30 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 3

Friday and another full-on day where from now you select who you want to see as there are concurrent sessions running – in fact, there is so much to choose from. For instance, in the past I have done the chicken training but decided to give that a miss so I could see and hear something different. So, this morning I started off with another session from Ken McCort titled “Aggression vs Predation in Canids”.

Ken started off by defining aggression and preferred this definition from Edward O. Wilson – aggression is a physical act by one individual that reduces the freedom or genetic fitness of another. Before he got to this he did open with the controversial subject about whether the terms dominance and submission exist in the world of dogs with a view that they are relevant behaviour terms that have a legitimate use but what they are not is, they are not personality traits, which is maybe where we hear it being used.

He then went on and spoke about how many different types of aggression have been defined in the literature and whether all those different types exist or whether we just like creating terms to suit situations. However, the term is handy but McCort suggests there are only two forms of aggression (regardless of whatever title it is known as):

Offensive aggression, which is where the animal uses agonistic behaviour to obtain a resource – the “Attacker”
Defensive aggression, which is where the animal uses agonistic behaviour to keep a resource – the “Defender” or “victim”

When compromised or threatened the dog has three choices: fight, flight or freeze. What is important to the dog is space:

Territory = turf (can be anything the dog can sense and is sometimes more breed specific)
Flight distance = distance dog will go when frightened – when frightened the distance the animal will go before stopping & looking back; critical to survival
Critical Distance = necessary to stay free – distance dog must maintain to stay loose / free; distance varies on experience and physical ability; often tested and retested
Social Distance / Personal Space = very close, physical contact – in most cases, it is a violation of etiquette to enter an animal’s personal space without permission. McCort suggests that this is where most people are going to get bitten.

The dog goes through what is known as the aggression continuum, something which most of us are aware of. The continuum goes something like this: Cut off signals / Conflict & Displacement behaviours; Alarm bark / growl; Snap / lunge; Contact bite; Puncture / laceration; Multiple bites / slashing; Tissue loss / amputation of digits; All out attack / Death.

The body language of a dog changes dependent on how close you get to it. Further, pain can change fight into flight (and sometimes quickly). Think of giving a dog a leash correction; however, McCort also stated that he could see no reason why using an aversive was wrong when it was going to save the animal’s life – the example he gave was stock-chasing. (Like many of those at this seminar, they recognise that four quadrants exist and that each has a purpose and we should not be ignorant of this.)

When working with aggression it is important that you work with the first step in the continuum and not wait. Observation is so important in not allowing the behaviour to escalate. Also on this point, a dog will never miss the first step – the cut-off signal, but may miss one or more of the other steps.

McCort also spoke about the types of aggression, which are pretty much the classifications familiar to most of us, but the key is that the type is based on what is the motivation. Again, when dealing with aggression – why is the dog doing this?

And then he spoke about predatory behaviours, which is based on the motivation for food. The dog is not hungry or upset, it just wants to catch its prey – or to reach one of the other behaviours in the foraging motor pattern – also known as prey drive (which McCort argues is an incorrect term) or fixed action pattern or instinctive behaviour. Those who have done the NDTF over the recent years this is all covered in those specific lectures.

I enjoyed this lecture and hopefully you will be able to access the notes here – ken_mccort_aggression_vs_predation_notes

So that was the start to the day, more to follow.

27 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 2.1

Ken Ramirez followed by another Ken – Ken McCort. Ken McCort is an experienced dog trainer, lecturer and advisor and has also been involved with training and working with the wolves at Wolf Park in Indiana. For my dog training buddies back home, Ken’s dog training business is “Four Paws” – he must be good.

Anyways, Ken’s session was part of a series from four speakers on Behaviour Problems and the Companion Dog with Ken’s talk on “Prey drive”.

This was quite interesting and as with the other speakers, it was based on a real-case scenario. Ken’s was on a wolf-hybrid (he is an expert on wolf-hybrids) and he said that this was one of the actual wolf-hybrids he had come across. The scenario was based on predatory behaviour targeted at the children in the household with an end result that the dog was re-homed. He walked us through a plan (primarily based on incompatible behaviours) and how it was working but the predatory behaviour is always going to be there and on the day the wolf started stalking the children in the backyard enough was enough. I enjoyed this session and followed it on Day 3 with another session from Ken on aggression (another blog coming on that – great session).

