Steve K9Pro

K9: I guess a pciture is worth a thousand words, the amount of energy (adrenalin) in the dog is one way.. K9: yes, also, meaning as well, not "only". When you dont have drive you dont have chemical reward, so the dog is only working for the lure, usually when you have a dog working like this, the dog goes into drive for something else, thats when you lose the reliability. In my drive programs, I am it, there is nothing else...

K9: training in drive is teaching the dog how to achieve drive satisfaction by the dog offering a combination of self controlled focus & adrenalin driven movements... Using a drive reward is training the dog in traditional methods but instead of using a food reward, priase or a toy, its invoking or triggering drive at the end of the excercise so that the dog will be rewarded via brain chemistry (endorphin flow) rather than physically... Training in drive produces greater reliability as good training in drive programs teach the dog how to control its drive, creates a smarter animal that can think on the move. Are you able to elaborate please??? K9: surprising the dog can create problems such as sign tracking, toy stealing, por timing of the re inforcer etc etc.. These all lead to the dog changing its goals to "how do I best get the toy" rather than your goals of obedience..

K9: In some cases, dogs may be back tied to increase frustration, this is usually done when the dog is wearing a very wide collar or harness, the dog also may wear a prong collar but the back tie wont be attached to it, as corections are designed to reduce / extinguish drive, not ncrease it. A dog with a broken spirit is one that will not train in drive, so perhaps you have been watching some type of training that you dont understand? K9: & that would include a thousand other ways than yours Andy.. K9: How many dogs are we talking? did you have all your dogs from pups? Perhaps you might be willing to show some of the people on here that have problems with their dogs how you can fix them? K9: Do you put collars of any type on your dogs? Then would that mean that you put collars on or loved ones? Do you micro chip your dogs? Family? K9: This sentence may be better if it read "most problems with haltis". As unfortunatley, they can cause neck injuries no matter how well they are fitted... K9: whilst this is correct, dogs arent horses cattle sheep goats and other lead livestock. K9: no offence but a couple of dogs isnt really a test worth considering...

K9: It really is a complex procedure if you want to any more than mess around with your dog. When I do Training in drove workshops, people are there all day & get a good understanding of the "basics" of training in drive in 7 - 8 hours. There is a thread on here that I wrote that quite extensive but you really have to see it... K9: If you surprise the dog with the toy you will build in problems for later work... Some people who say they are training in drive really are using drive as a reward, this is not training IN drive & it wont produce the same reliablity in the dog..

K9: From this description it appears your dog is fear aggressive, but thats without seeing the dog. He has more confidence in his own territory & thats why the dogs are less stimulating to his defence drive.. K9: this simply means your not training him in the area that he has the problem, more training in your yard will not help at all.. You really need to have your dog assessed professionally, then have a program designed that you can work with & then you will see some results...

K9: In this course the attendants will be taught how to deal with aggressive dogs & not get bitten, safety is paramount as when you get bitten by an aggressive dog its actually teaching the dog the power of the bite... So for many reasons its to be avoided..

K9: maybe you should be an attendant so Robbie will like you....

K9: Thanks for all the replies, but keep the emails coming, the dogs havent been chosen yet, & the attendants havent been chosen yet either so if your interested in one of those places, get those emails in.

K9: send an email & register your dog, cant hurt...

Send us an email & we will see if we cant make that miracle happen.... It will be the goal of the attendants to fix the dogs problem, or get it well on its way, I will also be working with the dog in at least one private consult (also free) if needed...

This course will probably start in August, so your dog will be sorted by then...

I am setting up a training course that runs for four months (one session per month) & will be needing two dogs with behavioural problems for the attendants to work with. I will be over seeing all of this work & there will be no cost to those who supply a dog. It does not matter what problem your dog has, but I would like at least one of the two to have aggression problems.. Before you volunteer your dog you must be able to commit to bring your dog to K9 Force @ Kurrajong 3 out of the four sessions. You will be given programs on what you need to be doing with your dog between the sessions, just as you would if you were to have a consult with me direct. The link to the Course page is here If your interested or need some more info, email us on [email protected]

K9: Good advice is: - Decide on your behavourist by good research, get some information from someone who has used that person before. Attend a session with them & be prepared, have questions ready. Take away as much as you can & follow the advice given religiously without listening to others or getting your own information from other sources (even here) for a reasonable amount of time. Then see what results you have gained...

