seminars – #BEINGWITHDOGS AND SUCH

Help For Your Dog

CANCELLED due to COVID 19

Coming to Kamloops! We are once again planning a 2-part seminar to help you understand and address your dog’s reactivity, aggression, fear, or frustration. Learn from dog training and behaviour professionals, and exceptional dog-handler teams who will demonstrate what they have learned by using evidence-based behaviour modification techniques. This seminar is hosted by Five Star Dog Training and Being With Dogs.

WHAT: Two-Part Seminar

SPEAKERS: Pat Cutler, Sylvia Currie, and Mary Zacharatos

CONTACT: sylvia@beingwithdogs.ca

WHEN:
Friday April 3: 5:30 – 8:30
Saturday, April 4: 9:00 – 1:00

WHERE: Five Star Dog Training, 340D 12 Avenue, Kamloops, BC

COST:
$175 individuals
$275 for 2 participants from the same household
$157.50 (10% discount) for Cactus K9 Club Members

PAYMENT OPTIONS:
• e-transfer to sylvia@beingwithdogs.ca
• cheque payable to Being With Dogs, #244, 230-1210 Summit Drive, Kamloops, BC V2C 6M1
• credit card (request an invoice)

Note: Payment must be received prior to the seminar in order to secure your registration. A receipt will be sent to the email address you enter on the registration form.

SEMINAR DESCRIPTION:
Does your dog’s reaction to other dogs or people concern you?

In this 2-part seminar we will explore:
• what’s behind that lunging, barking and growling
• how to prevent the problem behaviour from occurring
• ways to HELP your dog

Topics include:
• How dogs learn
• What leads to aggressive and reactive behaviour
• Canine communication
• Management and prevention
• Safety, and emergency handling
• Behaviour modification
• Next steps for you and your dog

We will be bringing in dogs to demonstrate behaviour modification protocols and additional techniques for helping dogs to cope in challenging situations. Your own dog(s) should stay at home.

This seminar will give you the information and tools you need to plan the next steps for helping your dog.

Pat Cutler, Behaviour Consultant
Pat Cutler is a retired veterinary technologist who taught in the vet tech program at TRU for 20 years. During her tenure at TRU, she introduced behaviour and training to the program curriculum and developed 4 levels of theory and hands on learning for the students. During this time she successfully challenged the Certification for Professional Dog Trainers exam. She is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the (American) Association of Professional Dog Trainers. Since retirement from TRU she has introduced Baby Puppy classes to Kamloops vet clinics and also works with private clients to help with dog behaviour problems from manners to fear and aggression.

Sylvia Currie, Being With Dogs
Sylvia Currie is a longtime educator and lifelong learner, with a keen interest in improving dog-human relationships and developing education programs for the prevention of canine behaviour issues. Sylvia’s academic background is in learning design, psychology, and applied sciences. She is an Associate Certified Dog Behaviour Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants (IAABC), a Certified Behaviour Adjustment Training Instructor (CBATI) and a TTouch Practitioner. Sylvia teaches group life skills and reactive dog classes, and provides customized training and behaviour modification sessions in your home.

Mary Zacharatos, Five Star Dog Training
Mary Zacharatos has been involved in dog training for over 20 years. She keeps her perspective on dog-training fresh and up-to-date by attending seminars and courses offered by respected professionals. She is known for her positive manner and her ability to find the right approach for each individual dog and handler. Having trained a variety of dogs, ranging from terriers to herding dogs, Mary understands the many issues owners face with different breeds of dogs. Mary is also a certified masters judge for the Agility Association of Canada and her dogs have won both the BC Regional competition (3 times) and the Canadian National competition once.

Seminar: TTouch For Your Dog

WHEN: February 29, 2020 10am – 12pm

WHERE: Five Star Dog Training 340-D 12 Ave, Kamloops

WHAT: A 2-hour introduction to Tellington TTouch tools and techniques that can help your dog to relax, think, learn, and perform.

WHO: Suitable for all dog guardians. This is a human-only event.

INSTRUCTOR: Sylvia Currie, Certified TTouch Practitioner and Behaviour Consultant

REGISTRATION:Complete this form

COST: $30 ($27 for Cactus K9 Club members)

Payment is by e-transfer to cactusk9club@gmail.com. Send email if you have questions or need to arrange another method of payment.

The Story of Fonzie

In preparation for the November 16-17, 2018 ‘Help for your dog’ seminar at 5 Star Dog Training, I am collecting stories from dog guardians willing to share their experiences. This story was written by Julia Morton about her dog, Fonzie.

