van en racen met sledehonden, omdat zijn eigen ethische stand-punt in de weg stond van het doen wat nodig zou zijn om te winnen. Een van zijn speerpunten tijdens Rays seminar was het belang van de leerervaringen opgedaan gedurende de puppytijd. Hoewel dit voor velen van ons niets nieuws is, was de geldigheid van zijn punten toch interessant wegens de vele en gevarieerde fotos en wetenschappeli-jke statistieken. Beginnend tijdens het seminar en verder gedurende de lange reis van 5 uur terug naar huis, maakte dit seminar een blijvende indruk op mijn manier van denken over honden en hoe ik over zijn boek dacht, en de koude wetenschappelijke manier waarin ik vond dat het geschreven was, voordat ik hem persoonlijk ontmoette. Ik ben het hele boek nu nog eens aan het lezen en vind het geweldig.

17

PPG Worldwide Reports on Prong Collars Aktion Tausche Stachelhalsband gegen Training (http://www.tausche-stachelhalsband-gegen-t ra in ing .de ) und d ie Pe t i t ion gegen Stachelhalsbnder in Deutschland (http://www.tausche-stachelhalsband-gegen-training.de/petition.php)

Bericht von Tina Mller Heute ber ein halbes Jahr nach unserer Aktion, fhlt es sich fast etwas unwirklich an. Vor einem halben Jahr verging kein Tag an dem wir nicht um die 100 Emails beantworten oder 300 Rundmails herausschicken mussten. Das Handy klingelte fast ununterbrochen, der Drucker lief Amok und unsere Nerven lagen ein wenig blank. Wem hatten wir dieses Chaos zu verdanken? Einer einfach aber genialen Idee von Sonja Meiburg (Hundeschule Holledau) ein paar Wochen zuvor. Sie suchte fr ihr jhrliches Hundeschulsommerfest einen A u f h n g e r , d e r i h r e Trainingsphilosophie ebenso transportieren sollte, wie auch ihre Einstellung zum Tierschutz. All dies gipfelte in dem Slogan Tausche Stachelhalsband gegen Training und meinte, dass sie gegen die freiwillige Abgabe von aversiven Erziehungshilfen, wie Stachel- , W r g e - , Elektrohalsbndern, aber auch Erziehungsgeschirre, Fisher-Disc, Rappeldosen etc., eine kostenlose Einzeltrainingsstunde als Gegenleistung anbieten wollte. Nun leben wir im Zeitalter von sozialen Netzwerken und was lag nher, als diese Aktion auf Facebook zu posten? Die Resonanz die sie auf ihre Idee bekam, war unglaublich und so nicht absehbar. Innerhalb von drei Wochen, schlossen sich spontan immer mehr Hundeschulen in ganz Deutschland, die ebenfalls eine Trainingsphilosophie der positiven Verstrkung vertraten, diesem Angebot an. Tina Mller(FreundschaftHund-Gemeinsam durchs Leben) programmierte, quasi ber Nacht, eine professionelle Webseite und Heike Hillebrand(Hillebrand-hilft-Hundehaltern), steuerte die Texte hinzu. Die Webseite gab dem Projekt eine neue Dimension, immer mehr Hundeschulen im In- und Ausland sprangen auf den rollenden Zug. Bald waren es mehr

als 500 und die Webseite wurde, aufgrund der enormen Nachfrage ins Englische bersetzt. Die ersten Presseberichte erfolgten und die einst regionale Aktion, drohte in ihrer Dynamik die drei Hauptakteure fast zu berrollen. Tina Mller erkannte die einmalige Chance, den momentanen Hype zu nutzen um weitgreifend etwas zu verndern. Sie wollte eine Gesetzesnderung in Deutschland in Bezug auf Stachelhalsbnder erwirken. Gemeinsam mit Heike Hillebrand reichte sie eine Petition ein mit dem Ziel, Stachelhalsbnder in Deutschland ein fr alle Mal zu verbieten. Im Rckblick hrt sich das Ganze wie ein Hundespaziergang an, aber so war es nicht. Manchmal ist es gut, wenn man ein wenig naiv an eine unbekannte Sache herantritt, sonst wrde einen im Vorfeld schon der Mut verlassen- so wrde sich nie etwas ndern. Wir hatten keine Ahnung

