Tidbits from the 2009 APDT Conference

The 2009 APDT conference has come to a close, and dog trainers everywhere have gone back to their homes and businesses with new techniques to try, along with fond memories of seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

I had a great time watching the other speakers involved in the day-long fear and anxiety symposium, and apparently so did the 1200-odd trainers in attendance. Sue Sternberg presented an ethogram of fear and anxiety that began with clips from Star Trek (no, really!) and included many interesting dog-related videos as well. Pia Silvani did a great job filling in for Trish King to discuss the human end of the leash. This was fun: Pia flashed pictures on the screen of two dogs with their names and two people with their names; there were a few of these slides. Then attendees were shown the same dogs and people without the names showing, and were instructed to write down as many names as they could remember. Guess which trainers remembered most, dog names or people names? (The lesson was to use people's names too, as no one likes to be referred to as simply "So-and-so's mom.")

Kathy Sdao presented on identifying triggers, and I STILL want to know how she squeezed all that information into 45 minutes! The other presenters, Dr. Emily Levine, Dr. Doug Kneuven, and of course the always fabulous Ian Dunbar, all had useful and interesting information to share. 

Although I did not get to attend as many presentations as I would have liked, I did manage to sit in on a 3-hour seminar by Joshua Leeds and Lisa Spector of Through a Dog's Ear. Joshua discussed many fascinating aspects of psychoacoustics pertaining to both dogs and humans, and Lisa played an electronic keyboard that sounded just like a full-sized piano. She played a Chopin piece that raised gooseflesh on my arms, and I'm not traditionally a classical music fan. The woman is amazing!

In the interests of sharing, here are a couple of tips from my segment of the fear and anxiety symposium, which dealt with handling fearful/anxious dogs in group classes and private lessons:

- Encourage owners of shy dogs to arrive at class a bit early; if you were a shy person, it would be much easier for you to arrive at a party early and greet people as they trickled in than to enter a party in full swing. 

- Here's one I learned from working with wolves: for dogs who won't approach you at all, sit in one spot for a while, then (slowly and in a non-threatening manner) move to another spot in the room, as far from the first spot as possible. Chances are the dog will go over and sniff the place you originally sat, which will allow him to check you out in a non-confrontational way. (This can also be useful for those of you who work with shelter dogs.)

I know there are many trainers who would have loved to have attended the conference but couldn't make it this year. Why not share your impressions of the conference, and tips and tidbits you learned in the presentations you attended.