Public Access: Roadwork

2 years

Coco/Malcolm

Coco is a 2 year old pet Miniature Pincer who is working on confidence.  Her owner contacted me to help with improving their daily walks and relieve Coco's overall stress to improve her life.  We have been working with Coco for 2 months now.

Coco has fears of sounds, dogs and people.  She was so worried about her environment she couldn't focus on her handler, tended to try to back out of her harness and was worried all the time.  Her owner knew this was not good for her, so we began with basic focus work and giving Coco coping skills in new locations.  This was achieved by using Leslie McDevitt's Pattern Games and focusing on the ones that easily could be used on walks.  We introduced the Up/Down game, Look At That (LAT) game and Ping/Pong game.  We also started basic skill training with Sue Ailsby's Training Levels: Steps to Succss to continue improving their relationship and help Coco learn to learn.

We progressed from working in the home to her front yard and then to the sidewalk before her home.  Each time I brought one or more of my trainees and/or my personal service dog Max to introduce Coco to neutral safe dogs.

Coco has made remarkable progress due to the hard work and dedication of her owner.  She is focused on her owner, who practices Coco's homework with the household cat and local wild turkeys in the neighborhood to help her understand that all good things come from checking in.

Coco wasn't only happy to see me, but ecstatic. I have built a foundation of trust and respect with this tiny mite and I am truly loving seeing her graciously welcome me into her home with bright eyes, body tall and stubby butt wiggling in joy. She was having mild fear issues dressing in her tiny (TINY) no pull harness, so last week I showed how to lure her into it. She is 90% improved and dresses with a lot less stress now.

Coco and Malcolm walking.

We went to Manito Park this time. It is one step up from our last park walk and was a perfect place to work on bicycles, children and slow moving vehicles. Unlike Riverfront Park, which is crowded and super busy, Manito gives long quiet breaks between groups of people and very few bicycles which are going at a steady, but not racing speed. There are also dogs off and on in the distance.

Coco was worried at first at the edge of the park, so I instructed we go at Coco's pace and let her do all the sniffing, watching and exploring she wanted. We had no set destination nor time limit outside of our appointment time and if we hadn't gotten 10 feet in 45 minutes I was good with that.

Coco quickly decided she wanted to sniff every blade of grass and check out every pee post, so we walked with frequent stops and rewarded her for passing people, seeing dogs, bicycles and cars and listening to children.

She is now curious about strangers and leaned out to sniff several passing people. We rewarded that new curiousity. She saw dogs and didn't worry about them. She never was bothered by the bicycles or cars, even when a pair of bicycles passed right behind her.

She settled by a picnic table and just watched all the people in a distance and we waited until she could focus on her handler more than on the activity before moving on.

On our way back to the van she was strutting! Head up, little body moving like a reigning queen and a pure look of confidence and pride in her body carriage. I wanted to cry with joy at how much she's improved!

Whenever something worried her she looked to her owner without hesitation and was rewarded for it.

Coco and Malcolm checking pee mail together.

She finds comfort in Malcolm's quiet calm behavior with us and wasn't worried the two times Malcolm barked at dogs that were too close for his threshold. I think his confidence is wearing off a bit.

What is truly lovely is in the home she wanted me to pet her, gave me a kiss on the nose and followed me with anticipation of a dropped treat as I walked out.

She escorted me to my van and cried when I went to leave. She was looking at me intently and it was clear she didn't want the Treat Lady to leave.

We will revisit Manito Park a couple more times and then find a new park with a new level of activity to continue to improve her confidence when out on her walks.

Her success is due to her owners dedicated work on the homework. Coco is learning to be a confident girl and her long term health is bright with the reduction in the level of stress she's been experiencing.

6 months

Buddy/Jack

Since Malcolm had a public access outing with Coco and did very well, it was time to take Buddy out.  Buddy has hit a developmental stage in which he barks at things that he is uncertain about.  With careful work on rewarding good behavior and helping him make the right choices he's improving rapidly.