wie viel Arbeit, Recherche und Zeit in einer Petition steckt, wenn man sie denn auch erfolgreich zu Ende b r i n g e n m c h t e . Erschreckend ist wie viel Anfeindung und Hme einem entgegen schlagen, wenn man sich engagiert, e ine Erfahrung, die berrascht, aber unter menschliche Abgrnde abgehakt wurde. Die eigentliche Eingabe der Petition war das geringste Problem, schwier iger gestal teten sich die Bedingungen, die sich an

eine, in unserem Fall, Nicht-ffentliche Petitionen, wenn man eine Anhrung vor dem Petitionsausschuss erreichen mchte- und das wollten wir unbedingt. Zwischen uns und der Anhrung und in der Folge einer mglichen Gesetzesnderung, lagen mindestens 50.000 handschriftlichen Unterschriften auf Listen, die innerhalb von drei Wochen nicht nur gesammelt sondern auch in Berlin beim Petitionsausschuss eingereicht werden mussten. Selbst die Sachbearbeiterin des Ausschusses hielt dies fr ein Ding der Unmglichkeit. Wir glaubten an uns und unsere Mitstreiter, Facebook nutzten wir als unser Sprachrohr. Nach drei Wochen in denen wir fast Tag und Nacht in Sachen Petition eingebunden waren und viele mit Listen bewaffnet Fremde und Freunde unterschreiben lieen, sank unser Mut. Wir hatten zwar sensationelle 27.000 Unterschriften, aber das war gerade mal etwas ber die Hlfte. Auch diese


18

Hiobsbotschaft verbreitete sich wie ein Lauffeuer ber Facebook und Tina Mller startete immer neue Aktionen, um mglichst viele Grounternehmen und ihre Verteiler fr unser Projekt zu gewinnen. Im Nachhinein hat sie wohl jeden angerufen, der einen Namen und eine Telefonnummer hatte. Ihre unermdliche Arbeit trug Frchte, so gewann sie Zeitschriften wie DOGS., Tierschutzorganisationen, wie Tasso und Grounternehmen als Untersttzer fr unsere Petition. Nach insgesamt sechs Wochen war unser Ziel erreicht und die 50.000 Unterschriftenhrde geknackt. Dank noch einmal an alle, die daran mitgewirkt haben. Nun lagen also all diese mhsam gesammelten, von Tina Mller gebndelten und gezhlten Unterschriften dem Petitionsausschuss in Berlin vor. Allerdings mussten wir lernen, dass die Uhren in Berlin ein wenig anders ticken. Heit langsam- seit Oktober 2011 warten wir nun auf einen wie auch immer g e a r t e t e n B e s c h e i d . Nachfragen von Tina Mller beim Petit ionsausschuss ergaben, dass man zu noch keiner Entscheidung gefunden htte. Die letzte Aussage aus dem Februar 2012 lautet, dass der Ausschuss immer noch darber bert und abstimmen wird, ob man uns ein Vorspracherecht einrumen wird. Also heit es weiter warten, was da auch immer kommen mag. Die Aktion hat in dessen den DogsAward 2011 gewinnen knnen und die Idee Tausche Stachelhalsband gegen Training, wird noch immer von vielen Hundeschulen angeboten. In der Quintessenz war es eine extrem anstrengende, zeit-und geldraubende, aufregende, stressige Zeit- aber sie hat sich in jedem Fall gelohnt. Allein das Gefhl nicht einfach machtlos und wtend zu zuschauen sondern aktiv an einer nderung der Ungerechtigkeit gegenber unseren Hunden teilzunehmen war und ist unbezahlbar. Fr ein Ziel das sich lohnt, wrden wir es wieder tun- jeder Zeit.

