Short Intensive Course … · Alpha Canine Companions () Alpha Canine In-home Solutions () Contact Us Head Office and Boarding Kennels 8 Kiernan Road Macclesfield, Victoria, Australia

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Please read all the information in this book. At Alpha Canine Professional (ACP) we believe that potential trainees should take the time and make the effort to research their options and be fully aware of the theories, methods and ideals being taught on any professional course.

ACP offers short, intensive two week dog trainer courses that focus on ‘hands-on’ application of methods that are positive practical, effective and relevant to reliable obedience, shaping good behaviour and rehabilitating canine serious behavioural problems.

The dog world needs trainers who want to make a real difference. Trainers who can genuinely help owners to understand their dogs and guide them through the challenges of living in our human world.

The dog world needs more trainers who have methods that really work! Alpha Canine Professional leads the industry in upfront and honest information in which potential trainees can base their decisions.

For those unable to visit us in person, we have these detailed booklets outlining ACP courses and informative video presentations on our websites.

Feel free to contact us at any time if you require more information about our courses.


Table of Contents

Contact Us 4

Why Choose Alpha Canine Professional (ACP)? 5

Dog Training Methods – The Alpha Canine Group Perspective 7

Learning To Work With Dogs: THE REALITY 14

The Alpha Canine Professional Short, Intensive Dog Trainer Course 18

The Alpha Dog Training Experience 25

System & Method Development – Beyond Dated Science 35 Exposing The Popular, But Dated And Often Irrelevant Science Behind Canine Learning And Behavioural Theory 40

Dog Handling & Behaviour Recognition 51

Course Fees 58 Accommodation & Travel (not included in course fees) 58 Your Own Dog 58 Payment Terms & Methods 60 Refund Policy 61

The Application Process 62


The home of:Alpha Canine Professional (www.alphacanineprofessional.com.au)Alpha Dog Training (www.alphadogtraining.com.au)Alpha Boarding School for Dogs (www.boardingschoolfordogs.com.au)Alpha Boarding Kennels (www.alphaboardingkennels.com.au)Alpha Canine Companions (www.alphacaninecompanions.com.au)Alpha Canine In-home Solutions (www.alphacaninein-homesolutions.com.au)

Contact Us

Head Office and Boarding Kennels8 Kiernan Road Macclesfield,Victoria, Australia 3782

PhoneAustralia: 03 5968 8101International: +613 5968 8101

FacsimileAustralia: 03 5968 9065International: +613 5968 9065

[email protected]

WebsitesTo find out more about our vast range of canine training services, start at:www.thealphacaninegroup.com.au

Online Course Application Formwww.alphacanineprofessional.com.au/application

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http://www.alphadogtraining.com.au

http://www.boardingschoolfordogs.com.au

http://www.alphaboardingkennels.com.au

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http://www.alphacaninein-homesolutions.com.au

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.thealphacaninegroup.com.au

http://www.alphacanineprofessional.com.au/application


Why Choose Alpha Canine Professional (ACP)?

Quite simply, ACP’s modern and practical methods and realistic, ‘hands-on’ approach to trainer education are unique within our industry – the world over!

The methods taught, Leadership Obedience Training, Canine Good Behaviour Shaping and Practical Canine Behavioural Rehabilitation, combine to form The Canine Leadership System that has been under active and progressive development since 1996. Since that time we have applied these methods to well over 10,000 dogs of varying age, breed and disposition to achieve positive results where many other methods have failed, particularly those that are over-reliant on food bribes.

ACP is part of The Alpha Canine Group of professional businesses here Melbourne, Australia. The services offered include dog boarding, in-house boarding and training courses, weekly obedience classes, private tuition, puppy classes (for vets) and trainer education. This combined experience is what we call Alpha Service Synergy and it has given Alpha Canine Professional a unique opportunity to observe and assess the results of our methods from many different perspectives.

• Learn how to train puppies and dogs without food bribes.• Learn how food bribes create major behavioural issues during the canine

maturing process – ACP will teach you positive alternatives.• Learn how to assess and avoid the many unproven, modern ideals and

philosophies behind food-bribing methods that are leaving owners stranded with problem dogs.

• Learn ‘hands-on’ behavioural assessments – going beyond dated and subjective questionnaires.

• Learn how to achieve The Positive Power Of “NO” by applying contrasting physical corrections that draw the dog’s focus to the positive and acceptable alternative behaviour or obedience response – Reinforcement Contrast Effect.

• Learn how to shape a dog’s bad behaviour into good manners – in real-time, right before the owner’s eyes – achieving amazing positive outcomes.

• Train your own dog or a project dog (for international trainees), plus many other different dogs to be obedient, responsive and well mannered under distraction.


• Learn (‘hands-on’) how to handle, train and rehabilitate dogs of all shapes and size that are aggressive, fearful, anxious or over-excitable.

• Learn from instructors who actually have there own well trained and behaved dogs with them when they teach – Leading By Example!

• Learn modern, evidence-based principles that can be clearly explained and demonstrated to be relevant to all the different dogs you handle on your course.

• Learn to read canine body language ‘hands-on’, not from pictures or videos.• Learn one simple, but incredibly consistent system that works on virtually all

dogs regardless of their problems.

The Canine Leadership System has been developed by professional dog trainers, for professional dog trainers. We don’t get bogged down in dated theories that can’t be demonstrated to work, we focus on methods that are positive, practical and relevant to the challenges affecting the owner and dog relationship. On ACP courses you learn skills that create positive outcomes, not food-bribing methods that never really get past the ‘getting started’ point for each exercise or problem solving technique. You will see, learn apply and ultimately teach others methods that actually work right before your eyes!


Dog Training Methods – The Alpha Canine Group Perspective

For the last 20 – 30 years or so much of the dog training world has lost its way. Instead of working ‘hands-on’ with owners and their dogs to develop methods that actually work in the real world, many ‘dogless’ academics have virtually hijacked the direction of research and development and instead try to make the real world somehow fit into unrealistic, scientific learning and behavioural theory. And guess what, beyond the theories and fluffy ideals, their methods just don’t work.

As dog trainers practicing in an industry that has lost its way, we can become part of this growing problem by continuing to promote methods that cannot be demonstrated to be effective, or, be part of the solution to this problem by promoting methods that can be demonstrated to be positive, effective, practical and relevant in the real world!

Teaching puppies and dogs to listen to their owners under distraction is essential to guiding them through the common social and behavioural challenges that randomly occur throughout the maturing process, but many experts do not teach this concept at all.

On a daily basis dog owners are faced with these challenges and in the vast majority of cases they are ill-equipped to deal with such regular and frustrating occurrences because they either haven’t trained their dog at all, or they have been given ridiculous advice that creates more problems than it ever solves. And of course the owners are never shown how to apply this dubious advice, they are generally told without demonstration. If any obedience is demonstrated it is generally to the basic, starting level using food bribes, never to a finished and reliable standard.

It has become common these days for ‘qualified’ dog experts to tell owners that they shouldn’t be too concerned if their dog doesn’t learn all the obedience exercises with the methods being taught as they are more focused on building an overall positive relationship. They tell owners “We don’t want to force your puppy or dog to learn and we don’t want to use “NO” and harsh, physical corrections when they do something wrong because this just isn’t necessary, we want them to learn in a positive and rewarding manner”. In other words, if your dog shows resistance, isn’t food motivated or only learns the exercises in a very


superficial manner because the gentle and positive methods we use allow your dog to ignore you at will and continually misbehave, this won’t be a problem because we are focused on the positive relationship.

So what sort of relationship are we building between owners and their dogs if the dog is allowed to ignore obedience commands and brazenly resist attempts at behavioural problem solving?

The only expert’s who say that training pups or dogs to listen under distraction isn’t important are those that either don’t actually understand the importance of doing so because they have never done this themselves, or quite simply, they can’t achieve this commonsense standard with their chosen methods!

And just to be clear, using “NO” and physical corrections is not harsh when they are contrasted to positive reinforcement. This can be easily demonstrated!

Far too many experts promote methods that have become over-reliant on food bribes, the problem being that the ideology that goes with this popular approach continually relies on excuses as to why it is acceptable for a pup or dog not to listen to its owner. Instead of correcting this situation, owners are simplistically taught to ignore or tolerate this problem-causing behaviour – the pup will grow out of it. This is because food-bribing methods cause ongoing problems they can’t fix so it seems to be easier to just ignore problem behaviour and hope that it goes away!

