August 30, 2010
Confession time… I’m waaaaaay behind in getting a blog done, and now I have a dilemma – there have been so many things happen that I’ve wanted to blog about, like the Humane Society of Washington County donation jar getting stolen from the table at Martinsburg Bike Night, and the subsequent exciting chase, capture of one suspect, and ultimate recovery of the jar with over $250 in it. (It was the father of the two juveniles who actually went out and found the jar!).
 Humane Society of Washington County booth at Martinsburg Bike Night Or my observations from the Humane Society vaccination clinic and flea-less market that drew a long line of dogs and their owners for rabies shots.
 Long line for rabies shots at the Humane Society vaccination clinic And then my good friend Don Hanson and his Greenacres Kennels in Bangor, Maine issued a Position Statement on “Dominance” and I realized I need to to do something similar… but that will have to wait a bit.
But of course, the Behavior Modification Academy wins, hands down, for training and behavior appeal and photo opportunities.
We offer several academies each year; usually three Level 1 Basic Training and Behavior, two or three Level 2 Behavior Modification, one Level 2 Instructor’s Course, and one Level 3 Advanced Behavior Study and Training (the first one of these is next month!). The groups are small – we accept a maximum of 8 in Level 1, 6 in Level 2, and 8 in Level 3. Occasionally we offer a Multi-Species Course. We had to cancel the Multi-Species this year and Sturgis the pig was most disappointed – he was hoping to be someone’s subject animal.
BTW – we have one opening for this November’s Level 1 Academy, and the 2011 schedule is up, so if you’re planning ahead, take a look and get your registration and deposit in!
Level 1 uses shelter dogs, but for the BMod Academy, students (we call them Interns) are encouraged to bring their own dogs to work with. Behavior modification doesn’t usually get done in one week, and if they bring their own dogs they can continue to work with them at home. For various reasons we ended up working with two shelter dogs and one Miller dog for this course, with only three Interns bringing dogs. Our players were:
Simone de Lima from Brazil, and Bonnie Miller.
 Simone and Bonnie. Love the T-shirt! Simone flew in from Brazil for the course, so couldn’t easily bring a dog with her. Bonnie, our Scorgidoodle, has been sensitive about having her nails trimmed since we adopted her at age 7 months, so I seized this opportunity to have someone work with her. I had done some counter conditioning work and she’s better than she was, but she could do better. (I could do better!)
Hugo Gasc from New York, and Jezebel:
 The beautiful Jezebel Jezebel is perhaps a Catahoula/Shepherd mix – very high energy, adolescent, surrendered by her owners to the shelter because they didn’t have enough time for her. She failed her assessment for resource guarding the week before the academy – she growled and snapped at the Assess-A-Hand – intense enough to make her ineligible for adoption. We were hoping to help her enough that she will be able to go up for adoption.
Petra Manis from New York, and Dakota:
 Sweet Dakota Some 7-8 years old, Dakota is a mature, sweet shelter dog (supposedly Pekingese/Shih-Tzu) who did some resource guarding during his assessment – not enough that he failed, but enough that the shelter thought it would be useful for us to work with him. Dakota growled at the Assess-A-Hand during his shelter assessment but did not snap. We all loved his underbite!
 They look like wax Halloween teeth! Marci Haw from Indiana, and Pippy Longstocking:
 Pippi the Rescue Rat Terrier - will be looking for her forever home Pippy is a rescue Rat Terrier that Marci brought with her. She expected to work on mild resource guarding, but found that Pippy has a high level of reactivity to the environment and sudden environmental change, so she worked on that instead.
Cindy Mauro, CPDT-KA from New Jersey, and her Pomeranian, Wiley.
 Wiley in a contemplative moment. Did you know Pomeranians used to pull sleds and herd reindeer? Wiley was a foster dog, and a difficult one at that. He came from an abusive home, with a broken front leg that had to be plated. When Cindy got him, any restraint at all sent Wiley into a ferocious frenzy. She didn’t even like him much – at first – but then ended up adopting him, and now calls him her heart dog. She wants to be able to trim his nails and he’s still very sensitive to touch and restraint, so she worked on that all week.
Our sixth student prefers not to be identified:
 Our mystery guest Students pair up each day with a different person so they have an observer and coach as they work with their dogs. By switching pairs each day they get to see the modification protocols as they are implemented for all the dogs throughout the week, so it broadens their experience here.