This was followed by Malena DeMartini-Price a behaviourist who specialises in separation anxiety. This was captivating and I wrote pages and pages of what she did in the scenario of a 3 year old adopted female border collie called Lucy. When left-alone, Lucy had severe destructive behaviours, anorexia, howling, panting, drooling, pacing and shadowing. The owners recently moved house and the behaviours intensified. Lucy went to obedience classes and was 80% reliable on key behaviours of “Stay” and “Bed”. The owners had never sought help for the SA and Lucy had regular exercise and was on a high-quality diet. When crated, the behaviours were the same as when not crated.

There were two goals to the plan: short term of 1-2 hours absence so the handlers could go to the shops or out for dinner, etc; long-term they wanted 8 hour absences with a dog walker coming in during the day.

And then Malina stepped us through the plan – a four week initial period where everything was re-assessed followed up to week 12. At a little over 5 months the long-term goal was achieved. Malina stressed that any SA plan will take time and there is nothing that can be done about that, you can try medication to make it easier but it won’t reduce the time. There were a lot of key points but I will put them in another blog as I also saw Malina again (and that was an even better session than this one).

This was followed by Colleen Pelar (remember from Day 1) whose session was on “Human-directed Aggression”. Colleen didn’t have any specific case-study of her own but she did have some key points based on others’ experience.

Again, a lot of problems come from the owner – so often it matters who has the end of the leash. Too often people get the wrong dog. And no matter what, you can never promise that a dog is not going to bite (again) – but you can try and manage the circumstances when it may occur.

She had a venn diagram of where aggression comes from with the intersecting circles being: genes, environment and individual character. And for the success of the training plan, well it depends on compliance and non-compliance. And no denial of the seriousness.

This was followed by the three speakers and Ken Ramirez in a panel discussion. These are the points I wrote down:

On problem behaviours: What is the context of where the dog is going to be raised determines whether something may be a problem or not – e.g. killing squeaky toys vs. killing cats.

On handling dogs: It is not about strength, it’s not about power – it’s about being smart.

On diet: We are trainers, not nutritionists; however, a good dog = a healthy dog = a better dog to train (although it was acknowledged some studies have indicated a correlation between poor diet and aggression).

And that was it for the day, as the trade-show opened ($5 Kongs – woo-hoo)

And the doors are open …

27 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 2

Thursday and we were straight into another day of enlightenment with a kick-off from Ken Ramirez and “The challenge of being a consultant: the things they don’t teach you in animal training class!” Another great session from Ken where he spoke about dog training being more than just training dogs, i.e. so much of it is dealing with the dog’s owner.

Ken had a nine point plan to success and these are some of the key points raised:

People skills are so important – the animals can take care of themselves
It is important to identify what is the actual problem – does everyone see the same problem? before going down any training plan everyone must agree on a common goal. And as Ken said, this requires the dog trainer to be a good negotiator
Discuss priorities – before implementing any plan, determine where achieving the plan fits into the priority list and is that priority list the same for everyone? Remember that a problem that is low on the priority list may not be easily solved and the dog owner must ask themselves: are you willing to sacrifice something to fix the problem?
Speak the client’s language – for instance, forget about the scientific jargon
Unlearn long-held beliefs, half-truths, myths and excuses – they just get in the way of finding solutions, such as it’s the breed or he just hates children. The dog trainer has to shift their thinking and get them to accept responsibility: instead of what’s wrong with the dog, ask why can’t I train it?
Find acceptable behaviours – everyone focuses on the unwanted behaviour: “My dog jumps on me when I come home?” “What would you like it do?” “Stop jumping on me” … well, “Instead of jumping on you what would you like it do?” “Sit nicely.” Bingo!
A flow-chart or something similar for problem solving is a valuable tool
Consistency – make sure everyone agrees on the plane and everyone approaches the training the same way. It’s about the animal, not the ego
Positive reinforcement for the owner – understand what motivates them and help them get something out of it. Stroke their ego, gain their trust and never betray it.

To sum up the session, a behavioural consultant needs to know and understand animal behaviour and training but they will never be successful unless they also have people, observational and organisational skills.

Ken Ramirez session

25 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 1.2

To round out day one we had a series of short 20 minute sessions on a variety of topics.

First up was Lauren Fox with “The best marketing you never paid for.” This session was about how to market your business by getting engaged with rescue shelters. Maybe some got something out of this but not relevant to me.

Next was Colleen Pelar with “Your role in reducing dog bites“. Colleen specialises in dogs and kids and has written several books on the topic. There was some interesting food for thought from this session, I particularly liked the comment that society is keen on legislation for safety but is it the answer, does it stop the problem? She said that some of the problem (or maybe most of the problem) is us and the relationship we have with our dogs. For instance too many people do not recognise the problem – my dog gets grumpy sometimes, or he doesn’t like children … but he will never bite.

