The Real Dog Whisperers

THE PET TEACHER
In-YOUR-Home Dog Training
248-232-3655

Positive Reinforcement Training
Real Training for Really Great Results

There are three basic methods of training: Positive Reinforcement, Compulsive, and
Balanced. (PS - You want to choose Positive Reinforcement!)
Positive Reinforcement has become the preferred methodology and the method used by
The Pet Teacher. It is also being used for corporate training and in schools to teach our
children. Positive Reinforcement puts the focus on what the end result we desire rather
gravitate toward what we focus on, so Positive Reinforcement helps us to keep that
concentration so we can teach our dogs (and kids, spouses, co-workers) the wanted
behaviors, and also to help extinguish the unwanted behaviors. There are a number of
motivational techniques that Positive Reinforcement trainers use, combined with the aid
of environmental consequences. Real Positive Reinforcement trainers are committed to
using gentle motivational methods rather than force and old-fashioned coercion. These
trainers do not use choke chains, prong collars, shock collars, water sprayers, rolled-up
papers, strangleholds, nose holds, alpha rolls and other submission forcing, hanging, scruff
shakes, dunking, pinching, lip pulls, leash pops, bags of chains to throw, yelling, hissing,
growling and hitting. These trainers DO use marker-based training with verbal
techniques or clickers along with rewards such as food, praise and/or play. The
techniques are gentle, yet highly effective, based on working with the dog’s natural
skills. The dog is shown the wanted behavior and then rewarded for achieving it. Positive
reinforcement methodology gives you the know-how to work with your dog’s natural
instincts using an assortment of tools and techniques stressing your role of leadership,
yet never putting you or your dog in any physical harm or conflict, yet quickly productive
and pleasant to train.

Compulsion training uses coercion and force-based methods as the first line of training.
The focus is on correcting the dog for performing an unwanted behavior and suppressing
it. These trainers use choke chains, bags of chains to throw, hissing or growling,
submissive forcing, and shock collars which they also call e-collars or e-clickers.

Balanced training combines coercion techniques with praise and an occasional food
reward. This training methodology uses choke chains, bags of chains to throw, hissing or
growling, submissive postures, and shock collars and when the dog stops the unwanted
behavior receives praise. Food is used generally only to reward success in high fear
situations. Studies have shown that combining Compulsion techniques with Positive
Reinforcement techniques, results in a confused dog who doesn't trust you. It might
make US feel better that we are rewarding the dog after using fear, force or
intimidation on him/her - but it isn't an effective learning approach.

Even bees are being trained with positive reinforcement! Read on!

Scientists say trained bees can sniff bombs
Tue Nov 28, 6:40 AM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Scientists at a U.S. weapons laboratory say they have trained bees to
sniff out explosives in a project they say could have far-reaching applications for U.S.
homeland security and the Iraq war.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico said they trained
honeybees to stick out their proboscis -- the tube they use to feed on nectar -- when they
smell explosives in anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts similar to those used by
suicide bombers.

Researchers in the program, dubbed the Stealthy Insect Sensor Project, published their
findings on Monday.

By exposing the insects to the odor of explosives followed by a sugar water reward,
researchers said they trained bees to recognize substances ranging from dynamite and C-4
plastic explosives to the Howitzer propellant grains used in improvised explosive devices in
Iraq.

"When bees detect the presence of explosives, they simply stick their proboscis out,"
research scientist Tim Haarmann told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You don't have to
be an expert in animal behavior to understand it as there is no ambiguity."

The findings followed 18 months of research at the U.S. Energy Department's Los Alamos
facility, the nation's leading nuclear weapons laboratory.

"We are very excited at the success of our research as it could have far-reaching
implications for both defense and homeland security," Haarmann said.

While scientists have trained wasps to respond to the trace of explosives, Haarmann said
research with bees appeared to show more promise.

Haarmann said the bees could be carried in hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, and
could be used to sniff out explosives in airports, roadside security checks, or even placed in
robot bomb disposal equipment.

He said the next step would be to manufacture the bee boxes and train security guards in
their use.

"It would be great to start saving some lives with this," he said.

