A Dog Who's Always Welcome , livre ebook

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
 
Chapter 1 - The Quiet Experts
 
DEFINING THE TERMS
ROBBIE AND JANE
 
Chapter 2 - Hallmarks of a Dog Who’s Always Welcome
 
ADI’S MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR ASSISTANCE DOGS IN PUBLIC
WHAT AN ASSISTANCE DOG IS
WHAT AN ASSISTANCE DOG IS NOT
ASSISTANCE DOG TRAINERS
 
Chapter 3 - From Domestication to Behavior Modification to Socialization
 
DOMESTICATION: WE FIND THE KEY
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: WE START TO OPEN THE WINDOW
SOCIALIZATION: WE OPEN WIDE THE WINDOW
 
Chapter 4 - The Right Dog for the Right Role
 
OTHER TRAINERS WEIGH IN
CHOOSING CHASE
WHAT ROLE WILL YOUR DOG PLAY?
TESS
 
Chapter 5 - Evaluating the Dog You Have
 
LOOKING AT YOUR DOG REALISTICALLY
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM EVALUATING THERAPY DOGS
VOLHARD CANINE PERSONALITY PROFILE
DASH AND CHASE
 
Chapter 6 - Communicating Across Species
 
THE ROLE OF STRESS
THE LANGUAGE BARRIER BECOMES THE LANGUAGE BRIDGE
ASSISTANCE DOG TRAINERS TALK DOG
SPEAKING CANINE IN OBEDIENCE CLASS
 
Chapter 7 - Creating a Managed, Positive-Outcome Socialization Program
 
GETTING IT RIGHT
WHAT SOCIALIZATION IS
WHAT SOCIALIZATION ISN’T
THE RULE OF SEVEN
FEAR PERIODS
CANINE GENERALIZATION
THE SOAPS
EARLY SOCIALIZATION
BEGINNING SOCIALIZATION AT HOME
ADVANCED SOCIALIZATION ON THE ROAD
ADULT DOG-ON-DOG SOCIALIZATION
IT’S ONLY NATURAL
 
Chapter 8 - Creating a Relationship-Based Behavior and Skills Training Program
 
PLAYING WITH TUG TOYS AS A TRAINING TOOL
UM, SHOULD I TAKE THAT AS A YES OR A NO?
THE POSITIVE BASICS
BEYOND SIT AND STAY
THERAPY DOG HANDLERS TEST THE WATERS (AND FIND THEMSELVES IN THE DEEP END OF ...
TRAINING TIPS FROM THE PROS
 
Chapter 9 - Evaluating Socialization Opportunities
 
PUPPY KINDERGARTEN GROUP CLASSES
OBEDIENCE TRAINING GROUP CLASSES
OFF-LEASH DOG PARKS AND PLAY CENTERS
DOGGIE DAYCARE
THERAPY DOG TRAINING CLASSES
AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB CANINE GOOD CITIZEN PROGRAM
EVERYDAY LIFE IN SMALL DOSES
 
Chapter 10 - Developing the Deep Relationship
 
CANINE EMOTIONS: WHERE IT ALL BEGINS
I’LL KNOW IT WHEN I SEE IT
THE PHILOSOPHERS
 
Afterword
Appendix - Meet the Trainers
About the Author
Index

Copyright © 2008 by Lorie Long. All rights reserved.
Howell Book House Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
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eISBN : 978-0-470-44518-1
 
To the dogs of my past: You continue to walk by my side in spirit.
 
To the dogs of my present: You bring a unique joy to every day.
 
To the dogs of my future: You are my as yet undiscovered treasures. I can’t wait to meet you.
 
And, to my husband, Ralph, who “gets it” about me and dogs.
Acknowledgments
For encouragement, insights, and answers to my endless questions, I extend my deepest thanks to Brian Jennings, Sheila O’Brien, Lydia Wade-Driver, Danielle Moore, Marilyn Wilson, Elizabeth Broyles, Connie Knisely, Cabell Youell, Ann Hogg, Nancy Patriarco, Jan Stice, Jeanie Calhoun, Kali Kosch, Karen Hough, Linda Eaton, Maggie Blutreich, Elsa Larson, and the St. Francis puppy raisers. Dogs have no better friends than all of you.
For providing me with a map of how to bring a passion for ideas about dog training to print, I thank my agent, Kate Epstein.
For the gentle guidance and occasional tough love it took to make this book the best it could be, I thank my editor, Beth Adelman. You knew where we were going right from the start and you showed me the way. Thanks, Beth.
For enduring the travails of being married to a writer with a deadline, and for sticking it out to see how it all ended, I thank my husband, Ralph, a great doggie dad.
 
It takes two years and costs between $7,000 and $20,000 to acquire, raise, and train a highly skilled assistance dog. Many disabled recipients receive their canine partner free of charge. The training centers rely on charitable contributions to support their efforts. Please consider contributing to the following assistance dog training centers when you plan your charitable giving. You will give the gift of independence to a disabled person and the gift of honorable work to a good dog.
Thanks from all of us!
 

St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Center P.O. Box 19538 Roanoke, VA 24019 (540) 342-DOGS www.stfrancisdogs.org
 
Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs, Inc. P.O. Box 229 Manassas, VA 20108 (703) 369-5878 www.blueridgeassistancedogs.info
 
Assistance Dogs of America, Inc. 8806 State Route 64 Swanton, OH 43558 (419) 825-3622 www.adai.org
Introduction
The George Mason University campus is nestled on a grassy, tree-shaded wedge of land in Fairfax, Virginia, an upscale suburb of Washington, D.C. Surrounded by traffic-clogged streets, overbuilt bedroom communities, and a population of professionals, corporate executives, diplomats, and government employees, the school caters to a population of highly diverse commuter students.
During the late 1990s, I regularly sped from my nearby corporate office to this campus to attend evening courses. And, on most of those occasions, I encountered another student and her assistance dog, a beautiful Golden Retriever, on their way to her classes. Although she and I never attended the same classes, I watched them both on campus, through several semesters, with great interest. She and her dog fascinated me.
I had been training my own dogs and teaching canine obedience classes to the public, privately, and as a volunteer for a local dog training club, for more than twenty years. I had taught beginner through advanced students the skills and techniques they needed to mold and modify their dogs’ behaviors in a way that created an obedient family dog. I had even taught students how to train their dogs to compete in American Kennel Club obedience trials. Hundreds of dogs and owners had come through my classes and achieved various levels of success.
I instructed my beginner students about how to teach the commonly used “good manners” commands to their dogs, such as “sit” and “down” and “stay” and “heel.” At that time, most trainers still relied on the choke collar, strong verbal commands, an occasional treat, and repeated training drills to teach behaviors. The other club trainers and I spent a great deal of time teaching students how to work with their dogs, using these tools in a humane way.
Generally, though, I wanted the dog and owner teams graduating from my obedience classes to achieve a higher level of partnership. But I wasn’t entirely sure what was missing from my training program. Some students did a fine job of using the training techniques, and their dogs reliably displayed the asked-for behaviors. However, other students could barely contain their dogs in class. These dogs rarely stopped lunging at other dogs or people in the class, constantly pulled on their leashes, whined or barked, dug in the dirt (we taught classes in a horse barn), barreled in and out of the car, and tripped their owners because they were always underfoot and in motion. Once in awhile, by the end of t