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Reactive Dogs Need to Focus On You: The Dog Trainer`s Dogs Blog

Many pet owners are unaware of dog body language and fail to recognize situations in which reactive dogs are rehearsing behaviors leading to increased tension and reactivity. A wonderful first step in helping your reactive dog is realizing that a stiff posture accompanied by staring towards a trigger( noisy car, dog, child etc) is a precursor to escalating reactivity. Stress and tension are accumulative, and this cycle needs to be interrupted. Your reactive dog can learn to be more secure and confident by  teaching him to focus on you instead of stimuli in the environment. You, in effect, become the activity director of your dog.

Reactive dogs do poorly unless they have behavioral guidelines. These dogs really do need effective benevolent leadership, helping them to break the cycle of reactivity. In the absence of direction, dogs are dogs, and the resulting behaviors are often undesirable. Our job is to teach our dogs desirable behaviors. In terms of reactivity, begin by simply teaching your dog to focus on you. Begin practicing in a low distraction environment, by reinforcing with a tasty treat, every time your dog responds to his name, and looks at you. The more you practice this, the more attention your dog will naturally direct your way.

When all is going well, take the behavior outdoors, and begin reinforcing the response to name with more distractions around. Eventually, you will want your dog to be able to look away from a stimuli that has previously triggered a reactive response. In terms of treats, be thinking the best stuff here: real chicken, hot dogs, string cheese, to name a few. With noise reactive Doobie, my adult puppy mill rescue, I am constantly reinforcing attention as we move about the yard. Left to his own devices, Doobie constantly  looks for  stimuli to focus on and react to. However, his responses have improved greatly and he is now able to look away from and ignore stimuli that previously caused him to go ballistic,such as lawn mowers and delivery trucks. We continue to work on dirt bikes, which unfortunately frequent this neighborhood.

There are many many interventions for our reactive dogs, and this blog is but one drop in the bucket, so to speak. Look for more to come on this subject, when the author has more time and does not need to go out  and work with  her own reactive dogs. Good luck as you begin the simple step of reinforcing attention to name; this is one of the best basic foundation behaviors you can condition.

Leslie Fisher PMCT CPDT-KA 

The Dog Trainer`s Dogs: Fraud Alert- Check Those Credentials

The distraught owners say they don`t care about the significant amounts of money they gave to Wilmington DE fraud James Whitten; they just want their dogs back. Dogs were sold on Craig's List. Dogs ended up with new "owners." Dogs ended up at the SPCA. Dogs were retrieved by owners after 20 hours of travel to southern states. Some dogs have yet to be located. Don`t let this happen to you. Take steps to avoid undergoing the trauma that these families and their pet dogs did.

Interestingly enough, the website A Bad Dog No More is no longer appearing on the internet. James Whitten, an unlicensed fraud, is in the wind. Anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of this person, with a long list of offenses to his credit, is encouraged to call the DE SPCA 302-998-2281 or DE Crime Stoppers (800) TIP-33333. To read a full account go to http://www.sparkweekly.com/article/20100419/NEWS01/4190331/-1/TERMS

Since colleague and veteran blogger Eric Goebelbecker of DogSpelledForward has already written this excellent blog http://www.dogspelledforward.com/ebook-how-to-find-a-dog-trainer, I will not go into details on the latter subject. However, I would like to stress, that sadly, anyone at all can call themselves  a dog trainer. Often a fancy website suggests credibility, but this is often far from the case, especially in the troubling case of James Whitten.

Recently, I added to my own credentials, adding the initials CPDT-KA to my name(Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed.)  You can read more about the exam process here: CERTIFIED PROFESSIONALS. The latter is a step that any serious and responsible dog trainer should take. As you will read, there are requirements to be met prior to even taking the exam. Had James Whitten been a qualified professional, people would not be currently grieving over their lost pets. Anyone who has taken the time, effort and expense of attaining national licensure, will surely not abscond with your beloved pets.

At the very least, look for someone who is accredited with a nationally known trainer/author with impeccable references, such as Pat Miller. Prior to attaining CPDT-KA, I attended a series of Pat Miller Internships, and became PMCT( Pat Miller Certified Trainer).  Do not be taken in by a fancy website and proclamation of experience. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is! Take the time to check references and learn about credentials for dog training professionals. Your pets will be safer. My thoughts and prayers are with the Delaware folks who still search for their dogs.

Leslie Fisher PMCT, CPDT-KA

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO! DOG TRAINING