When I adopted Ollie, my black lab, 13 years ago, I started looking for a training class. I was recommended one by several people I worked with, and signed up. I was so excited! That excitement didn’t last though, after my first class, I went home and cried. I felt awful, choking my puppy, forcing her into positions, punishing her when she didn’t do as I asked – even though there was no way she could possibly know what I wanted! By the second class, she was starting to lose her trust in me. I would reach for her,and she would shy away. She was jumpy and stressed out, and she was not enjoying her training. I think I only made it to the third class and I stopped going. I ended up on the receiving end of a lot of snide remarks from my coworkers, but I couldn’t stand that awful feeling, losing her trust, and neither of us were enjoying the class. I ended up training her on my own, with no real idea of what I was doing, and she turned out fine – luckily she is a typical lab, smart and eager to please!

When we adopted our second dog, Brody, 5 years ago, I had a lot of stress about finding a training method. Brody is disabled, and I had my doubts about whether he could keep up with a class. I also knew that I couldn’t use a ‘choke chain’ method with him because he is so unstable on his feet, a correction would probably knock him right over! My vet recommended a trainer to me, a clicker trainer, and I was very skeptical. I had heard so much bad stuff, I was convinced that clicker trainers were some sort of quackery, or witch doctors, LOL! She convinced me to give it a try though, and I arranged for a private session. Working with that trainer, along with reading books (I finally dug out that old copy of Don’t Shoot The Dog – what an amazing book!) and watching videos, changed the way I work with dogs! My dogs are happier, our relationship is very strong, I can communicate better than I ever thought possible, and it’s so much FUN! My old lab, who was so turned off by her original training, adores positive training! Even at 13, her eyes light up and she gets so excited when I bring out my clicker! I’ve even dabbled in training with my cats (and I’m tempted to use the theories on people sometimes!) I talk to many people about training, and I’m always surprised at how many have never heard of positive or clicker training, and how many will choose a trainer based on price or location, with little or no regard for method. I also find it very frustrating that many aversive type trainers are very vague about their methods in their advertising and on their websites. That only serves to confuse people more! If you’re proud of what you do, why be misleading? And if you’re not proud of what you do, why not do things differently? I do think that if we all work at it, we can change things – it would definitely help if the media would present both types of training rather than focusing on aversive methods. I also believe that the things you’re doing at Dogma are doing a lot to raise awareness, like flash mobs, and free puppy classes. I love that you’re so dedicated to raising awareness and changing perceptions, as well as helping out rescues. Positive reinforcement is not only a great way to train dogs, it also works wonders in everyday life – you really can accomplish a lot by focusing on the positive rather than the negative