A pup or dog that is taught to ignore its owner because the method has allowed it to make such choices is (serious) trouble waiting to happen! The family pet is now a social and behavioural time bomb that can reactively and inappropriately explode in response to common, day-to-day situations, at any time, because it has no leader to teach it otherwise – it has never been taught that it must listen when distracted!

Experts promoting supposedly gentle and positive, food-bribing methods are quick to blame a dog’s invisible genetics or brand it as abnormal as these avoidable behavioural issues become more serious - they even do this with puppies. This is despite the fact that owners are told by these same expert’s to just ‘try again later’ when a pup or dog ignores an obedience command, or, just withhold the food or turn your back and ignore them when they misbehave.


How long do you think it takes before a puppy or dog realises that this supposedly gentle and positive approach is a license to do as it pleases? Once this inevitable precedent has been set it doesn’t matter how much food you throw at a dog or how often you ignore it, it now knows that the owner is not the leader! The reality that often goes with this type of advice is far less positive for the poor dog and can often lead to invasive, mind-altering drug therapy, re-homing, a one-way trip to the animal shelter or euthanasia! It is wrong to label what is essentially an untrained pup or dog as abnormal or genetically flawed. We have found in literally thousands of cases that it is usually just a dog trying to adapt to our human world on its own and making some very poor behavioural choices. The dog is out of control because it has never been clearly taught the difference between acceptable and unacceptable canine behaviour! Owners are often amazed at how quickly their dog can be rehabilitated once relevant and practical training and behaviour shaping methods are put in place – methods that clearly correct bad behaviour as it happens and reward the good, alternative behaviour.

So much stress can be avoided if owners are taught how to correct unacceptable canine behaviour with methods that create positive outcomes, right before their eyes!

Training pups or dogs how to listen to their owners and behave under realistic and relevant distraction does not break their spirits or turn them into robots. This is the sort of emotive propoganda that comes from ‘dogless’ experts as some sort of diversion away from their lack of demonstration and results. On the contrary, it shapes them into safe and sociable family pets that can play nicely with the children, behave out on walks and listen and behave in distracting situations.

The dated and emotive attitudes arguing against the use of “NO” and physical corrections (positive punishment) when training or rehabilitating dogs are, as a general rule, coming from ‘dogless’ experts who may well be highly credentialed, but they are unable to demonstrate their theories methods to be effective in real-time – not even with their own dogs. How this has come to pass as the accepted ‘norm’ I am unsure, but I can tell you that this is a worldwide phenomenon where untested and unproven theories are rarely challenged… until now!


The Alpha Canine Group has, since 1996, challenged the accepted scientific theories of the day and with our considerable customer base found that many, many owners (literally thousands) have been left stranded with dogs spiraling out of control as they mature because of gentle and positive, food-bribing methods that were never demonstrated to work. It is from this extensive, ‘hands-on’ experience that we have developed methods that clearly demonstrate positive results in the very first session that are consistent all the way through the training and behaviour shaping process to produce well trained and behaved dogs that listen and respond reliably under realistic distraction. We train big dogs, little dogs, happy dogs, excitable dogs, aggressive dogs, fearful dogs, anxious dogs and all those breeds that are branded as un-trainable.

Alpha’s theories and methods can be fully explained, but more importantly, they can be easily demonstrated. We have the trainers and their well trained and behaved dogs, we have the customers and their well trained and behaved dogs… and we can prove our methods at any time. What follows are a few testimonials from owners who have trained their dogs with Alpha’s methods:

Dear Greg and the team,

We can’t thank you enough for transforming our somewhat rambunctious Labrador Bowser into the placid, playful and well behaved dog we have today.

It was at the point where my wife was not able to take him for a walk as he was so strong, would bark at anything that moved, would pull her in all directions and she simply didn’t have the confidence to beable to control him. Now she is more than happy to head off alone with him as he listens to everything she says and is a pleasure to walk!

Bowser has always been an important member of our family, but now he is able to mix with all our other ‘human’ family members without fear of knocking anyone over by his excitement. He even gets along with the cats now! Our friends and family cannot believe the transformation in him and can’t wait to see what’s next! We plan on taking him to your weekly sessions to further increase his skills and ours.

As a result of your fantastic training we’ve even got ourselves another Labrador – suckers for punishment some would say – but we are now Te

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comfortable in the fact that we can teach Bella the skills that you have taught us and look forward to both Bowser and Bella learning more from you and having holidays in the future. We have never Bowser happier after his time with you all – and we hope that we can continue our association with your exceptional services.

Thankyou for everything!

Brad and Colette

To Greg and all the team at Alpha Dog Training,

I have just come back from a walk with our two Labradors, Darcy & Becks. Walking them was not even a possibility before they came to visit you and yet now we love that every day we are able to get out with them and we are all reaping the benefits. The kids can know play happily out the back and their friends can come over without fear of our two very excitable Labradors jumping up to greet them. Even my mum whose fear of dogs has always kept her from our backyard will wander out and say hello to them and spend time with them. Everyone we know who cannot believe the positive change you have made on their behaviour and with the assistance of what you taught us we have been able to keep it going without any difficulty whatsoever. We had done the puppy school thing but your program was the difference that means not only will we be keeping our two beautiful dogs, but we also can enjoy them as much loved members of our family. Like many people we entered into the world of dog ownership extremely ignorant, and now firmly believe that anyone considering bringing a dog into the family should sign up for your program to ensure that it is the wonderful and rewarding experience that it was meant to be. We will continue to recommend you to everyone we meet.

Once again our sincere thanks to all of you.

Paul & Clare Malcolm, Hidden Valley

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A snippet about Cuddles:

Cuddles is a very cute 3 year old, miniature Labradoodle. We bought him after doing lots of research.

From an early age we noticed he was a bit possessive over some things. It became increasing worse even after puppy & dog training. I didn’t realise how bad he was until he was returned to us from Alpha Dog Training Boarding school.

When Cuddles left us to go to boarding school, it was ours and his last chance before we had to decide whether he was going to be re-homed or put down. I couldn’t trust him with our 4 children or any visitors, as you didn’t know when he was going to become aggressive. It got to the stage he might not like you walking past him.

After discussions with Alpha we put him into the 20 Day program. Cuddles ended up staying 50 days, due to his behaviour. Alpha didn’t want to send him home until they were satisfied with him.

I couldn’t of been happier with the communication with Alpha with Cuddles being gone, we missed him and hoped he was alright. When Cuddles came home he was a different dog, he had been well looked after, he was happy, and he had learnt a lot.

Then we had to learn how to deal with him, which was easy after Alpha showed us how in their handover at our house. Cuddles has been home now for a couple of months and he is a pleasure to be around, he now listens to me and is 100% manageable, he still occasionally does something wrong, but it can be dealt with easily.

Thank You Alpha for helping us with our 4 legged family member.

Nicola CammMt Evelyn

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Above: These photos from a recent demonstration are of dogs doing a drop step-away (stay) in a novel and distracting environment with their owners out of sight and then having crowd walking through from both directions. Demonstrating obedience under distraction is impressive and inspires dog owners (potential clients) to actually have a go. If your own dogs and your clients’/members’ dogs can do it and they are happy, well behaved and can be demo’d at any time, in any place, then you’re credibility is measured by your RESULTS, not just your words.

The practical nature and application of this obedience method is clear to all who see it in action and is what really sets the Canine Leadership System apart from others. The dogs pictured are not part of a specific demo team and consist of both trainers’ and customers’ dogs from Alpha Dog Training in Melbourne, Australia.


Learning To Work With Dogs: THE REALITY

It can take years of gaining on-the-job experience to become a competent and confident dog trainer or dog handler. To become skillful and successful in your field you need both the desire and the determination to continually improve your understanding of dogs. You must be focused on your own development - on the continual experience you are gaining by working with the many different owners and their dogs along the way. You must be constantly assessing and improving on your ability and genuine service to others.

But most importantly for new trainers, you must have a foundation of effective and relevant skills and knowledge to get started on your journey – choosing the right course is an essential part of this process.

The points that follow are more relevant than most people realise. Many dog trainer courses are taught by ‘dogless’ experts (trainers and/or behaviourists) who either don’t own a dog at all, or if they do, haven’t trained them to any reliable demonstration standard with their chosen methods. This can amount to a lot of interesting talk, but no real ‘hands-on’ proof behind their academic concepts.

