If you have read over most of my other posts, you will probably notice a trend. Many of my clients come to me for help correcting their adult dog's behavior problems, often after they have tried some different training, or another trainer. Many of these clients take their dog to a puppy class to learn basic commands and for some socialization, however, the irony is that I have often seen situations where behavior problems have their roots in an incident that happens in puppy class. Sometimes a far more mature, and larger dog gets the opportunity to dominate a much younger and smaller puppy, planting the seeds for future fear-based behavior. Other times families are given such a load of misinformation that they start their relationship with their puppy on a completely inconsistent footing, which is one of the leading causes for behavior issues down the road. While the majority of my clients are older dogs, I love working with new puppies, and that was the case with Pele, a 9 week old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy. Pele's people contacted me nearly two months before her arrival, after I had helped one of their co-workers with their adult dog. They also had a chance meeting with another client of mine at a park, who also had a Rhodesian Ridgeback, so they were pretty familiar with my work. I met Pele after she had been home for one day, and there had already been some accidents in the house, as well as a pretty sleepless night for her new family as she was adjusting to her crate. Pele is a very confident dog, and a great fit for this family, and I could immediately tell that they were suited for each other. The first thing I did, as I always do, was explain my basic training philosophy and approach to make sure that everyone was on the same page. Next, I wanted to learn more about their general lifestyle. How long they were away from home on a typical day, if they planned to take Pele many places (she actually will spend time at the office when she's trained) and what their plans for the future were, since Pele would be part of their lives for many years to come. Because we are starting completely from scratch, and are barely correcting inappropriate behaviors, we have a great chance to begin to condition Pele to situations that she will face both now and in the future. Things like being comfortable around groups of people, children, etc, etc. Next, I was able to immediately take care of their housebreaking issue and started them on a course to get her leash trained and used to living in a big city like San Francisco. My approach is customized to work for every dog and family, and of course, when working with a young puppy like Pele, as well as with new puppy owners, one of the most important things I can do is to be available to them when they have questions or issues, which I am, just as I am for all of my clients, past and present. Pele is doing well and we're looking forward to teaching her how to adapt to her new life, and I have no doubt that I'll be the only trainer they will need to work with. When you have a new puppy like Pele, one of the most important things is to understand all you can about her, how she fits into your life, and how to effectively and consistently communicate with her so that you can prevent future behavior problems. Because all dogs are different, all environments and families are different, and there's so much misinformation to be found in places like the internet and books, it's always helpful to have someone that can come to your dog's environment that can teach you how to start off and stay on the right foot for the rest of her life. An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure.
03/31/2010
ANOTHER BRANCH ON MY TRAINER TREE
When I founded the largest private dog training company in the United States, PAWSitive Solutions, I had trainers that I had trained in my specific style and process of training all over California, from San Diego to Sonoma. One of those trainers was Jill Bowers who was one of my best and most trusted trainers. Jill worked in Los Angeles.
Later when I decided that I missed working with individual clients and their dogs, I helped many of these trainers start their own companies. Those who did quickly became recognized as some of the best trainers in their communities. Jill took this route and started her company, Thank Dog Training which has been growing at a steady rate ever since, and last year Jill needed another trainer and hired her sister, Jamie to help with her increasing work load.
Jill trained Jamie herself, and while I'm still very involved with them and work with them in Los Angeles often, Jamie successfully employs the techniques she has learned from Jill who gained her initial knowledge and experience from me. Jamie gets rave reviews from her clients, and I'm proud of both Jill for having the skills and abilities to pass on the method to Jamie and of Jamie for being equally successful. It's a great feeling to see the knowledge passed down to another branch of trainer
SAY CHEESE!
Provo, short for Provolone is a two year old Pit Bull mix who was rescued along with his whole litter by Smiley Dog Rescue. He and his littermates were all given cheese names like Brie, Gorgonzola, etc, which is why he ended up with the name Provo. He was adopted by a nice couple in the Peninsula who took him to dog training class where he learned his basic commands, however he always had issues with getting overly excited when he saw other dogs and squirrels, as well as being terribly excited when someone would come to the door at home. These issues weren't resolved in training class, and as Provo grew larger, and stronger, they began to get worse. The turning point came one day when Provo was just under two years old. Provo's "excitement" at the door, with maturity, had become a bit more aggressive and protective, and one day when a delivery person came to the door, Provo was able to get out and bit the person on the leg. Luckily this wasn't a bad bite, but it was enough of a wake-up call for his people to call Smiley Dog. At first, because they had been told that aggression issues are very difficult to work through, they wanted to return Provo to Smiley Dog. They suggested that they call me. When I met Provo he engaged in his normal barking and posturing at the door, but when he realized that I wasn't afraid of him, he was perfectly happy to allow me to pet him. He remained excited, and while his owners would constantly tell him not to jump and to be calm, he of course wouldn't listen. We took Provo out on the leash and I observed his leash behavior which was pretty non-focused, and I also watched the way his people interacted with him. When I met Provo and his family, I was also lucky enough to meet Trudy, one of Smiley Dog's dedicated volunteers, who had fostered Provo as a puppy and wanted to observe his training. While his people called me for his developing aggression issue, I explained to them the importance of working through all of his issues, both the obvious and the somewhat subtle ones that they often let go. Things like Provo needing to be asked several times to do things, and his general unreliability with basic commands like the "stay" command. It would be through everyone's mastery of the basic commands that we would be able to start a program of desensitization with Provo so that he would learn not to become so excited, and aggressive, when he meets new company, dogs on the street, etc. Provo has a spot he likes to lie in by the door that guests would approach, which happens to be glass, so he can watch people come through the gate and walk up to the door, and by our second session, he would watch as I walked up, bark once to let his people know I was coming, then greet me in a completely calm manner. By our third session when we worked with Provo outside we were able to ask him to lie down and we let go of the leash while we talked, and he stayed there calmly even though there were construction workers across the street. This would have normally sent him running over to investigate. As the holidays approach, Provo and his family are living a much calmer and reliable life, as are the neighborhood's delivery drivers!
