Crossing Over…

I was cleaning out my car the other day and I found some handouts from the first dog trainer I ever met/hired, from over 5 years ago. (Yes, I know – I should clean out my car more often)

TRAINING NOTES FROM A BYGONE PAST (*clearer photo)

This was a really uncomfortable and sad reminder of what I used to do to Boogie and how I used to make him cry because this was part of the training program I had paid for.  Quote the trainer: “It doesn’t hurt. He is being a drama queen. Correct him again/harder.” 

It saddens me that THIS sort of information is still being disseminated to lord knows how many millions of people  around the world even in this day and age, and to think that there are so many people who continue to choke, shock, pinch, alpha-roll their dog because they have been taught that this is how it is meant to be. Or maybe like me all those years ago, they don’t have access to any other information or don’t hang around any other dog-owner friends who DON’T use corrections or the ‘pack leader’ spiel… or maybe also like me, they already paid a huge chunk of money to receive advice that tells them to dominate their dog and “show him who is boss”, so they stick with what they paid for. And besides, the advice sounds ‘right’ because it’s the stuff that’s really popular on TV…

Seriously, how can people learn about humane training methods and CHANGE, when there is so little popular mainstream support for doing so? 

This is an old photo from 5-6 years ago. According to the trainer: he was supposed to wear this collar 24/7 and get corrected for every little thing he did that we didn’t want him to do.

Anyway,  my crossover experience in a nutshell or what made me change training methods:

1. When Boogie was on that obedience training program years ago, he became shut down, more scared around people, more tense, and more prone to aggression (lunging and biting). He got worse.
2. I wrote in to a Dogster.com behavior advice column with the question: “I don’t understand how this prong collar obedience program is going to help socialize Boogie to other dogs and people.” and the trainer who responded – Grisha Stewart – said: “Throw away the prong collar and look into CAT and BAT” Until then I had no idea that there were other methods that do not require corrections. A seed had been planted though by that piece of advice, and I started reading books NOT written by Cesar Millan.
3. Karen Pryor’s “Reaching The Animal Mind” blew my mind and opened up a new world for me. It was a revelation that animals could learn via hands-off training methods that do not require the use of pain or intimidation or by humans having to be bossy/dominant. I went out, bought a clicker and started practicing  hand targeting with Boogie.
4. Seeing the change in Boogie was the biggest motivator and reinforcer of all for ME to change and learn new ways of interacting with him. I had never seen Boogie so happy and so excited and so responsive. He was perky, relaxed, full of life and it was SUCH A RELIEF that I could BE MYSELF again. I didn’t have to feel bad about “not being dominant enough”, or “too weak” or “too nice” or about not giving commands in a deep enough voice, or even worry about “my energy” (which according to a few neighbors, was the reason for Boogie’s behavioral issues) Friends noted that Boogie had become more relaxed and I was less stressed.
5. I gave up on the old training program (the trainer was not keen on the idea of teaching me to use a ‘clicker’, and I didn’t get my money back either). I started visiting dog training forums and found Sarah on the Functional Rewards yahoo group…. etc. etc.
6. I want to add also that as I learned about dog body language and calming signals, I could look back on the video footage I took of myself using a prong collar on Boogie and for the first time in my life   I understood what all those head turns, lip licks, and yawns meant. I could see the stress that Boogie was experiencing caused by me and I couldn’t un-see what I had learned to see.

It is so great to see more articles and blog posts about crossing over… and how to talk about crossing over. This is still hard for me…  I get emotional when I think about the past (the things I did to Boogie) and also when I learn that people I know are fans of  aversive training methods or are praising Alpha-wannabe trainers, and I don’t know how to say what I want to say… without feeling like I am going to have a reactive episode. So for now, I say nothing. I do drawings and link to articles like these…

LINKS:

Rise Van Fleet: A Psychologist’s View of Crossover Training
 http://play-therapy.com/playfulpooch/images_resources/APDT_09.pdf

Eric Brad: The Crossover Files
http://lifeasahuman.com/2012/pets/the-crossover-files-considering-positive-dog-training/

Ines  Gaschot: The Crossover Trainer
http://www.thecrossovertrainer.com/blog/

From the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.