I am so excited that after a six-year break, Dr. Ian Dunbar is back on the
lecture circuit again AND he has a three-day seminar scheduled for Austin
20th-22nd November 2009. For more information, see below or go to
http://www.jamesandkenneth.com/store/show/EAT-001. See you there!



Austin (Early-Bird)
by Dr. Ian Dunbar
EAT-001 $270.00

Dr. Ian Dunbar - Austin
Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd November 2009


$270 Early-Bird 3-Day Registration



Click here <https://www.jamesandkenneth.com/store/show_by_tags/Events> to
see all event options


This seminar has been approved for 18 CEUs

Clarion Inn & Suites Conference Center
2200 IH-35 South, Austin TX 78704

Friday (9:30am-5:00pm): Dominance (?!?), Fighting, Biting, Compliance &
Punishment
Saturday (9:30am-5:00pm): Quantitatively & Qualitatively Raising the Bar in
Dog Training
Sunday (9:30am-5:00pm): Teaching Puppy Classes, Adult Classes & Playing
Games

Registration:
$270 Early-Bird 3-Day (on or before 30th September 2009)
$360 Late-Bird 3-Day (after 30th September 2009)
$145 Single Day (on a space-available basis)
Lunch is not included

Accommodation
We have reserved a limited block of guest rooms at the Clarion Inn & Suites
Conference Center for seminar registrants on a first-come/first-served
basis. Each room is $89.00 +tax per night for single or double occupancy.
The number of rooms is limited and these special rates are only available
until 5th November 2009. To book your room, call 512 444 0561and ask for the
Dog Seminar room block.

Friday: Dominance (?!?), Fighting, Biting, Compliance & Punishment


"Dominance" is most certainly the most misunderstood topic in dog behavior
and training. A misunderstanding of wolf behavior has been applied to dogs,
and then a misunderstanding of dog-dog behavior has been cavalierly
extrapolated to dog-human interactions and training. Misunderstood notions
of supposed physical dominance-hierarchies are often used as rationale (an
excuse) for physical and painful punishment when training dogs and
especially when attempting to resolve biting and fighting problems.


These simplistic views of dog behavior are an insult to dogs. Domestic dogs
living together develop extremely complex and sophisticated social
structures and dogs living alone require impeccable social savvy to meet,
greet and get along with every unfamiliar dog that they meet. (Human social
skills pale in comparison.) More disturbing though, the unwarranted
application of physical dominance in training has had an extreme negative
impact on the quality of life of dogs and their owners.


The mere use of the term "dominance" biases the training arena, encouraging
an adversarial relationship between people and dogs and prompting people to
attempt to physically dominate their dogs. Physical domination causes
resentment, mistrust and fear, and ultimately creates yet more problems. The
dominance perspective is just so wrong. And the mere suggestion of
physically dominating dogs is downright dangerous in pet dog training in
which a good third of our clients are children.


Most so-called "dominant" behaviors, such as jumping-up, pulling on-leash,
housesoiling, humping, eating first and going through doors first, may be
quickly and easily resolved by mind-boggingly simple training techniques,
such as all-or-none reward training. Certainly some dogs, especially males,
have pushy personalities with people - always testing the rules, however,
instigating more rules and calmly insisting on improved compliance usually
puts the dog back on track. Similarly, some dogs tend to "bully" others and
require immediate, continuous and representative feedback regarding their
appropriate and inappropriate play styles. Even so, most categories of
aggression, especially including inter-male, dominant, territorial,
maternal, and idiosyncratic aggression, etc., appear to be fear-based, as
diagnosed by successful treatment primarily by classical conditioning and
progressive desensitization.