AN L.A (SUCCESS) STORY
Anthea first saw Ayla on July 28 wandering around the park across the street from her house. When she saw Ayla eating dirt and grass she started taking food to her. Ayla would growl with her hackles up. It took three days for Anthea to get close to her, but after gaining some trust, she tried to take Ayla into her home
Anthea has two cats. One is 16 yrs old and moves very slowly, and because Anthea was unable to handle this wild dog, and fearing for her cat’s safety, after a couple of chaotic days she took Ayla to L.A. Animal Services to surrender her. She relates that the car ride was an adventure in itself!
Heartbroken, Anthea kept in contact with the shelter by phone and would visit Ayla at the shelter 2 times a week bringing her treats, which she also shared with Ayla's kennel neighbors. She also called The Pet Staff on the shelter’s recommendation, but initially balked at embarking on a training program.
Anthea loved this dog but even after investing $800 for a kennel while she had her, and after being given a quote of $4000.00 for “boarding and training” by another training company, she felt that she would not be able to handle her, but after several more visits she thought she’d give it another try and adopted her again. Without training, the situation remained the same, and after 10 days, Anthea had to return Ayla back to the shelter.
Ayla was there for 3 more weeks but again Anthea returned and adopted her again, only to return her ONCE MORE to the shelter. This trial only lasted 5 days this time. It seemed that Ayla was becoming quite anxious (probably due, in part, to the constant change in environment) and had become increasingly mouthy, occasionally gnawing on Anthea’s arm when they were playing.
Enter The Pet Staff.
Since working at the shelter in August, I had helped The Pet Staff work out a partnership program with L.A. Animal Services and with the help, and under the direction of, Captain Louis Dedeaux, a trainer would volunteer at the shelter for 4 hours per week, at a set time, to work with difficult dogs that might not otherwise find a home. These dogs would be identified as dogs who had received some professional training, and if one of these dogs were adopted, the new family would be welcome to return to the shelter for handling lessons whenever a Pet Staff trainer was there volunteering.
The trainers, especially Susan Mullings, worked with Ayla, and when Anthea learned of this, she called The Pet Staff again, but she also wanted information on rescue groups, saying that she would pay for Ayla's training but only at a rescue facility. The Pet Staff had Susan call Anthea and after a long discussion about Ayla’s issues, and Anthea’s recommendations, they agreed to meet and work with Ayla at the shelter. Susan assured Anthea that if she felt that there was a mismatch between her and Ayla, she would let her know immediately.
Susan met Anthea at the shelter in early November and showed her how well Ayla could work on the leash with a skilled handler. Anthea was encouraged so she agreed to take her home again. Susan gave Anthea her number and the next day, frustrated, Anthea called Susan for some advice. (A vast improvement, considering that previously this might mean another trip back to the shelter.) Susan spent a great deal of time on the phone with Anthea, giving her a “pep talk” and the next day, they began a training program together. 
Since starting training, Ayla has continued to improve and there’s no longer a chance that she’ll be returned to the shelter. Thanks to Susan, The Pet Staff, and LA Animal Services, and a solid training program, one more previously difficult dog has a home for life!
THE "BUCKY" STOPS... AND STAYS HERE!
Bucky is a 3 year old Standard Poodle. Bucky's people called me a few months ago because he had begun to growl at their young grandson and despite having raised (and trained) Standard Poodles their whole lives, they were at a loss how to correct this behavior. Their daughter had become uncomfortable around Bucky and didn't want him in the house when her son was over, and they were seriously considering, at the least, finding another home for him.
I met Bucky the way most visitors to the home did. He would spring up and charge at the door barking, and though he knew all of his commands, Ted would have to hold him back while he answered the door, because he would not listen to commands to sit or stay when he was in such an excited state. After the initial chaos of a new person wore off, he seemed to be a generally nice dog, however, he liked to lie under the table and I was told that this would be a "problem area" and that he shouldn't be bothered when he was there for fear he would growl, or worse, if he was disturbed.-792997.JPG)
I mentioned that Bucky's family had several generations of Standard Poodles before they got him, and all were nicely trained but he was the first one that ever exhibited problem behavior, which began when he was a young puppy. I explained that all dogs are different, and that the only way to help Bucky would be to set up an environment for him based on complete consistency. Because his behavior was often unpredictable, we wanted to make his environment as predictable as possible, which helped lower his anxiety level. This would also allow us to teach Bucky new, acceptable behaviors, allowing him to make his own decisions when situations would occur that used to be problematic, such as a visitor at the door, or their grandson running around. Essentially, we were setting Bucky up for success, rather than giving him the opportunity for continued and self-reinforced failure.
When I arrived at the house for Bucky's second session, you would not have known that he was home, because when I rang the doorbell the chaos was gone. We were even able to have Bucky lie down at the door while the gardeners worked outside. This was a situation that used to send him into a barking frenzy.
Most importantly, there have been no more incidents with Ted and Betty's grandson, and their daughter is much more comfortable with Bucky. Looks like Bucky will be able to stay right where he is
RILEY... DOG MANAGEMENT vs. DOG TRAINING
I met Riley who is a 5 year old Coton De Tulear last June. His people called me because Riley 
had been exhibiting some rather strange and severe anxiety behaviors which, besides the common behaviors of complete pandemonium when someone would knock on the door, and hysterical barking and carrying on when he would see another dog, included a few other interesting behaviors. One of these was a 360deg spin followed by charging down the hallway at full-speed while loudly and frantically barking then EXCITEDLY running back and forth in the hallway whenever someone would go into the bathroom. Another would be barking and charging out the rear sliding glass door whenever it would open, then tearing around the yard barking until someone could finally catch him. This behavior had been going on for a while, but since getting Riley, his family had grown to include two small, often napping or sleeping, children, so these frustrating problems had become more of an issue. Last, Riley had been growing increasing less tolerant and aggressive towards the children, especially when he would have a bone.
