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Praised by dog professionals, owners and enthusiasts all over the world, E-Training For Dogs new online courses include the Associate Dog Trainer (ADT) Diploma and the Dog Behaviorist Diploma.

February 8, 2012 – Windsor, CO – E-Training for Dogs, the most extensive online dog training educational site on the Internet and provider of a wide selection of webinars for the dog owner, dog trainer, breeder and canine enthusiast, announces two new online dog training classes available for the first quarter of 2012. Both diplomas are awarded through the International College of Canine Studies.

The new courses include:

Associate Dog Trainer (ADT) Diploma – The Associate Dog Trainer (ADT) Diploma course is a comprehensive educational program to assist dog enthusiasts to enter the exciting and rewarding career of dog trainer. Geared toward individuals who are passionate about improving their bonds with their own dogs or desire to become a dog trainer, the course will assist them in developing the necessary skills to become an effective dog trainer in the canine industry. The course focuses on helping the student learn how dogs developed to be our companions, how they learn, canine body language and how they interpret our body language, basic dog care, basic dog training using positive reinforcement techniques, how to end many common canine problem behaviors, and an advanced first aid course.

Dog Behaviorist Diploma – the Dog Behaviorist Diploma course assists dog enthusiasts in entering the exciting and rewarding career of a dog behaviorist. Through the course students will learn dog behavior from theory to application, from puppy training to advanced dog training, and learn the way dogs learn. This course is essential for anyone interested in the study of dogs, dog behavior and for those working with dogs in any capacity.

E-Training For Dogs offers two tracks of courses geared toward the Canine Professional and the Canine Enthusiast. The company was established in 2005 by Dr. Cheryl Aguiar to provide comprehensive educational programs to canine professionals as well as a vast array of Online Dog Training courses for dog owners.

The Canine Professional Programs are designed to develop canine enthusiasts into skilled professionals equipped to better serve their canine clients, and include courses in Professional Development Programs, Canine Certification Programs, Continuing Education Programs, and individual courses focusing on dog training, health care, dog behavior, breeding, genetics and more. Many of the academic offerings are eligible for CEUs with major organizations such as CCPDT and the IAABC. Diplomas and Certificates are issued through the International College of Canine Studies (ICCS).

The Canine Enthusiast Programs focus on helping dog owners who wish to obtain outstanding instruction in dog training from puppyhood through to top level competition. They will find a broad selection of courses to choose from that cover the most effective training techniques and approaches in use today that will greatly assist them in providing the best possible care for their canine companions. The courses focus on first aid, grooming, health care, nutrition, fitness, behavior and more.

The E-Training for Dogs courses are led by a variety of world-renowned trainers and dog related professionals including Monique Udell, PhD, who helped develop the Canine Cognition and Behavior Lab at the University of Florida; Barbara Handelman,M.Ed., author of the critically acclaimed book “Canine Behavior: A Photo-Illustrated Handbook; Ava Frick, DVM,  owner of Animal Fitness Center, published author, and honored runner-up of the Hartz 2006 Veterinarian of the Year award; Rachel Friedman, a pet trainer/behaviorist, licensed independent social worker and owner/president of A Better Pet LLC; and Dee Ganley, a trainer for over 30 years focusing on how to create positive partnership with their dogs, and many more.

Heddie Leger, one of the first individuals to take the ADT course, shared her experience in taking the course from E-Training For Dogs. “This is a great program. I learned a lot and really enjoyed everything about the coursework, especially the lecture series. I will also highly recommend e-training for dogs to others, said (last name). “Thank you so much for your patience and for working with me on a personal level to help me complete the coursework. Thank you for all the wonderful support you have provided through this learning experience. I guess this means I can put ADT after my name now. Yahoo !!!”

Enjoyed by hundreds of dog professionals and enthusiasts throughout the world, E-Training For Dogs delivers a wide variety of educational courses and programs provided by top quality educators in the field via the Internet, allowing them to be accessible to everyone. The education programs are geared toward the canine professional as well as the dog owner and enthusiast.