Tina Mller von Freundschaft Hund Gemeinsam durchs Leben und Heike Hillebrand von Hillebrand hilft Hundehaltern.

Friendship with Dogs Together Through Life

By Tina Mller, Freundschaft Hund Gemeinsam durchs Leben What started out as simply a nice cute offer/activity for a summer festival put on by Ms. Sonja Meiburg (Hundeschule Holledau) that also expressed a certain training philosophy, grew into madly ringing cell phones, hundreds of emails per day sent and received, and printers printing themselves crazy. Starting out as Trade Your Prong Collar For Free Positive Instruction, this movement grew to include all aversive tools and into a parlimentary intiative to ban prong collars. And it started to take on a life of its own, thanks to social networking. Ms. Tina Mller (FreundschaftHund

- G e m e i n s a m d u r c h s L e b e n ) programmed a website and Ms. Heike Hillebrand (Hillebrand-hilft-Hundehaltern) wrote the texts. In no time at all, more than 500 schools internationally joined this cause, also requiring a translation into English. A petition was started, which was to be turned in to start a parlimentary process to ban prong collars in Germany. This was the easy part. The difficult part was to get enough signatures in a very short amount of time as was required by Germany for such private intiatives. We needed 50,000 signatures within a period of three weeks. The first attempt only

got us 27,000 .. but still. Tina Mller started another try and this time we made it. Of course not everyone works with the same intesity and drive as we do/did. We've been waiting since October 2011 to hear if and when Parliment in Berlin will take up this matter. The matter is now in a subcommittee that is looking it over and will decide if we will be invited for a hearing. Even if this doesn't pass the Parliament, this movement Trade Your Prong Collar For Free Positive Instruction won the 2011 DogsAward and scores of training schools are still offering this training trade, for the sake of our dogs. Something we would do all over again if necessary.

Text translated by Leonard "Buzz" Cecil, Auf den Hund Gekommen

Starting out as Trade Your

Prong Collar For Free Positive

Instruction, this movement

grew to include all aversive

tools and into a parlimentary

intiative to ban prong collars.

19

La relation humain-chien ; ensemble pour la vie. Ce qui a dabord dbut par une simple activit

labore par Mme Sonja Meiburg (Hundeschule Holledau) Pour un festival dt, proposant aussi une certaine philosophie de lentrainement, a vite provoqu une folle avalanche de courriels, de sonneries de cellulaires et de ronronnements dimprimantes. Appel lorigine Changez votre collier pointes pour des mthodes positives, le mouvement a pris de lampleur jusqu inclure tout les outils aversifs et a initi une relle cabale afin de bannir le collier pointes (aussi appel collier Torquatus). Grce aux mdias sociaux le mouvement sest rpandu rapidement et Mme Tina Mller (FreundschaftHund-Gemeinsam durchs Leben) a labor un site Web tandis que Mme Heike Hillebrand (Hillebrand-hilft-Hundehaltern) en a crit les textes. En un rien de temps, des organismes de partout dans le monde se sont joint la cause, ce qui d e m a n d a u n e t r a d u c t i o n e n a n g l a i s . U n e ptition a t lance afin de bannir le collier p o i n t e s e n Allemagne, ce qui ft assez facile. La partie difficile tait d e r e c u e i l l i r suffisamment de signatures en un trs court laps de temps tel que requis par le pays pour des initiatives prives de la sorte. Nous ncessitions 50,000 signatures en trois semaines. La premire tentative nen regroupa que 27,000. Tina Mller en dmarra une autre et russt. Bien entendu, tout le monde ne travaille pas avec la mme motivation et la mme intensit que nous lavons fait; nous attendons depuis octobre 2011 de savoir si et quand le parlement berlinois va considrer notre requte. La demande est maintenant entre les mains dun sous-comit qui ltudie et qui dcidera si notre cause sera entendue. Mais mme si le parlement ne donne pas suite, ce mouvement: Changez votre collier pointes pour des mthodes positives, a mrit le 2011 DogsAward et plusieurs coles dentrainement propose cet change de mthodes pour le plus grand bien de nos chiens. Et nous recommencerions tout depuis le dbut si cela savrait ncessaire.