As with a large number of my clients, Riley had been through "dog training" several times, with several different trainers, and his people had received a whole range of often conflicting recommendations of what to do to help him. One trainer started him on a clicker training program. This was an effective method for teaching Riley some of his commands, but didn't solve any of his developing behavior problems. The next trainer recommended a citronella collar that would punish him (with a blast of citronella in the face) when he would bark. This didn't work because the desire to do the behavior that would cause the barking far outweighed the uncomfortable sensation of being sprayed in the face with citronella. Another trainer, undoubtedly uncomfortable with the use of a training collar, recommended that Riley be punished by (improperly) using a "gentle" leader collar, jerking on the collar when he would try to bark and dart down the hallway. There were suggestions of shaking a can of pennies, squirting him in the face with water, and various other punishments to react to his behavior.
The last trainer they called was a woman here in the Bay Area who is the director of animal behavior and training at a local humane society, and who, in addition to authoring a book, travels around the country giving seminars on "training" management and assessment of difficult dogs. This last professional, after some phone conversations, finally interviewed Riley and his people in person, and dictated to her assistant a management program for Riley's family to take home and follow. Having worked with many dogs that have had similar management programs recommended by this person before (which included tying aggressive dogs to furniture so they can't bite guests that come in… problem solved, right?) I was familiar with what the "solutions" were as soon as I heard they had visited her.
Finally, a few months prior to calling me, they consulted with their veterinarian who simply recommend more of the same "management" techniques along with a perscription for Prozac.
Despite all of this professional advise, Riley still exhibited this bad behavior, and after snapping at the children several times, he was in real danger of being surrendered to an animal shelter when I was called to help.
Most of Riley's problems boiled down to the fact that he would make bad decisions when presented with the opportunity to do so. In other words, when he would receive the stimuli of someone knocking at the door, his anxiety level would rise and he would decide to charge the door like a maniac. Punishing the symptoms like the barking or charging would not change the fact that his anxiety level would rise drastically when this event occurred, and simply managing him, like keeping him away from the door or tying him up, certainly wouldn't solve the problem, though the UPS guy might be happy not to have a wildly barking dog charging at him.
I helped Riley by teaching his people how to teach and maintain a new set of acceptable behaviors, away from the stimuli that would trigger the bad, unwanted behaviors. Once Riley learned the acceptable behaviors, we reintroduced the stimuli and Riley's family learned how to appropriately reinforce Riley's decision, whether it was the proper or improper decision. In a VERY short period of time, Riley learned to replace the bad behaviors with new behaviors, which to me is dog training, versus dog management. We treated the problem and the big picture, rather than correcting the symptoms.
Riley is doing great. He is no longer in danger of being surrendered to a shelter, and just a few days ago, I received an email saying that he was "an Angel" for the babysitter when kids came to the door on Halloween. He walks nicely on a loose leash, and is not only non-reactive towards other dogs, but is now able to "say hi" to them when he meets them on his walks. Managing these formerly bad behaviors would have meant putting him in another room when kids would come to the door, and either crossing the street when a dog comes, or joining the "midnight dog walking club" (I once worked with a family who, after paying a trainer for help with their dog's aggression towards other dogs, was told after nothing seemed to work, to join the "midnight dog walking club" so they could take their dog out without encountering other dogs.) This, again, is the result of good dog training, and is a testament to the work his people put into the suggestions and recommendations I made for them.
PROGRESS.... NOT PERFECTION
Buck is a wonderful, energetic 3 year old German Shepherd whose people were referred to me last year by Smiley Dog Rescue here in the Bay Area. Actually, "energetic" would be a bit of an understatement when describing Buck! Whenever I get started with a new client, I always spend some time on the telephone with them to get some background on their situation before setting up an appointment to come out to meet them and their dog, which I did in Buck's case, but had I not done that, when I first met him at his house, it would have taken me less than 2 seconds to figure out why I was there.
It started as soon as I knocked on their door and before they answered. Buck was as high strung as a dog could be. I could hear him through the door as well as his owner's attempts to calm and control him. He had to be held back when I came in the house, and would bark and cry with excitement very loudly for quite a long time when company came over. He had so much energy and anxiety that he would spring up at any noise outside, and run barking to the window, usually in the straightest route possible, even if furniture, couches or even people were in his way!
We weren't sure of his background before Smiley Dog, and they hadn't had him very long because he was still very malnourished and had terrible skin and coat problems when Beth and Tony got him, but by the time I met him, he looked like a strong, healthy working dog.
Buck's excitement wasn't contained to the house. Whenever he would see fast moving things like kids on skateboards, joggers and especially bicycles, he would launch into his loud barking and crying routine. Because Tony and Beth weren't great handlers at first, Buck would engage in this behavior while being held back, which I imagine would be cause for concern for the object of his attention.
I have worked with literally hundreds of German Shepherds in my career, starting with my own dog Troy who was assigned to me as a dog handler in The Army, and I know that there are essentially two types. Shepherds that are bred primarily for the show ring, and those that come from "working lines" and are bred for things like police work, and in the old days, farm work. These working dogs often have an enormous amount of drive and require a lot of exercise, though it's always been my opinion and experience that exercise is much more about quality versus quantity. This held true in Buck's case because on our first meeting, Tony explained to me that he would take Buck for long runs nearly every day, and while it would improve the situation (in fact, he was much more unmanageable when he didn't get his run) there were still some major issues going on at home with him that we needed to address.
