Tips of a Dog Trainer

Below is a list of ideas I've compiled over my journey of being a dog trainer. 

Everyone is constantly learning new things, so this is definitely not a complete list.  

(Everyday objects make the best props)

KNOW YOUR DOG

Know what they like, love, hate

Know who they like, love, hate

Everyone has limitations (canine and human)

Everyone has physical limitations (canine and human)

They observe everything…so should you

They sense things we don’t…don’t forget to breathe

If they react, try to figure out what triggered it

PROVIDE FOR YOUR DOG

Tugging is great

Exercise is awesome

Mental exercise is even better

The Kong is man and dog’s best friend, but don't underestimate the power of a cardboard box

Enrichment is a great thing

Health is a priority

If you question something, check it out

You know your dog more than anyone else

TRAIN YOUR DOG

You have to start in kindergarten to pass college (Foundation skills are the key to success)

Focus is not everything, but it sure does help

Observe behavior (before and after an occurrence happens)

There is no magic wand to make everything better

Write it down, videotape, practice with your friends/family

Training builds confidence

Confidence builds curiosity 

Curiosity killed the cat…make sure they have an outlet for that curiosity

If you have communication and information, you’re one step closer to success

They observe everything…so should you

They sense things we don’t…don’t forget to breathe

Training builds confidence

Confidence builds curiosity 

Curiosity killed the cat…make sure they have an outlet for that curiosity

Everyday objects make the best training props

Free for alls (toys and treats) lead to satiation 

Sometimes you need to put on a silly wig or mask to know if they've truly learned something,

Or you at least need to make sure they are able to do that something in various places :)

Practice often, but in short sessions

End on a good note

IT IS OKAY

It is okay to manage behavior- a baby gate or crate can help

Frustration can be brutal (on both ends of the leash)

If something isn’t working, take a break or work on something else

If they react, try to figure out what triggered it

Management tools are just that…management.  Work toward the steps of not using them. 

STAY EDUCATED

You can learn a lot from a book or video, but you haven’t grasped it until you practice

Success does not happen overnight

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet

Check credentials

Check out facilities and ask questions

If you don’t feel comfortable doing something, they won’t either

Keep It S.I.M.P.L.E

Below is an essay I submitted this year for an Association of Pet Dog Trainers scholarship.  Although I didn't win the scholarship, I thought I'd share it here on the blog.  Enjoy!


Keep It S.I.M.P.L.E

Don’t worry.  S.I.M.P.L.E. is not a new acronym to learn. 

It is pretty funny to listen to dog trainer conversations.   Usually there are so many acronyms thrown around, it is really sounds like they are speaking another language. 

Acronyms are great.  The methods that the acronyms stand for are wonderful tools.  But, have we come to a time where everything about dog behavior is defined by an acronym?  Society has shown we like the magic fix.  If something can be solved with the latest, greatest idea, then that is what we need to do.   If a dog owner has some kind of problem, chances are there is an acronym that can help fix it.  I believe we can get the same solution for any problem with one idea- keep it simple. 

I am not a dog trainer because I had a problem dog.  I’m not a dog trainer because clicker training is the only thing that pulled my dog and I together.

I train dogs because I LOVE the process of learning.  I also love the fact that you can use your dog training knowledge in everyday life.   (Please don’t tell my friends I teach them new behaviors like I would teach my dog.  That does not go over very well).  The process is so simple, yet the world likes to overthink it.  If you have the right foundation knowledge, you can teach anything. 

When I run into a problem while teaching a new behavior, my first question is, “Why is my dog not understanding what I’m asking?”  There are three things that usually answer my question.

1    Environment-

If my dog is not responding in a given environment, I take it down a notch.  If we are outside, I move inside.  Is there something that is very distracting?  Is the dog uncomfortable in the environment?  I like to make my initial training sessions as sterile as possible so that the learning can be as pure as possible.  If a dog can truly learn something, that foundation will be there to use when you are ready to introduce distractions.   Try not to be the elephant on a balancing ball while training.  Keeping a sterile environment also means that the trainer needs to be as neutral as possible.  Small talk, fidgeting hands, and sporadic movement can be very distracting in a learning environment.  When you search for the stimulus that is distracting, think of your five senses (touch, sight, hear, smell, taste).   Make sure there is nothing within those senses that might be causing the dog to focus on something else.  