Texte original: Freundschaft Hund Gemeinsam durchs Leben, traduit de langlais par Jean Lessard, MCP, ducateur canin-comportementaliste, Montral, Qubec, Canada.

"Freundschaft Hund-Gemeinsam durchs Leben" (traduccin de "amistad con los perros - juntos a lo largo de la vida")

Por Tina Mller Lo que comenz como una idea sencilla para una actividad durante un festival de verano organizado por la seora Sonja Meiburg (Hundeschule Holledau), en el cual se impartan unas pinceladas de filosofa de entrenamiento canino, se acab convirtiendo en un sin fin de llamadas telefnicas, cientos de correos electrnicos tanto enviados como recibidos y una gran cantidad de documentos impresos y repartidos. Comenz con la iniciativa "cambia el collar de castigo de tu perro por un entrenamiento positivo gratis". Dicha propuesta acab abarcando todas las herramientas de carcter aversivo y posteriormente en una iniciativa parlamentaria para prohibir los collares de castigo, la cual comenz a tener vida propia gracias a su difusin en las redes sociales. La seora Tina Mller (FreundschaftHund-Gemeinsam durchs Leben) realiz una pgina web y la seora Heike Hillebrand (Hillebrand-hilft-Hundehaltern) escribi los textos. En poco tiempo, ms de 500 escuelas a nivel internacional se unieron a esta causa, y en poco tiempo hizo falta una traduccin de los textos al Ingls. La peticin para prohibir los collares de castigo en Alemania se inici, siendo esto la parte ms fcil. Lo ms complicado era conseguir suficientes firmas en un lapso muy corto de tiempo, como se estipula en por Alemania para este tipo de iniciativas privadas. Necesitbamos 50.000 firmas en un plazo de 3 semanas. En el primer intento slo se recogieron 27.000 .. aunque eran un gran nmero no eran suficientes. Tina Mller comenz otro intento y esta vez lo hemos conseguido. Por supuesto que no todo el mundo trabaja con la misma intesidad y nivel de motivacin. Hemos estado esperando desde Octubre de 2011, para saber si el Parlamento en Berln se ocupar de este asunto y cundo. La peticin est actualmente en una subcomisin que est revisando y evaluandoel asunto y decidir si seremos invitados a una audiencia. Incluso si esto no pasa al Parlamento, este movimiento de "cambia el collar de castigo de tu perro por un entrenamiento positivo gratis", gan el premio "DogsAward 2011" y en un gran nmero de escuelas de entrenamiento canino se sigue ofreciendo este intercambio de formacin, por el bien de todos nuestros perros. Algo que volveramos a hacer de nuevo si fuera necesario.

Text translated by Nando Brown, In the Dog House, Malaga, Spain


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Gemeinsam durchs Leben (vertaling: Vriendschap met Honden Samen Door Het Leven) Door Tina Mller Freundschaft Hund Wat begon als gewoon een mooie, leuke aanbieding/activiteit voor een zomerfestival opgezet door mevrouw Sonja Meiburg (Hundeschule Holledau), die tegelijkertijd blijk gaf van een bepaalde trainingsfilosofie, groeide uit tot als gekken rinkelende mobiele telefoons, honderden verstuurde en ontvangen e-mails per dag, en printers die zichzelf een slag in de rondte printten.

Wat begon als Lever Je Prikband In voor Gratis Positieve Instructie, groeide al snel uit tot een beweging waarin alle aversieve hulpmiddelen werden opgenomen, en in een regeringsinitiatief om prikbanden te verbieden.Dankzij sociale netwerken begon deze beweging een eigen leven te leiden. Tina Mller (Freundschaft Hund - Gemeinsam durchs Leben) programmeerde een website en Heike Hillebrand (Hillebrand-hilft-Hundehaltern) schreef de teksten. Binnen de kortste keren sloten meer dan 500 hondenscholen in binnen- en buitenland zich aan bij deze zaak, waardoor een Engelse vertaling noodzakelijk werd.Er werd een petitie gestart, die ingeleverd moest worden bij de regering om een proces voor het verbieden van prikbanden te kunnen starten. Dit was het makkelijke gedeelte. Het moeilijke gedeelte was het verzamelen van genoeg handtekeningen in de zeer korte tijd die in Duitsland is toegestaan voor dergelijke priv-initiatieven. We hadden binnen 3 weken 50,000 handtekeningen nodig. De eerste poging haalden we er maar 27,000 maar toch.