Our first order of business, as is usually the case with most of my clients, was to teach them how to effectively communicate to Buck what kind of behavior they wanted from him in the house, especially when someone would come to the door, or when company would come over as well as how to handle him properly on the leash. We were able to make this happen nearly instantaneously and when I came for my second visit, he had made dramatic improvement, and while he wasn't perfect, after a few moments, I was able to go back outside, ring the doorbell, and Buck, while still excited, would stay in his place. A nice change from his previous behavior of charging full-speed at whomever was at the door. (I have to admit that this made even me nervous the first time it happened)
On our second session I showed Beth and Tony how to exercise Buck in a much more efficient way, which would engage his mind as well as get his energy down, and this made all the difference in the world for him. Buck would benefit more from a 20 minute session of this type of exercise than he would from an hour of just running out of control at the park.
Typically, I have a 5 lesson plan that I work with families, though if the dog has serious issues, sometimes we run over a lesson or two (or three). I know that I'll need 5 sessions because my training is focused on teaching a dog's human family how to understand their dog and properly handle and communicate with them, while teaching reliable obedience training. I'm always involved and available to my clients between lessons, and even after we're finished, and I can usually get through a training program in two or three months with a family, but in Beth and Tony's case, after we did a few sessions and were ready to start meeting at the park, we really spread our sessions out and only just finished up our sessions. Because they would always stay in some kind of contact with me when they had questions or issues, this worked out great in their case, because they had a lot of time to perfect each phase before moving on to the next one.
I mentioned that Buck would have issues with bicycles, and would bark and try to chase them every time he saw them, so on the rest of our sessions we met in a park in San Francisco where the weekends would find hundreds of bicyclists riding on the bike path. By our third session we were able to have Buck do a "down/stay" a few yards from the bike path, and while he was still excited, he would not get up and try to chase the bikes. Tony would take Buck out and work on this often, and each time his level of excitement and anxiety when he saw bicycles would go down.
When we met for our final session, the improvement in Buck was nothing short of miraculous in my opinion. We were able to take Buck to areas where there were high levels of distractions like joggers and bicycles, and let him run, and were able to call him and have him stop in his tracks, and run back to us. When I met Tony and Beth the first time and explained to them that this was our goal, they looked at Buck who, after half an hour, still had to be held back so he wouldn't jump on me, I'm sure they didn't believe me.
Buck is far from perfect today, but he has improved and is completely manageable and so much easier to live with now. He goes many more places with his family and does not make people nervous with his behavior when he sees things that he wants to chase. Most importantly though, is that Beth and Tony now have the knowledge and tools to continue to work with him, and if they stay on the course they are on with him, he should always continue to improve. Even though we're done meeting for training sessions, as with all my clients, I remain committed to helping them work through any rough spots they encounter along the way.
OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS #2
Old Dogs… New Tricks #2
Emma is a nearly 11 year old Bull Terrier who I met a few months ago after she had an incident with another dog while walking in her neighborhood on-leash with her person, Kaethin. Emma had always had aggression issues with other dogs, and in addition, was a bit territorial around her house when company would come over, and would not walk well on a leash. Kaethin was living in a new neighborhood, and Emma took a particular liking to the plums that would drop from the trees, and would pull Kaethin all the way across the street to get to them, often gorging herself, many times getting sick later. All that being said, Emma is also a great, loving dog and fits my saying, "There are no bad dogs, just poor decision makers" to a "t". She had been Kaethin's loyal companion for many years and up until the latest dog incident, Kaethin had just taken the good with the bad, and learned to live with Emma's issues, but the last incident had been the straw that broke the camel's back, and Kaethin called me to see if there was anything that could be done to help Emma. When I met Emma, she intimidated me a bit. Bull Terriers are extremely powerful dogs, and knowing her history of being territorial and protective in her home, I gave her a great deal of respect. At the same time, however, I explained to Kaethin that if she were willing to take my suggestions and do the work to help Emma overcome her aggression issues, they would be able to do many more things together which would be much more fun for both of them. My opinion is that dog training happens equally on both ends of the leash, and after teaching Kaethin some new handling techniques, I suggested to her that she not take Emma into problematic situations, such as on walks when they might encounter other dogs, until she felt comfortable handling the situation calmly, which took a few weeks, but when I returned for our second session, we were able to walk Emma around the neighborhood past other dogs and even past her favorite plum buffet spot, without her paying any attention at all. I also noticed how much calmer Emma was when I came to the house, and Kaethin let me know that her aggression level when there were visitors had decreased completely. Many people that have dogs with severe issues will often just adjust their lifestyle to accommodate them, simply managing their behavior, but I commend Kaethin for taking the steps to help Emma even though she's older, which will allow her to live out the rest of her (hopefully many) years doing many more things and going a lot more places!
We did our fourth session at Crissy Field which is a beautiful and popular spot here in San Francisco near the Golden Gate Bridge where there are always dozens of dogs walking with their people, and I'm happy to say that both Emma and Kaethin did great! Emma barely paid any attention to any of the dogs that were around, where before she would bark, and lunge aggressively at them making everyone uncomfortable, and Kaethin handled her with complete confidence. At the end of our session, Kaethin told me that she was looking forward to taking Emma there again, which is something that wouldn't have happened before since their routine usually consisted of avoiding situations where there might be other dogs around, and I'd like to think that this improves the quality of life for both of them.
THANKS TO THE CAPTAIN
A few posts back I talked about my experiences training new trainers in Los Angeles for The Pet Staff. We spent a great deal of time at Los Angeles Animal Services at their new North County Shelter where we worked with dogs in need of homes, working with them so they would be more adoptable. The person responsible for bringing us to the shelter and helping the new trainers gain this valuable experience is named Captain Louis Dedeaux, who has the title of Animal Behavioral Health & Safety Coordinator. 