We got Fonzie in the fall of 2007. He was a one-year old Russell Terrier – a clean slate who hadn’t been trained to do anything. He was described as being good with other dogs, but that he wouldn’t put up with a bully. In other words, he had already been bullied at his young age. Bullies beget bullies. I should have taken that as a warning of things to come. He did, indeed, start out as appearing to be fine with other dogs. I noticed he had an extremely rough play style, though, and had to be separated frequently from his playmates before he became over-the-top. I also noticed his demeanor toward dogs that were younger than him wasn’t good. HE was the bully, and he appeared to enjoy stirring up trouble. As he grew older, his list of triggers grew longer. By the time he was three years old I realized I could no longer walk him off leash. Greeting other dogs off leash had become a routine of charging toward the dog, circling around and nipping the dog’s neck. There was no play involved. On leash, his reaction to most other dogs involved vocalizing, lunging and baring his teeth. I didn’t know how to handle this behaviour. Clearly, I needed help! We enrolled in a Feisty Fido class where I learned all about classical and counter conditioning. At the same time, I taught him alternate behaviours, such as “whoa!” – meaning turn around quickly and walk in the opposite direction. I was also inclined to react when I saw another dog, so it made sense to train him to expect me to say this cue loudly. We practiced this frequently in my backyard before I ever tried to use it when we saw an actual dog. Another training protocol that became useful was LAT (Look At That by Leslie McDevitt). He quickly learned to look at his triggers then look back at me for a treat. We found a wonderful outdoor class called Breakfast Club, where owners of reactive dogs could meet in an area large enough to practice walking past each other. It was great practice that gradually enabled us to walk closer to each other.Through the Breakfast Club I learned a game called The Pattern Game, which is also by Leslie McDevitt. This was a lightbulb moment for me, as it enabled me to keep moving when we encountered another dog. It involved a rhythmic movement –click, toss the treat, cue to “get it” – all while walking. It normally involved walking three steps while Fonzie found and ate his treat, giving me time to get the next treat ready to toss. With practice and training, Fonzie became a really fun dog to work with. We were able to go on to successfully compete in Rally-O and Agility. Off leash hikes became a reality again as he learned to stop and come to me immediately whenever he saw another dog coming our way. The time and patience it took to accomplish this was well worth it. His quality of life improved, and so did mine!

The story of two photos

Tale of 2 photos

As I prepare for the upcoming Help For Your Dog seminar to be held in Kamloops November 16-17, I’ve been highlighting key learning points to share with participants.

This side-by-side photo of Sheila, a dog I worked with over a period of several months, tells a good story. It’s not a ‘before and after’ to show a dog that has been “rehabilitated”. Rather, it’s a comparison of a dog in different environments and with different experience histories.

The photo on the left was early on in our process, but Sheila’s body language just the day before was much closer to the photo on the right. Why? Because the day before we were hiking off-leash with some of her dog pals on a familiar trail. There was no pressure for her to interact with me and she was clear about what to do. But in this photo (left) we are in an enclosed area. There is lots of space for her to move away from me but she is clearly concerned — it’s a context with which she is unfamiliar.

The photo on the right follows a fun leash walk and training session, and we’re lounging on the the lawn with people she as grown to be comfortable around. By this time I have become one of those people. What would it look like if a man in a hat appeared? Completely different.

I think that’s a key message for people attending the seminar:

Don’t jump to conclusions.

The behaviour you see today does not necessarily predict the behaviour you will see tomorrow. This is why I have a slight aversion to the word “rehabilitate”, especially when it’s used in the same sentence as “guarantee”. It’s all about context and history, and it’s up to you to help your dog so you’ll see the behaviour you want.

Knowledge is everything! Without it you might jump to the conclusion that you have fixed a behaviour problem for good. Instead, learn how to recognize when the problem behaviour might occur and what you can do to prevent it from happening.

Seminar: Help For Your Dog

poster

WHEN:
Friday, November 16: 5:30 – 8:30
Saturday, November 17: 9:00 – 1:00

WHERE: Five Star Dog Training, 340D 12 Avenue, Kamloops, BC

REGISTRATION: Complete this form. It’s a quick process! You may also wish to show your interest and ask questions in Facebook.