Tina Mller begon nog een poging en deze keer lukte het. Natuurlijk werkt niet iedereen met dezelfde intensiteit en gedrevenheid als wij doen/deden. We wachten al sinds Oktober 2011 om te horen of en wanneer deze zaak in Berlijn wordt behandeld. De zaak zit nu in een subcommissie die alles doorneemt en daarna zal beslissen of wij worden uitgenodigd voor een hoorzitting. Zelfs als dit niet door het Parlement komt, dan heeft Lever Je Prikband In voor Gratis Positieve Instructie alsnog de DogsAward 2011 gewonnen, en zijn er nog steeds een heleboel hondenscholen die deze ruil aanbieden, voor het belang van onze honden. Iets wat we helemaal opnieuw zouden doen als het nodig was.

Tekst vertaald door Annieke Lamers.

(PRONG COLLARS, continued from page 19)

pounding this, Rumble was unable to leave his house at his peak of mental illness. Maren resorted to exer-cising him in her backyard and after hours months of rehab at the empty dog school. At home, Rumble started fence-fighting with the neighbors dogs. Ma-ren immediately added a second row of fencing that created a buffer, preventing the problem. The dam-age was already done, Rumble would lose focus and frequently became unable to learn if he could hear the neighbors dogs bark.

At the empty dog school Rumbles speed and agility were awesome, but performing in front of strange people or other dogs was impossible. Yet Maren con-tinued to be dedicated to his agility training since it was building his confidence, and giving him much needed mental and physical stimulation. As part of his agility training, Rum learned the teeter.

Teeter

Rumble learned all of the equipment very quickly and negotiated it all at top speed, except for the teeter. Initial training of the teeter had gone smoothly, but then suddenly Rumble balked at performing the full-height teeter. Maren, knowing, the importance of foundation training, restarted the teeter training. Once the teeter was lowered to a nearly flat position, Rum-ble immediately and enthusiastically did the teeter again. To get him accustomed to the noise we spent hours banging the teeter while Rumble and Maren played. Rumble confidently performed a mini-teeter and a lowered training teeter. For the second time, very gradually Maren began raising the full-height teeter. Rumble was happy and confident but once it reached full height he again began to refuse the tee-ter. For the third time, retraining the teeter began. Again, Rumble progressed quickly and was soon do-ing the teeter full height. Success! Or so we thought, until one day when Rumble fell off the dog walk. For reasons we cannot explain, the fall off the dog walk caused him to immediately refuse the teeter. Close to giving up, Maren again retrained the teeter, for a fourth and final time. Today he performs the teeter with such extreme confidence and speed that it is hard to imagine there was ever an issue.

One explanation Rums teeter problems is his panic disorder, a genetic illness which causes the victim to have severe anxiety attacks. Both in humans and ani-mals, panic attacks can be associated with locations or objects. This association can lead to avoidance of that location or object. We assume that in Rums case, a panic attack may have accidentally been linked with the teeter. Another possibility is that the movement, noise and negotiation of this obstacle trig-

(RUMBLE, continued from page 5)


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By Angelica Steinker, M.Ed., CDBC, PDBC Lauren Elizabeth has owned dogs her whole life. In her family of origin, all people used in board training was shock collars and ongoing shock collar use as a means of managing their dogs. Lauren describes it in a way that sounds like a culture. Lauren graciously opens her-self up to allow us an inside-look how shock collar train-ers think and feel. PPG Steering Committee member Angelica Steinker asked intense questions all of which Lauren honestly, patiently and completely answered.