Captain Dedeaux has been training dogs for over 35 years, and I have to admit that our first day there, I was a bit nervous about handling dogs in front of him. This is because, I typically spend every day with my clients, who have absolutely no dog training experience whatsoever, unless they call me after working with an ineffective trainer. In any case, when they watch me handle their dogs, they are always amazed at what I can do, and how well I communicate with them, but it's been quite a while since I've worked with a "green" dog (which is a dog with very little, or no training) in front of a trainer with more experience than I had.
Louis later confided to me that he was watching me very closely at first as well. I came to find out that he often had trainers come to him to work with the shelter dogs. These trainers could easily "talk the talk" to him, telling him of all of their experience and success, but when the time came to "walk the walk" they often fell far short of being able to properly handle a difficult dog, and would often not be invited back, mostly for their own safety.
Over the course of the week, in between working with the new trainers, I would talk with Louis about different training techniques, and his view of the evolution of dog training over his 35 career. Captain Dedeaux had a beautiful German Shepherd named Hass who he took through Schutzhundtraining, and between watching him with his own dog, as well as the many dozens of dogs at the shelter, I came to respect his opinion very much, and while my clients complement me almost every day, the confidence Louis showed in me, as well as his compliments on my training and handling are just as, if not more, rewarding.
Thanks to Captain Dedeaux for all of your help, and your hard work and dedication to dogs. Many more dogs will be able to stay in their homes, and away from animal shelters and rescues, thanks in large part to your support and help during our time with you.
OLD DOG... NEW TRICKS
You always hear that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, in fact, the television show, Mythbusters dedicated part of an entire episode to this theory.
They should have filmed my first session with an 11 year old Daschund named Buddy that I just did yesterday. Buddy is an all around great dog who lives with a young couple that adopted him after his owner died. He had never had training and, while he is very loving and affectionate towards people, he was incredibly reactive towards other dogs. He would also bark and try to chase anything moving fast such as bicycles, joggers and even cars. He would sometimes get so worked up at the sight of another dog, he would hyperventilate, which is not good at his age.
Sometimes Buddy would be a bit too affectionate with guests, demanding attention, and would have to be banished to an upstairs room when company came over, so this was another area we worked on. Last, his leash behavior is terrible and he would pull so hard on the leash during his walks that he would often cough and gag.
In our first lesson, we taught Buddy to stay in his place, which will be very helpful when guests come over, but the best thing is that, with proper and efficient handling, we were able to quickly teach him to walk with a loose leash. His owners were so amazed that one of them immediately went to the garage and got out his bicycle to ride around Buddy while we walked him on his leash, which previously would send him into a frenzy, and Buddy just calmly stayed at his owners side watching his other person ride around in circles, ringing the bike's bell, as if to say, "What are you doing that for?"
Dog (and people) training is always more than one lesson, and there's some follow up to be done, but I think Buddy is already on his way to living out the rest of his years in a much calmer, and happier state.
TRAINING THE TRAINERS
I’ve been in Los Angeles for the past few weeks training a group of new dog trainers for The Pet Staff Los Angeles’ largest pet care company. The Pet Staff has been offering dog walking and pet sitting services throughout the greater Los Angeles Area since 2001, and I’ve known the owners, Brett Montana and Michael Landa, almost since their start. They have grown to nearly 200 pet sitters and have thousands of clients. They contacted me a few months ago about offering dog training services, after having many of their clients ask them for referrals to trainers. After a few meetings, they hired me as their head trainer, and I put together a great, reward-based dog and people training program for them based on my own personal program that I have been successfully employing for nearly 20 years.
The first step was to hire trainers, a LONG and exhausting process that started last July when we began to sift through nearly 1000 applicants. Brett and Mike, the owners of The Pet Staff have worked hard building their company’s reputation as the most professional and reliable in their industry and they were very selective during their interview process for dog trainers, which took several weeks and included several steps. They began with their initial application and had to go through a few in-person interviews, answer some essay-length emails, and do some reading on training theory, just to get to their final interview. Last month I flew to Los Angeles to meet the final candidates and after a few long days of interviews and a lot of deliberation, we chose the first 7 trainers.
In my nearly 20 year career, I’ve trained over 40 professional dog trainers, and over the years have developed an efficient program that not only focuses on teaching training theory and dog handling, but also the equally important component of instructing skills. We always begin in the classroom working on training theory as well as learning my training process, before moving outdoors to begin working on actual handling skills. All of the trainers we hired had years of experience with dogs, both professional and personally, but I had to teach them to train and handle dogs from a new client’s prospective, so much of what we worked on was unlearning habits, and learning some new communication techniques.
There’s always a hands-on component to my training classes, and this time The Pet Staff partnered with Captain Louis Dedeaux and Los Angeles Animal Services who offered us the use of their new North Central facility to work and several of the dogs that were waiting for adoption. That part of the training was an amazing and often heartbreaking experience which deserves its own blog entry, but I am happy to say that in addition to giving the trainer priceless experience training many different types of dogs, some with extreme behavior issues, we were able to help several dogs that may have been unadoptable before, find new homes. 
I’m back in the San Francisco attending to my own business again, but am looking forward to my continued involvement with the new trainers I trained and The Pet Staff, and am thankful for the opportunity.
MY BACKGROUND
My first job was working with dogs. When I was 14, while my friends worked at McDonalds, or at the mall, I got a summer job bathing dogs for a woman who had a small grooming shop in my neighborhood. It was hard work and there were days when I would bathe 10 or 12 dogs in one day. I'd come home at the end of the day soaked and smelling like wet dog, but since I was getting paid $5.00 for every dog I bathed—a lot of money to a 14 year old—I didn't mind that much.