COST:
$175 individuals
$275 for 2 participants from the same household

PAYMENT OPTIONS:
• e-transfer to sylvia@beingwithdogs.ca
• cheque payable to Being With Dogs, #244, 230-1210 Summit Drive, Kamloops, BC V2C 6M1

Note: Payment must be received prior to the seminar in order to secure your registration. A receipt will be sent to the email address you enter on the registration form.

Description

Does your dog’s reaction to other dogs or people concern you?

In this 2-day seminar we will explore:
• what’s behind that lunging, barking and growling
• how to prevent the problem behaviour from occurring
• ways to HELP your dog

We will be bringing in dogs to demonstrate behaviour modification protocols and additional techniques for helping dogs to cope in challenging situations. You should leave your own dog(s) at home.

This seminar will give you the information and tools you need to plan the next steps for helping your dog.

Speakers

Pat Cutler is a retired veterinary technologist who taught in the vet tech program at TRU for 20 years. During her tenure at TRU, she introduced behaviour and training to the program curriculum and developed 4 levels of theory and hands on learning for the students. During this time she successfully challenged the Certification for Professional Dog Trainers exam. She is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and the (American) Association of Professional Dog Trainers. Since retirement from TRU she has introduced Baby Puppy classes to Kamloops vet clinics and also works with private clients to help with dog behaviour problems from manners to fear and aggression.

Sylvia Currie is an longtime educator and lifelong learner, with a keen interest in improving dog-human relationships, and developing education programs for the prevention of canine behaviour issues. Sylvia’s academic background is in learning design, psychology, and applied sciences, and she is one of five Certified Behaviour Adjustment Training Instructors (CBATI) in British Columbia. She serves on the education committee for the Pet Professional Guild and is an active member of the International Association of Behavior Consultants and the Association of Professional Dog Trainers. Sylvia teaches group dog and puppy life skills classes, and provides customized training in your home.

Mary Zacharatos has been involved in dog training for over 20 years. She keeps her perspective on dog-training fresh and up-to-date by attending seminars and courses offered by respected professionals. She is known for her positive manner and her ability to find the right approach for each individual dog and handler. Having trained a variety of dogs, ranging from terriers to herding dogs, Mary understands the many issues owners face with different breeds of dogs. Mary is also a certified masters judge for the Agility Association of Canada and her dogs have won both the BC Regional competition (3 times) and the Canadian National competition once.

Rowdy Rovers: Help For Your Reactive Dog

I hope to help as many dogs as possible at this upcoming seminar in Merritt! As usual, the fee is nominal – $10 – to remove any barriers for anyone needing this important information to help their dogs.

Rowdy Rovers: Help For Your Reactive Dog
Thursday, May 3, 2018 5:30 – 7:30
Merritt Civic Centre, 1950 Mamette Ave

Here is the description from the Merritt Spring/Summer Activity Guide:

Does your dog’s reaction to other dogs or people concern you? Do you wonder why your sweet, calm couch potato becomes anxious or unruly in certain environments?

In this seminar we will explore:

what’s behind that lunging, barking and growling
how to identify problem behaviour and prevent it from occurring, and
ways to HELP your dog to cope in the world

Sylvia Currie, MA, BEd, is a Certified Behaviour Adjustment Training Instructor with a special interest in helping humans understand their dogs. She is a full member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and serves on the education committee for the Pet Professional Guild, an international organization and accreditation board promoting force-free training.

This is a people-only event. Please leave dogs at home or in your vehicle.

Canine Nutrition Seminar

Canine Nutrition Workshop: Feeding Your Dog to Optimize Health

This seminar, presented by Dr. Britt Mills, will be held at Thompson Rivers University 21 October, 2017 in Kamloops, British Columbia

There’s a lot to learn about what does and what should go into your dog’s meals. Learn to read kibble labels, how to balance home-cooked and raw diets, and more.

The seminar will be useful to everyone — dog owners, enthusiasts, and professionals.

Registration

Register your interest here: https://goo.gl/mxs5dt
$80 for pre-registration (ends October 13), $100 at the door
Payable by cash, e-transfer (office@millsvet.com), or cheque to Mills Veterinary Services. To pay with credit card, call the office at (250) 546 8860.

Questions? Contact Mills Veterinary Services: office@millsvet.com or (250) 546 8860

This education event is proudly coordinated by Being With Dogs.

Assembling the materials

This morning I began searching for images and videos for the upcoming HELP for Your Aggressive Dog seminar. Well, now it’s afternoon and I’m far from done. This is both good and bad.

