Effect of the Poisoned Cue

I recently met with a young man to test his dog for the CGC. On previous email correspondence he said that his dog was ready to take the test. When we met I was not very impressed with the dogs behavior. Testing has to be done without a prong. Once he removed the prong collar he had no control of his dog. He lunged at me and my dog Raygen. The sit and down where painful to watch. When the owner asked the dog to sit, he winced and slowly, very slowly sat down. He did the same when asked to lie down. This leaves me to believe that the cues were poisoned. When I asked him how he trained the sit he told me that he commanded the dog to "sitz" and he then pulled up on the dogs leash, while wearing a prong collar, until the dog sat down. For the down he would command the dog to "platz" and pull the leash down.

Clearly this dog was anticipating the pain of the prong. Very sad.

Let's get it straight

I hear it over and over from trainers who don't understand training using +R.
"+R does not work since we ignore bad behavior" No we don't. Positive is not permissive. We don't let the dogs run in the house, we don't let them jump on the kitchen counters, we don't let them run away. (That is kind of funny to think we ignore the dog for running away. >bg< )
+R is used in training a behavior we want to see again. For example: sit. We don't reward a down, stand, roll over. We reward the sit. Lying down is not a bad behavior, just not something we are going to reward the dog at that time, since we are teaching the sit. If we don;t want the dog to jump on the counter we don't kick it, jerk it off the counter, yell at it or booby trap it.
First we manage it. No dog allowed in the kitchen. 100% supervision. No temptation, no food on left on the counter.
Second we train an incompatible behavior. Sit, or down, or four on the floor. We reward when the dog is no jumping on the counter. It really works.
Manage-Train vs Set-Up For Failure and Punish

Chain Leashes

On a recent discussion forum the topic was, using chain leashes for dogs that bite the leash when they become aroused by environmental changes (seeing another dog). How about teaching a dog not to bite the leash, PERIOD. Biting a chain leash will not keep a dog who is over threshold from biting a leash. Biting chain leashes cause broken teeth, that is a fact.

Train the dog to leave the leash using clicker training methods before exposing him to environmental changes that puts him over threshold. The rules of Tug of War and keeping the dog under threshold apply in the case of the exuberant Lab (as seen on the show: "It's me or the Dog".)

Rule # 1 Drop it and leave it must taught

Rule # 2 Only tug when I ask you to.

Rule # 3 Only tug on toys I want you to tug on.

Rule # 4 Dog needs to be kept under threshold and desensitizing to other dogs before going out for a real walk.

I was a bit disappointed that Victoria used a shortcut to teach the owners how to train their dog. But live goes on and dog dentist need to make a living, too.

Reasons to buy a Halti or no pull Harness

Some of the training tools I like to use are either Haltis (or Gentle Leaders) or Easy Walk Harnesses.
They are training tools that take away pressure from the neck and are easy to use for the whole family including children. Yanking a dog on regular collars or choke chains you could permanently damage their trachea, thyroid gland and/or esophagus. Other injuries that can occur are: sprained neck, foreleg paralysis, laryngeal leg paralysis, hind leg ataxia.

I have heard trainers call it a gimmick, however they have not used it properly and don't understand how it works.
The Halti helps re-focus the dogs attention to the handler. You can not achieve this with any collar without putting much more force on the dogs neck.
The Easy Walk Harness clips in the front of the chest on a dog and puts gentle pressure on the shoulders taking away the force of the pull. Jerking, popping or yanking a dog is not necessary, therefore making training less stressful for both the handler and the dog. Being able to walk more then one dog becomes more manageable, too.
Yes, Head Halters and no pull harnesses are training tools, however, they can be used indefinitely as a collar alternative for dogs with injuries to the trachea from choke chains, prong collars or incorrect use of regular collars.

AVSAB

Posted with permission from the AVSAB.
Please share with others.
AVSAB Letter to Merial

Dear Dr. Line,

The executive board of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior is deeply troubled to learn that Merial, a leader in the veterinary healthcare industry, is using Cesar Millan in a promotional campaign for Heartgard and Frontline. We are even more disturbed to find that Merial i s cross-promoting Mr. Millan's behavior video as part of this campaign. Merial's executives may not be aware of the fact that the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (ACVB), the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) and the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians(SVBT) have uniformly spoken out against the punishment-based techniques employed by Mr. Millan on his television show "The Dog Whisperer."

At best, the show is entertaining but misleading to pet owners. At worst, Mr. Millan's techniques and misinformation have contributed to increased aggression and anxiety or resulted in physical injury to the pet and/or pet owner. As practicing veterinarians, we all unfortunately have seen many cases of the latter. Merial claims to "enhance the health, well-being, and performance of animals." The use of Mr. Millan as part of an advertising campaign speaks otherwise. In these difficult economic times, it may be understandable that Merial would want to use a "celebrity" to advertise its products in a direct-to-consumer fashion. However, had Merial taken the time to investigate, it would have found that Mr. Millan's philosophy runs counter to the standard-of- care promoted by veterinary behaviorists and taught at veterinary schools.

We are deeply saddened that Merial's executives are not more supportive of the veterinary behavior community and its efforts to promote knowledgeable, scientifically- based, humane training methods. We remain concerned that your company's support of Mr. Millan's controversial training methods through the distribution of his video and financial support of his show will contribute to the number of difficult dogs and injured owners that we have to eventually console, counsel, and reeducate. Perhaps Merial would like to support our efforts to counteract the negative impact of this unfortunate marketing choice that may ultimately serve to alienate educated veterinarians, dog trainers, and owners alike.

Sincerely,
E. Kathryn Meyer, VMD (President)
John Ciribassi, DVM, DACVB (Immediate Past President)
Karen Sueda, DVM, DACVB (President Elect)
Kari Krause, DVM
Kelly Morgan, DVM
Valli Parthasarathy, PhD, DVM
Sophia Yin, PhD, DVM
Laurie Bergman, VMD, DACVB
Posted with permission from the AVSAB.
For the source of this article:
See: <http://www.avsabonl ine.org/>
and <http://tinyurl.com/ly9wlu>

WW Lola

This is Lola, a Puppy Class attendee

Announcement

Clicker Expo location for 2010 has been announced. It will be in Doubletree, Oregon on January 29th-31st.
Already time to start planning some of next years seminars?