We also video the work sessions and review those during the discussion sessions, when the dogs are taking a break. Other discussion topics include the mechanics of doing behavior consults (my place or yours?), discussion of cases presented by the students, a review of learning theory, and mock client consultations.
By the end of the week, Wiley was enthusiastically offering his paw for holding and touching, tolerating pressure for several seconds, and accepting the presence of the clippers being opened and closed near his paw. Cindy used counter conditioning and desensitization to accomplish this, first touching his leg and feeding chicken, and very gradually moving down his leg to his paw. She deliberately started with his left front paw, since his right front leg was the injured one, and he’s even more sensitive, understandably, about that one.
 Don't touch me there!  Chicken? Did someone say chicken?  We love clippers - clippers make chicken happen! Marci worked hard on a Reactive Rover counter conditioning program with Pippy and had great success. From near-tears on Monday to a big grin on Saturday, Marci helped Pippy learn to cope with new stimuli and sudden environmental change. We found, happily, that while Pippy is quite aroused by new stimuli, she does habituate reasonably well, so by the end of the week she was handling the hotel well, and doing beautifully in her work sessions, with Marci carefully keeping her sub-threshold almost all the time.
 Bonnie in the background as neutral dog - Pippi loves chicken too! Petra and Dakota were starts with their efforts to counter condition the little dog’s moderate resource guarding. At first, Dakota was either too stressed or too distracted to even be interested in his cheese-stuffed cow hoof, and Petra was a little dubious that he even had a guarding problem. He did get more interested in his hoof as the week went on, and as Petra learned to stuff it with Vienna Sausage, chicken, meatballs, and freeze-dried liver. Over the week Petra did repeated pass-bys, then approaches, then actual interactions with Dakota’s guardable object, dropping chicken with each approach to convince him that someone approaching means good stuff! On graduation day, when Petra approached Dakota while he emptied his hoof he happily looked up at her and wagged his tail as she snatched the hoof away – and then dropped chicken for him.
 I could guard if I wanted to. Really. Hugo and Jezebel followed a plan similar to Dakota’s, but had to move with more caution. Jezebel gave some low-level warnings from time to time in the form of subtle freezes, so there was no question in Hugo’s mind that she would guard. He carefully stayed sub-threshold all week as he slowly increased the intensity of his approach, and on Saturday he, too, could successfully approach Jezebel, have her happily look up at him as he removed the hoof and then fed chicken. I will be re-assessing Jezebel tomorrow. Cross your fingers and whisper to the gods…
 Hugo doesn't need convincing Simone was working with a Dremel grinder with Bonnie rather than a clipper. Bonnie’s dense black nails are hard to cut and you can’t see the quick (a big part of the reason for her discomfort with clipping) so I had switched to a Dremel some time ago. Simone’s program for Bonnie was similar to Cindy’s with Wiley – slow counter conditioning to the touch and handling necessary for trimming, and gradual introduction to the trimming tool. I promised Simone I would continue with her excellent work. The next time she visits us from Brazil, Bonnie’s nails will be happily short.
 Simone taking notes on her most recent work session with the lovely Bonnie Perhaps the biggest lesson our Intern trainers learned this week was the importance of going slowly. As my friend and fellow trainer, Jolanta Benal says, “If you think you’re going too slow, slow down.” And the paradox to that is that when you go slowly, you actually make progress much more quickly – because you’re not going over threshold and sensitizing rather than desensitizing the dog to the stimulus in question.
 Pooh says, "If you think you're going too slow... slow down!" As for me, as much as I know – as I grok that counter conditioning and desensitization (CC&D) are powerful behavior modification tools that simply work when done well, it still thrills me to the bone every time I see dogs and their humans happily CC&D-ing their way to behavior success.
Great job, Interns – congratulations!
 L. to R. - Petra and Dakota, Hugo and Petra's Archie (Jezebel didn't want to do a group shot), Simone and Bonnie, me, Cindy and Wylie, Marci wihtout Pippi, and our mystery guest. Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
August 8, 2010
Yesterday was the closing day of yet another Peaceable Paws Academy – this one our Level 2 Instructors Course. We tend to not get as much interest in this one as our Level 2 Behavior Modification (BMod is sexier), but it’s an excellent opportunity for trainers to hone their teaching skills – teaching humans is a very different skill set from training dogs. The students take turns teaching our Peaceable Paws Basic Good Manners exercises to each other, and as we do in our Level 1 Academy, students are working with shelter dogs.