I asked that Jack, one of our graduates, to attend with Buddy as a backup for our outing.  Jack was there to help demonstrate proper behavior when seeing strange dogs and give Buddy someone to model his behavior off of.

Buddy lives with a handler that uses many types of mobility equipment, including a power chair and walker.  He had no problems working with my power chair as we did our walk, which made focusing on his dog issues much easier.

The advantage of roadwork, in this case working in a park, is many things can happen which the dog needs to adjust to and helps them work toward working in an ever changing working environment.  Buddy has had a lot of experience working in buildings, but his problems reside outside of them, so we are bridging that gap by giving him the tools he needs to become a solid working dog.  He has the ability, just needs the training at this time.

Each time we saw a dog, especially one coming toward us, I would stop and feed him several treats as the dog passed and then we'd continue our walk.  He did very well with this and was able to ignore dogs up to 40 feet away.  He has a threshold of about 35 feet, but with careful management he'll learn to let dogs pass directly beside him and not respond.

He is not fearful of bicycles, cars, people or sounds.  He was curious about the ducks and turtles in the pond, but didn't display a high prey drive regarding birds.  He was relaxed and curious about his world and enjoyed his sniffs and trotting along.  He works well with Jack present and is very good with the power chair.

Buddy practicing sitting in a tight space.

At one point we entered the Manito Conservatory to peer at the more exotic flowers and Buddy did a lovely job following the power chair in the very narrow aisles and not sniffing the plants while doing so.  He needs formal training for position and turning, but his overall base training is solid with the power chair.

We explored much of the park and Buddy did well, only barking a couple of times at other dogs, but quickly stopped when redirected and allowed to play LAT.  He's improved rapidly with his issues at barking at sights he doesn't understand or dogs he doesn't know.

Please understand, Buddy is not aggressive toward other dogs.  On the contrary, he likes them too much and his excitement leads to barking to start play.  He needs less time with other dogs on a weekly basis and more time learning to ignore them when out.

After exploring the Maze at the top of the park and the Conservatory by it, we went to the Rose Garden.  It is still very early in the season and none of the roses were out, but it was a nice spot to work around anyway.

Jack's handler recently had surgery and needed to take a shortcut out of the Rose Garden which I couldn't take in my power chair.  We split up and I went around to meet back up.  On our way back to Jack Buddy began barking at him as we approached.  Once we got close enough for Buddy to meet him he quieted.  We will have to do more splits and returns to help Buddy learn not to bark at dogs, both known and unknown, when working.

Buddy watching the ducks.

After that we went down to the duck pond and watched the ducks, geese and turtles.  Buddy was very interested in the birds and even tried to step into the pond once, but he didn't display high prey drive and eventually settled to watch the ducks.

Then our worst nightmare, for both service and pet owner, arrived.  A man with a small dog on a flexi lead made a beeline for us from his car with his small dog a good 20 feet before him while calling out, "He just loves dogs."

I told him we were training and didn't want to meet his dog.  He kept coming toward us and once he got within 10 feet of us Buddy lost his brain and was pulling and barking at him.  This upset me because we had a Golden resting not far away and Buddy had looked at him and not reacted and then tuned him out.  We had been making great progress when this man arrived.

Personally, I don't care if your dog "just loves dogs" the dog you are approaching may not and it's rude to just walk them into another dog's face.  Buddy had been fine, even with the tiny mite tugging our way, until the man refused to believe our dogs didn't want to meet his dog and he set Buddy up to fail as a result.  I was not in a position to easily move Buddy away, I was blocked by water on two sides and a bench on the third and the man was coming on our only exit - I couldn't get Buddy away from the oncoming dog.

Buddy in the Conservatory.

The man stopped and looked hurt Buddy was reacting like he was and then decided to leave.  I am glad, because we would have had to block him physically to stop him approaching any more than he did.  Buddy quickly calmed and we decided then to leave.