Topics include:
True Top Dogs - Cool and Confident - They seldom growl or fight; they don't
need to
Alpha Dogs ? Dominant Dogs?- Insecure, growly, bellicose, middle-ranking
males
Hierarchies - Real or hypothetical? Linear or nonlinear? Uses and abuses
Rank-Reduction Programs - What's important and What's not
Doggy Social Structure Unplugged - Linear male hierarchies; Less-linear
female hierarchies; Female amendments to male hierarchical law; Puppy-Adult
relationships; Puppy license to misbehave; Developmental nolo contendre;
Special friendships and animosities; Triadic relationships; Policing dogs;
Pack harmony.
When the "Treatment" is the Cause - Slow recalls; No recalls; Houdini stays;
Lackluster heeling; Owner-Absent problems; Fighting; and Biting. (Rather
than increasing compliance, the (often) inappropriate use of punishment
exacerbates existing problems and causes additional problems.)
Fighting - caused by marginal socialization, lack of representative feedback
for appropriate social behavior, yet highlighting occasional fearful and
antisocial behavior by punishing the dog for growling or fighting.
Biting - caused by lack of socialization and handling and by exacerbating
early warnings of fearfulness and aggression by punishing the dog for
growling, lunging and biting, thus giving the dog an additional reason to
growl, lunge and bite.
Better ways of producing friendly, respectful, loving and happily compliant
dogs.

Saturday: Quantitatively & Qualitatively Raising the Bar in Dog Training


Competition dog training comprises specialized dogs, experienced handlers
and a finite curriculum with examination questions known well beforehand.
Pet dog training comprises an unknown, infinite curriculum, largely
inexperienced handlers and dogs of all types. The divergence of pet dog
training from competition training has caused many changes. By and large,
training techniques have become much more user-friendly and dog-friendly
(with oodles of classical conditioning, food and toy lures and rewards, and
lots of fun and games), but. criteria, speed of acquisition, precision and
ultimate response-reliability have all taken a nose-dive. What happened to
emergency sits and downs, rock-solid stays, off-leash control, snazzy
heeling and calm on -leash walking? With the absence of periodic
quantification the success of pet dog training has gone downhill. And when
training doesn't work well, dog owners either blame the dog or seek help
elsewhere.


So many owners respond to noncompliance by punishing the dog even though it
can be proved that most dogs fail to comply simply because they have not
been trained sufficiently; the dogs do not fully understand the meaning of
instructions and they usually have not been motivated to respond. The goal
of training is to produce reliable, distal, verbal control without the
reliance on any training tools. Knowing what your dog understands by your
commands is important so that you do not become frustrated (and blame the
dog) for poor performance. Instead, poor responses from the dog should
prompt owners to re-evaluate their training techniques. Quantification is
proof-positive of your dog's performance-reliability and level of
command-comprehension, (or lack thereof). Quantification allows you to set
realistic, personal long-term training goals. Quantification offers
irrefutable proof when you reach these goals (and deserve to congratulate
yourself). Basically, if you keep score, your dog's performance will
improve. Quantify for Quality!


However, even once dogs have solid comprehensive of our training commands
does not mean that they will necessarily do what we want. On the contrary,
reliable and precise performance is all about motivating dogs to want to do
what we want them to do. Once the dog is on our team, then only very
occasionally is it necessary to enforce compliance, without of course, the
use of force.

Topics include:
Theoretical Education vs. Practical Experience - Knowing what's common and
what's not; Preventing predictable behavior and training problems;
Critically evaluating the severity of existing problems; Offering realistic
prognoses; Establishing realistic criteria; Offering a number of best
possible solutions; and Training the dog to criterion.
Phasing out Food (and Toy) Lures and Reward
Phasing out all Management and Training Tools
Difference between Lures, Rewards, Motivators, Distractions and Bribes
Natural Motivation - Life rewards; Putting problem behaviors on cue, so that
potential distractions become huge usable rewards; Phasing out all external
rewards; The Self-Motivated, Internally-Reinforced Dog.
Enforcing without Force - calm, gentle insistence to produce happy, willing
and confident compliance.
Quantification for Quality: The Sit Test; Test-Train-Test, Training=Testing;
Command:Response Ratios; Percentage Performance Reliability; Command:
Correction Ratios; Progressive and Realistic Criteria Setting;
Time-and-Trails to Criterion; Differential Reinforcement.
Some Results from the SIRIUS Research Study - speed and effectiveness of
training
So when Plan A Fails, What about Plan B and Plan C?