I did that job every summer all through High School and not only learned a lot about different breeds, but also how to read a dog's body language and when to tell if they were comfortable, stressed out, or becoming aggressive.
While I was a senior in High School the Army recruiter began calling and convinced me that the Military would be a good way to raise money for College, so I went to see them. I wasn't sure what career I wanted in the Army but there was a poster in the recruiting office of a Military Policeman with his German shepherd, and that looked good to me. I enlisted as a Military Policeman, only to find out later that in the Army you needed to have a few years of service and obtain a certain rank before you could apply to go to dog handler's school. Even though I didn't immediately this always remained in the back of my mind.
I completed basic training and the Military Police Academy and was sent to Ft. Stewart, GA, which is outside Savannah, and was attached to a unit that supported the Rangers when they were deployed around the world.
There were law enforcement duties as well, when we were back on base, but much of that consisted of being called to the Enlisted Club to break up huge fights that would happen in the parking lot after the club would close. Since Ft. Stewart was also where the 24th Infantry Division was located, the guys would hit the club after 45-60 days in the field, with a few paychecks in their pocket to let off steam, and they never seemed eager to go home at 2am when the club would close. Often the party would continue outside until we had to break it up. This was not a good situation for an 18-year-old kid, especially since at the time I was about 5'9" and weighed 140lbs-soaking wet. Not the most commanding presence.
The situation was usually pretty out of control when we would pull up and we would immediately get on the radio and call for some more help. Before long, the K-9 unit would arrive. These were our fellow soldiers and we didn't want to arrest them, and just the sight of the dog would always calm the situation down, which I always thought was the coolest thing. I thought about how great it would be to become a dog handler and have a partner like that to "watch my back".
I got to know the dog handlers and one Friday night near the end of a shift, my friends and I invited them to hit the town with us. They told me that they couldn't because they had to go to Georgia Southern University in Statesboro that weekend to do demonstrations with their dogs. I remarked that it seemed like a bummer to have to spend their weekend "working", but they said that they loved it, since the dogs attracted so much attention from the college girls, they would usually leave after a weekend like that with a lot of phone numbers.
Well, that was pretty much all I needed to hear. I had already wanted to go to Dog Trainer's school and if I could become a dog handler, which would keep me safe while on patrol, and help me meet girls…
I started to apply for the Department of Defense dog school, which was located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas as soon as I got promoted to the appropriate rank. You were permitted to put in one application every 6 months, which I did with no luck. In the meantime; I was transferred to Nuremberg, Germany and soon, the end of my enlistment was in sight. It was at that time that I received orders to be transferred to Ft. Sam Houston, Texas in San Antonio. Ft. Sam Houston was a base where all of the Army's medical personnel go for training, and at the time San Antonio was home to several military bases including the one that hosted the Department of Defense program. I did not have enough time remaining on my enlistment to go there, but I figured that if I'd have a better chance of getting into the school being stationed that close. I decided to extend my enlistment for a year and put in a second application for the dog handler's course.
A few months before my enlistment was up, I received word that after 3 attempts, I was approved for the dog handler's course. The starting date was a month after my current enlistment was up, which meant that I would have to reenlist for another term to be able to go.
I spent several weeks thinking about it, and it boiled down to either going to college, or doing what I had been dreaming of doing for the past 3 years. I figured school could wait a few more years and I reenlisted.
I started the 6-week course in August of 1988. August in San Antonio is hot, and we would typically have to arrive at school at 4:30 in the morning to begin working with the dogs so that they could go back to the shade of their kennels by noon. While the dogs rested, we would eat lunch and have another 4 or 5 hours of classroom training where we learned about everything from health to handling, and lots and lots of learning theory.
During the course, I received a transfer order to a missile base in Fulda, Germany. I wasn't too thrilled about it, since this meant that I would be doing sentry work rather than law enforcement. This disappointment was magnified when I arrived in Germany to find out that the Army had decided that dogs were too expensive to keep at missile sites and had reassigned the dogs to other locations. right before I got there.
Our missile site was located in a remote location and we lived in a barracks on an airfield used by the air Calvary. A local German company provided security on the airfield and my friends and I became friends with a few of the guards who would take us out to some of the local clubs.
Fulda is located just a few Kilometers from what is now the former East German border, and I was fortunate enough to have had a front row seat for exciting and chaotic reunification of the country in 1989. Free travel back and forth between the borders was fine for German citizens, but initially, U.S. Military personnel weren't supposed to go into the East. Our Germany friends however would always go and started talking my friends and I into going with them. We couldn't resist, since it was so different over there, and Americans were such a novelty to the locals on that side.
We would ride with one of our German friends, since their cars had local license plates on them, and we'd stay late, usually until the clubs closed. Early on after reunification, the border was still manned by the East German Army and when we would go home we'd always stop at the border and chat a bit with the guards. It was always late, cold and dark, but near the guard shack there was a kennel and in the kennel were several beautiful German Shepherds that would bark continuously and very aggressively while we were there. One of my German friends, Eddie, was very interested in the dogs, and would try to get close to the kennel to talk to the dogs, trying to make friends with them. When we would go out to eat he would always save part of his meal, saying he was going to give it to the dogs when we were on the way back.
One weekend on the way home, the Guards told us that they were disbanding the military and that they were all going home. Eddie was very concerned about what was going to happen to the dogs and sure enough, a few days later I found out that he talked some of his friends into going to the border and they took 4 of them home.
They had a heck of a time with these dogs. They all lived in apartments, one of them with a wife and child, and the dogs were a handful. They didn't seem to be obedience trained at all and I would see Eddie and his friends on the weekend trying to work with them at the airfield.
