Early Neurological Stimulation Of Puppies

[luvsdogs]

For breeders out there, have you tried this on your litters? & if so does it work?

http://breedingbetterdogs.com/pdfFiles/articles/early_neurological_stimulation_en.pdf

[espinay2]

I have done it. Cant really say if it works or not. General consensus is it can't hurt and as a rule pups that have had it done are fairly stable. Breeders who do it though generally do a wide range of things aimed at good development. Note the program was originally designed for situations where the pups may not necessarily be getting the day to day handling of many pups raised in the family home where lots of handling is provided generally (military working dogs raised in a kennel environment). It does have some interesting principles however regarding the role of stress in developing neurological pathways and the ability to cope and ' bounce back' in stressful situations.

[piper]

Yes, I did it with both litters. Did it help - no idea as i have nothing to compare it to. I put it in the category of probably can't do any harm and possibly can do some good. They do warn not to over do it though so I was careful of that.

Like Espinay said though, I did a lot of other things as well so who knows what helped and what made no difference.

[indigirl]

Yup done it andi think it works cos I didn't do it with 2nd litter and they were not as confident as first litter.

[brintey]

I have just done it with my Leonberger litter. There is timidity in my bitch's lines so I thought it couldn't hurt.

[brintey]

I also have one of Espinay's puppies, he is super confident!

[mita]

I have done it. Cant really say if it works or not. General consensus is it can't hurt and as a rule pups that have had it done are fairly stable. Breeders who do it though generally do a wide range of things aimed at good development. Note the program was originally designed for situations where the pups may not necessarily be getting the day to day handling of many pups raised in the family home where lots of handling is provided generally (military working dogs raised in a kennel environment). It does have some interesting principles however regarding the role of stress in developing neurological pathways and the ability to cope and ' bounce back' in stressful situations.

Very well said.

[luvsdogs]

Thanks for all your replies. I first heard of it on Callicoma's website in her puppy section & wondered how many breeders did it & if it really made a difference to the temperament & smarts of the puppies.

[sandgrubber]

http://www.border-wa...-super-dog.html

Provides a harsh critique including lots of comments from those who worked on the program and military brass who worked with the dogs it produced. This is one of a series of four articles.

Extracts:

A member of the Vietnam Security Police recalls the graduates from the Super Dog program:

The dogs resembled a German Shepherd, but most had

a far away look in their eyes

. The initial litters had been raised in a kennel environment. When the dogs were exposed to common elements of an outside environment (birds, grass, etc), they were

afraid, confused and skittish

.

Instructors of one class with several of these dogs demonstrated how the dogs refused to cross a line painted on the pavement. Other Instructors joked with them about how cheap it would be to kennel them. All you had to do was paint a circle around a doghouse.

Later litters were taken outside to run and play in a fenced in obstacle course area. This was an attempt to socialize them to the outdoors. Many of these dogs then associated a obstacle course as a play area and

could not be controlled

easily off leash.

That’s hardly the sort of results puppy raisers would want to achieve for dogs being placed in homes, around children, and with the expectation to be good citizens.

Mike Lister, Instructor at Fort Benning recalls his experience with “super” dogs:

It was the opinion of those at Ft. Benning that the dogs were great at scent discrimination tasks, but were

not suitable for aggression tasks

. They were

much shyer and sensitive than the dogs we got from the public

. I believe Col. Castleberry addressed this issue, by having more human interaction for the pups as they were growing up. We were told in the beginning there was very little human interaction.

The dogs were also

very sensitive to correction

. At Ft. Benning we followed the principles of conditioning when training our dogs. When using level of titration to correct our dogs, we only needed the lowest level for the Bio Dogs. Usualloy voice or a look was enough of a correction.

As regarding stress, they didn’t handle it as well as other dogs. The Bio Dogs were the only neonatal dogs we trained

.

Denzil’s summary of Dr. William J. Fuller on the prospect of the Military setting up another GSD breeding program:

The breeding program must be long-term and will require a large number of dogs. He states that the government has already taken that route once [super Dog], and

the results were not favorable

enough to continue.

Regarding the biosensor program, he feels that it failed for the same reasons the ancient Greeks failed to make a superman. Dr. Fuller feels that great virtuosos or any other biological creation of marked superiority are “genetic accidents,” and that any program that tries to produce this superiority in a consistent manner is doomed to fail. He thinks a more reasonable goal would be to develop a program that would consistently produce good quality working dogs.