Thank you Lauren for your courage to share with us and for being part of the PPG family. You used to use shock, how did this come to be?

As far back as I can remember-- my family had dogs. Those dogs would be sent away to "training camp" a few weeks after coming to live with my family, and they would come back well-trained and with a brand new shock collar. As a young child, I was NOT allowed to touch the remote, and I almost viewed it as a "rite of passage" when my parents taught me to use the remote on off-leash walks in the woods with the family border collie Bruno. When I turned 10 years old, my parents gave in and let me pick a puppy from a friend's litter to raise as my own dog. She was a GSD/Husky mix named Crystal. She went away to shock collar camp like every other dog when she turned four months old. My parents had me go to the follow-up classes with the trainer to learn how to "train" and work my dog. I was amazed at how she went from a wriggly little puppy to a "serious" dog who would listen to anything I asked her to do. I was so proud of my dog! From that point on, every dog I had went away to shock collar camp and I got "great" results. That all changed when I adopted Brody in August 2010. I was called to pick up my dog after only two days at "camp." He severely bit the trainer, I was told that my dog was dangerous and un-controllable, and that he should be euthanized.

What do your parents think now that you are op-posed to shock collars?

It has been a point of contention in my family. They are good friends with my first trainer, and they agreed that Brody should have been euthanized after he bit my sis-ter. They forbid him on their property until yesterday, actually! That same trainer actually harassed me and took legal action against me for violating a confidentiality agreement when I started to speak out against the method and placed blame on his methods for Brody's aggression. It has all been swept under the rug for the most part, but my parents still shock their dogs and have no intentions of changing as long as it "works." They admitted they don't care enough to spend the time

to learn to train another way and like that someone else trains their dogs for them.

Tell me about this confidentiality clause, what is that?

In the confidentiality clause, I signed a paper agreeing not to disclose identifying details about the shock collar trainers business in conjunction with any criticisms I have of his methods. Basically, I cannot talk badly about the trainers methods and name the trainer or business directly. It was a weird clause for sure, but very common among shock collar trainers.

What did you feel when you actually shocked the dog?

It was a powerful feeling because as soon as you pushed the button, the dog stopped whatever he was doing and you became the center of attention. I didn't feel bad for my dog, because my dog didn't act like he was in distress (as far as I knew at the time), and I had felt the shock before and didn't think it was painful at all. There are so many reasons why the "hold the collar in your hand and push the button" test is a misleading and inaccurate representation of what a shock collar feels like when it is on the dog.

Many shock trainers admit that a dog will often feel the shock at a lower level than a human does. For example, the lowest level I felt the shock using the Dogtra collar was a level 12. Brody's "working level" was a level 7. His "correction level" (with the "behaviorist") was a level 10. I couldn't feel a level 10 but it was painful enough for Brody to yelp. If we can't feel what they feel in the first place, how can we possibly confirm that it is not painful? These numbers are out of a possible range of level 1 to maximum level 126, by the way. If a level 10 causes a dog to vocalize, what would happen if you used the maximum 126 level?

Dogs are very stoic to begin with. They often will hide signs of illness or injury until it gets rather serious. I think it would be highly unlikely that the lowest level Brody could feel was a 7, that's the actually slightly above the highest level he could tolerate enough to mask. The way they're setting a "working level" is the progressively increase the intensity of the shock until they see an ear flick, a lip lick, sniffing, or turning away. Do those actions sound familiar? They are stress sig-nals! Aversive trainers are notoriously horrible at read-ing stress signals in dogs. You are using a stimulus that is causing stress in a dog but you're saying it isn't un-comfortable? How does that work?


PPG Member Profile: Lauren Elizabeth-Bertonazzi

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gered his sensory integration problems.