All of the courses offered through E-Training For Dogs are available through the E-Training For Dogs website. For more information visit at http://e-trainingfordogs.com, call 970-231-9965, or Cheryl@e-trainingfordogs.com.

“My dog snapped at my friend’s dog for no reason…so I don’t take him to the park anymore.”

“My dog always puts his shoulder to dogs who start fights with him.”

“My dog is always getting in between two dogs that are starting to growl at each other.”

“My dog usually puts his hair up right away when he meets another dog so I yell at him.”

What does it really mean when dogs “put their hair up” or “split up two dogs that are getting rough” or “curve and give an aggressive dog their shoulder instead of fighting back” or “snap and show their teeth when a dog gets near them?” Is it important to know? Why is it important?

The trained observer of dog behavior would probably interpret the four common behaviors listed above a lot differently than the untrained observer. Knowing what each meant might make the difference between your dog or another dog getting seriously injured. Knowing what each meant would help you to know when to intervene or not intervene. Knowing what each meant would impact your interpretations of which dog was acting appropriately and which is acting inappropriately.

Let’s look at the first situation:
“My dog snapped at my friend’s dog for no reason…so I don’t take him to the park anymore.”  Carefully watching these two dogs in this interaction with an understanding of dog communication might have led to a very different conclusion. More than likely, if the dog “snapped” at another dog, it was warning the other dog in a very clear way to stop doing whatever the other dog was doing….even if it was simply coming in to sniff. This is appropriate dog communication: “stay away from me” or “stop doing what you are doing.” If the dog who “snapped” launched into a full fledged bite that ripped skin or drew blood…that would be inappropriate. This is a situation where you may or may not want to intervene. If the dog who was “snapped” at does not respond appropriately to the dogs snap, and attacks, or continues to come closer, or does not stop its unwanted behavior…then you do need to intervene. However, if the warned dog walks away…it is over. No intervention is necessary. The two dogs “communicated.”

If you want to learn more about the other posed situations, we have an awesome new 5 lesson course that has more than 50 videos that will begin to train you to be a good observer of dog communication between each other and with humans.

Understanding this will greatly improve your relationship with dogs as well as help you to work with dogs with a variety of behavior problems. This course is essential for anyone that finds themselves interacting with dogs during their job or on a leisurely walk in the park with their own dogs.

You can either audit this course (5 lessons-no CEU’s, no Certificates, no homework or test) or take it For Credit (5 Lessons plus a proctored-online-final exam that is both written and video).  It is not only important for a dog trainer or someone who works with dogs in their profession, but it is important for the dog owner who takes their dog to daycare, dog parks, dog play dates or just in the normal day to day life with their own dog.

Check it out:

Be Safe, Be Responsible: Understanding Dog-Dog and Dog-Human Communication

Luchi-Photo courtesy of Ann Bagnell

A new class released, Thinking Like a Dog Trainer-Part I, is a well-organized, clearly written course designed to help the dog trainer understand the language used to describe the theory behind operant learning (learning theory) and, most importantly, how to recognize what they are seeing when they observe behavior during training.

Dog trainers, no matter which method they use, all have the intention of either teaching a new skill to a dog, or changing/shaping a behavior already in place. The concepts, theories and terminology are a common discussion amongst trainers. Terms are tossed around on a regular basis, yet, not everyone will agree on their definitions, much less be able to identify them when they see them. How important is it to be able to understand the theories of learning and when and when not to use them? My opinion is that it is very important!

Take a scenario:
A 6 month old Spinone Italiano is learning to point birds. She points whenever she makes scent in the field. When her owner sees her point, she starts walking toward where the pup is pointing to flush the bird. As soon as the Spinone notices the owner coming up, she races in and flushes the bird herself. The owner wants her to stay pointing (steady) until the owner flushes the bird. So, the owner takes the puppy home and rewards her for standing and remaining on a wooden platform in the yard. She ups the difficulty daily by making it harder to stay on the platform by moving further away, throwing favorite toys at varying distances from the puppy and always treating when the Spin stays on the board. Eventually she even takes a bird out into the yard, far away at first, moving closer, and eventually flushes it and it flies away… the Spin is rewarded for staying on that board, even in the presence of a bird. Now she takes her out to the field, first with the board and a “set up” bird. Then in the field taking the board away and the Spin now stays on point even through the flush of the bird. What is happening here? What are the theories, concepts, and terms that went into such a plan of shaping behavior/learning this new skill of “steady through the flush?” All of this is without even touching the dog.  See if you can identify the following in the above scenario.  Which ones are or are not being used in this plan? Do you have enough information to correctly respond to each of the below?