  Rate of Reinforcement-

The beauty of marker training is that we can tell our animal the exact moment that they did something correct.  Why not make more correct moments for them instead of waiting for those moments to happen?  Be proactive and it might just make the learning take that leap that you were searching for.  Imagine you are in a mock training session.  It is held in a completely white room.  Your behavior is being shaped.  Your goal is to find a tiny black spot of dirt on the wall (that you can not see without a microscope) and touch it with your finger.  A bell that someone rings from another room is marking you and your reward is a dollar bill that falls from an opening in the ceiling.  In order for you to find that spec, your behavior will need to be shaped with a high rate of reinforcement or your motivation will decline because it will be impossible for you to find that dirt without the help of shaping.  It is impossible for dogs to know exactly what we are asking without the help of guidance in small, frequent doses of reinforcement.    Also note, quantity is better than size.  If I use training treats for small dogs, I usually break those up into a couple of smaller pieces regardless of the size of the dog.  The more opportunities you have to reinforce, the better the session will be. 

3    Too much, too quickly –

Do I want more than I should?   Am I trying to send telepathic messages to my dog?  Should I click for a head turn or for that front paw to take a step?  The idea of a new behavior should be picture perfect to the trainer before it is taught to the learner.  Know what you want to mark and the steps in which you plan to get to the goal behavior.  Marking the head turn should come before the front paw step.  If the front paw step happens before a head turn, try not to go back a step and mark the head turn.  Training is a forward motion.   Keep it simple.  Simple steps can turn into great behaviors.  Great, simple behaviors can turn into great, complex behaviors.

At the end of the day a behavior is a behavior.  Whether it is target training a gator, shape recognition with autistic children, color discrimination with chickens or loose leash walking with dogs.  Simplify it.  Break it down.   Observe training outside of your comfort zone.  Dogs are such an important part of our lives and emotions sometimes get in the way of having a clear frame of mind while training.  We cannot possibly train a dog like a marine mammal trainer would train a dolphin, right?  Watch a dolphin training session on the Internet.  The steps needed to teach a dolphin to target an object are the same as training a dog; it is just another way to look at it.   Write down each one of the steps that you see and reference them when you teach your dog to target.

Keep it simple.  Don’t focus on what isn’t happening and try to find those positive moments. Take a break when you are frustrated.  Step back, breathe, and write down the issue.  Go to the park.  Turn on an old, favorite movie.  Come back a day later and try to work on the behavior again.  Think about the way of learning you prefer.  Did you enjoy the teachers that gave you stickers for each task you did correctly?  I was working on loose leash walking with one of my dogs about a year ago.  We worked on it everyday outside and something was not clicking correctly (pun intended).  My dog and I were frustrated and we had both gotten to a point of shutting down.  I decided to go to a nature preserve with her to shake it off and explore something new.  After an hour of walking and observing her checking in on me while we continued on the path, I realized what needed to happen with our training.  I was not communicating effectively.  I was not checking in with her.  I had jumped from step 1 to step 7 of loose leash walking.  The next day we loose leash walked for a couple of feet inside of the house, with no distractions.  Then, we walked from one side of the room to the next.  We slowly worked our way to another room and then in the back yard.  A couple of days later, we walked around the block successfully.  I was not aware of the environment, I did not reinforce effectively and I was attempting too much too quickly.  When I broke it down and kept it simple, the foundation was there for learning to happen. 

We are always learning and are capable of using that knowledge and experiences with our dogs (and others).   We just need to open our minds to that way of thinking instead of looking for that quick fix.   Let’s start the “keep it simple” trend.     

Backwards Thinking- Looking for the Positive

We live in a world where we are told what we do wrong a lot.  We get detentions in school.  We get tickets when we speed.  We can go to jail.  We pay fines and fees.

How many times a day do you thank someone for doing a nice gesture?

Positive reinforcement is a weird theory in our society.  It can be a little difficult to notice that someone is doing something "good."  We are taught that "good" is the normal way to act.  If we act out, punishment will happen to help stop the unwanted behavior.

Reinforcers are all around us though.  We get paid from working.  We have our comments "liked" on Facebook.  We get compliments on new clothes.  There are presents given to us on our birthdays.