I do want to mention a man was jump roping near us and Buddy watched with German Shepherd, Malcolm but didn't react.  He's a solid, nearly bomb proof pup who just needs direction and given the tools to do his job as he grows.  I truly enjoy working with Buddy.

May 12th - 16th, 2014

6 Months

Buddy

Tao has a new board and train this week.  His name is Buddy and he's a 6 month old Labrador mix.  He's training to become a mobility dog.

His handler had surgery this week and needed Buddy cared for while she was recovering.  He's in the developmental stage of barking at everything that is novel and some things that are not, and he's entered his major fear stage, is teething and has become an adolescent.  To say the least, he's a bit of a disruption to the facilities structure, but he's a fun one.

Buddy started his week on Tuesday and spent the first two hours learning how to calm himself when he got to excited during play.  He did well in the end and spent his first night working a bit of Zen when resting and playing with his new housemates.  He even joined a rousing game of wake the trainer at 3:00 AM by joining Malcolm in a wrestling match on top of her while she was sleeping.

On Wednesday morning he worked on Zen, Sit, Down and Target as a refresher course on his Level 1 behaviors.  He is a quick study and was soon doing his behaviors without to much issue.

Buddy - Level 1

On Wednesday afternoon he went on a client consult and barked at fellow Tao family member, Murphy.  We are working on his barking at dogs when meeting them.  He needs steady work with this until he exits his fear period around 9 or 10 months of age and then constant refresh training to keep his dog skills sharp.  He fell asleep after working on resting quietly at my feet and needed to be woken at the end of the lesson.

He visited the local Smoke Shop that I train at and was lovely with his meet and greet behaviors with strangers.  He has that amazing Lab wiggle and the full blown Lab personality, so he's a joy to work with.

On Thursday he worked on Zen and Retrieve.  He is already eager to pick up anything in his mouth so we worked a bit on his hold and then introduced him to metal objects to expand his retrieve skills.  He was reluctant at first try the metal, but was soon working with it well.

On Thursday afternoon he got to visit with his new siblings at the Tao at Auntie Ronda's house.  There he met Sheba, Jack, DJ, Chautzie, and Deva.  He did very well after calming down in the van before being led into the yard.  He didn't play as much as he does at Tao's play yard, but he did enjoy himself and fell asleep before we left.

On Friday he worked on Lazy Leash, but was clearly wiped out by his busy week.  He wasn't in the game, so we finished the week working on getting him into the game of training.  He then went down and met two new dogs, Tilly and Roxy and after that spent the afternoon at Auntie Ronda's while Tao's trainer went on a client consult.

Buddy needs work on LLW, Zen and greeting new dogs.  He has separation anxiety and needs a gentle introduction to separations to help him learn to be alone.  He also has not been crate trained and has been spending the week eating his meals in a closed crate to improve his feelings about crates.

He is now able to sit quiet in the crate after finishing his meal.  He still has problems with my being behind the x-pen and working with another dog.  He can now see me not working a dog behind the x-pen and be quiet.  During Malcolm's breaks he was able to settle, but once I started training Malcolm he would burst into protests again.  He could watch me make a meal behind the x-pen and stay quiet.  He is now able to wait for me when I am in a room with a door closed between us and not claw or scream at me.  He is not ready to be left for any length of time, but he is improving daily with his security of being left.

Buddy will be at Tao's facility until next Tuesday.  We look forward to his continued growth while attending his board and train.

2 Years

Murphy

Murphy is a 2 year old Shitzu who is training to be a mobility dog.  His primary task will be retrieving small items for his handler.  Murphy has been working on retrieve for the past six months and has been making steady progress.

His handler has serious health issues, therefore has limited energy for training.  She's been doing a fantastic job of working slowly but steadily on his retrieve and has built him up from not looking at her hand to now eagerly taking pens and pencils in his mouth and even handing them back when she releases them.