• Was Operant or Classical Conditioning used? Or both?

  

  Brasch Pointing-Photo courtesy Ann Bagnell

• Who is the trainer(s)?
• Who is the learner?
• Was positive reinforcement used and when?
• Was negative reinforcement used and when?
• Was positive punishment used and when?
• Was negative punishment used and when?
• Was extinction used and when?
• What is the primary and secondary reinforcer (if any)?
• Was capturing used?
• Was differential reinforecment used?

Could you do it? The Thinking Like a Dog Trainer course will teach you how to do this correctly. It is not easy. However, these concepts are important to understand and to, most importantly, recognize when you should or should not apply or use them. Many people do not even know how to recognize them even when they are doing them. “Thinking Like a Dog Trainer” and understanding when and why certain theories should be, or are implemented (or not) is the foundation for good dog trainers and in creating a behavior change/new skill with reliability and no negative unintended consequences. Check out the “Thinking Like a Trainer” course taught by Sue Alexander, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KSA, CABC.

As usual, this course is available “OnDemand” and 100% online. It is about two hours in length (depending on how fast the learner “learns”) and taught by Sue Alexander, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KSA, CABC. It has our typical rich mode of delivery using lecture, video demonstrations, quizzes, and a written assignment. Thinking Like a Dog Trainer-Part 2 (coming soon) will take the definitions and understanding learned in Part 1 and have the student apply operant theory to their training plan and make their training more effective and efficient.

Service Dog Training – for Individuals and Professionals

• Professional dog trainers seeking the knowledge and skills to work in the Service Dog Training field
• Persons with disabilities who desire to train their own Service Dog.
• Persons with disabilities who currently have a service dog and want to learn how to refresh or keep their dogs’ skills sharp.
• Family members of persons with disabilities who already have a service dog and want to learn how to refresh or keep the dogs’ skills sharp.

For more detailed information please follow these links -

Service Dog Trainer Professional Diploma Program

Service Dog Individual Ownership and Training Stream

Service Dog Preparation Series

Service Dog Training Series

Service Dog Modular Approach

All Fit Dog – How to Improve Fitness for Over-all Wellness-”Quick-Fit” – Overall Fitness for Your Dog (60 minute webinar)

and

The All-Fit Dog-How to Improve Fitness for Over-all Wellness- (Extended 8 lesson webinar where you learn to develop a unique fitness program for your dog)

One of our newest courses is offered in both a one hour webinar where you learn the basics of keeping your dog fit and healthy AND in an extended 8 lesson webinar where you develop a unique fitness program for your dog.

All Fit Dog-Quick Fit

All Fit Dog-Developing a Fitness Program for Your Dog

Research In Dog Training

E-Training for Dogs is founded by a previous university professor and has a unique following/clientele of dog enthusiasts, breeders, and professionals. Most of our students are hungry for MORE information, BETTER information, so they can become better trainers and other canine professionals. As such, one of our most popular series is our Ethology and Canine Behavior Lecture Series. This series is presented “Live” online the first Thursday of every month from 8:00-9:30 PM EST. The Live lecture is about 60 minutes in length and 30 minutes is allowed for a question and answer session at the end with the Speaker. It is also recorded so those who cannot view it can attend it “ondemand” at a later time or date. This month’s (January 5, 2012) Lecture is titled: Research in Dog Training: Current Projects and Future Directions Speaker Nicole Dorey, Ph.D.

So, why should dog trainers care about “Research” anyways?

Well, in general, research should inform practice. What does that mean?

