Dog Trainer Book
Did you want to learn more about other dog resources?
Check out the links below.
Did you want to learn more about The Dog Trainer’s Complete Guide to a Happy, Well-Behaved Pet?
Check out the Dog Trainer book page.
Chapter 1: So Many Dogs, So Little Time
Chapter 2: Socialization Chapter
Chapter 3: Anything But Obidience Chapter
Chapter 5: Total Recall
Chapter 6: How to Park a Dog
Chapter 7: Leaving Stuff Alone
Chapter 8: Polite Leash Walking
Chapter 9: The Parallel Universe
Chapter 10: Play? Training? Tricks?
Chapter 12: Stuff Dogs Do That Worries People
Chapter 1, “So Many Dogs, So Little Time”
Deaf Dogs
See the website DeafDogs.org.
Also, check out Margaret Elliott’s article “But How Do I Get His Attention? Clicker Training Tips for the Deaf Dog Owner”(2008).
Handling
Want to dig deep into handling issues for the vet’s office? Check out Dr. Sophia Yin’s book and DVD set Low Stress Handling, Restraint and BehaviorModification for Dogs and Cats (CattleDog Publishing, 2009).
Raising a Puppy
A resource that would be worth plenty of money — if you had to pay for it, but you don’t: Dr. Ian Dunbar’s books Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy, both available as free downloads free downloads here. Check out the rest of the site for more good training and behavior info.
Dr. Dunbar is more oriented toward lure-and-reward training than toward clicker training, my preferred reward-based method, but if you and your dog are happy with lure-and-reward then I’m happy too.
Chapter 2, “Socialization”
Clickable: A Socialization Checklist
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has issued a position statement on puppy socialization. Please show it to your vet if she or he tells you to keep your puppy indoors until vaccinations are complete.
Videos on Topics Covered in This Chapter:
The veterinary behaviorist Dr. Sophia Yin has a YouTube channel with lots of info about how to make vet visits easier on your dog.
Muzzle training by Chirag Patel (“DomesticatedManners”). I love this man’s videos!
Crate training with a clicker, from Emily Larlham (“Kikopup”) – another YouTube training video great.
Chapter 3, “Anything but ‘Obedience’”
An update on trainer certifications! The Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers has been busy. Besides the new certification for behavior specialists, which I discuss in Chapter 12, the council is introducing a “Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge and Skills Assessed” credential, with candidates evaluated on the basis of video of themselves working with dogs. The first round of testing isn’t until March 2012, and of course there won’t be many CPDT-KSAs for a few years.
Clicker Training Videos Online
YouTube has lots of excellent clicker training videos. Some greatest hits: Kikopup (Emily Larlham), DomesticatedManners (Chirag Patel), and ThistleMiss (Sarah Owings). Among them, these three wonderful trainers cover all the manners behaviors I discuss in this book – each taking an individual approach to clicker training.
Deaf and Blind Dogs
For info on training deaf dogs, see above.
Here are some nice tips on living with and training blind dogs. BlindDogTraining.com is run by someone whose first language is Japanese, so the English is a little wonky, but what a charming and encouraging site, with plenty of clever training ideas.
Chapter 5, “Total Recall”
Photo: Lucy coming when called. Credit: Jenny Chun
Chapter 6, “How to Park a Dog”
It was harder than I thought it would be to find good videos of trainers shaping a down! I liked “Shaping Comet’s Down.” Here’s some nice lure-and-reward training of a down with a Great Dane. A good subject, because you can see every movement so clearly on this big dog.
Chapter 7, “Leaving Stuff Alone”
Here’s an Emily Larlham (Kikopup) “leave it” video, and here’s one from Chirag Patel (DomesticatedManners) teaching a “drop it” in a really clever way.
Chapter 8, “Polite Leash Walking”
An equipment note: You may have noticed that I don’t recommend halters (head collars) to teach your dog polite leash walking, or anything else for that matter. So, a few words about halters.
Most dogs respond more or less negatively to halters. Some paw at their faces and roll on the ground attempting to rub the halter off. Their tails droop; their gait is slower and less lively. I often see dogs being walked with the leash shortened so much that the dog’s head is drawn up and back. Many handlers make the opposite mistake, of walking the dog with the full six feet of leash in play, so that if the dog lunges reactively or darts toward a tasty sidewalk find, she’s whipped backward by the head.
I recommend head halters only when there’s a huge physical mismatch between dog and guardian or when a dog who’s severely reactive / aggressive has to be walked in public. If a halter is needed, I help the guardian teach her dog to accept it comfortably. Sometimes we do have to strike a balance between stress to the dog, on the one hand, and urgent safety concerns, on the other. I’m never happy about this – not just because I’m softhearted, though I am, but also because behavior modification is faster and more effective with a happy, relaxed dog.
Chapter 9, “The Parallel Universe”
Just a few of my favorite online canine body language resources!
Dog play: “Healthy Dog Play” (yup, it is), “Dog Play Techniques,” and the Zoom Room Guide to Dog Play.
KCDogGuy’s YouTube channel has terrific slo-mo behavior videos. Two I especially recommend: “Appropriate Dog Warning and Response” (Trainers find this video hilarious. Watch Riley, the dog on the left, finally get the message) and “How to Introduce a Shy Dog to a Confident Dog.”
On this Tumblr photo blog of tied-up dogs, some of the dogs are at ease, but all in all the photos amount to an encyclopedia of canine stress signals.
Finally, a gem of a dog “fight” video: “Pack Leader.” This is an example of a completely appropriate, slowly escalated response. And I strongly suspect the title’s a bit ironic.
Photo: Juni on the couch. Credit: Jolanta Benal.
Chapter 10, “Play? Training? Tricks?”
More tricks? Check out the Take a Bow Wow DVDs, by Virginia Broitman and Sherri Lipman. The English trainer and canine freestyle competitor Mary Ray has a charming little book, Dog Tricks: Over 50 Fun Tricks to Teach Your Dog. And I like The Trick Is in the Training, by Stephanie Taunton and Cheryl Smith. All are available at www.dogwise.com.
And YouTube comes through again. The perpetually amazing Emily Larlham (“Kikopup”) has videos of her dogs learning and performing dozens of tricks. And you haven’t lived till you’ve squeed over Jesse the Jack Russell Terrier.
Photo: Cute Lenny. Credit: Marion Weiner.
Chapter 12, “Stuff Dogs Do That Worries People”
Here is a good brief description and explanation of how the behavior modification technique called “counterconditioning and desensitization” works.
“Pawsitive Practice: Out on the Town 2.” I tend to work more slowly and methodically than this trainer, but she’s getting good results, so I won’t argue! At 2:11 – 2:12, you can see the dog look at the boys and then immediately look at the trainer for her chicken. That’s a positive “conditioned emotional response” – the dog has learned that the boys’ presence predicts chicken. Well done. Notice also the trainer’s cheerful demeanor, and how she doesn’t push but takes care to keep the dog in her comfort zone.
YouTube has a lot of videos of the Constructional Aggression Treatment: here’s one on resource guarding, and the first in a series of a dog named Gustave who’s aggressive toward people. Notice the lack of drama (i.e., the videos are boring). This is a hallmark of good behavior modification. Notice also that by the end the learner dog, who started out snarking over his tennis ball, is offering it to the other dogs.
Grisha Stewart, who developed Behavior Adjustment Training, also has plenty of informative YouTube videos. Here’s her basic intro.