Catching the Wave

Another thing about Rum is that his mental ability to learn or per-form a behavior can be similar to waves in an ocean. If you ask Rum to perform a cue he may or may not be able to do it based on where the wave is. The cue has to be timed in a way that you can catch the wave. Usually when an animal balks at an ob-stacle you go back to a much easier step in the training, quickly refreshing the dogs memory. We noticed with Rum that his hesitations were not based on missed steps or repeti-tions in the training process but rather on some sort of internal wave dynamic. With time and patience this phase of Rumbles learning seems to subside.

Fireworks

The first time Rum heard fireworks, he was five months

old and he showed no response. When he heard them again at 10 months of age, Rumble showed extreme stress, shaking and panting and once the fear was trig-gered there was no calming. The vet prescribed some anti-anxiety medications which appeared to have no ef-

fect, but a pair of Mutt Muffs from www.MuttMuffs.com. (originally designed to help reduce cockpit noise, this product has Velcro straps which fasten around the dogs head. Dogs can still hear fireworks or thunderstorms, but the sound is greatly reduced and most noise sensitive dogs experi-ence less anxiety.) The Mutt Muffs reduce Rums fear from a 100 to a 20 on a scale of 100 be-ing complete panic and 0 being no fear.

Pica

As an adolescent Border Collie, when his anxiety disor-ders peaked, Rum started obsessively chewing. Here is a list of some of the things Rum chewed:

His own tail hair Family room blinds Video camera Books, toilet paper Prescription bottle with pain killers Shoes DVDs Couch Couch cover Coffee table, kitchen table and chairs Rugs Plastic hamper Neosporin Clothing Hats Camera Bed sheets, pillows, blankets, towels, wash

cloths Agility ribbons Silverware Cell phone

Dr. Karen Overall VMD, Ph.D., determined that Rum has virtual separation anxiety. Every time Maren turned her back on Rum he would anticipate her departure and grab an item to ingest. Usually the items were things that Maren had just handled and placed out of his reach. Many times items were grabbed within a few seconds of Maren briefly turning her back. A bottle of pain killers was grabbed within three seconds of Maren touching it. Marens vet had to induce vomiting and Rum threw up all of the pills, a mascara label, pieces of his toy and part of a towel. All if this had been ingested as Maren was getting ready for work and had never left the room

(RUMBLE, continued from page 20)

Rum wearing his Mutt Muffs

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Rum was in.

Ceiling Fans Implicated in Death of Several Border Collies

This is what the headline reads on Rumbles news channel ticker. At 18 months of age Rum suddenly dis-covered the ceiling fans in the house. We mention his age because 14 to 18 months can be another onset pe-riod for genetic mental illness. Both sexual maturity (six months of age) and the later social maturity time period can act as genetic light switches for be-havior to suddenly appear.

One would assume that a moving ceiling fan may be scary and that still fan would be ignored. Not with Rumble! He became fearful of the ceiling fans if they were turned off. Fans that are spinning are fine, but fans that are not spinning apparently can be deadly. Maren was forced to leave the fans on at all times because Rum would panic if he saw a still fan. We cant know but it is possible that Rum had a panic attack while looking at a still fan. The panic became associated with the still fan and bam a massive fear was born. Maren continues to manage the problem by keeping the fans turned on.

Impulse Control

Starting with the first bite, it was clear that Rum had diffi-culties controlling his impulses. Humans who have im-pulse control disorders (ICD) are prone to aggression, hair pulling, self-mutilation, gambling and substance abuse. Rums impulse control most closely resembled the human intermittent explosive disorder. A simple ex-planation of this disorder is to call it road rage. One sec-ond Rum seemed fine, and the next second he would explode. After the rage subsided he was completely nor-mal. The switch had been flipped back and he was fo-cused and ready to learn. If Rum saw another dog or became frustrated he would redirect his aggression to whoever was closest. On several occasions he redi-rected on Maren or one of his housemate dogs.

In humans, ICD can include self-mutilation and hair pull-ing and as an adolescent, Rum pulled and ate his own hair. Fortunately, this subsided with Prozac and amitryp-taline which also prompted other improvements.