You need to learn from those who are passionate about the need for results, from those who can demonstrate these results that go well beyond the standard, academic and often dated interpretations of canine behavioural and learning theory that lacks relevance in current-day, real life situations.

You need to know that the methods you are learning actually work in real-time, on real dogs and are already being applied in several successful business models by professionals working with owners and their (problem) dogs on a daily basis.

You need to learn from instructors who are actively working in the industry and ‘lead by example’ with their own well trained and behaved demo dogs, dogs that can accompany them to lectures and workshops, private sessions in other people’s homes, group classes at different locations, public demonstrations… anywhere!

You need to be immersed in a hands-on learning environment that allows you to ‘feel’ the methods working, to see and experience the many dogs you train and


handle responding and improving in challenging and realistic situations.

If you want to work with dogs, you want to hit the ground running with a sense of direction and purpose - with methods that actually work, methods that you have become proficient in applying on hundreds of different dogs. You do not need your head filled with complex and subjective theories that only apply to ‘some’ dogs. You want to focus on one effective system, not waste valuable time learning all about different methods that haven’t been proven to work and are never demonstrated to work in any realistic or relevant manner.

You need to recognise validation above accreditation, reality above theory, practical above impractical, proof above supposition and above all else... relevance of the methods and theories to owners and their dogs. It doesn’t matter how credentialed the course instructors are, if the experts can’t demonstrate their theories and methods on their own dogs and many other real dogs with real problems, what are you actually learning? A good course should provide this proof.

You need to research what’s missing from the popular and academic approaches and understand what’s actually required to make a genuine difference to the owner and dog relationship for those who will be seeking your services in the future.

Ask course providers for the opportunity to see the methods you will be learning in action (real owners and problem dogs) before you part with your money. If they are unable to, or won’t do this for you, why not?

Is there tangible, result-based evidence to support their teachings or are they selling regurgitated, dated theories from textbooks and packaging it as essential information that doesn’t require proof in the real world because it’s ‘scientific’? Can this science be demonstrated on real dogs, with real behavioural issues? Is it relevant and useful? One of the best ways to learn and understand theory is to actually see it in action! If it can’t be demonstrated during the course, what is the relevance or importance of the theory?

Are they providing hundreds of dogs for trainees to handle and train so they can validate the theories and methods properly? The theories taught on a course should be recognisable and relevant to virtually every dog you handle!


Do they accept all dogs for training, including the fearful, aggressive, anxious and over-excitable dogs that you will encounter in the real world?

Do all course instructors and visiting academics, including veterinary behaviourists, have their own well trained and behaved dogs with them when they teach or give lectures? If not, why not? Do they practice what they preach?

Do your homework and don’t be afraid to ask questions of course providers.

Just to be clear, on Alpha Canine Professional courses your instructors demonstrate everything they teach. You will be continually exposed to the methods being applied in real-time and achieving immediate results on many, many dogs with serious behavioural issues. The opportunities offered on ACP courses help trainees to develop a real confidence and competence based on ‘hands-on’ experiences not offered on the same scale (or reality) by any other course.

There are those in the industry who say that you can’t use one method or system to train all dogs, but they have not been privileged to see what Alpha has been developing since 1996. And of course we can prove that dated theory wrong by demonstrating real results continually and consistently throughout your course!

Alpha Canine Professional is committed to teaching dog trainers methods that work. The industry doesn’t need any more ‘dogless’ experts, it needs more trainers who can offer genuine help to dog owners to either prevent or rehabilitate serious canine behavioural issues. It needs more trainers with their own well trained and behaved dogs that have been trained with the same methods they are teaching owners. It needs more trainers who can explain and demonstrate methods that actually work under the realistic distraction of daily life – methods that get results! No other dog trainer course in our industry focuses on these important points of reality or ‘hands-on’ method validation!

There’s a lot to think about before choosing a dog trainer course, I hope the information in this book helps with your decision. Working with dogs can be great fun, at times challenging and if you’re good enough, lucrative. But best of


all... it’s so REWARDING when you have helped an owner to understand, and if need be, save their beloved companion!

At Alpha Canine Professional your instructors practice what they teach!

This picture was taken during a private tuition SUPER-session, offered through our revamped home training service called Alpha Canine In-home Solutions. The Labrador is my new demo dog (at the time she was still in training) and the little black Maltese X is only 12 weeks old. There are also two mini Schnauzers present, one that was terrified of the pup because he continually chased and jumped on her.

The main reason for training was the development of severe separation issues when the pup was left outside or in the laundry overnight. The puppy is doing a sit step-away (stay) under distraction and learned to do so in one session – he couldn’t even sit when we started even though he had attended puppy classes at the vet and had been trained with food bribes. By the end of the session the pup was able to wait outside without jumping on the glass doors and when inside stopped jumping on the owners and chasing the Schnauzer – again, all taught in the one session (and all without the need for food bribes).

Our dogs are always present to help with distraction and to use for teaching demonstrations – this can be achieved in virtually any situation, including those dealing with aggressive, fearful, anxious or over-excitable dogs. Even when the pup jumped all over her, Ella stayed in her drop, despite wanting to play. We then taught the pup to move around Ella and the other dogs in a gentle manner. The main reinforcer throughout this session was “GOOD BOY” and with the correct use of timing, tone and appropriate contrasting corrections (Reinforcement Contrast Effect) the owner was able to shape the pup’s good behaviour.


The Alpha Canine Professional Short, Intensive Dog Trainer Course

Alpha Canine Professional (ACP) offers the short, intensive dog trainer courses to those unable to attend our part-time course run over a ten or sixteen month duration. The shorter duration course is more suitable for those coming from interstate (Australia) or international trainees from countries around the world.

are also immersed into our successful dog boarding and training businesses for the duration their course and are exposed to professional trainers who use the skills you are learning on a daily basis. Their insights to canine behaviour and customer service and relations reflect the current attitudes to dog ownership coming from real owners of real dogs experiencing very real behavioural issues.

At the core of all ACP courses is the fundamental standard of professional dog trainers applying their chosen methods on their own demonstration dogs. Your course instructors always have their own dogs available for demonstration and distraction purposes whilst they teach. We call this important standard, Leading By Example.

On the short, intensive trainer courses we teach trainees how to train their own demo-dog as part of the all-important validation process that builds a genuine feel for, and overall understanding of the methods being taught. It is an important pre-requisite that all trainees have a dog of their own to train for the duration of the course.

Although shorter in duration compared to the part-time option, this course is designed to give new trainers practical skill sets that are genuinely useful in teaching owners how to train their dogs. ACP specialises in ‘hands-on’ trainer education and prides itself on offering our trainees unique learning opportunities in our purpose-built dog training facility. Trainees


For trainees coming to study with us from within Australia we expect you to bring your own dog/s with you as they will be an active part of the training process. They can board with us free of charge or they can go back to your accommodation each night if it is dog friendly. Due to Australia’s strict quarantine rules, overseas trainees are supplied a project dog for the duration of the course and will be expected to train it to demonstration standard. Although training your own demo dog is a major focus, we also have other project dogs to train and many different dogs at various stages of training available for our trainees to handle throughout their course. Applying the skills you learn on many different dogs is a vital part of the method validation process and helps trainees to develop a genuine feel for the techniques they will use to help owners with their troubled dogs.


Above: These trainees are near the end of their two week intensive trainer course and are practicing a very long Drop Step-away exercise out in the back paddock. They start by assessing their dogs around the sheep and ponies and then build up to much longer distance under high-level distraction

Below: This standard is achieved by applying The Three Ds of step-away reliability under distraction.

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The standard of Leadership Obedience taught on all ACP courses is extremely high, as can be seen in all the pictures in this book and on the video presentation found on the Alpha Canine Professional website. Teaching dogs obedience under distraction is the first important step to teaching them to follow their owners in times of stress or excitement. By teaching dogs to listen under distraction we are then able to apply Canine Good Behaviour Shaping techniques and then if required, canine behavioural rehabilitation strategies for serious issues such as aggression, fear, anxiety and uncontrolled over-excitability.

Professional trainers need to learn skills that make sense in the real world. ACP instructors have a great deal of experience and are active in the industry helping owners with their dogs on a daily basis. When we teach any obedience exercise or good behaviour shaping technique there is a deliberate focus on how to teach these skills to owners in their homes and under realistic distraction. No other course goes into such detail with realistic and relevant


strategies that can be validated on real dogs in various challenging scenarios. By the end of the course trainees are clear on the processes to follow when teaching owners because they have been actively practicing strategies that work in real-time.