• It means that when someone does research it should be able to be applied to a real world “question.”
• It means that you KNOW that if you do “this” then “that” will happen.
• It means that you KNOW that if you increase or decrease “this” then “that” will increase or decrease.
• It means that you KNOW that if you change the amount of doing “this” then “that” will change in a certain amount.
• It means that though our non-“research” ways of “knowing” are valuable (typically based on experience, observation, experiment, values or ethics) ….chances are we might be wrong.

Of course… experience, observation, values, and ethics are very important. In addition, sometimes research is just silly and not useful…it does NOT inform practice. However, unless someone actually researches the variables of behavior and behavior change, we really are making best guesses. Fortunately, there are canine professionals doing more and more research all the time on those variables.

Dr. Nicole Dorey is one of these researchers. As a graduate student at the University of North Texas, Nicole became interested in animal training and specifically decreasing problem behavior in animals. One of her first endeavors was an olive baboon that was engaging in self injurious behavior which caused huge lacerations on its arms and legs. With Nicole’s knowledge of behavior analysis, her first thought was to see what was maintaining the baboon’s problem behavior and to conduct a functional analysis. From the data collected with this method, she was able to eliminate the self injurious behavior and found that the cause of the problem was the keepers telling the baboon to “stop doing that” that was acting as attention and increasing the self injurious behavior. This was the first time this method had been used with an animal and has since been used to determine the maintaining variable of self injurious behavior in other captive primate species. After this project, Nicole was hooked. Although her Ph.D. at the University of Exeter was focused on investigating social learning in a variety of zoo animals and dogs, in her spare time she consulted on training and decreasing problem behavior at the Paignton Zoo and successfully co-organized a zoo training workshop. Her recent research focuses on developing a line of research that will serve the dog training community and seek to find a deeper understanding of the factors that underlie problem behavior.

Researching what method works best and when and with this or that dog, in this or that situation, etc. is not going to be the answer to ALL questions, but it will INFORM us. These are exciting times for canine professionals as they hunger for the RIGHT answers and demand the proof is now. Come join us ONLINE to find out what the cutting edge research is saying. A recording of this lecture will be available ondemand. You can get it HERE.

Awareness > Attention > Learning > Behavior

To elicit a behavior from a dog, the dog has to first be aware of a cue or some stimulus, pay attention to it, learn it and then DO it.

This is the general order of how all learning occurs.

In the world of dog training and canine behaviorists, especially as it relates to trying to teach a dog a new or different behavior, the study of the “distracted dog” is the probable equivalent to the human behaviorists study of “attention.”

Attention and distraction are, obviously, inextricably interwoven psychological phenomenon. To a “distracted dog” two things in the realm of “attention” are happening…

1. He is not paying attention to something that the human may be wanting him to pay attention to, and

2. He is paying attention to something(s) that are distracting him.

For the dog trainer and the canine behaviorist, it is important to work with the dog to encourage him to be able to “pay attention” even through distractions…especially for a working dog or a dog competing in a sport.

Attention is usually seen as having two components: (1) direction (what the attention is on) and (2) intensity (how much mental effort goes into it).

What are some of the factors that should be considered when working with a distracted dog and trying to get him to pay “attention?”

Salience Dogs, like people, can pay attention to more than one thing in their environment and NOT give equal attention to each of those things. For example, a dog in a show ring may be focusing on the liver treat in the handler’s hands, but he is also aware of the dog in front of him, behind him, the dog outside the ring playing with another dog, the people, the flooring, the smells of the hotdogs in the concession stand, etc. BUT he may be paying MORE attention to that piece of food than any of those other stimuli as it, RELATIVE to these other stimuli, has more salience to him. What if the last time the dog was in a show ring, the judge accidentally stepped on his paw, would he find the judge more salient than the liver treat and become distracted by the judge?

Vividness is related to salience, but whereas salience is determined by the relation of paying attention to one object as it relates to all the other objects/stimuli in the environment, VIVIDNESS is inherent in the stimulus itself. What if a dog comes to class and a Pudelpointer (no offense anyone!) attacks him. A Pudelpointer is a dog with a bearded face. So this dog that was attacked by a bearded dog, now is easily distracted when any other bearded dog is near him. It is both salient and vivid to him. The main difference between SALIENT and VIVID is that VIVID information, according to the research, is more easily recalled.