William D. Gilbert on the “Disposition of the Military Working Dog Program:”

The main reasons expressed in the letter for ending the program were that

the program was a “questionable venture,”

because there were no requirements for genetically superior dogs in the U.S. Air Force. The letter acknowledged that the program had been a success in producing “enviable pedigree lineages,” which could conceivably provide a detection capability, but this was not viewed as a projected requirement for the future.

Debbie Kay, private biosensor dog contractor:

Concerning the biosensor program, and based on what she has heard from various people associated with the program, it is her opinion that it was discontinued because the program was dominated with research-oriented personnel. And that there was no over-all coordination, and there was significant jealousy between the various factions that came into play as the money began to dry up.

Remember that despite being dominated by research (versus results) oriented people, the biosensor program never published one paper on their findings.

Dr. George Lees, shared his experience with the biosensor program with Denzil:

He went on to say that the dog fancy community is very fragmented in their beliefs , and whatever they believe as individuals, they are willing to discuss with anyone that will listen and convince them “that they are right and everybody else is crazy.”

He concluded by stating, that in his opinion, there were 2 reasons why the biosensor program failed. First, there was no clear vision or target of who needed, or how to best utilize the dogs. Second, the research team became impatient due to unrealistic expectations from upper echelon leadership, and a tightening of the budget purse strings.

This last bit is what I find most revealing. Dr. Lees pegs the purebred dog community exactly: fragmented, back biting, and followers of whatever messiah or snake-oil salesmen comes along with a nice sounding story with promises of ribbons and show success.

It amazes me how many breeders proudly advertise their adherence to “Super Dog” or “Bio-Sensor” and many who claim amazing results from 3-5 seconds of tickling a dog’s toes. Yet they do and it’s seemingly part of being a “reputable breeder.” The conformity isn’t so much in the dogs, it’s in the culture. Do what everyone else does, don’t think and certainly don’t question.

Battaglia’s Bio-Sensor is ridiculous on its face, but why are there so few of us who have ever questioned this? The warning signs are all there: Promises of amazing health and performance benefits for less than 3 minutes of work total, a celebrity faux-Doctor pitching it, no published results, and claims of secret knowledge (classified by the government!).

After seeing what the truth of the biosensor program is and its limited and unsuccessfyl use of early neurological stimulation, it is clear that Carmen Battaglia is a liar and a fraud.

Here's an extract about the promoter from another article in the series.

You'll remember Dr. Battaglia from his resurrection of Lloyd Brackett and his infamous "Brackett's Formula." Dr. Battaglia gives lectures on cruise ships to up-and-coming brown-nosers in the AKC hierarchy who want to buy the secret knowledge and pay the right gate keepers to fast track show success. He's the closest thing the AKC community has to a celebrity doctor.

But don't get too comfortable with the idea that he's a medical doctor, he isn't. He's a Ph.D. doctor, which he readily advertises at the end of his publications:

Carmen L Battaglia holds a Ph.D. and Masters Degree from Florida State University. As an AKC judge, researcher and writer, he has been a leader in promotion of breeding better dogs and has written many articles and several books.

Dr. Battaglia is also a popular TV and radio talk show speaker. His seminars on breeding dogs, selecting sires and choosing puppies have been well received by the breed clubs all over the country. Those interested in learning more about his seminars should contact him directly.

Visit his website at

http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com

What he doesn't advertise anywhere that I've found despite an extensive search is what subjects his degrees are in. So I contacted the Curriculum Publications Coordinator at Florida State University and found out the unpublished truth: B.A. Psychology 1958, M.S. Social Welfare 1960, PhD Joint Doctoral Program in Criminology Corrections and Sociology 1968.

So by way of education, Dr. Battaglia is more equipped to run a prison than a breeding program. His dissertation was titled "Deviant behavior of parolees and the decision-making process of parole supervisors."

The next indicator that "Bio-Sensor" is quack science is because it's being SOLD as a how-to guide to success without having been vetted in any way by scientists in peer reviewed publications resulting from studies done according to the scientific method.

Dr. Battaglia sells his program along with breeding and puppy selection advice as part of his self-help for dog breeding commercial venture. You can buy books, videos, DVDs, and subscribe to his newsletter and attend his lectures.