He has improved on his Tuck In skill (going under chairs or tables to settle for the duration of her stay) and has truly settled in nicely on his public access skills.  He's improved on his confidence with dogs and has begun to play and enjoy his life with his handler.

The most lovely thing to see is his bond with his handler has grown very strong and he seeks to be near her or on her when she's at rest.  Murphy is very close to that magical first retrieve and I can't wait for the phone call from his handler to brag to me how well he did.  I will celebrate with her the joy of that first retrieve, a heady reward after such careful and steady work.

12 weeks - she blinked!

Dakota

Tao would like to welcome Dakota to the family.  Dakota is a 12 week old German Shepherd learning to become a medical alert dog.  She has just started her journey.

Today we did a 2 hour intake appointment.  She is smart, bold and focused.  She met Max, Tao's best neutral dog, and learned to be comfortable with him.  She worked on Zen, Sit, Stand, Down and the Come Game.  She was eager for each and every lesson we offered her.

She needs work on her loose leash walking, but her handler is dedicated and willing to do the work.  I am excited for this new family member and look forward to our lessons.  I will be bringing new dogs into her world and teach her to be a good hostess with visiting dogs.

Dakota has started Level 1.  I look forward to her progress!

14 Months

Spirit

Spirit is a Boxer mix who is working on becoming a medical alert dog.  She has some fear issues and needs Zen installed, but she's a funny dog with a lot of joy and love to give.

This was our 5th week working together.  We have been working on door manners, Zen, Target and Four on the Floor with Spirit.

After a difficult public access outing I was asked to work with Spirit on her reactions to traffic, children and distractions.  To see where her baseline was when away from the home I took her to a quiet shopping center.

Spirit was unable to take treats, focus on me as a handler and was very stressed.  I returned to her home and she was again able to take treats and focus on me as a handler when working in the street before her home.  Spirit is currently in a fear period and needs gentle and careful entry into the world beyond her home.  She hasn't been given the skill set she needs to work before her placement and thus we are now building her foundation, her confidence and her socialization to make her life for service work possible.

Spirit is in an evaluation period until she exits this fear stage and we see if we can't give her the tools she needs to cope with her working environment.  She's a joy to work with and I look forward to each lesson.

Retirement is not a Cruelty but a Gift of Love

The dog in this picture is not Courtney.
Press the link to see the video about Courtney.
http://video.kxly.com/watch.php?id=32646

I have faced the same dilemma that many pet owners have faced in the past, when their dog has grown older and their health has failed, of making that difficult decision of what is best for my dog compared to what is best for me. More than once I've had to make that difficult choice to let a companion go because that was what was best for them, but my heart was broken and my tears flowed for days or even months afterwards. Even today, thinking of that moment when I may have to make that choice for Max clinches my gut and brings tears to my eyes. But the love that Max has shown me and the love that I have received by previous pets deserves my strength to let them go when the time is right.

The difference between Max and my previous pets is that Max is more than a pet. Max is my partner, my traveling companion, my lifeline to independence and my heart dog. As much as I loved my other pets, Max has wheedled and woven his way into my very soul. His quiet presence, goofy looks, insatiable desire to play and insatiable desire to help me with his constant companionship has forged a bond between us that I've never had from any previous dog.

He has an undeniable desire to be with me, to follow me, to know where I'm at all times and I've grown used to the sound of his breathing or the pad of his feet wherever I go. The rare times that I've gone into public without him I feel incomplete. It is this sense of him being another part of me, an extension of who I am, that causes a tightening of my gut and tears in my eyes when I even think of his time of retirement. It is also that sensation that leads me to understand how other service dog owners would find it difficult to retire their current dog.

Recently a story in Spokane was published about a young woman with her guide dog. The dog, Courtney, is approximately 12 years of age and arthritic with a torn ACL. A local news station shot video of this dog while she was working in harness and a great sadness washed over me. Courtney struggled to stand and couldn't put weight on her back leg and at one point in the video the woman had to stop to allow Courtney to rest after only walking approximately half a block. As much as this woman loves Courtney what is best for Courtney would be retirement and have her leg repaired.