This week’s group consisted of:
Bob Ryder, from Normal, Illinois, with 8-year-old Dixie, an owner-surrendered Lab/Chow:
Heather Smith (also a PPaws Apprentice) from Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, with Sierra, a 10-month-old Border Collie/Aussie (according to the shelter, but I’m convinced she’s a Kelpie, or Kelpie mix. Tell me what you think!):
And Alicia Williams, from Blacklick, Ohio, with 6-year-old Rocky, a Shepherd/Lab mix from the same home as Dixie (more about that later):
We also had two shelter employees, Heather and Kelly, attending the class, so our Academy students can get input from “real” humans as well as their co-students, and Shirley and me.
Heather worked with Princess, a 4-month-old awesomely-smart Puggle-something mix (already adopted!):
And Kelly worked with her own recently adopted and very adorable puppy, Pippy, one of a litter of three maybe-Pit mixes – Kelly calls her a Bulldog mix, but actually I think maybe Pit-Boston Terrier mix.
Each day we start the morning with a discussion about teaching-related topics, principles of behavior and learning, and/or review the previous night’s take-home quiz. When the shelter dogs arrive everyone gets to go for a hike to work out some of the shelter kennel stress. Then we convene in the training center for the day’s lessons. Each instructor teaches his/her exercises, then we break while everyone fills out their evaluation sheet for that teacher. Then the next instructor teaches. We video the sessions as well, so we can critique as a group later.
After lunch we do one-on-one coaching sessions, which are also evaluated and critiqued, and then end the day with more group discussion on a variety of topics including marketing a training business, developing a class curriculum (each student has to write up their own to present and hand in on Day 6), and ethical dilemmas. It’s intense, especially if you’re not accstomed to being evaluated and critiqued, but students tell me they learn a lot!
 Heather coaching Alicia, working on "'possum"  Bob coaching Heather on Sierra's much-needed polite greeting behavior On Day 6, Saturday, we start with the 2-hour written final exam. Although the quizzes are take-home, open book, the final is not. As students finish up the exam their dogs arrive for the last time from the shelter, and they get to take them for one more hike before the afternoon practical final. Good-byes are always teary as students load their dogs into the van to return to the shelter after the practical. The Humane Society of Washington County is a full-service, open-admission shelter, so while they have an admirably high adoption rate, adoption dogs are rarely but sometimes sadly euthanized. Occasionally a student even adopts her academy dog during the week, but not this time.
Side-note: This set of good-byes was particularly hard. Two of our academy dogs, Rocky and Dixie, were older, and owner-surrendered from the same home. Dixie in particular was having a hard time with the stress of the shelter environment, and tended to be quite vocal about it – a behavior likely to be a turn-off for prospective adopters walking past her kennel. We suggested the shelter keep her kenneled with her “brother,” Rocky, which helped a lot with the vocalization, and we are hoping they will doing a story on the pair to tried to get them adopted together as a “two-fur.” At PPaws the two were wonderful – we often let them roam the training center while we had our discussion sessions, and you barely knew they wee there. They would be a perfect adoption for someone looking for a ready-made pair of family dogs. (Spread the word!).
 Dixie (left) and Rocky (right) need a together-forever home for two wonderful ready-made adult dogs
For the Instructors Course, I assign each student three behaviors from the no-longer-produced but delightful My Dog Can Do That game. I give them their assignments on Friday so they can prepare, and they have to pick two of the three to teach to the class on Saturday. Among the assignments this session were:
Stand Tall
Sit Pretty
Pick Up Your Room (put toys in a basket)
And
Take a Bow
Heather Smith, now Heather Smith PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) came away from this academy with high-scoring honors. She has earned her PMCT by virtue of completing the Level 1 Academy (Basic Dog Behavior and Training) and both Level 2 Academies. We just started offering this title last year, and Heather is the 29th PPaws student to attain it. Congratulations Heather!!!