Good because it means there is an abundance of excellent multimedia related to this topic out there to use in a presentation and to anchor some good discussions. And also good because finding good materials shouldn’t be a quick process. Rather, it’s better to be mindful and selective.

Bad because so much of these materials that clearly convey what not to do are out there for public consumption. We live in a time where self determined learning is popular and encouraged. However, many people (including dog trainers) lack the skills to know if the resources are credible and reputable. This point highlights the importance of instructor presence in the learning process. With all the chaff on the Web, it’s not much wonder there are so many troubled canines in this world!

Copyright

cc-2015-share — Photo by Got Credit, CC BY 2.0

I choose to license my own materials using a Creative Commons license. That way when I share handouts, presentation slides, or anything other creations, it is very clear how it can be used. There are several licenses to choose from, and the one I use most often is Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY). This simply means that all I am asking for is attribution. The materials can be used for commercial purposes, so that includes dog trainers.

I’ve noticed that many people misinterpret Creative Commons licensing to mean giving up control over copyrighted materials. It’s quite the opposite; the license spells everything out, thereby reducing misuse. Using a Creative Commons also means that more people are likely to benefit from the materials. A real bonus is that others might revise and improve the work. What’s not to like about that?

So how does this work if I am integrating media created by somebody else? My starting point is always the Creative Commons search page. Since I’m using a CC-BY license, I look first for photos and videos that carry the same license. That keeps is it simple, although I can always use the “unless otherwise stated” phrase if I end up using works licensed with more conditions.

Photos

Generally photos are easy to find. I have the most success with Flickr. For example, when looking for images to use for the section on canine body language, a search on ‘dogs’ turned up over 840,000 images, including 45 of my own uploads. I later narrowed down my search to ‘aggressive dogs’, ‘shy dogs’, ‘guilty dogs’ and so on. It’s amazing how many people interpret a dog that is terrified of what the handler will do next as “guilt” (another topic).

Once I find a photo I want to use I download it, then collect 3 things:

URL (use the ‘share’ option to get a shortened URL)
Name of photographer
License (even though I search on CC-BY materials, I still need to double check the license assigned to the work)

Videos

While there are many places to upload videos, I’ve noticed that most dog trainers use YouTube. Fortunately, it’s possible to search just on those videos assigned a creative commons license. This is where I spent the most time. My goodness there are a lot of videos! It can be a time-consuming process.

Just as with photos, I collect the basic information I need to use the media:

URL (use the ‘share’ option to grab the link)
Name of person who uploaded the video
Check the license.

Sometimes the individual managing the YouTube channel or individual uploads does not adjust the settings to allow for downloading. Logically, if you are using a CC-BY license, you should let people export or download since the whole point is to be able to use and modify the work. If the proper settings aren’t switched on, I use an online service called SaveFrom.net to handle the downloads. It’s free and as easy as pasting in the video URL.

screen shot YouTube also has a video editing service that allows you to search and remix Creative Commons licensed works.

Note that the standard YouTube licence is effectively ‘All Rights Reserved’. This means you can view the video, but you can’t download or edit it without permission. I’m sure many people use this default license without even thinking about it. With the default license, If the author enables embedding, then you can integrate the video into a web page, but you need to clearly state it is an ‘all rights reserve’ license if your publication uses a more flexible license.

Organizing all the stuff

I will be using PowerPoint and my own laptop computer for the seminar. That way I don’t need to rely on internet access to access websites and play videos. Using PowerPoint or Keynote (Mac) is actually a really convenient way to assemble the materials. Just add media and use the notes section to keep track of attributions and points you want to make about each slide. Even if the final product is published online, PowerPoint is a convenient way to keep everything organized during the planning phase.

Building a library

As I prepare for the upcoming HELP for your Aggressive Dog seminar I’ve been thinking about the resources and services that I return to most often, both in seeking information, support, and advice for my own dog, and in recommending solutions for the people and dogs I’m working with.

So far my process for keeping track of resources has been pretty haphazard. I read a lot, every day. Often I’ll come across an article through Facebook or Twitter feeds, then promptly lose track of where I found it. I use several computers and devices, and switch browsers all the time, so bookmarks saved on my hard drive is not for me. Plus, it doesn’t make sense to keep this collection private.

I would like a system that bookmarks the resources, allows me to add notes about them, and also has a public sharing capability. I would also like to be able to tag, embed, and have some control over how this list is displayed. Ideally, each resource would have an image associated with it. This is more visually appealing but also helps with memory and recognition. Most importantly, I would like to be able to easily collect and share resources related to a specific topic or event, without having to copy, paste, and format.