Unfortunately, we tend to categorise dogs into either aggressive or non-aggressive but Colleen prefers a traffic light categorisation of: green, yellow, red. The green is enjoyment; the red is for enough already; and the yellow is the middle ground – tolerance – was it good for you. It is this behaviour continuum we need to look at and not the two category approach.

Colleen was followed by an excellent session from Virginia Dare who is a nationally recognised clicker trainer and the co-producer of the Bow-Wow series of DVD (recommended by Jim). Virginia’s session was titled “Stimulus control“.

Stimulus control is achieved when the expected behaviour is performed reliably when cued, only offered when given the cue, and not offered on a different cue.

We need to be precise and consistent but we also need to define exactly what is the behaviour and also: what is our starting position; are we reinforcing tag-alongs (extras); be clear about what is the exact sound/look of the cue. We need to use the cue consistently to avoid guessing from the dog or confusion. When achieving consistency we also need to make the extras irrelevant. Another important point was that when trying to be consistent everyone has to use the same cue.

We have to train the dog to understand the cue and then wait for the cue. We start off with single trials. Avoid repeating the cue as this provides an opportunity for guessing. If the dog gets it wrong, Virginia prefers to pause and then give a different cue. And don’t laugh or make a fuss at the wrong behaviour as this can sometimes be reinforcing for the dog. And if using props, eliminate them – this was demonstrated using a dowel for commands of touch, take it, paw and down. Virginia also rewarded when the prop was presented and the dog offered no behaviour as this demonstrated to her that the dog was responding to the cue and not the prop.

She then recommends adding distractions, then to take it on the road and begin cueing in novel contexts and when the dog is not expecting a training session. Then mix up the new cue with established cues but pair them carefully giving the dog a high chance of success. Ping-pong between opposites and pause between cues. Don’t let the dog drive the speed and don’t establish a pattern as that then becomes what the dog learns as opposed to learning the cue.

Overall, I enjoyed this session, which was followed be Teoti Anderson who gave an insightful session on how proper communication – written and verbal – is important to your professionalism, credibility and acceptance: “When grammar attacks.”

And to run out the day we had Veronica Boutelle talking about business – I didn’t take notes so I have no prompts.

So day one ended, with a walk around the river – Spokane is an old, quiet city with a beautiful river and waterfall. I’ll post some pictures elsewhere as I think of what to write for Day 2, which ended today (Thursday my time). But here is a picture of the 20th Anniversary cake. (… and it was good too)

APDT 20th Anniversary cake

25 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 1.1

Ken Ramirez was only one third of the first day, his session was followed by Denise Fenzi who is a 30 year veteran of training, competing and titling in schutzhund, obedience, tracking, agility, mondioring, conformation and herding – www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com Denise’s talk was “Developing alternatives to food and toys: personal play!”

I kind of liked this session in that so many times we focus on everything else except us as a reward, yet what is the one thing we always have! Through video and talk, Diane demonstrated how to get a dog motivated and how to moderate dependent on the hardness or softness of the dog.

This was interesting as I think sometimes we expect that a dog will enjoy play but body language and what is acceptable makes so much difference. For instance, when you say play with your dog how many handlers turn and automatically confront the dog face-on and wonder why sometimes the dog is not interested. And what do you do with the dog that gets over stimulated and becomes mouthy.

I spend most of my time at off-leash dog parks watching interaction and learning about play so there maybe wasn’t anything overly knew for me but I did like the key message: why bother with play? – because people have dogs to enjoy them!

24 October, 2013 by Jim

APDT Conference: Day 1

No quotes just straight into the conference.

First up was what I considered a key-note with a key-message as Ken Ramirez delivered his session on “Tales from the Field: The Diverse Faces of a Professional Trainer”. I have heard Ken before and if ever you get the chance he is highly recommended.

This session included Ken’s thoughts on professional dog trainers, ethics and philosophy, balancing science and practical application, skills beyond training, finding your niche, and the future of training. Actually before I get into this, the opening included some pretty good stats on this conference, for instance there were close to 800 people at the opening session and from countries including USA, Canada, Australia (yay, me!), Chile, Brazil, Venezuala, UK, and Finland.

The APDT in USA has recently changed their name from Association of Pet Dog Trainers to Association of Professional Dog Trainers. This is more than just training for a paycheque but more about how one represents oneself in the industry. Practical experience is a valuable asset but so is a knowledge of the science and a familiarisation with the current trends. I strongly believe in this, which is why I continue to go to these conferences. Learning should never stop.