So getting a dog, who is distracted, to pay attention, it may be useful to think about the following:

• What is distracting the dog?/What is the dog paying attention to?
• How distracted is the dog?/How much attention is the dog paying to the thing that is distracting him?
• How salient, relative to all the other things going on, is the distraction (the thing he is paying the most attention to?)
• How vivid is the distraction (the thing he is paying the most attention to?
• Knowing the above, how can you make the distracted dog pay attention using the concepts of salience and vividness?

We have an excellent webinar to help you if you have a distracted dog and want to find ways to get him to pay attention to you:
The Distracted Dog

Here is a sample video from the 60 minute, ondemand class-

The Attention Exercise

Renea Dahms, DipCBST, RMT, an early childhood educator and dog trainer in North Central Wisconsin since 1995, specializes in helping people work with getting their dogs’ attention…Distracted Dogs. She has developed a very down to earth, easy to understand, easy to apply, webinar for us called: The Distracted Dog.

Honey

I always carry honey when hunting or training or judging. It is my  “go to” remedy. Not only is it a life saver in hyperthermia (heat stroke), it is scientifically proven to be effective on wounds, burns, skin ulcers, boils, and infections.

Honey is one of nature’s oldest folk remedies  used by many ancient civilizations to help heal wounds.

Scientific university research is showing the reason why honey could assist natural healing. Results of a University study showed that unprocessed honey healed wounds and external ulcers in all but one of 59 patients. Honey, keeps sterile wounds sterile until they had time to heal, while infected wounds became sterile within a week. It provides a moist healing environment yet prevents bacterial growth even when wounds are heavily infected.

First Aid and CPR

True story: I am a judge for the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) and travel all over North America judging hunting dogs. As a Senior judge (one of the three judges must be the “Senior”) I find myself often in charge of tests. This means I am responsible for executing the test from the test logistics to the dogs to the handlers to the spectators. A couple years ago in southern California I had an experience that I will never forget.

First of all, the temperatures were 103 degrees Fahrenheit by 11AM all 3 days of the test. In the tests, we do field work, water work, and tracking. The field work is 20-30 minutes long, so we tried to get all of that out of the way first thing in the morning. However, we did not get to the tracking portion until the end of the day. Tracking USUALLY takes no more than 2-4 minutes for dogs in the test we were doing…Utility. We do not call it tracking, as the dog is only expected to follow the scent of a person dragging a dead duck behind them about 100 yards and then leaving it there for a dog to find and return to the handler…so you can imagine, the scent of that is pretty strong, and the distance is not far for an upland bird dog to run out and back.

Judging Team Southern Cal NAVHDA, 2010
Greg Weiss, Herbert Schoderer, Senior Judge Cheryl Asmus
Aprentice Judge Gabriel Awbrey

Well, that day was so hot and dry and the wind…the wind was gusting about 30 mph. Each judge takes turns dragging the duck and then hiding in the woods. It was my turn. I dragged the duck out about 140 steps, left it there, and went to hide in the shaded woods (after looking for rattle snakes that might have the same idea!). The other two judges then brought out the handler and his dog who had been out of sight to the spot where the “track” started. He unleashed her, a young solid liver German Shorthaired Pointer, and she tore off down the track. Due to the wind, the track scent had blown a good 60 yards to the right so she got off the actual track air scenting landing her a good 60 yards downwind of the bird laying on the ground. She started searching, she ran and ran and ran. It was about 9 minutes into it at that point and I finally saw her run by me and pick up the duck….she was not well. I knew that instantly. I am not sure what I “saw” in the brief glimpse, but I instantly stood up and started sprinting toward the spectators, owner, and other judges. I was screaming “Get some water” “Get some water”…the wind blew my voice away.  The dog stopped about 10 yards from the owner and just stood there. By this time, someone heard me, and a spectator bolted from the crowd and yanked the duck out of the dog (which was covering its tongue…the place a dog sweats from), swooped her up and put her in a tub of cool(er) water in the shade by his truck (we had tubs of water everywhere to keep the dogs cool).