 Tradional PPaws group-class photo, high-scoring Heather on the far right  Oh - I forgot the part about Bob falling off the bench... After all our students had departed and Shirley and I finished tidying the training center, I decompressed with a ride around the farm on Mikey. Paul recently mowed a new trail with the tractor, and it was wonderfully relaxing to explore new territory with Monarchs, Mourning Cloaks and Tiger Swallowtails sipping nectar from wildflowers all around us, brilliant yellow goldfinches picking seeds from the thistles, and red tail hawks soaring overhead.
 Seeing the world from between Mikey's ears Warm Woofs and Happy Training,
Pat
PS – No entries in the contest from last week’s blog yet… anyone working on it?
August 1, 2010
Are you ready for a contest????
Description: below are 15 photographs taken during Pat Miller’s travels over the last several years to seminars, workshops, and on the back of the Harley. Your job is to correctly identify the locations of as many of them as possible. Identification must include city, state (if US), country, and a brief description as to what the photo represents or where in the city it is located. The contest will run for 3 months. If more than one person correctly identifies all 15 photos, the one with the most accurate descriptions wins. If there is still a tie, the winning name will be drawn after November 1, 2010. All entries must be received at our office by November 1, 2010. Decision of the judge (me!) is final – no whining allowed!
Prize: A collection of all five of Pat Miller’s books, signed to the winner or recipient of the winner’s choice, or a $100 gift certificate to a Peaceable Paws Academy, Workshop or Class held at the PPaws facility in Fairplay, Maryland.
Caution: I know this won’t be easy – I will be really surprised if anyone gets all of them right, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t get them all!
One entry per person please – multiple entries will disqualify the sender – and be sure to include your name, mailing address and e-mail address.
Submit all entries electronically to: pat@peaceablepaws.com
Peaceable Paws employees are not eligible to win.
Photo #1:
Photo #2:
Photo #3:
Photo #4:
Photo #5
Photo #6:
Photo #7:
Photo #8:
Photo #9:
Photo #10:
Photo #11:
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Photo #15:
Ready… Set… Go!
Warm Woofs, Happy Guessing, and even Happier Training,
Pat
July 22, 2010
Summer is certainly our very busy time here at Peaceable Paws, and the endless weeks of 90-plus degree heat seem to be making our academies and workshops more tiring than usual. So here it is Thursday already, the AC in my office is not working again (and it’s going to be over 90 again), and I’m waaaay behind on getting this blog done. I intended to get to it last Sunday, immediately after our Level 1 Academy, but Sunday was the Humane Society of Washington County’s “Bone to be Wild” motorcycle ride, and I was just too hot and tired when it was done to think about writing. So here we are… better late than never!
Academy week was terrific – hard work, and very satisfying. We had great humans and great dogs – always an excellent combination. The week is about half hands-on training – we work with dogs from the shelter – and half lecture and discussion.
Day One we talk in the morning, then go to the shelter for a tour, and to select dogs. My wonderful husband Paul does the tour. I usually arrive at the same time as the students, but a storm was threatening, so I phoned to tell him I was delayed bringing horses in, and they went ahead without me.
Good thing! As Estie (one of our paid staff) and I were bringing horses in, Sturgis the pig decided to go walkabout. He usually sticks pretty close to the barn, but when the horses were all in their stalls, he was nowhere to be found. Estee and I spent a frantic 45 minutes calling, banging the garbage can lid (which usually brings him running because it means food) and searching for him. I finally found him halfway down the ½-mile long driveway. Just as I pulled up behind him in my car, I saw him nose the horse’s electric fence, give a piggy squeal and dash toward the road. Damn!
I headed after him in the car and he finally turned off into the edge of the woods. Phew! Now – how to get him back? I didn’t have his leash and harness with me, and didn’t want to leave him to go back to the barn for it. I had been toying with the idea of teaching him to walk up a ramp into the car, but hadn’t put that into his training repertoire yet, so that was out. When we got him last October I could pick him up, but I was pretty sure he’d grown too large for that. I gave it a try anyway, and ended up sprawled on the ground, hanging on for dear life, with no chance of lifting him.
Finally I engaged my trainer brain and used a little gentle negative reinforcement, swinging a leash behind him, annoying him just enough to herd him back to the barn and safely into his stall. Then I raced to the shelter, arriving just as Paul was finishing up the tour.
The seven Interns had 10 dogs to choose from. They get to spend a little time with the dogs, then each write their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices on a slip of paper, and I get to decide who gets whom.
This Academy, we had:
Gina Burger, working with Sparrow, an intense but very responsive Collie Shepherd mix.