Ken also spoke about the importance of an ethical foundation. The end goal should be the animal’s welfare not just reaching a goal. I think this sometimes goes past us, which is why I am not a fan of say fading out a lure because the curriculum says we should do this after one or two sessions – who says this, the trainer or the dog?

And talking about methods in dog training, Ken’s experience is in zoology not dogs but in any training program a positive regime should be first; however, there needs to be acknowledgment that there is more to training than positive reinforcement. Ken is disappointed that so many poo-poo any other method of training and if we are truly professional then there must be acknowledgment and there must be knowledge so that a trainer can explain why they may use a specific method over another.

Teaching is training – training an animal how to live in our care; how to live in our world successfully. The cornerstones of any animal care must be: health program, nutrition program, environment and behavioural management. The primary reason for training (for the benefit of the animal) is: physical exercise, mental stimulation and cooperative behaviour.

A professional trainer must be well-read and well-practised. They must understand various techniques, they must know when and how to adapt, they must be versatile and be able to speak about the myriad of techniques. Ken was quite critical of trainers who call themselves positive trainers, yet they spend their time criticising any other method or trainer without any acknowledgment that those methods are based on science and do work. You don’t have to use them but you have to be able to explain why you are using what you are in any specific situation and why it is the best for that particular session.

Training is successful because we adapt to the needs of the animals and the needs of the situation.

Ken also gave some practical experience of where his niche lies – as that is what we should do, find what you are good at, where your skills can be best used and be passionate.

Ken’s practical examples are based on “exotic” animal training for a purpose and they are great, he also spoke about his mimicry training with dogs (I have heard the full session on this before and it is fascinating to watch and hear – he is drafting a scientific paper on this). If I get around to it I might add some to this blog, otherwise come to one of my NDTF lectures as I have spoken about some of Ken Ramirez’s training in the past and now have some new examples.

Highlight of the day without a doubt.

30 August, 2013 by Jim

It’s been a long time … but it’s been a good time

So over twelve months since I last put pen to paper, or should I say finger to keyboard. And there’s been a lot happening over that time. Well kind of. I have ventured a couple of years closer to getting a seniors card and the discounts that come with it, changed jobs, learnt how to play a few chords on the guitar, wrote a few songs (but haven’t learnt how to sing them – remember that post on the most irritating noises), walked the dogs about a thousand times, booked another trip to USA, cooked some Q, ate some ribs, been to the footy a few times (go Blues), watched some TV, seen some great concerts (Bruce Springsteen twice), trained a few dogs, delivered a few lectures, eaten some great food, and maybe that’s about all. I’m pretty lazy so here are few photos:

Jims 50th birthday cake cooked by Caroline

No, I did not eat it …

Feed me …

Caroline’s home cooked Indian dinner … feed me …

Feed me … again …

Bruce Springsteen at Hanging Rock

Feed me too …

And when I’m fed …

Winners are Grinners

Video 5 December, 2011 by Jim

It’s Not as Simple as Black and White

I have two bitsa dogs – an old black one: Dixie, and a young whipper snapper white one: Dusty. Both I rescued when they were about five months old – Dixie from the RSPCA and Dusty an impulse buy from the Lost Dog’s Home last Christmas. I don’t know their history but I am sure Dusty was raised on a diet of sugar and red cordial.

But Dusty is a loving little dog and enjoys a snuggle in-between chewing up anything that fits in her mouth (although she has kind of grown out of that now – we hope as we have a new couch on order). And she loves the off-leash park but best of all she loves to go for a swim, then a roll in the dirt until she is completely camouflaged. I think she just wants to be like Dixie. See for yourself 😀

21 November, 2011 by Jim

Just a Walking the … Cheetah?

I had a great time at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (just not long enough) and this zoo is really worth taking the trip out to. There are some great exhibits but one of the highlights is the running of the Cheetah.

There is a small grassed track where again for some entertainment for the punters and enrichment for the cheetah the keepers set up a lure and allow one of the cheetahs to do a 100 yard dash (or 330 feet to be more exact) after the lure. Blink and you miss it – I didn’t get this on video as I was too busy watching and trying not to blink. They are fast (fastest land animal) and the run only takes a few seconds.

Jim’s learning for the day (you need to learn something every day) is that the cheetah expends so much energy that it can only do one run and has to have a large meal afterwards – and then off to bed with their keeper – and canine companion.

Continue reading →

14 November, 2011 by Jim

Chicken Training

Seems like months ago – well, almost one month ago anyway I was at the APDT Conference in San Diego. On Day 5 of that conference I had the fun of doing some chicken training with Terry Ryan (see earlier post). Now that I’m home I’ve also managed to post a short video clip on youtube.