Australian Working Dog Action Plan

[AAWS WorkingDogs]

The Australian Working Dog Action Plan Industry Consultation Survey is being conducted on behalf of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy.

The aim of this project is to assist in development of the Australian Working Dog Action Plan, a national strategy to improve the welfare of working dogs in Australia. This industry consultation is being conducted on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Participation in this study will take less than 5 minutes and involves completing a short anonymous online survey to seek input from working dog industry representatives regarding the recommendations that arose from the results presented in the Australian Working Dog Survey Report.

It would greatly assist us if you would be willing to distribute this online survey link to your colleagues, other working dog industry contacts, social media and/or professional organisation member contact list.

The categories of working dog that we are interested in collecting stakeholder feedback from include:

1.1 Private Industry: Farm, Hunting, Security/Guard, Detection

1.2 Government: Australian Customs Service, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, Correctional Services, Fire Brigade, Australian Defence Force, Police, Royal Australian Engineers

1.3 Service: Hearing Assistance, Physical Assistance, Guide/Seeing Eye, Search & Rescue, Therapy

1.4 Sport: Greyhound, Sled, Sheep Trial, Cattle Trial, Schutzhund

The Survey can be accessed via the following weblink: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?CBEF8399C3819C9CC9

If you are able to post a link to the Australian Working Dog Industry Consultation Survey on a website, we request that it remain there until COB Friday 25 May 2012.

As described on the weblink, the survey is designed to completed anonymously – no identifying personal or contact information is requested or recorded from respondents.

If you have any additional questions, please contact the Principal Researcher, Nick Branson whose contact details are available on the web survey’s explanatory statement.

Thanks in advance for your assistance in providing your contacts with the opportunity to contribute to the Australian Working Dog Action Plan.

[moosmum]

Any chance of a bit of dialog on this subject?

I believe any welfare solutions involving more regulation also requires an ombudman type of representaion,able to intervene on behalf of owners/dogs where breaches of welfare or council laws may be in the best interests of the dog.An avenue of appeal.

A body able to note unforseen impacts,to recomend changes.Able to make recomendations for council policies that encourage responsible dog ownership and social enjoyment with out undue hardship.

The dog world is horribly fractured.The voices heard loudest aren't representative of all stake holders.

The Australian Working Dog Action Plan Industry Consultation Survey is being conducted on behalf of the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy.

The aim of this project is to assist in development of the Australian Working Dog Action Plan, a national strategy to improve the welfare of working dogs in Australia. This industry consultation is being conducted on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

Participation in this study will take less than 5 minutes and involves completing a short anonymous online survey to seek input from working dog industry representatives regarding the recommendations that arose from the results presented in the Australian Working Dog Survey Report.

It would greatly assist us if you would be willing to distribute this online survey link to your colleagues, other working dog industry contacts, social media and/or professional organisation member contact list.

The categories of working dog that we are interested in collecting stakeholder feedback from include:

1.1 Private Industry: Farm, Hunting, Security/Guard, Detection

1.2 Government: Australian Customs Service, Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, Correctional Services, Fire Brigade, Australian Defence Force, Police, Royal Australian Engineers

1.3 Service: Hearing Assistance, Physical Assistance, Guide/Seeing Eye, Search & Rescue, Therapy

1.4 Sport: Greyhound, Sled, Sheep Trial, Cattle Trial, Schutzhund

The Survey can be accessed via the following weblink: http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?CBEF8399C3819C9CC9

If you are able to post a link to the Australian Working Dog Industry Consultation Survey on a website, we request that it remain there until COB Friday 25 May 2012.

As described on the weblink, the survey is designed to completed anonymously – no identifying personal or contact information is requested or recorded from respondents.

If you have any additional questions, please contact the Principal Researcher, Nick Branson whose contact details are available on the web survey’s explanatory statement.

Thanks in advance for your assistance in providing your contacts with the opportunity to contribute to the Australian Working Dog Action Plan.

[AAWS WorkingDogs]

Any chance of a bit of dialog on this subject?

I believe any welfare solutions involving more regulation also requires an ombudman type of representaion,able to intervene on behalf of owners/dogs where breaches of welfare or council laws may be in the best interests of the dog.An avenue of appeal.

A body able to note unforseen impacts,to recomend changes.Able to make recomendations for council policies that encourage responsible dog ownership and social enjoyment with out undue hardship.

The dog world is horribly fractured.The voices heard loudest aren't representative of all stake holders.