Diane Curran with Brandon, a somewhat solemn Akita mix that I adore
Jana Frank with Bongo, a happy Husky mix with a great sense of humor
Joan Morse, CPDT-KA (high scoring graduate!) with Nook, an adorable, thoughtful Dachshund/Jack Russell mix
Tracey Peter, a shelter employee, started with Abby, a very attentive Border Collie/Chow, but Abby got sick on Day Two and Tracey switched to Guinness, a much more challenging Hound mix. Guinness finally agreed to lie down on Thursday.
Gayle Rojas, worked with Teddy, a remarkably wonderful Boxer. Academy assistant Steve Buckman is still trying to figure out how he could add Teddy to his pack of two Boston Terriers.
And last but certainly not least, Susan Duffy did an excellent job with Willow, a 4-month-old Lab mix pup who was almost as mouthy as Maggie, our recent foster Westie.
Tuesday through Friday we had a discussion session each morning until our dogs arrived from the shelter, and then everyone got a 45-minute hike around the farm to reduce stress and burn up shelter-kennel energy.
Then a group class, where we teach our 6-week Basic Good Manners curriculum in 5 days. There are additional discussion sessions each day where we sort out the mysteries of canine body language, operant and classical conditioning, schedules of reinforcement, laws of shaping, rules of stimulus control, business basics, ethical dilemmas, and more. We also do two additional training sessions with dogs each day, during which I work one-on-one with the Interns and their dogs. Students are invited to observe any of our evening that are going on during the week, and they get three take-home open-book quizzes.
Finally, Saturday morning arrives – time for the written final (not open book) and the practical exam, where each student demonstrates to the group what s/he has accomplished with her/his dog during the week. Finally, after tearful good-byes to the dogs, I meet individually with each Intern to talk about their academy experience, and how we can help them attain their goals for the future. Congratulations, Interns! Two Level 2 academies to go and you can add PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) after your name!
Left to right: Gina and Willow, me, Joan and Nook, Jana and Bongo, Susan and Willow, Tracey and Guinness, Gayle and Teddy, Diane and Brandon
I’m always a little sad to see everyone leave, but I know I will see many of them again – at future Peaceable Paws academies and workshops, and at seminars and conferences – Clicker Expo, APDT, and more. I am also always hugely impressed by how much humans and dogs can learn in just 6 days. I see students leave with a much better understanding of the scientific principles of behavior and learning, and with much greater confidence in their skills as trainers. The dogs go back to the shelter with a solid repertoire of basic good manners behaviors, and in some cases a new-found grasp of the value of having a relationship with humans. They also get a certificate for a free 7-week Peaceable Paws good manners class, and their new humans get a copy of the PPaws class training book so they know what their dogs have learned.
Now – onto the next events: a Shaping Workshop this weekend (one of my favorite things to do!) followed by an Instructor Academy the week of August 2nd.
Questions for the day: Will it ever cool off? Will it ever rain?
Oh, by the way, as of Tuesday, all the Academy dogs except Teddy had already gone to their new homes. That’s a record!
Warm Woofs and Happy Training.
Pat
May 17, 2010
Okay, I’ll admit it, I have favorites. I teach several different trainer academies throughout the year, and my Level 2 BMod is always my favorite. I sometimes forget how much I like them until another one rolls around, but the group that just finished last week reminded me, in spades, how rewarding this work is.
I like the BMod academy for several reasons – one of which is I get to see return students. Successful completion of my Level 1 Academy is a pre-requisite for Level 2. There are some “equivalents” but most of the Level 2 trainers are Level 1 returnees. So that’s always fun. It’s a pretty good bet that the ones who come back enjoyed their first experience here, and are very committed to their ongoing education, so we get a lot of great attitudes and study/learning ethic at Level 2.
Then there’s just the fact the behavior modification is so darned interesting. I think I will go to my grave (in the far distant future, I hope!) still knowing that there is always more to learn about behavior. I am fascinated watching our BMod students work with their dogs, and listening to their oral presentations on Day 6, when they talk about what they did during the week, and what they’ve learned. Great R+ for me, as well as for the students!
