The following three articles are from John Rogerson, who is a wonderful dog trainer from England (hence the British references through out the articles). If you ever get a chance to attend one of John's seminars I strongly suggest you do: http://www.johnrogerson.com/. I had the pleasure of having lunch with John and his wife about a year ago, I found John to be very knowledgeable and meticulous. I learned a lot at that lunch.
Since I have been teaching dog training classes and especially since I become Director of Training of my local dog training club issues of how to best teach and organize dog training classes for the public have become of great interest to me. I found the three articles below "Dog Training - What the Public Wants", "Techniques for Controlling Dogs" and "Practical Training" very interesting and informative. Enjoy.
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DOG TRAINING - WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS
A few years ago a good friend of mine, Steve Collis, carried out a remarkable study to find out what the majority of the pet dog owning public wanted from dog training instruction. Steve distributed 200 questionnaires around Blue Cross Clinics, Hospitals and private vet surgeries in the London area which asked dog owners about their requirements. It should be borne in mind that 88% of the people questioned had never attended a dog training class.
Steve's questionnaire brought some amazing facts to light, particularly in view of the number of training classes available in the London area claiming to be geared towards the pet dog owner. A brief look at the study reveals that:
* Only 9% of owners would travel a distance of over five miles to attend a class.
* Mondays and Saturdays were the preferred days to attend while Thursday was the least preferred day (6%).
* Afternoon was given as the most convenient time of day to attend.
* Less than 3% of the people questioned wanted to attend classes in winter.
* The average fee that people expected to pay (1991) was £5 PER LESSON (approximately $10.00! This has now changed to an average of £10 per lesson (approximately $40.00).
* 68% of people wanted continuous training for as long as necessary rather than a fixed length course.
* The majority of owners would want the lesson duration to be between 30 minutes and one hour long.
* 78% of owners wanted classes of ten or less in number.
* The majority of people questioned would want the instructor to demonstrate a new exercise with their own untrained dog, rather than watching the instructor use their own or someone else's dog.
* In 1991 80% of people wanted dog related talks included as part of the lessons with THE DOGS DIET being the most popular topic. The most popular topic these days is the law and your dog!
* Nearly 90% of owners wanted time allowed at the end of class to discuss individual problems.
The majority of prospective pupils also wanted;
some form of final test, a certificate, no young children around, and time for the dogs to play together at the end of the class.
Finally, when asked for what reason apart from dog training, would you attend a class, the majority of people responded by saying 'because of their dogs behavior problem'.
I am indebted to Steve for granting me permission to use excerpts from his excellent study for use in this unit.
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TECHNIQUES FOR CONTROLLING DOGS
As if an instructor has not got enough problems in teaching and controlling owners who attend classes, the additional problems that are encountered with the dogs that are present are sometimes enough to really tax the patience of even the most dedicated of instructors. Communicating with people is not that difficult a task, communicating with dogs is a fairly simple task, communicating with both dogs and people simultaneously can be extremely difficult and demanding. A group of dogs that are assembled together on a regular basis for formal instruction will behave in the same way that we have seen a group of people behaving. Some of the stages that they go through are very similar, for example during the formal stage the dogs will tend to:
a) be feeling apprehensive and will both accept and desire some authority from the instructor.
b) will tend to show a desire to return to the same seat after finishing a floor exercise.
c) be uncharacteristically quiet, or by contrast, uncharacteristically noisy.
d) accept new dogs into the training area.
During the second, informal stage the dogs will tend to:
a) show their attitudes and feelings more readily.
b) accept one or more of the dog(s) as a group leader.
c) resent the intrusion by a new dog that is brought into the training area.
d) develop their own territories within the training area.
During the third, stable stage, the dogs will tend to:
a) be more tolerant of eccentric or disruptive behaviour from one or more of the dogs present.
b) as a pack, resent and, sometimes reject, the intrusion from other dogs into the training area.
c) establish a training pattern and predict extremes of exciting and fearful events that occur on a regular basis.
d) establish a pack hierarchy within the assembled population.