We tend to reinforce others when it is expected, but it is not as prevalent during "normal" times when good behavior is expected.

What would happen if you were pulled over by a police officer when you were going the speed limit and given a gift certificate for a free lunch?  Would you be more likely to continue following the law because of the chance that the good behavior award might happen again?  Check out how a school in Pittsburgh is using positive reinforcement methods to lower behavior problems: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2t--FqCZ74

Look for opportunities to give your dog the good behavior award.  When you see something you like, click and treat.  The more often you do this, the more often you will see the good behavior.  This is very helpful in situations where anxiety and stress might be a little high (i.e., at the park or in a training class).  If you are waiting try something in class and you would like your dog to "behave," catch those moments as much as possible.  Let your dog know that you appreciate eye contact and focus on you while you are waiting to do something else or if another dog is attempting something new.  It will calm yourself and your dog.

The graphic below gives a few examples of what to look for in calm, good behavior.

I'm a Person Trainer

I have a confession to make.  I am a certified training partner from the Karen Pryor Academy.  I read any dog training book I can put my hands on.  I try to attend every seminar related to training that comes through my area.  But, I'm going to put it right on the table...my own dogs aren't perfect.

I absolutely LOVE it when dog trainers put their resume on their websites.  I want to see if they've attended any schools, seminars or if they are certified through certain organizations.  I tend to skim over the lists of titles they have with their dogs though.  Why?  It isn't because I do not respect what they do and what kind of time and dedication goes in to working toward those titles.  I skim because it does not tell me much about what kind of "person" trainer they are.  It just tells me they are a great dog trainer.

I love to teach others the methods of positive dog training, because I love to see the lightbulb go off at both ends of the leash.  When I'm teaching, I make sure the general idea of the steps needed are understood by the owner and then I focus on them.  The beauty of clicker training is that it is okay to make mistakes.  If you click something that you didn't mean to click, the worst thing that will happen is that the dog gets a free reward.  The horror, I know!  This allows me as the "person" trainer to make sure the owner is getting rewarded for their awesome behavior too.  I want to make sure they are relaxed and they know how to hold the clicker and that they are okay with delivering treats a certain way.  I also love to let them know when they have excellent clicker timing.  Why?  Because the more I reward great behavior, the more it will multiply and they will become better dog trainers.  I want to build confidence so that they don't have to always question whether or not they are doing something correctly. When the confidence of the owner goes up, they are more focused on getting behavior and not so much about making it perfect.  And that my friends makes a great equation: happy owner= happy dog.

This is a good quality to have in a trainer.  They may be awesome with dogs, but how are they will their own species?

It all came to light for me when I was in a fairly large class this past weekend.  We were working on some behaviors with our dogs that we would be getting graded on and my anxiety was very high.  It was a new environment for my dog, along with 15 new dogs that she had never met and the test required the behaviors to be fluent enough to not use treat rewards.  I ended up not setting myself or my dog up for success.  I had the idea in the back of my head that I'm a trainer and my dog should be perfect.  After breaking a couple of stays and barking and not being able to focus at all, the lightbulb went off.  What kind of advice would I give to someone in that situation?  How would I be the "person" trainer?  I calmed down and took a breath.  I put my treat bag back on my waist and took my little girl outside for a break.  When we came back in, we made our own little bubble away from the other owners and worked on simple stuff and made sure lots of clicks happened and then regrouped later on and worked on some of the behaviors at our own pace.

The moral of this soapbox post?  When you are looking for a dog trainer, try to meet them without your dog and see if you two click.  Make sure they are good at communicating.  Training an animal can be a pretty stressful situation sometimes and you want to make sure you feel comfortable with the person you are looking to for advice.  They should not only be your dog's biggest cheerleader, but also yours as well.

Tips for a Good Dog Training Session

You bought a clicker.  You have some treats.  Now you don't know what to do.  A good training session has a lot to do with how prepared you are as a teacher.  Set yourself and your dog up for success and the sky is the limit for what you both can learn and achieve.