Retirement is not cruel. I have heard many people state that they wished a loved one could have retired when they could still enjoy life. Why then would we ask our best friend, companion and aide to work until they die? They too are a loved one and should enjoy retirement when they can.

Most big programs require that the service dog they place retire between the ages of eight and ten, with the most common age being nine. This is to allow the dog to enjoy the last years of his life as a dog. He has earned that right.

Dogs age faster than we do, but like humans they require more sleep in their geriatric years and feel more pain due to joint changes. A healthy adult dog sleeps an average of 14 to 16 hours a day; a geriatric dog can sleep up to 20 hours a day. Dogs used for mobility or guide work tend towards early arthritic changes due to pulling while in harness. With an average life expectancy for a German Shepherd, Labrador retriever, or Golden retriever being between 10 and 12 years of age it is important to remember that by the age of nine they have already lived most of their life.

The stress of working as a service dog tends to shorten a service dog's life. Health changes such as hearing and vision loss also occur in their geriatric years. Cancer, another common killer of service dogs, is more prevalent in their geriatric years as well. It is highly stressful for a dog with low vision or difficulty with hearing to continue working in public. Planning their retirement is not cruel but a kindness we give them as her body begins to fail and their need for rest increases.

The problem is that as humans we generally tend toward anthropomorphism with our pets. This giving an animal human emotions or responses our thought processes when they do not have them leads us to believing that we can hurt an animal's feelings by our very absence. As much as our service dogs love us, they will not be hurt, jealous or spiteful if we retire them. That is a reflection of our own emotions in regards to our service dog.

As much as Max enjoys being with me, I intend to retire him between the ages of eight and nine. Long before this deep and personal attachment occurred between us I already made that plan, understanding that Max needed the end of his life to be just a dog. But still, even with that rational understanding of his need for retirement, it brings tears to my eyes to think of that day coming.

In the video that I watched I could see that Courtney and her handler love each other very much. Courtney has devoted over 90% of her life to this woman and is willing to continue to devote the remainder of her life if asked. It is us humans who must let the dog know it has done its job and it can now rest. My sadness is for Courtney, her arthritic gate and injured leg tells me that she is willing to work through any pain to please her handler.

Whether you receive a service dog from a large program or train one yourself, planning the dog's retirement is important. It prepares you emotionally and allows you to properly assess your dog and determine if he has given enough of his very short lifespan to aiding you. Whether it's a pet or service dog, recognizing when a loved animal needs to be let go or allowed to slow down is important. It is our job to protect them and love them or free them as our final act of love.

My love for Max has allowed me to see and recognize there'll be a time when he needs to retire. It has allowed me to see that this is not a cruelty, but an act of love which allows him to be a dog. Though the next dog that will assist me will not be my Max, we too will forge a partnership of trust, respect and most of all love. It will also allow Max to enjoy his golden years as a loved pet.

Update: The news station that aired the story about Courtney has announced that an overwhelming number of people called a local veterinarian and donated money for her surgery. The required amount to repair her ACL has been collected and Courtney will receive her surgery. I am heartened that such an outpouring of love and understanding occurred during this holiday season.

Does clicker training ruin dogs?

Max is a clicker trained service dog.
Max was cat aggressive when I
started training him; he now lives with a cat and
enjoys playing with it all because of
clicker training.

I have read articles on the Internet by traditional trainers that state clicker training ruins dogs.  Many of these trainers claim that clicker training will make a dog aggressive or beg for food.  They claim they are partially trained dogs that cannot operate in the real world.  They argue that a clicker trained dog cannot handle such distractions as cats, other dogs, or squirrels.  They believe that clicker training will make the dog aggressive to people and other dogs and endanger the dog's life.