Here is last week’s cast of characters, in alpha order by last name (no playing favorites):
- Keith Dorans, of The Paw Pad USA (www.thepawpadusa.com ), Cranford, NJ. Keith worked with Max, a Sheltie from the Humane Society of Washington County, MD (www.hswcmd.org) . The majority of BMod students bring their own dogs with “issues” to work on, but for some reason with this group, 4 out of 6 chose to work with shelter dogs.
Max “came” with aroused jumping up and hard nipping behaviors that the shelter worried would decrease his adoption potential. His jumping and nipping, it seems, were related to the stress of being at the shelter, and by Day 2 of the academy those were well-resolved. Keith found other things to work on, however – we discovered that he also had some significant anxiety-related behaviors, and was very reactive to moving vehicles. And horses.
- Dara Lambert of The Enlightened Dog (www.theenlighteneddog.com ), Summerduck, VA. Dara brought her own Border Collie mix, Sancho, to work on his dog reactivity, barrier aggression, and in-car aggression.
Sancho made good progress during the week, although at the age of 9 years we had no expectations that we could “fix” him in 6 days. Dara was pleased with her progress and the new information she obtained about working with reactive dogs in general, and Sancho in particular. Dara was the Academy Star as well, tying for high score on the oral final, and overall high score for the academy. Congratulations, Dara!
- Margaret Marsh, Charlottesville, VA. Margaret also brought her own dog, the lovely Ruby, a young black-and-tan Hound mix. Ruby was also dog reactive, and, we realized during the week, had some generalized anxiety issues.
Ruby tended to fluctuate in her behavior, depending on how many stressors she encountered in a given day. Margaret keeps Ruby at home a lot in Virginia, so hadn’t had the opportunity to recognize how generalized her anxiety might be. When a dog is stressed by a lot of different things, it can be hard to keep her below threshold. Ruby had some good days here, and some more difficult ones, but Margaret did a great job of learning how to read her dog and remove her from stressful situations before she went over threshold, and went home with lots of tools to work with. Ruby really didn’t like the horses!
- Sue Rissing, of Great Falls, Virginia. Sue worked with Beth, one of two undersocialized Border Collie sisters from the shelter. These 5-6 month-old pups were, fortunately, reasonably well-socialized to people, just not to environmental stimuli, so they had good potential for behavior modification.
Beth did spectacularly well during the academy as she learned to walk on a leash and get brave about all kinds of scary things, including banging chairs, hula hoops, getting in the van, the sound of the vacuum cleaner, microwave oven, nail grinder and more. She even took field trips to the nearby Outlet Mall! Best news of the week, one of our PPaws apprentices, Beth Joy, brought her fiancé Matt and their Min Pin, Roxie, to meet Beth (now renamed Annabelle) and they are adopting her this week. Yay!!!!!
- Heather Smith, of Fayetteville, PA. Heather worked with yet another shelter dog, Riley, a 10-month-old Beagle. While Riley makes good use of his Beagle nose-heritage, he is also one of the most human-affiliative Beagles I’ve ever known. When we assessed him at the shelter, we were concerned about his easily-triggered submissive urination, and dismayed by his moderate to significant display of resource guarding behavior over a high-value object (cheese-smeared pig ear).
Because a BMod Academy was coming up, we were able to send him to a foster home (thanks, Sarah James!) to await behavior modification. Riley was a star at academy – only a very occasional spot or puddle. He, too, visited the Outlet Mall and didn’t even pee when greeted effusively by a large, intimidating male human. Heather, who also tied for high score on her oral final presentation (congrats, Heather!), worked mainly on his guarding behavior, and we were able to see great progress. Although there was still, not surprisingly, some tension at the end of 6 days when I pushed him a little with the Assess-A-Hand, he was quite comfortable with Heather approaching and interacting with him as he chewed on his meatball-filled cow hoof. We even suggested to the shelter that he could go to an experienced home with older children, as long as the family was very clear about the importance of management when Riley had a high-value resource. Riley won the “too cute for words” award at this academy!
- Last in the alphabet is Alicia Williams. Unfortunately, Alicia had to leave us on Day 5 due to a family emergency, but during her 4.5 days here she made excellent progress with Beth’s sister, Border Collie Pippin. Pippin seemed a little less confident than Beth, so didn’t make quite as much progress, but also responded amazingly well to all the classical conditioning work Alicia did with her.
We didn’t want Pippin to miss out on her last day at the Academy, so Sue hiked and worked with her on Saturday as well as with Beth/Annabelle. In the right hands, these two girls have the potential to be fantastic companions!