Sunday: Teaching Puppy Classes, Adult Classes & Playing Games

Puppy Training Classes
In 1982 Dr Dunbar developed and taught the world's very first off-leash
puppy socialization and training classes intended for the whole family
(especially children) with a syllabus encompassing all aspects of behavior
modification and temperament training as well as teaching basic off-leash
manners. In order to make the SIRIUSR Puppy Training video though, the
Director changed the class format to facilitate filming - owners were seated
in chairs with their puppies on-leash to provide an attractive backdrop
while Dr. Dunbar worked with one owner and puppy at a time. The SIRIUSR
video was a "how to train your puppy" video for pet owners, it was not
intended as a "how to teach puppy classes" video for dog trainers.
Unfortunately, many trainers religiously copied the "filming-format" and are
still teaching classes in that fashion today. Of course, puppy classes
should not be taught that way. (*Recently, we filmed SIRIUSR Puppy Training
Redux - so that dog trainers may see how to teach off-leash puppy
socialization and training classes.)


Classes should be taught entirely off-leash to maximize dog-dog play
(learning bite inhibition) and socialization with people, especially
strangers, men and children.


Frequent short training interludes should be integrated into play to enable
owners to learn how to calm down, control and regain attention at times when
puppies are distracted and so that play may be repeatedly employed as an
effective reward for training. Food lures should be phased out after half a
dozen repetitions and food rewards phased out as soon as possible. However,
food treats should still be used for classical conditioning to teach dogs to
thoroughly enjoy the company of people and other dogs. Any signs of
fearfulness or "bullying" must be resolved during the very first session,
otherwise the problems will quickly become worse as each week goes by.
Classes should include puppies of all sizes and all play-styles.

Adult Dog Training Classes:
Teaching adult dog classes can be frustrating and overwhelming, but this is
not the fault of the dogs, or their owners, rather it is the fault of trying
to use inappropriate training techniques. Adolescent dogs begin to bark and
strain on leash and eyeball the other dogs. The dogs blow off food and toy
lures, they blow off any attempts at training and they blow off their
owners, which, of course, is why most people have come to class.


Adolescent dogs require oodles of classical conditioning and all-or-none
reward training techniques in order to make training simple, effective,
surprisingly calm, and above all, rewarding. Exercises focus on building
confidence, calming, settling-down, and regaining attention. During
attention-training exercises, most dogs learn to walk calmly on leash and to
sit stay as a bonus. All-or-none reward training techniques are simply
magical.
Once owners have learned to control their dogs' energy and exuberance and
the dog has acquired impulse control and offers healthy attention,
lure/reward training techniques may be used to teach the basic skills needed
for a mannerly pet dog - sit, down, stand, stay, walking on-leash and polite
greetings.

Tricks & Games:
Learning tricks and playing games rapidly accelerates the speed of learning.
Not only do tricks and games motivate both dogs and owners to give their
very best performances but also, tricks and games motivate owners to
practice. For some owners, heeling and sit-stay homework is not very
exciting, but many will stay up to the wee hours to practice for Musical
Chairs or Doggy Dancing.


All tricks/games are designed to improve the quality of the relationship
between dogs and their people and each individual game, (including musical
chairs, doggy-dashes, retrieval races, woof relays and of course, doggy
dancing), is specifically designed to fine-tune essential ingredients of
your dog's training repertoire. For example, with tricks as simple as
Biscuit Balance and Playing Possum, you end up with fantastic Sit-Stays and
Down-Stays.


In addition, playing games is an enjoyable and non-threatening way to
objectively quantify performance. For example, there will be only one
fastest recall and only one longest sit stay. However, regardless of
comparative rank of performance (compared with other competitors), the most
worthwhile reason to play games is to establish a personal best, setting
personal goals, and above all, striving to progressively better your best
from week to week.


Games may be used to fine-tune basic obedience skills, including attention,
position changes, stays, following, heeling, and precision work



Susan Smith, CPDT-KA, CDBC

Raising Canine. LLC

512.916.4007

APDT List & Barkboard Manager

IAABC Membership Records Coordinator

www.raisingcanine.com



"I hate to admit this, but mediocre marketing with commitment works better
than brilliant marketing without commitment."

Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the Guerilla Marketing series









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