Many of these trainers have published articles on the Internet or in books were they claim that the only way to train a dog is by correcting behavior when the dog fails instead of rewarding when the dog succeeds.  They believe in using collars which cause pain such as prong, choke,  martingale or e-collars.  These trainers hide behind terminology which softens what they really do to dogs.

One trainer has been filmed slapping a dog in the face when he became angry with its owner.  He has also been filmed running dogs into trees, slapping dogs in the face when they're looking at him to teach them leave it, holding dogs up by their collars to teach them sit and encourages jerking on a dog's neck with such force that the dog loses its footing.  This trainer claims the dogs are learning, but in truth the dogs show severe fear signals and many dogs show signs of shutting down while he is working with them.  This is not training but abuse which he labels as training.

Another well-known trainer uses a claw hand, body pressure, foot kicks, finger taps and leash snaps to correct dogs that he sets up to fail.  He has a great following with fans who completely believe in him and defend him even after they are shown what he's doing is causing fear and pain to the dogs.

I recently read on online eBook in which another traditional trainer outlined the myths of clicker training.  The words that he used, the examples that he used and the tone that he used all indicated that he was angry when he wrote those words.  Though in this article I will not address what he said in that eBook, what I will address is what clicker training does both for dogs and their owners.

The primary argument by the traditional trainers is that a dog trained using food rewards will stop performing cues if no food reward is shown.  Their belief is that food is shown to the dog as a bribe instead of given to the dog as a reward for a completed task.  They also believe that once the dog has been trained a certain behavior that the food reward stops immediately instead of being faded away.  This miss concept has led them to believe that any trainer that uses food does not actually teach the dog the behavior, but instead bribes the dog and claims the dog has been trained.

In a world where a whole meal can be microwaved in less than 10 minutes is it any wonder that people believe a dog can be taught complex concepts in less than 30 minutes?  Television programs which show trainers working with dogs who have serious emotional issues and show them being "fixed" in just a few minutes has led many pet owners to believe that a dog simply needs to be corrected and it'll know what it is supposed to do.

Instead of looking at this as somebody training a dog and using a method that someone else does not agree with, why not look at this from a different perspective?  Let's look at a story and see which method you would prefer.

Bo has a difficult personality. Bo will not sit when told, starts fights, has bitten three people, and runs away and will not come when called.  Bo is brought to a "specialist" to teach him how to behave.

Specialist A believes that Bo is a red-zone case and is dominating the people around him.  Specialist A  places a slip lead on Bo and tells Bo to sit.  Bo does not sit, so Specialist A "does a correction" by pulling on the slip lead quickly.  Bo cries out and tries to move away from Specialist A, who then "taps" Bo in the soft spot between his ribs and hip.  Bo cries out and tries to bite Specialist A, who then uses a "claw hand" like a mouth on the soft spot between Bo's jaw and shoulders.  Bo folds, drops his head and lowers his shoulders, at which point Specialist A feels Bo is now being submissive.

Specialist B believes that Bo is dominate and puts a partial slip collar on Bo.  Specialist B then pulls up on the attached leash and waits until Bo sits.  Bo is shaking and looking away while Specialist B explains what he is doing.  Bo stands up and Specialist B slaps Bo in the face and then pulls up on the lead again.  Bo quickly sits and Specialist B says Bo understands what the command sit means now.

Specialist C watches Bo for serveral minutes and realizes Bo needs a lot of personal space to feel safe.  Specialist C takes out a toy and offers it to Bo.  Bo does not look at Specialist C, but growls and moves away from Specialist C.  Specialist C thanks Bo for growling and tosses the toy to Bo.  Bo backs away from the toy and then goes to it and starts to play.  At this point Bo looks at Specialist C, who then tosses another toy to Bo.  Bo's head stays up and his body relaxes.  After a moment Bo comes to Specialist C and takes a toy from Specialist C's hands.  Bo looks at Speicalist C again and again Specialist C offers a toy which Bo takes.  Bo shows Specialist C this makes him happy.

