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My dog simba

Simbadog

Simbadog

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Hi Im Mel and I have a three year old cockapoo named simba. I am currently studying dog behaviour and training andhope to change my career to all things dog soon Any advice welcome
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Lovely dog. Which course are you studying?
 
JoanneF said:
Lovely dog. Which course are you studying?
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Thanks I have done level 1 of the dog whisperer uk dog behaviour and psychology and am doing level 2 next month.
I am a nursing assistant at the moment, but have a passion for dogs and want to change career.
I am thinking of doing the clinical canine massage course. Have you heard about that?
 
Hi, what a gorgeous girl she is! The clinical canine massage course is a great one to do, but can be slightly difficult. Have you done any other courses such as dog grooming? I know you want to do dog behaviour but it's always great to get more down on your CV.
 
Thanks for your reply I have not yet. I am thinking of looking into different options but not sure which to choose to be honest.
Have you done the canine massage course?
Also I wondered how many people have tried this therapy with their dogs?
 
Can anyone recommend which are the best dog festivals or shows in the London area.
 
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Welcome to the forum. :)
I'm a trainer in the USA, specializing in Behavior Modification [manage all rewards from the environs to prevent undesired behaviors from paying off, & at the same time, alter the unwanted behavior/s by changing the dog's emotional response to antecedent stimuli].


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QUOTE, Simbadog:

...I have done level 1 of the dog whisperer uk, dog behaviour & psychology, & am doing level 2 next month.
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Dare i ask?... :eek: Does this course have anything to do with a certain American trainer who calls himself a "dawg psychologist", & refuses the label 'trainer'?!
Gosh, i sincerely hope not. :(

For excellent academic credentials from highly-respected instruction, take a look here -
CCAB Accreditation

The Assoc for the Study of Animal Behavior has listed the various courses needed in the UK to become a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviorist / CCAB - which we in the USA call a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist / CAAB. They're the same critter - college-level courses, professional accreditation, credits are recognized nationally & can be transferred if U move to another school, etc.

Simba is lovely. :)
- terry

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leashedForLife said:
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Welcome to the forum. :)
I'm a trainer in the USA, specializing in Behavior Modification [manage all rewards from the environs to prevent undesired behaviors from paying off, & at the same time, alter the unwanted behavior/s by changing the dog's emotional response to antecedent stimuli].


_____________________________
QUOTE, Simbadog:

...I have done level 1 of the dog whisperer uk, dog behaviour & psychology, & am doing level 2 next month.
...
______________________________
.

Dare i ask?... :eek: Does this course have anything to do with a certain American trainer who calls himself a "dawg psychologist", & refuses the label 'trainer'?!
Gosh, i sincerely hope not. :(

For excellent academic credentials from highly-respected instruction, take a look here -
CCAB Accreditation

The Assoc for the Study of Animal Behavior has listed the various courses needed in the UK to become a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviorist / CCAB - which we in the USA call a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist / CAAB. They're the same critter - college-level courses, professional accreditation, credits are recognized nationally & can be transferred if U move to another school, etc.

Simba is lovely. :)
- terry

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Yes it probably does I’m guessing that is not the best then? I have paid for my course anyway. I did learn a lot. However I will take your warning on board if I take that line of work any further. Why can I ask do you feel it’s so bad?
 
It’s not directly related to Cesar Milan it’s related to a man called Glen Stanford I think who set up the training classes?
 
It's just that Cesar Milan's methods are outdated and considered very poor practice by most people with any understanding of canine behaviour. A lot of his material is cut from the tv programmes which makes it appear he gets results but actually a lot of the dogs who appear calm, are in fact shut down - afraid to do anything in case of punishment so they do nothing - a bit like seriously traumatised children who don't even cry because there is no point.

Have a look here

Separation Anxiety

Hopefully your trainer will have encouraged positive reward based training - I had a look at his website and it was a little light on detail.
 
He says on his website that he used 'mixed methods', which involves a level of correction, and apparently he's been trained by Cesar Milan. Most enlightened trainers now aim for 100% positive reward-based training and wouldn't let Milan near their dogs with a ten-foot bargepole.