The instructor's role is to establish channels of communication with the dogs present and maintain overall control by ensuring that the more dominant and disruptive dogs in the class are kept at the first, formal stage, for as long as possible while the more nervous or insecure dogs are given a feeling of stability and security as quickly as possible. By controlling the seating order within class, the clever instructor can effectively suppress the pushier dogs (and owners) and encourage the quieter dogs to take o more active part in the training program.
Using the best seating arrangement, the rectangular U shape, ensures that the louder, pushier dogs are seated at the extreme top, or open, ends of the U so that they have only one dog at one side of them and therefore interactions are kept to a minimum. Seat the quieter dogs in the corners of the U so that interactions are kept at a maximum. If the instructor now stands towards the top, open end of the U this will give the maximum control over the more dominant dogs and the minimum stress to the more submissive dogs.
The owners of very dominant dogs should be told to always sit near the open ends of the U shape but never to sit in the same seat, or next to the same dog, for any two weeks in succession. This, in itself, should ensure that dominant dogs do not build territories or form strong alliances with other dogs to the detriment of the whole group.
The owners of very submissive dogs or those that are nervous should be encouraged to always position themselves towards the corners of the U shape and to stay in the same seat and, as far as possible, next to the same dogs each week. This should encourage a feeling of security and greater stability within the training area which will benefit the whole group.
The training lesson plans should be constructed in such a way that during the first, formal stage, dogs are worked individually as much as is practically possible in order to allow the instructor maximum control over each of the dogs present. During stage two, the informal stage, dogs can be worked in small easily managed groups. These should contain a mixture of dogs selected from different seating positions, i.e. avoid bringing all of the dominant dogs or all of the submissive dogs onto the floor at once.
When you have entered stage three, the stable stage, you can introduce exercises that get all the dogs on the floor at once and also 'team' games and exercises. When you reach this stage try to avoid allowing a newcomer to join the class. It is easier to bring in three or more dogs at this stage than one by itself.
Even though you may have the ideal seating arrangement for dogs and handlers, you will still find that individual dogs can still present a few problems of their own. A good instructor is able to deal with these problems, as and when they arise, without bringing the whole class to a standstill. I will now attempt to identify a few 'troublemakers' and give some suggestions on how to resolve some common problems in class.
THE BARKER
Possible causes;
1) Terrified of the other dogs, people, instructor, environment, sounds, movements.
2) Attention seeking, trying to get the owner to speak, touch and look at it.
3) Excitement triggered by the prospect of movement (retrieve for example), play time with other dogs, etc..
4) Aggression towards people or dogs.
YOUR ROLE
Desensitize to sounds (give owners a cassette tape of your class in progress to play at home), movements etc. Form pleasant associations with people and other reliable dogs in class.
The owner should not give any attention while dog is barking but give lots of attention when it is quiet. Remember to use a two minute disassociation time!
If excitement is predictable then a training exercise not compatible with barking such as holding a dumbell should be used and applied.
Where aggression is concerned a full behavioral consultation should be given by a specialist and the advice applied at training classes by the instructor. Please refer to section four.
THE WHINER
Possible causes
1) Insecurity.
2) Attention seeking.
3) Discomfort i.e. cold, etc.
YOUR ROLE
Give secure seating position.
Ask owner to ignore whining behavior and only give attention to quiet behavior using a disassociation time of two minutes.
Ask rest of class to ignore whining behavior and not to sympathize with the dog.
Bring dog's familiar blanket for it to lie on.
Put a small piece of sticky caramel high up inside the dog's mouth at the top of its gums so that the dog can concentrate on licking at and removing it (displacement activity), thereby stopping the whining behavior.
Refer to vet for health check.
THE DOG INTERESTED DOG
Possible causes
Other dogs in class are more fun to be involved with than the owner. Dog spends more leisure time at home playing with another dog than with its owner. Oversexed male.
YOUR ROLE
Teach owner distraction techniques rather than confrontation.
Use toys and food (taken from dog's daily diet) to increase dog's awareness of owner in class.
Teach owner how to have fun with the dog.
Decrease dog's play involvement with other dogs at home and increase owner's involvement in playing with the dog.
Refer to vet for hormone therapy or castration.
THE PEOPLE INTERESTED DOG
Possible causes
Too many uncontrolled play interactions with lots of people during puppyhood. Owners totally boring to be with.