Here’s the whole graduating class, minus a couple of dogs who declines the group shot:
So, with another academy come and gone, it’s time again to look to the days ahead. I am mega-excited about next weekend’s Shaping Workshop in Asheville, North Carolina, hosted by my friends at Cold Nose College (www.coldnosecollege.com ), Lisa and Brad Waggoner. PPaws was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee for several years, and many of my friends from that area are coming – I am sooooooo looking forward to seeing everyone there. Then it’s a Nose Games Seminar here at Peaceable Paws (still room to come have fun with us!), and (can’t wait!!!) 10 days off for a vacation/motorcycle ride to the bike rally in Laconia, New Hampshire. Yes, in my “other life” I really am a biker chick – compete with tattoo!
 Until next time…
Warm Woofs and Happy Training!
Pat
April 18, 2010
Yesterday afternoon saw the conclusion of yet another Peaceable Paws Level 1 Dog Trainer Academy. These are always exhausting yet fulfilling weeks for our students as well as for Peaceable Paws staff, and always end with lots of tears as the humans say good-bye to their canine co-students.
Here’s the graduation photo:
A hearty congratulations to all our successful Interns, and a loud shout out to High Scoring Graduate Kelly Spring, from Washington DC, whose very creative business name is “Spring Training (for Positively Good Dogs)” at www.SpringTrainingForDogs.com . Kelly worked with Lance, a wonderful Siberian Husky who was so stressed about all the recent changes to his world that he didn’t really start working well for her until Friday. Kelly’s attitude throughout was upbeat and positive. They rocked their practical final:
And another well-deserved shout out to Intern Christy Crone of Williamsport, MD, an Animal Care Technician at the Humane Society of Washington County, for earning the highest score on the practical final with her Academy dog Taz, a slightly undersocialized and very sweet Shepherd/Hound mix:
Our other wonderful canine and humane students this week were:
Leah Jordan, of Philadelphia, PA and the exceptionally laid-back St. Bernard, Charlie. Charlie was a star at “Leave-it” and had a great time playing with Blizzard (see the next Academy team):
Check out this video of Charlie and Blizzard romping in our indoor arena:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipRxNnFi4k
Here’s Blizzard, a Great Pyrenees mix, also very laid back except when she’s playing with Charlie, with her Academy human, Laurie Scible of Shady Side, MD:
Sue Romano, of Fairfield, PA – a long-time Peaceable Paws client, with her high-energy Academy Lab mix, 4-month-old O’Malley. This pup started the Academy as a very out-of-control, mouthy youngster with a very low tolerance for frustration. Sue worked wonders with him this week – he was a star on his practical final, and now has great prospects for succeeding in his soon-to-be new home:
Sarah Matisak, from (somewhere in) West Virginia (Animal Care Supervisor at the Humane Society of Washington County) also did admirably during the week with this lovely little Pit Bull Terrier. Sweet Pea is aptly-named. She started the week a little serious and shut-down, but blossomed in Sarah’s capable hands:
Petra Manis of Tarrytown, PA, owner of “Sweet Trick! Positive Dog Training” (www.sweettrick.com ) had a great week with little Bean, who overcame all the stereotypes about tiny dogs and learned to down on verbal cue (at least some of the time), walk politely on leash, do a lovely recall, and more. He even sniffed noses with my Scorgidoodle, Bonnie, who outweighs him at least three times, without doing the little dog defensive-aggression response. Petra was aching to adopt Bean, but she rents and her landlord doesn’t allow dogs.
And last but not least, is Vicky Hellerick of Plumsteadville, PA, and the adorable Cockapoo, Curly. Curly was first in the class to reliably offer a verbal down, and had extracurricular fun with Vicky, “creeking,” and jumping over jumps in the outdoor arena. Vicky also wanted to adopt, but she still lives at home and her parents said “no.” Dang!
These Academy dogs are now available for adoption! You can read more about them at the website for the Humane Society of Washington County:
www.hswcmd.org
I also owe a huge thanks to our Academy Assistant, Shannon McAuliffe, PMCT (Pat Miller Certified Trainer) from Phenix, MD, for all her help this week – transporting dogs, taking photos, coaching students, helping Shirley with cleaning and all the other Academy odds ‘n ends:
And of course a huge thanks to Shirley Greenlief, PMCT, CPDT-KA, our full-time Office Manager and PPaws trainer, who holds it all together for me so I don’t lose my sanity.