Above: A trainee attending the short, intensive trainer course plays ball with two dogs running free whilst her own dog holds a Drop Step-away (stay). Although he wants to chase the ball, the trainee’s dog is learning to hold position until he is released. This is about day four of the course.


Above & Below: Training dogs of varying size and attitude is an important part of the ACP ‘hands-on’ experience. Developing a ‘feel’ for the methods helps to develop genuine confidence and competence in your skills and better prepares you for the variables encountered out in the real world. All training is done under distraction and by the end of the course all trainees confidently assess the dogs they are handling, the other dogs around them and the environments in which they are training.


Above: Trainees applying Canine Good Behaviour Shaping (manners that really matter) in the new indoor training and behavioural observation complex. All Alpha trainees teach their own dogs these important manners to ensure that they are not only well trained, but well behaved also. This standard is vital if trainers are to take their own ‘demo dogs’ with them into new situations and environments such as obedience classes or other peoples’ homes when conducting private tuition.

On ACP courses you are taught by instructors who actively apply the methods they are teaching you on their own dogs. We can take our dogs anywhere so we know what it takes to achieve these industry-leading standards that take teaching ability for dog trainers to new levels of professionalism.

The skills you learn on your course are real, are practical and above all else, relevant to the real world.


The Alpha Dog Training Experience

The information in this section has been taken directly from Alpha Canine Professional’s Part-time Trainer Course Information Booklet. That course is only available to those residing in Melbourne, Australia. However, this information gives potential interstate or international trainees an insight into our approach to trainer education and extensive experience in customer service and method development.

Much of the ‘hands-on’ method development relating to puppy behaviour and learning ability has been validated through Alpha Dog Training. This information will feature throughout the short, intensive trainer courses and gives trainees an important understanding of how The Canine Leadership System prepares owners and their dogs for the common challenges that occur during the dog’s maturing process. We can’t provide puppies for training on a the short, intensive trainer courses so we rely on specialised handling of smaller breeds and video footage of training pups and shaping their behaviours with the methods you learn on your course.

You will have the opportunity to visit Alpha Dog Training on any Sunday morning or Wednesday evening where you will see professional trainers applying the same skills that you learn on your course.

From the part-time course booklet:

As trainees on our part-time course you will be immersed into an active and successful dog training business (Alpha Dog Training) that has over the years produced many talented and skillful trainers. You will be exposed to a culture of service based on results, results that come from experienced trainers that share a genuine passion and dedication to their craft and a belief system in a system that has proven to work on so many different dogs of varying age, breed and disposition.

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obedience classes and they also supervise trainee handling sessions when you come to the kennels on a regular basis to refine you training and behaviour recognition skills on many different dogs of varying breed and temperament. Training with and learning from actual trainers is a very important aspect of the part-time course and defines Alpha’s Lead By Example standard that just can’t be matched within our industry or on any other course.

At Alpha Dog Training you will see puppies from eight weeks old to five months old learning the fundamental obedience commands, under distraction, and being taught manners around people and other dogs. At Alpha we deal with all puppy behavioural problems and are particularly focused on educating owners to recognise any behavioural responses or patterns that could become more serious as the pup matures.

At Alpha Dog Training you will meet and work with professional dog trainers who have already graduated from the course you are attending. Although these trainers work for Alpha, some also run their own private training businesses, some are vet nurses who run puppy training for their clinics and other nurses who run training and behavioural consults at their clinics. We also have full-time trainers who work for Alpha Boarding Kennels and Alpha Boarding School For Dogs teaching at the weekly


Food-bribes are not used at all when training puppies as it is our belief here at Alpha that the release command is a far more practical and effective reward. Food-bribes have become the most popular way to train puppies and dogs, but they are also the cause of many behavioural problems that develop as a puppy matures. When you see puppies having fun and paying attention to their owners in bustling situations, you will then understand why this training approach is relevant to the real world that confronts owners and their pups on a daily basis. Food-bribes are not relevant or practical at all!

Another important point to make here is that Alpha Dog Training doesn’t treat puppies as a separate class, it is actually part of the overall training process. So when puppies reach five months of age they then move up into the adult dog levels, starting at level one and moving through to the advanced levels.

When you see many puppies, including those that started out with social or behavioural issues, moving through adolescence and actually beginning to settle down, it’s a powerful validation of the effective methods being taught to owners during their classes.


What this means for ACP part-time course trainees is that you get to witness the guided maturing process of many pups varying in breed, age and temperament. These insights into canine behavioural and social development are unique compared to any other course within our industry. At Alpha Dog Training you will continually see amazing transformations as owners learn to train and rehabilitate their dogs using methods that work in real-time. You will often see stressed or embarrassed owners with behaviourally challenged dogs achieving inspiring results in their very first introductory session, even dog aggressive and fearful behaviour. But the most important point I can raise here is that you will see incredibly skilled and confident instructors actively helping these owners by calmly taking control of the situation and helping them to not only understand their dog’s behaviour, but how to make an immediate impact on that behaviour with correct handling that makes a difference right before their eyes.

When you witness this phenomenon week in, week out, it is not difficult to understand that what you are learning on your course really does work – that one system can work. Learning from experts who actively apply the methods and the customer service and communication skills in real-time is an invaluable experience that inspires trainees to aim for the highest standards. Another


impressive point to make here is that you will see even our newest graduates working to this standard and showing a confidence that can only come from being a part of something real! And by the way, all Alpha instructors have their own demo dogs with them and on display at all times, even when actively helping customers with difficult dogs – Leading By Example!

On ACP courses you are not just learning a bit about different training methods, like some sort of dog training tasting plate, and then being told that you can choose which method suits you or that different dogs need different approaches. This is a really unaccountable approach to trainer education that often creates confusion because nothing has ever been thoroughly demonstrated to work in realistic situations. You need to learn methods that are consistent and effective and be demonstrated beyond just the basic level of understanding. At Alpha Dog Training you will see so many dogs move through their training journey, from beginner to advanced, and you will be doing the same with your own dogs. This goes well beyond teaching a little bit of this and a little bit of that!

One System – Different Dogs – Different Problems – Same Positive Results!

Above: ‘Hustle & Bustle’ – an Alpha advanced class in picnic mode. 25+ dogs and much random activity around food and people in novel and challenging situations. The dogs here are both on and off-lead depending on their advanced level, but the relaxed atmosphere clearly shows happy owners, happy dogs and the results of methods that are commonsense and effective. There are dogs in this group that started training because they were anti-social to other dogs, and yet they can now hold a drop position right next to food with other owners and their dogs coming in close without incident.


Above: Alpha Dog Training Puppy Class – Pups of all size and shape are taught to play nicely with each other. This is achieved through lots of praise (in varying tone) and when required, appropriate contrasting corrections that clearly target any unacceptable or rough behaviour. The recalls pictured right are taught without food-bribes and from distraction.

The positive results achieved with The Canine Leadership System defy the dated, food-bribing methods that emotively insist that you can’t train pups and dogs without food or by using any sort of physical corrections. Alpha has pioneered Reinforcement Contrast Effect – the art of applying “NO” and contrasting physical corrections to achieve positive outcomes to both obedience and good behaviour shaping. SEEING IS BELIEVING!

Left: At the time this photo was taken, Toni (in yellow) was a trainee learning to teach classes (optional 6 month course extension). She is demonstrating to the owner how to teach the Sit Step-away (stay) under distraction by applying Reinforcement Contrast Effect. The phrase “Good Boy/Girl” becomes incredibly powerful and can be applied in different tones to communicate to the pups/dogs the importance of remaining in position. This creates a genuine position


of trust and leadership as owners learn to control their pups/dogs in distracting and challenging situations. The puppy above is in its very first official puppy class (Puppy First Timers) and is learning the Step-away exercise, under distraction, for the first time.

Food-bribing methods would never even attempt to achieve the results above and owners often tell us that they have tried for months on end with such methods to absolutely no effect, especially if they don’t have food with them. But even if the food is present the pups/dogs still won’t listen if they are distracted or are busy misbehaving.