K9: sorry, thats why I said in this therotical discussion we should give the benefit of the doubt. Good chance it may have been wrong but as we havent seen the dog, who knows? K9: Yes I agree 99%, there are just some people that are so defeated they dont believe results will be gained & boarding the dog & showing some results can help. In some circumstances, some people are not capable of making a big enough, black to white, change in the way they treat their dog, & a little kennel time can make a clear line in the sand to the dog. So many people fail with behaviour because it is so diverse, whats right for one isnt right for another...(as you know) K9: Yes it is, some of them will be wrong, we just dont know which one yet... K9: True, I havent said though that she should stick with it, rather "changing from one menthod to another is wrong".. I guess though this is why I harp on so much abou getting the diagnosis right first time. Having said that, 90% of the time I have a client come to me from another behaviourist, I prove the first diagnosis was wrong. Simply put, whe you get the diagnosis right, then se up a good program on the back of that diagnosis, results come fast (as you have seen), so people dont feel compelled to go elsewhere most times.

K9: I guess in this theoretical discussion we need to give the benefit of the doubt to the original diagnosis, & I think what makes me feel like that in the real world is that most trainers commonly tell me how they have clients that either wont put in the rwork or give up to soon. K9: I call this a tricky one too, there are many ways to skin cats (train dogs), few are wrong, just some work better than others, but delayed results can be just as frustrating/defeating to those who are serious competitors as it can be to those trying to solve behaviour problems, sometimes even more. To add to that, I will be the first to agree that there have been way to many under qualified people attempting to solve matters they simply should have referred on. There are many reasons for that but I personally feel this is changing. I get so many trainers & instructors who bring me their dogs & or refer club members to me to help with things "outside heir expertise" it has to be a improvement over the way things were done even as little as 5 years ago. I think that whe it comes to solving these problems, more solving is done by working with the owners than is done by working with the dog, & the working with the dog side sometimes is just to provide a visual picture to the owner, the real behaviour modification will take place a the hands of the owner over the coming weeks. So when people come to see me & then write me emails or posts on DOL how wonderful the dog is after I have worked with them, full credit must go to them as they have uptaken the information I have given, put in the time & commitment & gained the results. The pats really need to be on their backs, not mine.

K9: Yep this is 100% true, all the dog learns is that you will give up eventually & will try hold out until you do.. For behavour problems I am not a big believer in having the dog trained & then going and picking it up, I think the handler is very important in the long term rehab.

K9: Ok, where it can be confusing is that even fear aggression tha has developed over time can be rank driven in the end, in other words, a dog that starts showing aggression driven by fear can become confiden after a period of time & rank drive can then be the source of aggression. The problem is that as soon as you attempt to treat this as a rank issue, the dog will become fearful, so its a tricky one to sort. When attacking our other dogs this will not be out of fear, strange dogs certainly can be... Really this dog needs to be assessed by someone who is an expert in the field, I am sure I will have some one who can help near by, maybe shoot me an email.

K9: Its very easy, but it takes about 2 months lol..

K9: Diagnosing the cause of the aggression is going to be the most important steps to sorting it out, Rank & Defence aggression (Dominance & Fear) are treated totally different. K9: Thank you very much for the kind words, I am really pleased to hear your doing well! K9: Thank you very much, thats a real compliment! Thanks

K9: "special" can mean a whole lot of things...

K9: yep I know that JulesP, just clearing up the section about dogs being separate from the pack part for all the readers.. No probs there...

K9: do whatever you like, as long as is clear where the names & the programs come from I am not fussed.

K9: neutralisation isnt leaving our dog alone, its having your dog mainly interact with you. K9: this isnt actually true in our case. If a dog is raised with the pack 24/7 for a number of years & then it is pushed out of the pack for a reason, this is considered punishment, but if the pup was not raised in that circumstance then it isnt. Its the change of pack presence that is punishment not the absense of it. If a pup is raised with an older dog & then the older dog dies, that is hard on the dog that was raised with it, & may force you to get another dog, whether you want one or not... So to apply that train of thought all facets of it must be considered.

K9: I dont claim to have invented the idea of keeping dogs separate, but I have never heard anyone other than me calling this neutralisation... So I wonder when people talk of "other" neutralisation programs, whom they are talking about?

K9: careful how that effects your pack position...