We believe it’s important that the survey capture the opinions of as many stakeholders from within the working dog industry as possible. This is why we’ve posted the information about the survey here at Dogz Online. We are also posting the information in other online working dog forums, directly emailing professional membership groups, working dog organisations and individuals within the industry.

We encourage you to participate in the survey and to also share the link with your other working dog industry contacts to ensure that all stakeholder (from all working dog sectors across Australia) have the opportunity to take part in the survey. If you have further suggestions, please email the principal researcher whose contact details are included in the explanatory statement that the weblink directs you to prior to commencing the online survey.

[Jumabaar]

Any chance of a bit of dialog on this subject?

I believe any welfare solutions involving more regulation also requires an ombudman type of representaion,able to intervene on behalf of owners/dogs where breaches of welfare or council laws may be in the best interests of the dog.An avenue of appeal.

A body able to note unforseen impacts,to recomend changes.Able to make recomendations for council policies that encourage responsible dog ownership and social enjoyment with out undue hardship.

The dog world is horribly fractured.The voices heard loudest aren't representative of all stake holders.

We believe it’s important that the survey capture the opinions of as many stakeholders from within the working dog industry as possible. This is why we’ve posted the information about the survey here at Dogz Online. We are also posting the information in other online working dog forums, directly emailing professional membership groups, working dog organisations and individuals within the industry.

We encourage you to participate in the survey and to also share the link with your other working dog industry contacts to ensure that all stakeholder (from all working dog sectors across Australia) have the opportunity to take part in the survey. If you have further suggestions, please email the principal researcher whose contact details are included in the explanatory statement that the weblink directs you to prior to commencing the online survey.

Is this survey just being run online?

[AAWS WorkingDogs]

Is this survey just being run online?

If you would like hard copies or to complete it via phone, please contact the principal researcher.

[Steve]

Who is the Australian Animal welfare strategy?

[AAWS WorkingDogs]

Who is the Australian Animal welfare strategy?

You can find information about the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy on the DAFF website:

http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/aaws

In short, it's a federal government initiative to advance the welfare of all animals in Australia.

[Nekhbet]

this looks suspiciously familiar hasn't Deakin already run one before? Why are they repeating the survey?

[BJean]

Who is the Australian Animal welfare strategy?

You can find information about the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy on the DAFF website:

http://www.daff.gov.au/animal-plant-health/welfare/aaws

In short, it's a federal government initiative to advance the welfare of all animals in Australia.

uh-huh.

[AAWS WorkingDogs]

this looks suspiciously familiar hasn't Deakin already run one before? Why are they repeating the survey?

This is not a repeat survey.

The Australian Working Dog Action Plan is a follow up project to the inaugural Australian Working Dog Survey (conducted through the University of Sydney) that was conducted in 2009 as outlined in the original post above with the link to the Australian Working Dog Survey Report.

[Nekhbet]

It's a government initiative to tell us what to do more like down the track, in working dogs and I have a feeling this will extend into private breeding. My future dogs will be going to the services I want to know what is planned for their own supposed 'welfare'.

Recommendations

1.

Development of a national education and accreditation program for working dog trainers.

2.

Development of task-specific working dog breeding programs to reduce behavioural wastage.

3.

Consultation with the veterinary profession to develop strategies for facilitating information-flow to working dog trainers nationally.

4.

Recognition of the need for an umbrella research body to coordinate research and development; manage and fund priority research and facilitate translation of results into practical outcomes for industry development.

There are many many different working dogs and are trained in VERY different ways. I see your report also pushes for more 'positive' training. So people with little working dog or let me guess, on paper behavioral experience will be telling working dog people what to do and how to do it. I have experience with working dogs, but I cannot walk onto a farm and tell a multi generational stockman how to train his dogs. Conversely he can't walk into my home and tell me how to improve certain facets of my own dogs performances.

Motivation and positive reinforcement will always be a great part of working dogs, without any positive reinforcement the dog will not work, it is impossible. Some dogs just need more then just positive reinforcement (and there is some element of punishment in all forms of training be it positive or negative). People just have to understand POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS NOT A TRAINING METHOD IT IS A FACET OF OPERANT CONDITIONING.

I also still do not like the fact the report calls them electric shock collars. They do not elicit an electric shock like sticking your finger in a socket, to the animal and their use it not limited to positive punishment. And the main reason most trainers who use electronic collars do not have any formal education or recognised training, is that course providers either do not teach their use or totally discourage them. You would be surprised most people that use them have a more thorough understanding of learning theory then those who just calm them instruments of torture.