On the ACP part-time course you will see puppies and older dogs learning quickly and reliably under distraction. With most food-bribing methods owners are shown very little and only ever to a basic level. They are then told to practice a little bit at a time and eventually the pup will improve. These low standards actually allow pups to ignore their owners and develop behavioural issues as they mature.

At Alpha Dog Training you will be exposed to and personally meet many, many dog owners who have previously tried to train their dogs with food-bribes under the guidance of other dog trainers or veterinary behaviourists. These owners tell you directly the same stories of “lots of talking” and very little demonstration beyond the ‘getting started’ level of obedience training. This training always takes place in a quiet area with all distraction removed – the owners need to practice more to reach that standard.

The same scenario applies to behavioural problem solving. Food-bribing trainers and behaviourists remove the distraction from the dog or the dog from the distraction. Problem solved… NOT! Again there is “lots of talking” and very little demonstration, if any at all, because their solution is to avoid the problem (hide the problem).

When real owners are telling us these stories every day over the phone, in person or via email (from all around Australia), you start to see a very disturbing trend in our industry. In virtually all cases the experts are ‘dogless’, but they are quick to list their credentials as a measure of their professionalism. They can talk themselves up, but beyond that the owners are left at the end of a session confused and disheartened about their dog’s continued bad behaviour!


No other course in our industry gives trainees this level of ‘hands-on’ teaching experience where you actually get to apply your new teaching skills, first under supervision, and then eventually flying solo. This is how ACP builds a genuine belief system in the methods taught, by giving trainees the opportunities to learn and develop their craft in real situations!

Dog owners need to achieve results that can be clearly explained and demonstrated in real-time!

Alpha Canine Professional teaches new dog trainers how to perform Real-time Canine Behavioural & Relationship Assessments based on ‘hands-on’ obedience, good behaviour shaping and behavioral rehabilitation strategies that achieve real results for dog owners under the realistic distractions occurring in their homes… in the very first session!

Within the first few months of your course you will already be familiar with this process and well on your way to developing the real skills required to perform this invaluable service. You will be watching this process in action and eventually you will be able to do it all yourself.

Left: The dog pictured here is about 5 months old and is actively showing food aggression at home. We asked the owner to bring a bone along so we could stimulate and modify the behaviour. The accompanying video that is shown on relevant ACP courses demonstrates how the methods taught achieve positive results where other methods do little more than avoid the problem! The approach is simple and can be seen to work in real-time.


Above: The same puppy now an adolescent dog working in advanced class. The food aggression had been dealt with early and properly and the owner regained confidence as a leader which enabled her to guide her dog into adulthood.

Above: Well trained and behaved dogs of all shapes and size – the result of methods that are positive, practical, relevant and effective!


customers achieving real results, it’s not difficult to build a belief system in the methods you learn on any ACP trainer course.

Alpha has redefined many concepts within dog training and canine behavioural rehabilitation – challenging the dated science that lacks relevance in the real world. The complimentary relationships between obedience, good behaviour shaping and behavioural rehabilitation have taken the concept of consistency to new and exciting levels of understanding that are experienced by Alpha trainees every time they handle or train a dog.

Left: Alpha customers learning realistic and relevant Canine Good Behaviour Shaping skills – manners that really matter. ACP part-time course trainees not only teach their own dogs these important skills, they also get to attend customer seminars and observe owners learning the same skills in a manner that is completely relevant to the dog’s home situation.

Watching the senior Alpha trainers in action working with customers and their dogs is a great way to understand the methods from a teaching perspective. When you hear commonsense explanations and then see the matching demonstrations with the trainer’s own dog followed by the


System & Method Development – Beyond Dated Science

This section gives an insight into the purpose and objectives behind the system and methods developed within The Alpha Canine Group (Australia).

The Canine Leadership System has been developed with a specific purpose and determination to provide dog owners with practical and effective obedience and behavioural modification methods that are realistic by nature and totally relevant to the common, real-life challenges affecting all owners and their dogs.

Since 1996 there has been a steady and deliberate evolution within the system that has been driven by a foundation of ‘hands-on’ training and behavioural rehabilitation experience, now exceeding well over ten thousand dogs. This experience comes from working with owners and dogs in weekly obedience classes, private tuition in the owner’s home, boarding school courses and from the caring of dogs in a kennel environment. The depth of knowledge behind the system development that comes from these varying training applications has proven invaluable in validating our methods in the real world – real owners, real dogs, real behavioural problems… real behavioural solutions.


Whether it’s aggression towards other animals or towards other dogs, Alpha’s methods have proven effective in the real world. We can explain and demonstrate our methods to you before you begin your course and if you choose to learn from us you will be exposed to many real owners and their dogs with very real behavioural issues throughout your course. But the real learning will come as you continually witness the rehabilitation of unacceptable canine behaviour as the owners learn methods that make sense and are relevant in real-life, under real distraction! You will learn from experienced trainers who can demonstrate what they teach in real-time.

You can see ‘before & after’ behavioural video footage of the dogs pictured above (and many others) on our website:

www.thealphacaninegroup.com.au/multimedia.php

http://www.thealphacaninegroup.com.au/multimedia.php


The Canine Leadership System has focused on several main objectives as part of overall method development. All this R&D (Research & Development) has been driven by a need to satisfy the concept of training dogs with purpose – the purpose being to either prevent or rehabilitate unacceptable canine behaviour.

These R&D objectives are as follows:

• To demonstrate how dogs learn whilst competing with realistic distraction and the subsequent affect of this learning process on consistent communication in other areas of learning such as behaviour shaping and social development.

• To demonstrate how to shape or rehabilitate canine behaviour whilst the dogs are actively misbehaving and the affect this learning has on obedience training and the overall owner and dog relationship.

• To develop an effective system comprised of complimentary methods that produce consistent and positive outcomes regardless of the dog’s breed, age or disposition.

• To develop methods that are easy to understand and that can be easily demonstrated to be effective and relevant to the dog’s specific obedience or behavioural problems.

Alpha Canine R&Dactive is the name given to the ongoing and ‘hands-on’ research and development that continues to refine The Canine Leadership System. The new terminology relating to the many principles and methods that have been developed within the system has come about through a necessity to describe concepts that just haven’t been explored by the popular and academic (scientific) approaches to canine learning and behavioural theory. And with the current academic and emotive attitudes to negative reinforcement and punishment there is little chance of a change in direction in this type of research.

However, through Alpha-developed principles such as: • Pattern Learning• Reinforcement Contrast Effect• Reset Learning• Canine Good Behaviour Shaping• Reinforcement Crossover Consistency

… just to name a few, The Alpha Canine Group has completely redefined the concepts of leadership, trust and consistency by developing a communication


system that is completely relevant to the day-to-day challenges that affect all owners and their dogs.

The above-mentioned principles combine to create a unique and exciting learning process that is completely relevant to real-life distractions. This process goes well beyond focusing on obedience commands on their own and when applied in daily communication helps to manage a dog’s social and behavioural development. This is a very important point to make about The Canine Leadership System. The obedience, manners and canine behavioural rehabilitation techniques are so practical and relevant to the real world that they create a very natural and relaxed communication between the owners and their dogs where trust and leadership are fundamental aspects of their relationship. This allows the owners to correct unwanted behaviour when necessary in a very clear manner that produces positive learning outcomes even in bustling and distracting scenarios.

Trust and leadership are now common ideals bandied around our industry, but I can assure you that within Alpha’s methods these concepts are measurable by outcome. They are not clichéd terms that sound good, they are tangible outcomes that are fundamental to the focus behind the techniques and strategies applied within the methods. These concepts can be easily explained and demonstrated at any time during the obedience training, good behaviour shaping or behavioural rehabilitation process!

Alpha has also conducted extensive research and development into class structures and teaching and demonstration techniques that literally revolutionise the way owners are taught to handle, train and understand their dog’s behaviour. The Alpha Split System, Random Training Principles, Integrated Distraction, Leadership Obedience Challenges and Interactive Tuition are just some of the progressive teaching strategies that combine to offer our clients a more productive learning environment, in both group classes or private tuition scenarios.