THE REAL DOG WHISPERERS
A Perspective by The Pet Teacher

AMERICAN VETERINARY SOCIETY
OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

AVSAB is concerned with the recent re-emergence of
dominance theory and forcing dogs and other animals into
submission as a means of preventing and correcting
behavior problems. Read their commentary on dominance.

Position Statement on the Use of Dominance Theory
in Behavior Modification of Animals
CLICK HERE

Trainers who are the true embodiment of positive reinforcement techniques ALWAYS
use the most gentle methods and techniques to start teaching your dog. We are more
than someone who has "had dogs all their life" and simply picked up several techniques
along the line. Positive reinforcement trainers and behaviorists have thousands of hours
of professional studies in animal psychology and behavior. We’ve studied how humans
process their thinking, how dogs process their thinking and why it’s different. We know
that the best learning environment is fear-free because the brain embeds information
more quickly and accurately when there is no fear of learning. We know that there is a
difference between leadership and trying to be an “alpha dog” – because we understand
that we aren’t dogs but we are a totally different species, and that we cannot begin to
effectively perform the same behavior that a dog uses … and that, at best, we can only
superficially impersonate their actions -- but never are we able to construct
communications that are truly identical. We can’t because we are a different species
with biologically different bodies and so our attempts can be artificial at best. We
don’t naturally bark, we don’t organically growl, we don’t pick up each other by the back
of our necks, nor do we flip each other over in order to communicate power – unless we
want to provoke a fight.

We know that tools meant to intimidate result in a facade called ‘learned helplessness’
and that this emotional state isn’t the same as successful behavior modification that
then results in skilled conduct. We understand the concept of choice and how to help an
animal to intelligently choose our wanted path without the fear of having a bag of chains
thrown at them. We don’t use choke chains, shock collars, pinch collars, spray bottles of
water, bags of chains, rolled-up newspapers, kneeing, pinching, strangleholds, hanging,
stepping on bladders, yanking, spanking, yelling, throwing, spinning, barking, growling,
hissing, scruff shakes or rollover corrections. We know not to use these force
techniques because we know they have the potential to physically harm the dog as well as
hurt our success. We know that to mix punishment or intimidation with praise results in
a confused dog, choosing to put on the helpless facade; not in a learned dog who clearly
understands the wanted behavior and how to make it their choice. If a trainer tells you
they are positive and then uses one of those force techniques or tools, they are
definitely not a positive reinforcement trainer.

Real positive reinforcement trainers have been called treat trainers, food trainers,
treat-slinging weenies, and soft trainers. However, we are the trainers who know how
to teach a Dolphin to detect a bomb … or a Killer Whale to jump through a ring of fire …
or a Rat to find a land mine … or a Poodle to detect cancer … or a Golden Retriever to be
a seizure dog … or a Labrador Retriever to turn on your lights when you can’t reach the
switch … or a Papillon to dial 911 when you need assistance ... or a Collie to calmly listen
while a child with dyslexia reads to the dog … or a Maine Coon Cat to run an agility course
... or a Bee to detect explosives.

Please consider this: a Dolphin or Killer Whale will not tolerate a choke chain nor will
they accept force, fear or intimidation training techniques without an aggressive
response toward the trainer/handler. If we can train those animals with real positive
reinforcement without choke chains, rollover corrections or shock collars – why do we
think it is needed or appropriate to use those same techniques on a dog? It isn’t needed
because there are superior, advanced, scientifically proven alternatives that are more
humane. There is no longer any reason to use a tool or technique of fear, force or
intimidation. Work with a trainer learned in dog behavior and they can teach you how to
train with your brain and not pain.

Real positive reinforcement trainers are the trainers who teach with methods that are
much like your children’s teachers, using motivation and rewards that may include
praise or toys or play or food. We are the trainers who use verbal marking and clicker
training. Real positive reinforcement trainers teach with the dogs’ natural instincts and
don’t have the need to constantly yank a dog on a choke chain or issue a stream of shocks
until a dog conforms. We are the trainers who can understand your dog’s temperament
and teach you how to train without generating fear of you in an attempt to give you
power, but rather to teach a purposeful teaming with you to create a natural desire to
conform to your leadership. We are the trainers who can teach your dog the basic skills
through the most advanced behaviors for obedience, sports and police work. We are the
real thing and can teach you how to become that same real thing for you and your dog!
We are the real whisperers!