Valerie Pollard

I always wondered how and why I might stop training dogs.  Working as a trainer is something I've always loved to do and no matter how I envisioned it, I couldn't think of any reason I would stop unless perhaps just getting too old and decrepit might put an end to it!  Now I know that sometimes Life has a trick or two hidden up its sleeve that you wouldn't have expected, and that those hands you are dealt, though they might look really good on the flop, sometimes end up surprising you before the hand is over.

Recently I was listening to a few dog trainers discussing the best way to teach a dog to retrieve a dumbbell.  Apparently the owner in question had completely burned her dog out on the exercise by repeatedly working on it in a manner that was very aversive to the dog - although she wasn't using forceful methods the dog was totally unmotivated to learn to take a dumbbell from her hand.

I'm writing this in response to a discussion on a dog trainer's list that occurred recently.  As most doggy people know the use of crates as a form of dog management has increased monumentally over the last two decades.  Back in the day people used dog runs or cages to put their dog in for various reasons - but you wouldn't have seen crates sitting in bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms like you do now.  You wouldn't see so many dogs essentially living their lives in a crate until their owner comes home from work.
 
The crate can easily be misused - as so many dog trainers like to say, "It's not the tool, it's the fool".  Or, "any tool can be misused".  This is true and too many owners (and even many trainers, ouch!) see nothing wrong with confining a dog in a crate all day long and much of the night too.  "It's the quality time that matters", they say, "not the quantity".  I must disagree.

A few weeks ago a call came through from a gentleman who had just bought a Rhodesian Ridgeback pup for his autistic son.  He told me that he had researched the breed and decided it would be the best to train as a therapy dog for his situation. Already my brain was whirling, trying to figure out in which universe he had figured that a RR would be the best dog for his severely autistic child (I love the breed, they're just not usually the first choice for a therapy dog).  He then went on to tell me that he had never owned a dog before and wanted to try and do everything right.  This, of course, was a good sentiment and I hoped it would bode well for the whole situation.
    

I have just been involved in yet another tedious discussion with other trainers about their defense of using overly forceful methods to train a dog.  Tedious because there was a time when I had thought that many of these rationales were long buried in the past, and it’s hard and annoying to travel along those lines of discussion once more.

The problem is, in my opinion, that there is no consistent measure of how much is too much pressure to put upon an animal in training.  Therefore, when you find yourself in these arguments you never really know your opponent’s perceptions, or what they really mean when they say that they “use tiny “nicks” with an e-collar”, or “barely yank” with a choke chain.  Unfortunately, I’ve seen for myself that there can be a huge gap between what someone is saying, and what it really means (from my own perception, at least).

What is a “shelter dog”, anyway?  Sometimes it seems that they are separated into a unique category, as if they are “different” somehow from all of the dogs living in homes, or being bred endlessly by breeders.  Yet, of course, they all started somewhere, obviously.  How did all of these faces that stare at us from behind the chain link get there?

There is a pyramid of cause:  it starts with those who breed.  It goes on to those who sell for profit, such as pet stores.  It continues with those who buy a puppy and either through ignorance or laziness or life circumstances the pup grows up “wrong” – lacking what they need to survive the reality of a dog’s life in the society of mankind.

It isn’t always the younger, rogue adolescent dogs who make a habit of counter-surfing, or stealing food out of the trash.  We often will see  dogs who are getting older suddenly realize that there is nothing really stopping them from just eating that delicious thing so well within their reach.

    It’s quite possible for a well-mannered, well-trained dog to learn to counter-surf.  Many of them have spent most of their lives never considering the possibility.  But then, from their new, more elderly perspective they have a stray, unorthodox thought.  The food is so close:  they could so easily reach it.  Why not?  And then they do.

When I first started training dogs years ago, it was taken for granted that every dog in our groups would be heeling *off-leash* by the end of a ten week class.  Anything less than that would be considered a training failure.  The odd thing is that most dogs were able to accomplish this goal.  I say this is odd because these days, between strict leash laws and the changes in training expectations and philosophies, it is rarely a consideration to teach off-leash reliability in a dog.

     As I’ve watched things slowly change, I can see that the role of the dog itself has changed.  Owners today rarely think of their dogs as a “working” member of the household, one who should be “obedient” (though they often wish they were!).  Instead, dogs are now treated more like eternal toddlers, a loved member of the family, a friend, or a child.  

The training of dogs has grown in leaps and bounds during the last several years.  There are huge organizations supporting the profession; seminars; conferences and certification.  The growth of the concept of “positive” training has also moved to the forefront and is being recognized as the most ethical, humane way in which to train a dog (as well as horses, parrots and exotic animals).

When I started training, there was no such thing as camaraderie amongst dog trainers. You would never consider “sharing” ideas with fellow professionals, and it was more of a “cut throat” business. Things have delightfully changed in that regard, but the change has brought along its own batch of problems and confusion.

You’ve probably heard the statement, “The only thing two dog trainers can agree on is what the third one is doing wrong”. There is much truth in that, as dog trainers tend to be strong-willed individuals who have clear beliefs and feelings about their profession. Maybe that’s what it takes to enter into clients’ homes and lives to help facilitate change in their relationship with their dogs.