Dog training is a fun and rewarding pastime, but it should always be done with the underlying purpose of preparing owners and their dogs for the challenges that lay ahead, especially during the maturing process. The Canine Leadership System can be broken down into many individual aspects and in every case there will be clear and consistent purpose relating to this important concept of preparation – it literally ties everything together to create an incredibly


consistent approach to canine learning and behavioural theory. Because of this focus on realistic application, the relevance of the methods taught on ACP courses is so easily demonstrated when working with real owners and their real dogs, regardless of any behavioural issues. The ability to demonstrate, and therefore prove our progressive and effective approaches to canine learning and behavioural theory is what really sets The Canine Leadership System apart from the popular academic theories of the day. We go to great efforts to explain and demonstrate what makes this course so special and are prepared to answer any questions you may have about our methods and the course in general. Please be sure to watch the detailed video on our website about ACP dog trainer courses.


Exposing The Popular, But Dated And Often Irrelevant Science Behind Canine Learning And Behavioural Theory

The concepts, ideals and principles that have come from our ‘hands-on’ research and development are unlike any of the conventional (academic) or popular approaches to canine learning and behavioural theory taught on other course. In fact, Alpha can now easily explain and demonstrate practical and positive methods that render much of the scientific theory on punishment and operant conditioning to be of very little relevance to domestic dog behaviour and training in real-life scenarios.

This might seem like a big statement to make, but the proof is plain to see as more and more training methods based on operant conditioning principles have become far too over-reliant on food lures and far less capable of demonstrating any form of relevant results under realistic distraction. Training dogs with food lures in realistic and distracting scenarios has never been proven to be effective by science.

Training with food lures has it place in specialist applications, with specialist trainers, but not in the real world for the average dog owner.

Think about it logically for a moment. Even the pioneers of learning theory, Skinner (operant conditioning) and Pavlov (classical conditioning), knew that food lures were not strong enough reinforcers to keep their test subjects focused on the experimental objectives required to obtain the data they required. This is why they needed to create soundproof and distraction-free environments. Their learning theories are relevant to behavioural responses offered in isolation, not out in the real world where food lures (bribes) become less important to a dog’s learning or behavioural responses!

The science behind the application of reinforcement in the learning equation is often based on, and influenced by, dated concepts that have no real relevance or application in the real world. The academic approach to research on learning theory is often shackled by an unrealistic idealism that sees virtually all negative reinforcement and punishment (particularly positive punishment) as aspects of learning that should be avoided. So-much-so that the negative baggage associated with physical corrections and punishment has severely influenced the type of research being conducted in academic circles.


Rather than aiming to see if positive and negative can be combined, the science focuses on reinforcement as singular concepts (positive OR negative). When analysed from this perspective it’s not difficult to look at various research objectively to see that many of the experiments are completely irrelevant to Alpha’s new principles that are based on reinforcement contrast – shaping positive outcomes by using both positive AND negative reinforcement to teach dogs the acceptable behavioural alternative in a clear and consistent (recognisable) process.

How can any of this be true if the highest credentialed experts in our industry, such as veterinary behaviourists are basing their methods on the science that we say is now dated?

Alpha is continually offering second opinions to, and achieving positive outcomes for, dog owners who have tried to follow the advice of veterinary behaviourists. You can see some ‘before & after’ examples of these troubled dogs in the videos on our websites.

However, if we put this advice into realistic perspective you will find that for starters the behaviourists don’t have a well trained and behaved dog with them when they consult and they rarely if ever demonstrate methods or techniques that will work under relevant distraction. These experts often offer one consultation with phone or email back-up and maybe another consultation

Many dog experts are still bogged down in the limiting and outdated mindset of positive OR negative when it comes to applying reinforcement in canine learning and behavioural theory.

Alpha has redefined the learning equation by replacing positive OR negative with a much more progressive approach where the positive and negative reinforcement contrast against each other – positive AND negative AND positive again. The learning outcomes from this approach are positive, quick and lasting, in both obedience training and behaviour shaping processes.

The only measures of learning theory that really matter to dog owners… POSITIVE RESULTS in the short-term and POSITIVE OVERALL OUTCOMES!


many, many weeks later. At this first consultation they interpret and discuss answers to a multi-page behavioural questionnaire that has been previously filled out by the owners – this can be a very long discussion. The behaviourist may show some basic obedience with food bribes and may show some simple behavioral modification techniques, but they never show anything close to a reliable obedience command or modified behaviour under relevant distraction.

After they leave, the behaviourist will put together a behavioural assessment for the dog and send it to the owner via email with several attachments explaining various training methods (clicker training, crate training, very basic obedience), calming techniques and general guidelines on how to practice without using physical punishment. However, all the advice contained in the attached documents assumes a willing dog that will not be distracted and there is no advice on what to do if the dog isn’t complying.

This glaring omission of advice on what to do if the dog isn’t complying is a dead giveaway that that these experts probably haven’t trained and rehabilitated dogs with their own methods and by their own hand. If they had they would prepare owners for the common resistance that they encounter from their dogs. It’s bad enough that they don’t actually demonstrate and teach these methods with the dog and show the relevance to its problems, but to assume that owners will be able to follow written guidelines and that their dog is willing, and to then put this in an email attachment backed up with some phone advice, is completely unrealistic. No wonder these owners go looking for second opinions, but how many just give in on their dogs after such advice?

So even the highest credentialed professionals can’t demonstrate their science and their service isn’t even structured to do so. They tell us that their methods are backed by science, but they can’t show us! I have many behavioural reports from many different behaviourists and first-hand accounts of these processes that have been given to me by dog owners who couldn’t make the science work and wanted to get their dogs off the prescribed drugs.

In many cases we have worked with anxious and aggressive dogs that have been put on invasive, mind-altering drugs by veterinary behaviourists, only to find that the drugs have had little or no real affect on the dog’s behavioural issues. We ask the owners to wean their dogs off the drugs (under veterinary advice) and then we apply Alpha’s methods, ‘hands-on’, and demonstrate the relevance of Leadership Obedience and Canine Good Behaviour Shaping to their dog’s


specific behavioural issues. This is all done under relevant distraction and always with a trained dog there for demonstration purposes. This is a genuine and inspiring starting point to any behavioural rehabilitation process and more-often-than-not leads to positive outcomes.

And just to reiterate the most important point of all:

Alpha can explain and demonstrate progressive and effective methods (result-based eveidence) whilst working with real owners and their real dogs that are often experiencing very real behavioural problems… under very real and relevant distraction! We do this with our own well trained and behaved dogs by our side, even if the owner’s dog is aggressive, fearful, anxious or over-excitable.

On the following pages are a few case studies from real owners’ experiences with methods based on dated science and an over-reliance on food bribes:

Real Canine Behavioural Problems Require Realistic & Practical Solutions!

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The dog pictured here weighs in at nearly 100kg and has resisted various attempts by other trainers and a professional behaviourist relating to his behavioural rehabilitation for aggressive outbursts directed at strangers. The behaviourist was bitten on the hand as she attempted to calm the dog during a veterinary examination by distracting him with food. This unfortunate situation was set up during a consult because the behaviourist believed the dog was ready for this next level of stranger interaction. There


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are so many reasons why this wasn’t going to work and I predicted to the owners at least a month before the biting incident that the progress being made was superficial at best. The behaviourist was making a common mistake of addressing the symptom, not the actual problem and was missing so many behavioural signals because she was focusing on meaningless milestones achieved with food bribes. This approach is dated and dangerous!

Effective canine behavioural rehabilitation is measured by real world responses to common triggers and assessing various aspects of the relationship between the owner and the dog, not by creating artificial situations that provide artificial behavioural feedback. The dog and owner were not ready for this scenario, but nobody understood this until it was too late. The result of this incident was that the dog actually got to lash out and bite someone, drawing blood, and inadvertently having his fearful behavioural outburst reinforced – there was no consequence for his actions that would in any way inhibit him from trying this again, perhaps at his next veterinary examination! This approach was wrong on so many levels!

On Alpha Canine Professional courses you will continually see aggressive dogs being rehabilitated in many different training scenarios. You will see professional trainers confidently working with owners and achieving very quick results despite others having failed using different, confusing methods on the same dog. We go beyond just teaching theory, we make it real and continually show consistent results of a system that works on real dogs with real problems!


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Meet Zoe & Sonny: There is a three page letter from the owners that goes with these pictures that have been taken from video footage. You can understand what is happening in the first 2 pic – this had been going on for a couple of months – the dogs had to be muzzled and separated whilst the owners quickly left each morning before the dogs got back together – however when they returned home the fighting had begun before they opened the door. This was not an acceptable situation! The 3rd pic shows the two dogs back together again at home after we finished their training and behavioural rehabilitation.