And as for 'task-specific working dog breeding programs' the government has been instrumental in some instances in helping make this extremely difficult. The banning of equipment and dogsports, as we have here in Victoria, as well as things such as the GSDC refusing to acknowledge Schutzhund and discouraging members from participating - how is that going to help working genetics. You're losing valuable genetics because of the decrease in sports and poo pooing of training methods and equipment that you dont understand why or how they're used. Litters are not magically born all suitable for specific work. And government departments are not given the money in order to specially breed their own dogs as well as import new genetics etc. It's always been left up to the private sector because they have the time and money to do nationally what the government cannot, and on a larger scale. For this reason buying dogs from private breeders has been a better idea. In some instances taking whatever you can get due to the fact that budget does not extend to the normal going rate for a well bred working dog.

So what exactly would the government love to glean from this? I gather how to sanitise, categorise, and neatly package the whole concept of working dogs. By then the dogs will probably have to fill out form G8, then B4 in conjunction with sections 2-7 on B5 and wait 4-6 weeks before getting some generic letter that tells them they're allowed to mate?

If this was really a whole hearted, genuine initiative researchers should be getting out there and actually physically being present during training, boarding, housing, birthing etc and see what happens instead of take anonymous contributions which you cannot even verify are genuine or complete.

[BJean]

It's a government initiative to tell us what to do more like down the track, in working dogs and I have a feeling this will extend into private breeding. My future dogs will be going to the services I want to know what is planned for their own supposed 'welfare'.

Recommendations

1.

Development of a national education and accreditation program for working dog trainers.

2.

Development of task-specific working dog breeding programs to reduce behavioural wastage.

3.

Consultation with the veterinary profession to develop strategies for facilitating information-flow to working dog trainers nationally.

4.

Recognition of the need for an umbrella research body to coordinate research and development; manage and fund priority research and facilitate translation of results into practical outcomes for industry development.

There are many many different working dogs and are trained in VERY different ways. I see your report also pushes for more 'positive' training. So people with little working dog or let me guess, on paper behavioral experience will be telling working dog people what to do and how to do it. I have experience with working dogs, but I cannot walk onto a farm and tell a multi generational stockman how to train his dogs. Conversely he can't walk into my home and tell me how to improve certain facets of my own dogs performances.

Motivation and positive reinforcement will always be a great part of working dogs, without any positive reinforcement the dog will not work, it is impossible. Some dogs just need more then just positive reinforcement (and there is some element of punishment in all forms of training be it positive or negative). People just have to understand POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS NOT A TRAINING METHOD IT IS A FACET OF OPERANT CONDITIONING.

I also still do not like the fact the report calls them electric shock collars. They do not elicit an electric shock like sticking your finger in a socket, to the animal and their use it not limited to positive punishment. And the main reason most trainers who use electronic collars do not have any formal education or recognised training, is that course providers either do not teach their use or totally discourage them. You would be surprised most people that use them have a more thorough understanding of learning theory then those who just calm them instruments of torture.

And as for 'task-specific working dog breeding programs' the government has been instrumental in some instances in helping make this extremely difficult. The banning of equipment and dogsports, as we have here in Victoria, as well as things such as the GSDC refusing to acknowledge Schutzhund and discouraging members from participating - how is that going to help working genetics. You're losing valuable genetics because of the decrease in sports and poo pooing of training methods and equipment that you dont understand why or how they're used. Litters are not magically born all suitable for specific work. And government departments are not given the money in order to specially breed their own dogs as well as import new genetics etc. It's always been left up to the private sector because they have the time and money to do nationally what the government cannot, and on a larger scale. For this reason buying dogs from private breeders has been a better idea. In some instances taking whatever you can get due to the fact that budget does not extend to the normal going rate for a well bred working dog.

So what exactly would the government love to glean from this? I gather how to sanitise, categorise, and neatly package the whole concept of working dogs. By then the dogs will probably have to fill out form G8, then B4 in conjunction with sections 2-7 on B5 and wait 4-6 weeks before getting some generic letter that tells them they're allowed to mate?

If this was really a whole hearted, genuine initiative researchers should be getting out there and actually physically being present during training, boarding, housing, birthing etc and see what happens instead of take anonymous contributions which you cannot even verify are genuine or complete.

Well said Nekhbet.

Unfortunately there was not a farkoffbureaucrat option in the survey, so I could not complete it.

Edited April 24, 2012 by lilli

[Kavik]

Well said Nekhbet!