In accordance with yet another quackery red flag, Dr. Battaglia is pitching program that offers medical benefits but he (nor anyone else) has no peer-reviewed journal articles on his protocol. And it's not for lack of trying. If you visit his website you will find a link to request his so far unpublished journal article. When you do so, you will be e-mailed a copy of an extended version of his Bio-Sensor article spruced up to look like an actual experiment with "Methods and Materials" and everything.

It appears from the file that Dr. Battaglia has attempted to get this article published since at least 2007, but he will warn you that the article is still under intense review and thus you can not share it.

This wouldn't be the first time that the "Bio Sensor" program has been used to sell a self-help program, however, as Dr. Battaglia collaborated with Stanley Coren–king of marketing shoddy dog science to pet owners in book form–who included the information in his book Why Does My Dog Act That Way?

Battaglia and Coren's considerable influence on the dog fancy combined with Battaglia offering the super simplified how-to instructions for achiving super dog success for free on his website as a teaser for his suite of videos, books, and lectures the "Early Neurological Stimulation" program has saturated the hobby pet breeder culture. Breeder testimonials and reprints of the method are everywhere.

Edited September 6, 2013 by sandgrubber

[mita]

Sandgrubber, the Military Dog breeding & raising program up at the Amberley Base in Q'ld, has real live socialization with people, of puppies from the time they're born in the specially designed unit.

Then they interact with people around the base.... the officer in charge once said he often had to rescue a puppy from swinging on a lady's skirt. When all vaccinations are in order & they're getting closer to 4 months of age, the puppies are taken out to community events. I saw them at one of the Council's K9 Capers in a local park. They loved all the attention.... draped over people's shoulders & nodding off.

At 4 months they go out to live a normal family life with civilians in the community .... who are encouraged them to take them out and about. Later they're returned to the base, extremely well socialized, to start actual military training.

[sandgrubber]

1378453631[/url]' post='6292659']

Sandgrubber, the Military Dog breeding & raising program up at the Amberley Base in Q'ld, has real live socialization with people, of puppies from the time they're born in the specially designed unit.

Then they interact with people around the base.... the officer in charge once said he often had to rescue a puppy from swinging on a lady's skirt. When all vaccinations are in order & they're getting closer to 4 months of age, the puppies are taken out to community events. I saw them at one of the Council's K9 Capers in a local park. They loved all the attention.... draped over people's shoulders & nodding off.

At 4 months they go out to live a normal family life with civilians in the community .... who are encouraged them to take them out and about. Later they're returned to the base, extremely well socialized, to start actual military training.

But do they use Bio Sensor?

The point Border Wars was making is that Bio Sensor is getting flogged as a way to create super dogs by someone who is a bit of a snake oil salesman...when the folks who developed the program and worked with the dogs it produced considered it unsuccessful.

[mita]

But do they use Bio Sensor?

The point Border Wars was making is that Bio Sensor is getting flogged as a way to create super dogs by someone who is a bit of a snake oil salesman...when the folks who developed the program and worked with the dogs it produced considered it unsuccessful.

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. I was telling you all that they do .... real-life socialization and experience in real-life situations. Then the training is classic training as it's always been .... no deviations into the less usual.

Edited September 6, 2013 by mita

[espinay2]

Yes I understand they also do biosensor. But that is not the only thing they do as Mita mentions.

Edited September 6, 2013 by espinay2

[raineth]

I sought of got the impression from that article that it was talking about a case where it had been used as a replacement for proper socialisation of the puppies.

If that's the case I'm not surprised it wasn't very effective! I can't imagine anything could really replace proper socialisation experiences. It would be interesting to compare pups that had still had the normal socialisation experiences and then either had or not had neurological stimulation as well.

[Steve]

Ive tried this on both beagles and Maremma and I dont believe it helps and if anything has adverse affects.

Bitches do a great job of early neurological stimulation of puppies without creating any stress for them and its difficult to see why humans want to intervene in that when babies of all other species are handled with softness and gentleness avoiding at all costs any form of stress on the infant. Exposure to different things as they get to around 6 weeks to home time is crucial however in my opinion where they need to able to explore and play and experience as many different things as possible in the socialisation and exposure process.

Having said that there is a different socialisation process used here for Maremma puppies from 5 weeks depending on where they are going to live and what they are going to be expected to do and be exposed to in their new homes.