The following extract is taken directly from the owner’s letter outlining their experience with a veterinary behaviourist with many years experience here in Victoria:

We started doing some research on the internet and found an overwhelming amount of information which just seemed to be contradictory. After trying to find at least one person we could instil our faith in, we came across an obedience trainer who we decided to make contact with. After explaining our situation to them, we were referred to a pet behaviourist, who they saw may be more appropriate in assisting with our problem. The pet behaviourist was spoken very highly of and we were referred to this person by a few different people (i.e. a couple of local vets

Real Canine Behavioural Problems Require Realistic & Practical Solutions!


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and the obedience trainer). In light of this shared view and affiliation with a couple of different sources we decided to go with the pet behaviourist in the end. After making the initial contact we decided to have Sonny de-sexed, which we were told would only better the situation if anything.

After a couple of short phone conversations with the behaviourist we were provided with a couple of consultation options. We could initially have a detailed phone consultation (charged) then back it up with an in house consultation or just go straight for the slightly more expensive extended in house consultation (2-2.5 hrs). As we wanted to tackle the situation with a more hands on approach we decided we’d get more out of the extended in house consultation. Before the behaviourists arrival we were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire for both of the dogs and forward it on so they could get a good understanding of the situation before their arrival. We thought this was a great idea, as we wouldn’t have to cover the particulars of the situation in the behaviourists presence, our feeling was that we could just get down to the nitty gritty of working towards some sort of solution.

Upon their arrival we just seemed to sit down and recap pretty much the whole questionnaire for the first hour and a half of the consultation. What was the point of putting in all that work in the first place we thought!? After the first hour and a half of chat we were taught a couple of basic commands to get both the dogs attention. It was a simple sit, look into our eyes and reward with a treat. This was to apparently get them to be attentive to us and focus on our command rather than each other.

We tried it with the dogs completely separate, then we tried it whilst the dogs could see each other through a glass door. As soon as they could see each other, they shifted their focus onto one another and rushed to the door in an aggressive manner. As soon as this happened the behaviourist said there was no point in attempting to continue this training method as the dogs were now anxious and would not be responsive to further training at that point in time. We then locked the dogs away and sat back down for some more chat.

The behaviourist decided Zoe would benefit from medication to bring her anxiety levels down a notch. They explained that with use of the medication she would be more responsive to us and would be easier to


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manage and train. While the behaviourist seemed to make sense with her recommendation we were apprehensive to start medicating our dogs. We decided that we’d give it a shot as we had committed to taking advice from what we thought was a credible source.

The behaviourist explained we should start to see results if we get Zoe, definitely, and Sonny, potentially, on the medication. We were told to continue the sit, look, reward training method while the dogs were separated then gradually bring them closer and closer together with the use of a tether or even a cage each of their own in say the living room. They seemed to make sense in their recommendations, but in all honesty we couldn’t really see how it was going to happen with no practical actions displayed during the consultation to back it up.

We were then left to our devices and told the medication may take up to 5 weeks to take affect. If we were not seeing any results after 6 weeks we were told to cease administering the medication. After the consultation the behaviourist sent us a whole bunch of documentation, from their discharge report to information on some training techniques and various equipment we could purchase to assist in training (head halters, cages, etc). The report outlined which medication and what quantities were to be prescribed. We then took this report to the vet in order to obtain the medication. We begun the course for Zoe initially, then Sonny about a week later after a chat to the behaviourist stating that he was also beginning to get on the front foot with aggressive behaviour. We were also provided with a prescription for another medication that would give the dogs sort a short term memory loss in the event that they had an aggressive fight. This was to be given to both dogs immediately after an incident, if one occurred.

The owners came along to Alpha Dog Training on a Wednesday evening, desperate for help. We explained our approach in detail and asked them to come back the following week with one or both the dogs so we could show them how the training actually worked. They brought Zoe along to a free first timer session and at the end booked the dogs in for boarding school. Again we had the dogs weaned off their drugs that had been prescribed by the veterinary behaviourist before we started! The video footage we have before, during and after their training tells the whole story (see website). There are many, many lessons to be learned


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dyfrom this tale! We have many more case studies from actual dog owners outlining the dated academic approach that demonstrates little and often achieves even less!


Alpha Canine R&Dactive

Pioneering practical, positive and ‘hands-on’ Leadership Obedience, Canine Good Behaviour Shaping and Canine Behavioural Rehabilitation concepts unlike anything else offered in our industry – for dog owners or trainers!

In no particular order:• Canine Behaviour Interrupt Principle • The Pattern Learning Training Method • The Perfect Position & Short Loose Lead • The 3 Ds (reliable step-aways) • The 4 Rs of Canine Behavioural Rehabilitation • The Quadrants Of Canine Good Behaviour Shaping • The Alpha Split System Class Structures • Reinforcement Crossover Consistency • Random Command • Reinforcement Contrast Effect • Random Practice • Regroup & Retry • Situation Creation• The Control Zone (superseding critical distance) • Random Release • Service Synergy • Random Formation • The ‘Real-Life’ Obedience Challenges • Alpha Integrated Distraction Training • Leadership Obedience Training • LEAD BY EXAMPLE! • The Four Cs • The Rules Of Engagement • The Canine Leadership Challenges • The Behavioural Transition Phase • The Communication Phase • Real-time Canine Behavioural & Relationship Assessments (not

questionnaires)• Reset Learning Principle... and so much more!


By the end of any ACP course you will understand how these important concepts and principles come together to create methods that are changing the accepted ideas on canine behavioural rehabilitation, obedience training, private and group teaching methods and professional standards in our industry.

Important Note:Everything on this list can be explained and demonstrated to be relevant to achieving positive outcomes in the prevention or rehabilitation of unacceptable canine behaviour. These concepts and principles have been developed with real owners and their real dogs with real behavioural problems in very real living situations… not in unnatural scientific experiments void of any reality, distraction and ultimately… relevance!


Dog Handling & Behaviour Recognition

Another very exciting aspect of our work comes from the ‘hands-on’ techniques that have exposed a relevant, real world understanding of canine body language in real-time – that is, as it happens in training, behaviour shaping and rehabilitation scenarios.

The fluid and transitional nature of canine posturing, carriage, expression and vocalisation when observed in real-time and in response to interactive methods that produce positive outcomes to serious behavioural issues offers trainees an alternate understanding of canine behaviour compared to other approaches. Because Alpha successfully achieves positive outcomes with behavioural issues that are often avoided or treated with mind-altering drug therapy by academic approaches, we observe many canine behavioural transitions and noticeable changes of ‘intent’ that are completely unknown or commonly misinterpreted by methods that are unable to deal with such problems. The transitional and intent aspects of canine body language and behaviour can only be learned and understood from ‘hands-on’ obedience training and behaviour shaping and observing the learning and behavioural changes relevant to overall positive outcomes, not from individual responses in isolation that occur throughout the training process.

Left: ACP trainees working with different (small) dogs, teaching the Sit Step-away exercise on flat collar around other dogs running free. On all ACP courses trainees learn to handle different breeds in order to validate the methods on all dogs, not just some carefully selected, willing dogs. The distraction in this ‘hands-on’ session was totally random with the smaller dogs and the training director’s Labrador and St Bernard floating around in the mix (off-lead, behaving and having a good time).


Above: ACP trainees working with larger dogs, heeling in Random Formation. Regardless of which trainer course you attend (part-time or short intensive over 10 days), all trainees learn to apply the same consistent techniques on dogs of all size and temperament.

Alpha’s methods have also exposed a new understanding relevant to a dog’s cognitive ability. Where traditional and popular approaches to canine learning still believe that dogs are incapable of differentiating and then understanding the meaning of various tones of voice, Alpha has developed methods that clearly demonstrate a dog’s ability to recognise and respond consistently and appropriately to differing tones within singular, but consistent phrasing. Alpha has found that a dog’s ability to recognise and then remember certain consistent learning concepts also challenges the often dated principles relating to timing (of reinforcements or rewards) and tone.

Reading and understanding canine body language must always occur in context and this is why looking at pictures on a screen or in a book can often be clichéd and deceptive, and as such, cannot compete with ‘hands-on’ experience. The relevance of a dog’s body language must be assessed as it responds to the varying stimuli that are present at the time. True understanding comes from


observing many dogs before, during and after the training or rehabilitation process.