A personal footnote: When I left the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California in 1997 after 20 years there to launch Peaceable Paws in Monterey, California, I was concerned that I would have a smaller impact on the lives of animals and the people who love them. As Director of Operations and a sworn California Humane Officer of this acclaimed animal protection organization I had the honor and privilege of attending and speaking at national humane conferences, assisting other agencies throughout the state with disaster assistance and cruelty investigations, and editing and publishing for 13 years a quarterly magazine for animal control and humane officers called the C.H.A.I.N. Letter – publication of the Collective Humane Action and Information Network, a group that my husband Paul and I started, along with several other animal protection professionals. How could I ever have that kind of reach, I wondered, as a simple dog trainer?
Thanks in large part to the dedicated dog training and behavior professionals who have come through the many Academies, workshops and seminars offered by Peaceable Paws here and around the world, It’s gratifying to know I continue to reach dogs, and the people who love them, far beyond my own backyard.
Speaking of beyond my own backyard, next weekend I’ll be in Wisconsin (Milwaukee area) to give a seminar on Saturday, 4/24 – just a few miles from my childhood stomping grounds. I’m taking Sunday to do nostalgia tours.
And also speaking of backyards, here’s Lucy, Bonnie and Dubhy, hanging out under our favorite backyard tree in full spring bloom:
Warm woofs and happy training!
Pat
April 14, 2010
So… we’re on Day 2 of our first Academy for the year, where trainers come and spend six days here at Peaceable Paws. This is a Level 1 Academy – Basic Dog Training and Behavior. Students each select a dog from our local shelter (The Humane Society of Washington County) to work with for the week, and we go through our 7-week Basic Good Manners training in six days.
It always astounds me to see the progress our students make with these dogs in just one week. As many Level 1 Academies as we’ve done (more than 25 since we started in 2002) you’d think I’d get used to it, but it seems like a new miracle every time.
We also offer two Level 2 Academies (Behavior Modification and Instructor Course), a Level 3 Advanced Behavior and Training (this year for the first time) and lots of two and three-day workshops (Reactive Rover, Shaping, and Nose Games). You’ll get to hear about all of those as they come along.
Here are the players this week:
Vicky Hellerick and Curly – male Cockapoo, a little anxious, but first in the class to get his verbal down.
Leah Jordan and Charlie – absolutely wonderful St. Bernard.
Petra Manis and Bean – sweet little Chihuahua boy, who sometimes panics on leash. Petra succeeded in getting a lured down with Bean today – a behavior that sometimes can be challenging for the toy breeds.
Trainer Ann Marie Easton also worked with Bean last week when she was here for a Private Intern week.
Laurie Scible and Blizzard – calm, gentle dog – we’re trying to decide if she’s a Great Pyrenees mix (she’s smaller than a Pyr) or a Maremma. She’s more Maremma size, but there aren’t a lot of those running around stray…
Sue Romano and O’Malley – bouncy Lab kid who still has sharp baby teeth. Ouch! Sue got O’Malley to start doing verbal downs today as well.
Sarah Matisak and Sweet Pea – perfect name for this quiet little Pit Bull. Sweet Pea also did her first verbal down today.
Christy Crone and Taz – Shepherd/Hound? A little worried about the world, but doing really well in the Academy.
Kelly Spring and Lance – Beautiful Husky with two blue eyes; still a little distracted – hasn’t quite bought into the training game yet, but he’ll get it.
Dogs and students hike every morning for 45 minutes on our 80-acre farm before starting class – helps a lot with stress reductions for dogs and humans! Three training sessions each day, and a lot of discussion. Today’s topics: Stimulus Control; Reinforcement Schedules; Laws of Shaping; Behavior Assessments, and more.
I’ll let you know how everyone does by the end of the week!
Finally, last Friday we hosted the Spring MAAPPPT meeting here – the Mid-Atlantic Association of Positive Professional Pet Trainers. We did our annual dog pack hike, and shared thoughts about the unfortunate purchase of one of our favorite positive training product companies (Premier Products) by shock collar company Radio Systems. We are all sad and disappointed, and will be putting together a list for alternative sources for our favorite dog training products.
Here’s the hike:
Till next time… warm woofs and happy training!
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