Bo is an autistic boy.
Specialists A & B are traditional trainers.
Specialist C is a clicker trainer.

If Bo was your son, would you want Bo to be helped by Specialist A or B?  What about Specialist C?

That answer is clear when a child is involved.  Parents recognize their children, special needs or not, need non-abusive guidance, not painful and/or frightening learning methods.  They would quickly move to stop an adult from harming their child long before the slap or the kick, yet when it comes to a beloved pet dog, they trust the trainer and allow them to do to their dog what they would never allow to happen to their child.

If our children went to class everyday and where only corrected for what they did wrong, we would quickly see their self confidence, willingness to learn and happiness leave them.  Ever been in a Kindergarten or first grade classroom when an instructor has asked a student a question they can answer?  Hands fly up, bodies lean in, eyebrows raise and even some butts leave the seat!  These are children eager to hear they are correct.  Ever watched the child who thought he had the answer and when the teacher said, "No" saw their face collapse, their body slump and their head drop?

I attended many classrooms where students were encouraged to offer ideas or try solutions to problems and when they were "almost" right or missed the mark on the answer the teacher simply said, "No, who else?" and saw those children offer answers or solutions less and less as the weeks went by.  I have also been in classrooms where the teacher said, "That was a good try, can you think of something else?" and the student stays involved and continues over the weeks to offer solutions or answers, even if they may be wrong, because there was a reward for trying!

Why then do we expect a dog, who is much like an autistic child in how he learns, to react in a positive manner when all we tell him is what he's done wrong?  How do we expect him to know what he did wrong at all?  If you tell him to sit, but he's looking at another dog and doesn't and you then jerk on his collar he may believe that looking at the dog was why you jerked on his collar, not that he didn't sit.

When thinking of a child learning a new task or skill the answer is clear to most people; use the positive method that will encourage the child and increase his success and confidence.  Yet, when presented with the same choices for their pets, they choose the exact opposite.

Clicker training is not bribing a dog, but rewarding a dog in the currency he values.  For some it is praise and affection, others its play and many it's food.  The high amount of food used to teach the desired behavior is slowly faded as the dog understands and offers the behavior, willingly and without fear.  It's their paycheck for solving a problem.

Service, military, search and rescue, therapy, bomb sniffing, drug sniffing, competition and pet dogs all learn solid, real life skills without pain, fear or compulsion.  They learn to trust, love and respect the person teaching them and the bond between the dog and human is stronger.

Clicker training does not ruin dogs.  Clicker training is a scientifically proven method of learning used for not just dogs, but sea mammals, zoo animals, gold fish, cats and any animal that can eat and learn.  It teaches real world skills.  A service dog would not be able to work outside of the training facility if clicker training did not work!

Clicker training can also be used to help fearful or aggressive dogs!  A "red-zone" dog does not need to be corrected for unwanted behavior, but rewarded for wanted behavior!  When a dog knows what is wanted or expected of them, their fear and aggression lessens.  There are several clicker trainers who work with "red-zone" or fearful dogs successfully.

Remember, a dog is much like an autistic child; though he can learn he has to be taught the same lesson several times before he clearly understands it.  To keep the dog engaged the trainer rewards the correct behavior and ignores the behavior they don't want.  Over time the dog learns what pays (picking it up) and what doesn't (putting my foot on it) and offers what pays and stops offering what doesn't.  The dog is happier, more confident and more willing to continue learning when it's told what it did right.

Clicker training may take longer and is not as flashy as some of the TV personalities, it works better and has greater overall benefits for both owner and dog.  Please enjoy the below video which shows positive re-enforcement training for a leash reactive dog.

For more on clicker training and how it works please visit:

Karen Pryor - http://www.clickertraining.com/karen
Sue Ailsby - http://sue-eh.ca
Kathy Sado - http://www.kathysdao.com/
Clicker Training - http://clickertraining.com

CK Bales
Owner - Tao Service Dogs
Member of APDT