The other important factor that can’t be overlooked for dog trainers is the dog’s physical reactions to the way the owners or trainers carry themselves during the training process. We have been told so many stories by dog owners, of trainers and behaviourists who have over-confidently tried to bribe nervy/scared dogs with cooked chicken only to find that the dog keeps a distance and remains untrusting and apprehensive. These same dogs have then bonded with Alpha trainers relatively quickly, without food bribes, because our trainers have learned (‘hands-on’) how to carry themselves in a manner that is confident, but non-confrontational. There is a real skill to reading and responding appropriately to fearful, aggressive, anxious or over-excitable dogs and you will never learn it by trying to get the food-bribe to do all the work.

At a recent seminar for the German Shepherd Club here in Victoria, a group of about sixty instructors observed two Alpha trainers calmly and confidently working with owners of eleven notoriously difficult dogs (mostly aggressive, anxious or uncontrollable around other dogs) that had resisted all previous attempts at training and rehabilitation. Within about forty minutes all dogs were under the control of their owners, under high-level distraction (dogs moving randomly in all directions) and all behaved in an impressive manner.


Above: A group of 11 ‘difficult’ German Shepherds now listening to their owners with other dogs coming from all directions. These dogs were out-of-control before being fitted with head halters and the owners being shown how to handle them under distraction. The owners were taught the basics of Reinforcement Contrast Effect and how to change the tone of “Good Boy/Girl” to achieve more practical control and focus.

One dog in particular (pictured right) was aggressive to people and had tried to bite trainers previously. The Alpha trainer explained to the owner how to fit the head halter and then casually took the dog from him and proceeded to teach it some basic leadership language. The dog bonded with her and from that point she could take the dog from the owner at any time to show him the handling skills when required, never once being threatened by the dog. This is a very ‘normal’ process for Alpha trainers – demonstrating results with our methods!


Above: Alpha Dog Training’s Head Trainer, George Visentin heeling his dog Coco off-lead through the group whilst Alpha Senior Trainer, Amy Fontana gives handling advice to one of the handlers.

Potential trainees need to understand that unless you handle many different dogs and train your own dogs to a reliable demonstration standard, the chances are that you will have no true ability to connect with dogs (or their owners) using methods and theories that just haven’t been refined and validated through ‘hands-on’ experience. Most dogs can be managed safely when you know how to read their behaviour in real-time. On the ACP part-time dog trainer course you will be learning from and working with experienced trainers who apply relevant behavioural assessment skills that make sense to both owners and their dogs. The positive results achieved with all dogs, including your own demo dog, are a reflection of the skills taught on your course.

Above: Short, intensive course trainees training their own dogs under bustling distraction. Two of the dogs being trained here are project dogs supplied for overseas trainees. By the end of the ACP short intensive trainer courses these dogs (and many others) are trained to extremely high standards, under distraction.


Too much supposition is applied to the reading of canine behaviour because far too many ‘experts’ don’t actually handle dogs enough to challenge the often unrealistic and dated concepts that are considered to be gospel. On all ACP courses trainees are taught to read canine behaviour in real time as they handle many different dogs!

There are qualified trainers from other industry courses who openly state with authority that: “qualified trainers never take their dogs with them into another person’s home because we need to concentrate on the owner’s dog and not our own dog” or “qualified trainers would never put their own dog at risk when working with other aggressive or untrained dogs”.

At Alpha Canine Professional these are dated attitudes that come from those who are unable to train their own dogs to high and reliable standards with the methods they are teaching dog owners. We take great pride in raising this standard of professional accountability that goes beyond anything offered on any other course. Dog experts that have their own well trained and behaved dogs with them when they teach others – this is a much needed and commonsense standard for our industry!

When your dog has been trained with methods that are practical, positive and effective, the same methods that you teach your clients, then you can manage virtually any training or behaviour shaping situation in virtually any location. ACP-trained dog trainers learn to use their dogs for demonstration and distraction purposes.

Left: An Alpha Trainer applying the Pattern Learning Training Method to a young pup that was resisting the Sit command from its owner. The ability to read a dog’s or pup’s behaviour is essential if you are to achieve positive results with your chosen methods! Understanding canine behaviour is a subjective process and is very much contingent on both the method and the results.


Above: An Alpha trainer demonstrating obedience exercises with his own demo dog. Whether you are teaching in classes, at the park, in another person’s home or at a veterinary hospital, a well trained and behaved dog by your side is an invaluable teaching aid that helps owners to see first-hand the exercises being taught.


Course Fees

10 Day Intensive Course: $4,000 AUD (incl. GST)

All payments are to made in Australian dollars.

The course runs from Monday to Friday over two consecutive weeks, with the weekend off in between.

Accommodation & Travel (not included in course fees)

We are happy to assist with accommodation enquiries and travel arrangements for those from interstate (or overseas). There will be variable options depending on where you choose to stay in relation to our training complex. If required, Alpha Canine professional can arrange airport transfer to your ac-commodation.

Your Own Dog

For Australian Trainees:

You are required to bring your own dog along for training with you – they can stay at our boarding kennels free of charge for the duration of your course. This is advisable for those who live in Australia because you will be getting expert tui-tion with your own personal dog as well as all the other dogs you get to handle. The cost for flying a dog to Melbourne from other states of Australia is not that expensive if you are traveling with it (depending on dogʼs weight) – it is usually weighed and treated as extra luggage.

Don’t worry if your dog has very little training or is experiencing behavioural problems, even aggression, just bring them along! I know there are other courses that don’t allow trainees to bring their own dogs or only accept ‘good dogs’ - this is not the case here! In fact, the bigger the perceived problem, the more excited we are to help you so your dog can be living proof of the Canine Leadership System.


Quite simply, teaching you how to successfully modify your own dogʼs behaviours is a great example of what you will be teaching others!

Alpha Canine Professional dog trainer courses are for those who own and live with their own dogs as we believe that this is the minimum requirement for setting new industry standards. This industry has too many trainers and behaviourists (dogless experts) that either donʼt own a dog at all or if they do, canʼt or wonʼt train them to demonstration standard with their chosen methods.

For International Trainees (outside Australia):

You will be supplied with a project dog for the duration of your course.


Payment Terms & Methods

A deposit of 20% of the total course cost is due upon booking, to confirm your position. Please do not assume your position is certain until your deposit has been received.

The balance owing will be due 7 days prior to course commencement.

These amounts can be paid either by cheque, credit card or direct deposit.

ChequePlease make cheques payable to Alpha Canine Professional.Mail address: Alpha Canine Professional, 8 Kiernan Road, Macclesfield, Vic 3782.

Credit Card (Visa or Mastercard)Credit card payments can be made by telephoning 03 5968 8101 (within Australia) or +613 5968 8101 (for International trainees).

Direct Deposit - Intenet Banking Transfer (International)Direct deposit details are as follows.

Bank: National Australia BankBIC: NATAAU3303M Country: AustraliaBranch: Emerald (Victoria)Branch Address: 342 – 344 Belgrave-Gembrook Road, Emerald, Victoria, 3782Account Name: Alpha Canine ProfessionalAddress: 8 Kiernan Road, Macclesfield, Victoria, AustraliaPostal code: 3782BSB: 083 638Account number: 167 962 199Reference: ACP + Surname


Refund Policy

Deposits will be refunded in full if cancellation/change is made prior to 30days before the course commences. If cancelling or rescheduling after this date, refund of the deposit will be at the discretion of the Alpha Canine Professional team.

Should the course be cancelled, for any reason, all monies paid will be refunded in full.


The Application Process

Step One

No fees are required at this time!

Fill out and send the detailed online application form found at: www.alphacanineprofessional.com.au/application

Please select the course you would like to apply for:

Professional Dog Trainer – Short, Intensive Course: AU $4,000

Choose a course date and fill out the online application form and press send.

All applications are commitment free – we will not pressure you to do the course!

Step Two

No fees are required at this time!

Upon receiving your course application ACP will send applicants a pre-course email containing information about appropriate clothing and footwear, dining and meal facilities and payment options.

Step Three

Select a payment method and send through a deposit to secure your position on a course.

http://www.alphacanineprofessional.com.au/application


Please do not hesitate to contact Alpha Canine Professional if you have any enquiries regarding our courses.

Email:[email protected]

Phone:Australia: 03 5968 8101International: +613 5968 8101

mailto:[email protected]

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© Copyright Greg Fontana, Training Director, The Alpha Canine Group 2012.

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