I have had dogs all my life and have been involved in training them on and off for over 35 years. I have gone through all the fads of training from choke chains and reprimanding to positive food rewards and no reprimanding. I currently compete in obedience and Rally-O and I have also done agility with several of my dogs over the years. I am just starting to learn Dancing with Dogs, learning tricks
and trying to get a bit of rhythm. I found that my dogs would quickly respond to food in training but do you carry food around with you at home or out and about? There are some people you see who have a treat bag permanenty attached to their hip when out with their dog but I wonder if it is for the dog or the owner's insecurity; 'Will my dog behave if I don't have food?' or more importanty, 'Will my dog behave if it is distracted?'. How often do you hear an owner say, 'My dog is great at training but it doesn't listen to me anywhere else', 'He only behaves when I have food', 'He won't perform in the competition ring' or 'If there is a distraction he completely ignores me'. I wanted to find a method of training where I didn’t have to rely on food. I was also looking to find training that provided good manners no matter what. I wanted to be able to stop the barking, jumping on people, getting towed around the streets when going on walks, chasing the neighbour's cat, harassing guests at the BBQ and even worst nipping and biting. Sound familiar? The final incentive to become a trainer was because I could not find any training method that could help me with one of my dogs Shar (a six year old Kelpie cross) who has terribe fear and anxiety problems. Although she responds to food (in fact she hoovers it) it has no effect at all when she goes into her 'fear drive'. I could wave a piece of fillet steak in front of her and she would ignore me. Traditional methods of training and canine behaviourists were unable to give me any solutions. I was told by one veterinarian behavioural expert that she was one of the worst examples of a dog with fear and anxiety problems and that I should consider having her put down. If I wanted to persist he recommended Prozac. I certainy had no intention of putting Shar down and I didn't want to have her living a drug-induced life and went looking for alternatives. I attended the trainers course at Alpha Canine Group in Melbourne in July 2012. I took Shar and my other dog Beau (a rescue dog from Shenton Park Dog's Home) who both underwent the training with me. The aim of the training is to teach owners to communicate with the dogs. The dogs learn to learn and in doing so gain confidence and trust their owners. Using the communication established in obedience training, owners are then abe to progress to teaching their dogs good manners and if necessary, address behavioural problems. This method of training has enabled me to better communicate with my dogs and become the leader. My dogs look to me for guidance and they quickly settle. I achieve this control by using my voice (which is all you have when your dog is off lead). On returning to Perth Shar's improvement was very noticeable and continues to improve. She is my 'work in progress'. She now responds to the training even when in her fear drive. Beau is now my demonstration dog, who I use at training to show how to carry out commands and also prove the training works. I am very excited about sharing my knowledge with dog owners who, like me, have been searching for the alternative to food based training when dealing with all types of problems that can arise when owning a dog. The think I love best about this type of training is the trust and confidence your dog gains. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could sit outside a cafe with both Shar and Beau in a relaxed drop, no matter what the distraction, and spend an hour or so having coffee or lunch with friends. Even Shar, with the occasional reassuring 'good girl' relaxes beside me. Here's to gaining confident, well mannered companions!