This morning I revisited various social bookmarking services that I’ve used over the years. Scoop.it is easy, and satisfies most of my user requirements, especially the visually appealing aspect, but the free version now only allows for one collection. I already used up that privilege for the Teaching Dog Trainers How to Teach People topic. Diigo is an excellent bookmarking tool, but the public search capability is pathetic. I tagged one post #help4yourdog, and couldn’t even find it without first logging into the site. Delicious is functional, but lacks pizazz.

I settled on Google Collections. It’s part of the Google+ package, and to be honest I don’t know much about it. For example, when did Collections first made an appearance? Like anything Google, I’m never 100% sure about the consequences of my actions. So, not surprisingly, I received email from a friend (another gmail user so perhaps from my circles? My address book?) who had been “receiving” my posts. Thankfully, he was grateful for the information, and it happened to be timely because his friend has a dog who needs some help. Good outcome! Although I do worry about spamming people!

Anyway, here’s the small collection. I have draft blog posts in the hopper and many more resources that I’ll add leading up to the event.

Building a library and sharing it prior to an educational event gives participants a head start on researching, and learning about, the topic. It also encourages them to ponder some good questions to bring along. Also, as a facilitator, it helps me to really focus in on which resources will be of benefit to the target audience. There’s a lot of information out there! Make your curated collection useful.

Do you curate and share resources in advance of your workshops and seminars?

HELP for your aggressive dog

I was invited by Mary Zacharatos at Five Star Dog Training in Kamloops to do a seminar about aggressive and reactive dogs. Of course I said YES right away. This is one of my favourite topics, and Five Star is where I received HELP and support for my own aggressive dog.

I should note how uncomfortable I am writing the words “my own aggressive dog”. Maxwell is actually soft, affectionate, cuddly, happy, enthusiastic, energetic, silly, smart, loving, polite… except when he feels threatened. Then he’s fearful, reactive, alert, aroused, and… aggressive. How can he be all of these things?

These are all words we use to describe how our dogs appear in certain contexts.

Aggression is not by any means a personality trait. And it’s certainly not a display of vindictive or vicious intention. It is simply a set of specific behaviours that we humans label as aggressive. If dog handlers can anticipate and avoid situations where our dogs display those behaviours, or work toward making our dogs feel more comfortable in those situations, then we will see less of the “aggressive” behaviours, and more happy, enthusiastic…etc. There, doesn’t that make you relax a little bit?

Mary and I settled on the title “Help for your aggressive dog” because it is meaningful to our target audience — caregivers who notice that their dogs are behaving in a way that seems, well, aggressive.

I’m really looking forward to this seminar. There are some educational side benefits as well.

I’ll share handouts, slides, and any other resources related to this seminar using a creative commons license.
In keeping with my interest in Teaching Dog Trainers how to Teach People, I’ll document the planning process as I prepare for this event, and reflections on how it went.
Proceeds of the event will be used to develop educational materials for caregivers of rescued dogs (copyright also creative commons)

HELP FOR YOUR AGGRESSIVE DOG

(To help us anticipate numbers, please RSVP via Facebook if you can. Thanks!)

When: Saturday, February 27, 2 – 4pm
Where: 5 Star Dog Training, 340D 12th Avenue, Kamloops

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Does your dog’s reaction to other dogs or people concern you? Do you wonder why your sweet, calm couch potato becomes anxious or unruly in certain environments?

In this seminar we will explore:
• what’s behind that lunging, barking and growling
• how to prevent the problem behaviour from occurring, and
• ways to HELP your dog to cope in the world

Sylvia Currie, MA, BEd, devotes much of her time to learning about, and improving, dog-human relationships. She is an active member of the Pet Professional Guild and the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and volunteers time and expertise to helping dogs at Angel’s Animal Rescue in Merritt. More info: sylviacurrie.ca

Proceeds will go toward developing educational materials for caregivers of rescued dogs.

5 Star Dog Training, 340D 12th Avenue, Kamloops (behind the Lampost near the tracks)

$20 individual, $30 family rate
This is a people-only event. Please leave dogs at home or in your vehicle.

e-transfer to maryzacharatos@shaw.ca, or pay at door (cash or cheque)

(photo credit: Brett Davies CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 https://flic.kr/p/9n3DQ5)