I ran to her and held her head up in that water as she was too weak to hold it herself. She was in shock but conscious. Her rectal temperature was over 105 when we first took it. We took her temperature every 5 minutes until it was normal. After her temperature dropped to under 103, we dryed her off and put her in an air conditioned car and off to the vet. She ended up being fine.

One other thing we did, was we gave her small amounts of honey on our finger and put it inside her cheek …about 2 Tablespoons in all over the 30 minutes in the water.

Honey-don’t leave home without it!

Caring for Your Pet at the End of Life  Also known as – Spirits in Transition™, this beautiful 9 session course is for both the animal lover who is facing the end of life with their pet and the professional desiring to learn how to help people and their beloved pets get through this difficult journey. This informative course is taught by Ella Bittel, DVM. Ella is recognized by her peers as the leader in animal hospice and speaks internationally dozens of times a year.  Ella has specialized in holistic modalities for over 20 years, among them veterinary acupuncture and chiropractic, cranio-sacral work, homeopathy, TTOUCH and energy medicine techniques adapted from Donna Eden, including work on the animals aura and chakras.

Supporting a dying animal is an art that can be learned, and benefits greatly from preparing ahead of time, before the actual hospice situation arises.  Being there for our animal as it completes this life cycle can be one of the most challenging, and at the same time most rewarding undertakings we may ever experience. While we are not opposed to euthanasia, we feel there is great value inherent to the natural dying process. However, many are not familiar with that process and how to best support an animal going through it.

For detailed information on this course and to register please click on this link 

Approaching Animal Hospice: Geriatric and Special Needs Care for Animals

Schutzhund is the ultimate sport if you are truly interested in not only learning the difference between play and aggression; between prey and aggression; between fear and aggression…but becoming a SCHOLAR of understanding aggression and how to know when it is and when it isn’t. I urge you to study some of the videos by Ivan Balabanov as he truly understands how to shape the natural drives of a dog with a no conflict method.

Schutzhund is a sport and a training system for a working police dog. It is a 300 point test, with three levels. 100 points are TRACKING; 100 points are OBEDIENCE; 100 points are PROTECTION. They must qualify in all three areas. A Schutzhund dog would not be very good if he tracked a lost person and then bit that person at the end of the track. A Schutzhund dog is required to heel off leash through a mingling crowd under gunfire. A Schutzhund dog is at heel, off leash, when a crowd of people walk quickly toward him and hover over him. He must show NO fear or aggression.

These dogs have exemplary temperaments. They would not get very far in Schutzhund if they did not have SELF control in any situation, no matter what is happening. Training SELF control is not achieved by force or aversion. It is achieved by shaping their natural drives. Sound familiar?

A Schutzhund dog must be able to be called to a drop in mid air after launching for a bite. They are taught to bite through the use of building their PREY drive starting with a burlap sack and tug of war with it. The reward, even after the dog has reached the highest titling possible, for that dog, is to parade around with the sleeve in his mouth, tail wagging…like he is carrying his favorite toy. When the DEFENSE drive is brought forward it is very carefully done always ending with the dog winning and ending with PREY. I believe a lot of people might learn a lot about dogs if they took a dog through the rigors of Schutzhund.

To join a sanctioned Schutzhund club and work in the three areas…my opinion…nothing better for a person or a dog…even a pet dog.

Here is a great video if you want to understand true Schutzhund training. Carefully watch the very dance these two do. I love it.

I hope you will note that the training is all motivational and when the dog is biting, at first, the helper always turns away from him building only on the PREY drive. Toward the middle-end, he briefly begins turning full frontal on the dog BRIEFLY and that turns on the defense drive, but he quickly either turns away again (prey) or lets the dog win (lets go of the burlap roll). The body language between this “helper” and this dog is incredible. Imagine people learning to read and respond as well as this “helper.” I even love the term “helper” as they are not considered trainers…they are, and think of themselves as helping shape and build a dog’s drives.

I also want to point out that Schutzhund is not JUST teaching a dog to bite. It is an organized sport as much as agility or herding. Isn’t one of the positive ways to deal with biting puppies to let them bite and then teach them how much is too much and when to quit? This is the same thing, only better.