YOUR ROLE
Tell everyone except the owners to totally ignore the dog (do not speak to, look at or touch it) while in training class.
Increase the owner's involvement in playing with the dog.
Stop all compulsion training.
Reteach exercises using motivational (food or toys) training.
THE SLOW LEARNER
Possible causes
Owner lacking in motivation/time to train. Wrong training method being used or applied to that particular dog or breed of dog. Stressed by training environment.
YOUR ROLE
Increase owner's motivation by setting realistic training targets.
Use owner and dog frequently to demonstrate exercises or parts of exercises that they can do easily.
Review training method being used and change if necessary.
Research breed characteristics.
Identify and rectify possible causes of stress in the training environment.
THE RAPID LEARNER
Possible causes
Highly motivated owner, highly motivated dog, correct training method being applied to dog.
YOUR ROLE
Not a problem in the true sense but if incorrectly handled by the instructor can rapidly demotivate the rest of the class.
Use only rarely to demonstrate an exercise or part of an exercise to the rest of the class.
Do not allow handler to work dog first during individual exercises.
Reward handler's progress without making the rest of the class feel inadequate.
THE PEOPLE OR DOG AGGRESSIVE DOG
Possible causes
Nervous, dominant, chase motivated, protective, territorial, sexual or redirected aggression.
YOUR ROLE
Refer to a vet and then to a behavior counselor.
Do not attempt to rectify problems of aggression during class apart from making the dog as safe as possible in that environment.
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PRACTICAL TRAINING
Pupils arriving for the first night of a training class have come to learn the practical based skills necessary to successfully train and control their own dogs.
These training exercises can be roughly divided into two broad categories - control and creativity.
Control training, as the name implies, is aimed at giving owners enough control so that the dog will respond to commands in as many situations as possible, regardless of distractions. The most sought after control responses in the order of importance to the average pet owner are:
RECALL: to return promptly to the handler whenever called regardless of distractions.
WALKING TO HEEL: walking on a slack lead under the direction of the handler, without exerting any appreciable pressure.
SITTING: sitting alongside the handler in a calm and controlled manner for short periods, until released.
LYING DOWN: lying alongside the handler in a calm and controlled manner, sometimes for long periods, until released.
All basic control training centers around these four exercises, all of which can be taught in class in a very short space of time and which are essential for owners to master before advancing their control training. You will notice that I have not included the STAY exercises because they are usually considered non-essential by most pet owners. Besides, if the handler cannot teach the dog to remain in a sit or down position calmly alongside them for several minutes, then how are they ever going to teach the dog to remain in that position while they walk away from it?
Advanced control exercises could include STAYS, DROP ON COMMAND at a distance, DROP ON RECALL and teaching the STAND position.
Creative training exercises are aimed at increasing the bond between handler and dog by allowing for a more informal approach to training exercises that will encourage expression of natural instincts. Creative exercises can only be trained when the dog has mastered basic control exercises and can therefore be used as a means of motivating handlers to progress their training at a reasonable pace. Typical creative exercises are:
JUMPING: agility style equipment is used to encourage coordination, suppleness, fitness and controlled excitement.
RETRIEVING: the dog learns to chase, pick up and return with a thrown article, usually a dumbell.
SCENTING: the dog learns to either discriminate between different scents (scent discrimination) or is taught to find general scents (searching). Scenting can also take the form of tracking, or following a line of scent on the ground.
The instructor's task is to ensure that all handlers are provided with the practical skills to first of all gain control over their dogs in the training class and then transfer this control into everyday situations, or into a working environment. Having established good control, the instructor then alters the emphasis on training so that the handler is able to make use of his dog's natural abilities. It should be understood that the training class is a completely false environment. Few dogs will relate their training exercises in class to real life situations unless the instructor has built this into the training program.
Practical training sessions are based on an eight week course of one hour lessons. There are ten dogs in the class with one instructor and two assistants.
The training is broken down into three sections, namely:
1) Basic handling skills and basic control training.
2) Advanced or specialized control training.
3) Creative training.
The lesson plans should be aimed at teaching exercises in a class situation and adapting them to the environment where they are to be used.
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