100% positive doesn't, as some people claim, mean you let your dog do what he wants - it's more that you bring what your dog wants to do in line with what you want him to do. So when I recall my dog, he doesn't think 'Oh, if I MUST' but 'Whoopee, Mum wants me, going to Mum when she wants is always GREAT!!' And my dog is the sort who would get very defensive and snarky if I ordered him off the sofa and made it clear I thought I was the boss, but if I ask nicely, he hops off like a lamb and comes up to me happily expecting his reward.

Of course, you will learn a lot from your course - but when you've completed it, it would probably be a good idea to look into different courses - I think CCAB, which @leasedForLife recommended above, and COAPE are good places to start - then you can compare and contrast and make up your own mind:)
 
JudyN said:
He says on his website that he used 'mixed methods', which involves a level of correction, and apparently he's been trained by Cesar Milan. Most enlightened trainers now aim for 100% positive reward-based training and wouldn't let Milan near their dogs with a ten-foot bargepole.

100% positive doesn't, as some people claim, mean you let your dog do what he wants - it's more that you bring what your dog wants to do in line with what you want him to do. So when I recall my dog, he doesn't think 'Oh, if I MUST' but 'Whoopee, Mum wants me, going to Mum when she wants is always GREAT!!' And my dog is the sort who would get very defensive and snarky if I ordered him off the sofa and made it clear I thought I was the boss, but if I ask nicely, he hops off like a lamb and comes up to me happily expecting his reward.

Of course, you will learn a lot from your course - but when you've completed it, it would probably be a good idea to look into different courses - I think CCAB, which @leasedForLife recommended above, and COAPE are good places to start - then you can compare and contrast and make up your own mind:)
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Thank you very much for your advice It’s very helpful The trainer I had actually discouraged quite a few of Cesar Milan’s methods including e collar etc. I certainly would never use any method like that on my dog or others.
 
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Mr Milan rarely used a shock-collar [however, the 1st time he did, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the H*** was going on; my fellow USA-apdt trainers clued me in - he'd put the remote AND HIS HAND, operating it, into his pants-pocket. :eek: :mad: He lacked even the fundamental honesty to acknowledge what he was doing, & how he was doing it.].

The simplest way to sum up Cesar's methods is that they're all about suppression - quashing unwanted behaviors. Suppression never works for long - as the dog's feelings about the thing have never altered, their emotional response will merely pop out elsewhere, or the dog will choose a different, even-more objectionable action.
The problem is, the list of unwanted-but-possible optional behaviors is practically infinitely long; what do U want the dog to do, in a given context? - that's most-likely 1 to 3 things.
Teaching what U want, & goof-proofing the process, is far-simpler than crushing all unwanted behaviors. It also takes a helluva lot less time, LOL, & is more enjoyable for all parties.

Before U can begin training, U need control; manage the environs & / or the dog - to prevent the dog easily choosing something else to do, & to make the behavior U want very, very easy to do. Make undesired behavior as difficult as possible, & desired behavior as close to inevitable as U can - set the learner up to succeed! :) Then reward their success, get that behavior a few more times, start to pair the behavior with a label, get the behavior a few more times WITH the label attached to it each time, & the label eventually becomes a cue.
Instead of saying the label AS the dog does the behavior, U can say it before they do - & they'll do the desired behavior.

The time-consuming part is that dogs speak no human languages, & are slow to generalize. The idea that "Sit" means "put my butt on the substrate" takes a long time to sink in, as context for dogs is everything; 'sit' on the wall-to-wall in the lounge isn't 'sit' on the kitchen lino, which isn't 'sit' in the vet's waiting room, which isn't 'sit' on long wet grass in the garden, which isn't 'sit' on a gravel beach... So dogs need a minimum of FIVE different contexts, performing the same behavior with the same label, before they even begin to get a glimmer of the behavior being the same, in different places, at different times.
Don't forget to proof - Proofing is the 3 Ds: Distance [from the handler], Duration [of the behavior], & Distractions. Add or increase them slowly, & don't expect the same quality of performance when a green dog is doing something under increasingly-demanding circs, at first - if s/he lags at heel when they're in a busy setting for the 1st few times, don't harass the dog. Let them get accustomed, & polish the behavior, later. ;)

Make what U want pay-off really well, & what U want becomes what the dog wants to do. :D Simple, isn't it?
Happy training,
- terry

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