It took some detective work to figure out if Rum was do-ing the hair chewing. The cuts to his hair were so

straight it looked as if it was mechanically cut. However, Maren placed some food dye on the hair and sure enough the dye showed up on Rums lips.

Global Suppression of Behavior

One of the most challenging issues with Rum was his absolutely stoic facial expression and body language. After his friendly puppyhood body language faded we thought we were dealing with a dog that just wasnt very expressive. Prior to realizing the extent of his issues, it

was impossible to tell if Rum was stressed or not stressed. We very much wanted to keep him un-stressed, but always seemed fine. Then sec-onds later he would blow his fuse. Could it be that he was sudden ly stressed coming to the same location he had been coming to since he was a pup?

Rums stoic body lan-guage was actually a re-sult of his severe anxiety. He was so anxious that he had become globally-

suppressed. Global suppression of behavior is usually a by-product of punishment. Dogs fearing punishment stop displaying behavior and withdraw into their shells. Socializing Rum had pushed him into global suppres-sion of behavior. Flooding is when a being is over-whelmed with fear. Rum, who was never subjected to punishment training, learned to go numb because of ac-cidental flooding.

Back to Kindergarten

Rum was globally-suppressed, so we had to find WHERE Rum was happy and then gradually increase his world from there. Turns out he was happy at home. For one month Rum stayed home, so that he could start to feel safe. Then began the tedious process of gradu-ally shaping Rum to leave the house. First, clicking and treating for simply looking out the open front door, then planting cookies outside so that Rum could step out onto the front door mat and find a treat. This training continued for months until Rum could hop into the car and be happy. Gradually building up to longer time peri-ods in the car, Rum ate dinner in the car and played games in the car. Three months later, Rum arrived at the school, a different dog. Joyous and happy he clob-bered Angelica with love. The puppy Rumble was back.

Counting

Rum will always suffer from some level of anxiety, so


The finished product: Rum flies across the teeter.

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25

By Beth Mattei-Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA There are many shelter and rescue groups that have not truly embraced dog training without force. They seem to believe, as many people do, the myth that positive training is great for a dog without issues or for small dogs. But with dogs that display aggression or if the dog is large and boisterous, they feel that they need harsher methods to correct the behavior and get them into a home. This is the farthest thing from the truth. So why should shelters care if the problem appears to be resolved and the dog gets a home? Here are four reasons. 1. Their mission statement. Most, if not all, animal shelters and rescue groups mission statements include promoting kindness to ani-mals. Are they really promot-ing kindness to animals by advocating traditional train-ing programs that rely on the use of methods that include force and pain? Shelters and rescue groups should strive to be the highest ground of humaneness and kindness. Training using force or pain is not an example of this highest ground especially when science tells us that organisms learn in multiple ways and not just through punishment. 2. Suppression of Behavior. While methods that involve corrections (either leash or shock) may sup-press aggressive or fearful behavior, it is very likely that this behavior may resurface later and with more intensity. Or worse the dog can experience behav-ioral fallout attached to this type of training. For exam-ple, if a dog barks at other dogs on the leash, issuing a leash correction during walks when he sees a dog might stop the dog from barking and lunging at the end of the leash, but the dog may bite when other dogs come too close. Why? The behavior (lunging and barking on the leash) has been suppressed so now the dog has to communicate to the other dog to get away in another way. How does he do it now that lunging and barking are no longer an option? This type of treatment can also feed his fear of other dogs

as every time the dog sees another dog, he feels the pain (or the annoyance) of the leash correction so over time other dog equals pain (leash correction). Its a Band-Aid over a gaping wound. 3. Do not remove a fly from your friends forehead with a hatchet. Positive reinforcement, light use of negative punishment and/or desensitization and counter-conditioning programs work just fine. These programs have been used with dogs for decades with great results. They have been used with very large and dangerous animals in zoos. Yes they work and there is proof. Plus there are many other less-aversive methods to use if you dont achieve the results that you want through those means or compliance with those methods are difficult for whatever reason.

4. What are we teaching our children? When this type of bully

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BARKS from the Guild Summer 2012