Eddie knew that I was an M.P. but didn't know that I was a dog handler, and one day when I saw one of the dogs actually try to go "up the leash" at one of his friends, and try to bite them, I went out to see what they were up to. He told me that the dogs were tearing up their homes, that they had complaints about barking, and that they didn't think they could handle their aggression. They had been working with a trainer that did a type of training called "Schutzhund" training, but they weren't making progress with the dog's house manners. Eddie told me that they were thinking of giving the dogs up and that the dogs would likely be put down.
I hadn't really had any training in how to keep dogs in the house, since military working dogs are kept in kennels at night and brought out to work each day by their handlers, but I applied what I had learned in school a year earlier about a dog's pack mentality, along with teaching them a safe way to handle the dogs. One of the law enforcement handlers had been telling me about crate training, and because of the dog's cramped living conditions, I thought this could be a safe way to keep the dogs in the house, though the concept of crating a dog seemed kind of mean to me. Better than the alternative, I reasoned. I made that suggestion and told Eddie that I would try to teach them some of the handling skills I had learned at school.
An amazing thing happened. While Eddie and his friends really struggled with being able to handle the dogs correctly at first, the dogs seemed to calm down and become much more attentive to them. They kept the dogs with them almost all the time, since their employer allowed it, and when they couldn't, they would crate them. After a while, they became more confident in the things I was teaching them about how to handle the leashes, and how to reinforce commands with the dogs, and when it finally became time for me to leave the military after the first Gulf War was over, all 4 dogs were living happily in the homes of these 4 guys.
I left the Army and returned home to the San Francisco Bay Area with the intent to finish college and go on to law school. Needing to work, and not wanting to go into law enforcement, which is what my military training qualified me for, I got a job as a waiter, which, of course, I wasn't too thrilled with, but it allowed me to go to class and still pay the rent.
While I was in the military a friend of mine had gotten a Rottweiler and asked me for help working with her. They did well and when it was time for him to take her to the veterinarian, the vet noticed a difference in her behavior and asked him who helped him. When my friend told him about me, the vet told my friend that I should consider doing it for a living.
It never occurred to me that I could earn a living training dogs, but I looked into it and found a local trainer who would hire me. When I met this trainer, he told me that he had been training dogs for years and his business card even carried the title, "Certified Master Trainer". He told me that I had a lot to learn, but he would take me on.
The first week I was with him, I was working with clients on my own, and immediately realized that I knew much more than this guy did, despite the lofty title he had printed on his business card.. I didn't know where he had his supposed training (he said it was in New York somewhere, basically as far from California as could be) but mostly what I saw him doing was a very old, punitive style of training that was obsolete, even in the military. His clients began asking to work with me instead of him, which caused conflict between us, yet one thing I did notice was that he was making a pretty nice living, despite his many shortcomings.
There was another trainer working there at the time who, although he was trained by the owner of the place, was impressed with what I could do, and approached me about leaving to start our own company. He would continue to learn from me as we built the business.
I had never thought that I would be self-employed, but he convinced me and we both quit and started our own company. The guy we were working for had a facility in a very nice part of the Bay Area where people would bring their dogs, but since we were starting on a complete shoestring, we decided to do the training at our clients homes to start with and as our business grew, we would also open up a nice place for our customers to come.
This was in 1992 and business was good right away. The veterinarians of our clients would see such a difference in the dogs; they would begin referring their patients to us for training.
Because of my background, having learned to train police dogs, we would get many people asking us to train dogs for personal protection. This was very popular in the early 1990's and the fee for training a dog like this could exceed $3500.00. That's a lot of money for a guy fresh out of the military, especially since I now had a family of my own, so initially I was happy to do it. Inevitably, I decided to pursue dog training as my career rather than go on to law school and I left college.
As we would work with the dogs and their families, however, I began to realize that a regular family was much different than a professional police dog handler, who would work with their dog all day, day after day, and I began to become uncomfortable with doing such a high level of aggressive training. I realized that unless the clients were following through 100% with my instructions, the dog would not be reliable and I was opening myself up for a lawsuit.
At the same time, I enjoyed working with the dogs that had various behavior problems or dogs that just needed good, solid obedience training and I began to develop a process that stressed consistency and boundaries along with obedience, but a process that recognized that most people, while they may love their dogs, have other things going on in their lives as well.
Eventually, I told my partner that I no longer wanted to train protection dogs and wanted to concentrate on pet dogs. I had taught him how to train protection dogs, and he enjoyed doing it and working with the people that would request dogs like this, like professional athletes, and other high profile people. He and I parted ways and I started a new company in Sonoma County called K-9 Advantage. Early on, I realized that while I was an excellent dog trainer, when I would work with a family's dog, most of my efforts were spent teaching them what I knew, leading me to trademark the tagline, "Where Dogs Send Their People for Training".
One of the many things I learned after starting my business was that it was always so much easier and faster to begin training a dog in the dog's home environment. They were far less distracted, stressed and excited when they weren't being loaded into the car and driven someplace else. Working in their own home made it much easier for their people to handle them. After a few training sessions in the home environment, we would progress to a park or other location to test the dog around distractions. By this point the dog was always more focused and the training was successful.
When I started my first training company a few years earlier, my partner and I realized right away that veterinarians were a great source for new clients, since people always trusted their vet's opinion and recommendations. We would visit veterinarian offices all over the Bay Area and leave our business cards and brochures. We would see a few other trainer's things in there as well; most of them very established trainers with years of experience. I was always curious about their methods, (Some offered group lessons, which I never did) but my partner was just the opposite and wanted nothing to do with them.
