Judy Archer-Dick
I came to dog training in the mid-1990's, a fact that has both its positive and negative aspects. The most negative thing, of course, is that I missed out on sharing my early life with these wonderful animals. As things turned out, however, I believe I was very fortunate to enter "the dog world" when I did and was able to take advantage of the newer approaches to training that were coming to the fore. A few years earlier it would have been very difficult to find information on how behavioral theories had been adapted to work with dogs - techniques which form the basis of modern dog-training. Besides, I may not have taken the time to fully investigate and practice these techniques, adopting some and discarding others that seemed unworkable.
After attending university in Ontario, husband Charles and I moved to Edmonton, Alberta where I taught elementary school for a number of years. When my father-in-law began to think about retiring, Charles decided that he would like to try his hand at managing the family printing business and we moved to his home territory of Grabill, Indiana. We finally bought a small house a few years later - which is when we had a few too many encounters with the rat that kept coming back, along with his numerous smaller mouse cousins! We therefore got two cats, Francine (not much mouse-work ethic!) and Murrei (a true mouser). After renovating our house it was finally time to bring on the dogs.
We got Hank (an Australian Shepherd) from Aussie Rescue in 1997 when he was about seven months old. He had been neglected and malnourished, rather overwhelmed by everything but sweet. As soon as classes resumed after the summer break at our local dog training club Charles took him to an eight-week beginner's class. The class was a traditional punishment-based class, where Hank and his peers were to be "corrected" with a "pop" on their choke chains when they weren't doing what they were supposed to do. Unfortunately for them, these dogs didn't understand English and through a process of elimination were supposed to figure out what behavior was not going to be punished. The behavior that wasn't punished was obviously the behavior the handlers wanted. This is a difficult concept for humans to understand - imagine how incomprehensible it must be to a dog, whose whole communication system is at odds with this sort of thing! It is amazing that so many dogs manage to learn in spite of this treatment.
Hank was willing and able to learn the basics through this method. He passed his Canine Good Citizen test and started working on the exercises for his first obedience title. Things started going downhill fast. He lagged somewhat on his heeling (a very common problem with traditional training) but it was when he went into the competition ring that he totally fell apart. I had taken over his training and was getting to the point of such utter frustration that we were going to quit training him altogether. I could not bring myself to punish him enough to get the point across, yet I didn't know how else to teach him.
It was then that Chris Bach truly rescued us from the quagmire. She presented a seminar in Maumee, Ohio on The Third Way, her humane and fair method of dog training based on operant conditioning. It was like a breath of fresh air to both Charles and I! She showed us that dog training can be positive, fun for everyone and a truly enjoyable learning experience for both dogs and people. We have never looked back.
Since this time, positive training has taken over my life. I was inspired to read further, watch videotapes, attend seminars and am surprised at how much excellent information is lurking out there (although, there is also a lot of bad!) that I never knew existed. Hank no longer looked "beaten" when training time came, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Problems were a challenge, not a drag. And yes, he did get his Companion Dog title!
After we finally got on the right track training-wise, Charles decided in get a second Aussie, primarily to do agility, as Hank had never been very athletic and driven to that sort of thing. In February, 2000 he picked out a puppy with strong herding heritage and named her Gooseberry Pie. Goosie, unlike Hank, seemed to be very bold, full of energy, always ready to do things. Unlike the reserved Hank, she was gregarious, loving people and dogs alike. Then suddenly, at about a year old, she became very "aggressive", first towards dogs, then humans. She would lunge and bark and become quite uncontrollable as soon as she was aware of them, even blocks away. After trying to work through this with little success, we were able to secure an appointment at the Behavior Clinic of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University with Dr. Andrew Luescher. He explained that it was a fear-based reaction and he had Julie Shaw (Animal Behavior Technologist) demonstrate various exercises to work through with Goosie to help her learn to cope with her anxiety in more appropriate ways. We were told that she may never be "normal" but could definitely improve.
Of course all this sparked an interest in an utterly new branch of dog behavior, commonly referred to as "aggression". After many books, articles, seminars, lectures, and videos on the subject, the bottom line is that the successful way to directly deal with such difficulties lies in positive reinforcement training and management. And yes, Goosie did improve immensely - and so did we as handlers. It took a few years but gradually she was able to control herself under most circumstances. She was able to take walks with other dogs and enjoyed playing with many of them, but we never did feel that she could handle the stress of the close company of dogs at competitions so her agility was limited to our back yard. She turned out to be very affectionate with most people although her first impulse was to bark at certain people.
We moved to a larger house near Spencerville, IN in the autumn of 2005 and were fortunate enough to have another Aussie, Trophy, entrusted to our care by Diana Woody when she left for Purdue University. Trophy, a few months younger than Hank, had achieved titles in a number of areas such as flyball, obedience and agility. She was a sweet-tempered dog who joined me in Therapy Dog work with disabled children. The combination of genetics and training certainly came together in this dog, and we thank Diana Woody and Trophy's breeder Sheila Boneham for allowing her to join our family.
Inevitably, between September 2010 and March 2011, most of our much-loved companions died (Francine was 18, Murrei 17, Trophy 13 and Goosie 11). Since Hank was closing in on 15 and had a preference for cats over dogs, we decided to adopt a cat and get another dog at a later date. As fate would have it, we found a wonderful 18 month-old cat named Maddie and a sweet 9-month old dog named Katalina at Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control. We couldn't resist adopting both of them...much to Hank's chagrin! With age comes a degree of fatalistic acceptance of things and Hank has done an admirable job of that.
So Kat is our newest dog project. At a year it is hard to know what she will become. She is good around other dogs and so far has not met any person she doesn't like so perhaps she will be a Therapy Dog. Or perhaps Nose Works or Rally Obedience will be her forte. There are so many opportunities available to dogs and their people these days!
As Chris Bach is fond of saying, "Get a dog, become a dog trainer". It is so true. We often forget that dogs are learning something every minute they are awake. If we actively engage their minds in a salient manner, they can learn what we want them to. Left to their own devices they will learn what they need to survive, whether this fits into our human-centered society or not. Dog training can be a frustrating chore or a fun learning experience that will strengthen the bond between people and their dogs.
Margery and I (and so many others) have found dog-friendly methods of training to be the most humane and truly optimum ways to teach dogs appropriate behavior. Although many training methods exist, the positive reinforcement approach is a very accessible way for owners to understand how dogs learn and how to help their dogs succeed. Because our dogs are our companions and live with us, they need to learn appropriate behaviors to blend in with our lifestyles. This is why we are so interested in helping our clients learn how to teach their dogs self-control and basic household manners while strengthening the human-canine bond.
I am a CPDT-KA (Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed) since November 2004 and a Professional member of APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). I am also endorsed by NADOI (National Organization of Dog Obedience Instuctors), and an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. In February 2005 and May 2010 I completed the requirements for Pet First Aid for Dogs and Cats conducted by the American Red Cross of Northeast Indiana.