A funny thing began to happen around 1995. I started getting more and more training clients that had gone to other trainers before working with me. These dogs often had tremendous behavior problems, the most common being aggression and anxiety issues. Sometimes, I would be the 2nd or even 3rd trainer that would work with a dog, after the other trainers gave up.
I also decided that I was going to be much more open towards other trainers and read about a new association for dog trainers that had annual conferences where they claimed different training techniques were discussed and taught. (In retrospect, it's ironic that the way I heard about this group was through an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that talked about a conference in San Diego where many of the trainer's dogs caused considerable damage to the hotel they were staying in.)
I sought out this group, in part, because I was interested in learning what it was that I did that was so different than other trainers, and why I was having such success with dogs that others would give up on, sometimes pronouncing the dog "untrainable" and recommending that they go to their vet and finding out about having the dog put down.
I attended my first conference in Houston, TX, and (my eyes were immediately opened to a new style and philosophy of training that I had been hearing about that advocated completely positive reinforcement training as a response to the sometimes tougher methods that had been used up to that point. This completely positive training was creating a huge rift in the dog-training world, and over my years of association with this group, I saw their focus shifting from being an all-inclusive group dedicated to education and fellowship among trainers, to one that advocated one specific training style. While an all-positive approach that sounded great in theory, I would come to realize that it was not completely effective in practice in the "real world".
An upside, was that I met many other trainers at this, and other conferences, some who had decades more experience than I did. I also met many trainers who had very little experience, and not much success in training, but who were able to sustain businesses despite these shortcomings. Some of these trainers would bring their dogs to the conferences and the dogs would be completely out of control, sometimes even aggressive towards the other dogs!
I remained connected to this group because it was the only one of its kind, and I was making amazing contacts with other successful trainers from around the country. I attended seminars by, and developed friendships with some of the most recognized names in the dog training world, many of whom have written books of their own, and while I may not have agreed with everyone's philosophy, I found it valuable to become proficient in other methods, as many of my clients were coming to me after working with trainers who employed some of these techniques.
One of the main differences between what I did and what others did was that I taught my clients a complete process for working with, and living with their dogs that went beyond just training them to respond to commands. Drawing on my very first experiences in Germany helping Eddie and his friends, I realized that my clients weren't professional dog handlers so I did my best to stress the importance of the time that they weren't actually working on their dog's commands and how they needed to remain completely consistent, especially early in the training process.
My success continued, and so did my reputation as the trainer who could help people and dogs who have been failed previously by other trainers. Back then, and really, to this day, there is no universally recognized certification process for dog trainers. Anyone can decide one day that they are fed up with their current occupation, print up some cards, and hang up their shingle. It's much tougher in California to become a hairdresser than it is to become a dog trainer.
The professional organization I belonged to was not helping things in this industry at all. They would accept anyone for membership without checking their background, experience or references, yet to those who didn't understand the process, membership in this group made trainers that didn't deserve it seem credible to clients. And skilled trainers like me, who know the credentials are a sham, don't use them.
As the group grew, so did their leanings towards advocating one type of training and before long, they decided to develop a certification process for dog trainers. This was something I was in complete favor of, and actually joined one of the committees to help promote this. In the end, however the certification consisted of nothing more than a multiple choice written test covering one type of learning theory that anyone with a basic reading comprehension could pass without ever training a dog hands-on.
In addition to this "certification" there are many private schools around the country teaching people to become dog trainers. I learned of several of these schools after looking into the backgrounds of trainers who would work with a client before I would. It seemed that there were many, many people that wanted to become professional dog trainers, and why not? It's a great profession for someone who loves dogs and wants to make a difference in their lives and the lives of their families.
People would occasionally contact me and ask me if I trained dog trainers. My belief was that learning to train dogs, while the most important part of the business, was only valuable if the people also knew how to operate a successful business, so with some help I started the first dog training franchise in the United States and began to teach others how to train dogs using my methods. I trained individuals from all over California and had articles written about me in a few local publications and even a small one in Entrepreneur Magazine. Through this I made many more contacts in the business, and expanded my quest for knowledge outside the U.S. attending seminars at veterinary colleges in Canada and even joining the Canadian version of the group I was associated with in the U.S.
Operating a training franchise was much different than what I had been doing for individual families. While the people I had trained became successful trainers, it was difficult for me to ensure they were adhering to the same standards I use, since they technically owned their own businesses. The process showed me that I could train someone to become a successful dog trainer. My franchise caught the attention of a successful businessperson who had owned several large businesses in the past including a huge national franchise.
This person had an idea to start a business that was not a franchise but had the trainers working as employees of the company, thus allowing me the opportunity to maintain a higher standard, and with his help we started a new company called PAWSitive Solutions. This company grew quickly and offered private training by veterinarian referral in communities all over California from San Diego to Sonoma. At one point we employed 29 trainers.
I trained all of the trainers myself, but found that I was spending all of my time either training people to become trainers, or dealing with other business matters. This meant that I was no longer doing what I loved, which was working with dogs and their families. My partner and I decided to shut that company down, and helped all of my employees who wanted to continue to train dogs start their own businesses. Many of them are the most successful trainers in their communities to this day.
I went back to training dogs and their people in private homes, specializing in working with dogs with behavior problems. I became involved with a new training organization, the International Association of Canine Professionals who, as one of their goals, are striving to create higher standards in the dog training business. Their standards for professional membership are much higher and they have been working to develop a difficult certification process that requires proof of hands-on-skill in addition to book knowledge. I am a charter member and have served on their Board of Directors.
As I write this, I estimate that I have trained well over 3,000 dogs and families, always in one-on-one situations. I have been invited to speak at seminars, have appeared on national radio programs and have written articles on training for several national trade publications as well as some local ones. Except for the Internet, I do not advertise and get the majority of my clients through referral, either from their veterinarian or from other clients, and I can boast a very high rate of success.