Be Prepared
Make sure all of your training goodies are ready before you start the session.  I like to have treats the size of a pea during sessions. Treat bags are also a very useful tool.  Many pet store chains have treat bags available now.  You can also use tool pouches sold at Home Depot.  There are also many training websites that carry them.  Pouches that can go around your waist are less likely to fall off while training.  Here is an example of a waist pouch: http://store.clickertraining.com/karpryorchoi.html
I usually put the treat pouch behind my back during sessions.  Some dogs might fixate on the bag with the awesome food, especially if you tend to keep your hand in your pouch before you click.
 I have found that putting your clicker on a wrist coil can be very helpful.  Try to click and treat without your dog a couple of times.  Grab a cup and some dried beans or marbles.  Click and put the beans/marbles into the cup as fast as you can.  It can be a little tricky, but it is great practice.

Reinforcers Should Be Reinforcing
Your dog may love their kibble at home, but when you go out somewhere else they may not even sniff it.  I wouldn't either with all of the great smells outside of the house.  Make a list of things that you think are reinforcing to your dog.  Number one should be the most reinforcing.  String cheese and liver may be higher than boiled chicken.  Don't forget to add toys.  A tennis ball might trump any amount of food for some dogs.  Once you have list,  decide which reinforcers will your dog respond to with high distractions.  Hide those immediately.  They are like Triple 7's in a slot machine.  They should only be paid out during specials times (i.e. distractions, new behaviors, new environments).

Have a Plan (and stick to it)
One of the most helpful steps in training has nothing to do with your dog.  Putting a training plan on paper can be so beneficial, especially when it comes to shaping.  Write down how you plan to train the behavior step by step.  Make it as detailed and clear as possible.  What position should your dog be in when you begin training?  What does the end behavior look like?  What steps to the end behavior deserve a click?  This is a great tool to use if you get stuck while training.

Capture a Captive Audience
Is there a place in your home that doesn't have many distractions?  It might be the bathroom or an extra bedroom.  When training something new, distractions should be at a minimum.  Other animals, the TV on in the background, dinner being served...can all be something that take away from the learning experience.  Make sure you are in a very "boring" place so that you are the most interesting thing in there.

Don't be Afraid to make Mistakes
It is okay to make mistakes.  And it is okay for your dog to make mistakes.  If you click too soon or too late, learn from what happened and move on.  The best thing to remember that no matter what, a click means a reward is coming.  Even if a mistake is made, a reinforcer should always be given if you click/mark a behavior.  If the frustration level continues to escalate, take a break. If your dog decides to scratch their neck in the middle of the session, take it as your cue to give him or her a minute to regroup.  If there is not a lot of progression, go back to the drawing board.  Maybe you are asking for too much.  Go back to the sheet of paper with your training plan.

Shape the Behavior (don't be the pageant mom)
If you are shaping a behavior, it can be so easy to try to lure the dog in the right direction or shift your body in a certain way so the dog will tend to move with you.  Try not to do it.  The cool thing about shaping is to watch your dog make the decision to on their own.  It allows them to learn more effectively.   Sit in a chair and plant your feet and your hands and wait.  Let your clicker do all of the talking.  It may be pretty boring at the beginning, but your eyes will light up with joy when the lightbulb goes off.

Throw that Treat on the Ground
After you click, throw the treat away from you.  It may seem weird at first, but if allows your dog to regroup and reset.  If they truly learn a behavior, they will be able to continue to give you the behavior that you just clicked, even when you throw the treat away.  It is a good way to test your progress.

Have Fun
Lastly, training should be fun!  Engage your dog.  Make sure to reinforce as much as you can so that there is motivation for the dog to do more.   Tails should be wagging and mouths should be smiling.  Training is a way to communicate with your dog.  Learn how they learn and get to know them on another level.  Build the bond!

Twisters and Critters

Spring brings showers and lots of interesting weather.  In the recent years, tornadoes and severe storms have become more intense in the midwest.  Are you prepared?  There are various news clips and articles about the list of items you should have to prepare for a storm (flashlight, weather radio, water, etc ), but what kind of plan do you have for your pets.  Below are some useful tips.

1. What are the essentials?  During tornado season, have a tupperware container of pet food and some bottled water in your trunk.  If you need to leave your house with your pets, you might not know when you will be going back.  It is good to have the stash already available so that you can be more aware of your pets' initial needs during an evacuation.  

2. Where's the kennel?  Do you know where your pet carriers are?  During storm season, be sure to inventory your carriers and keep them in an area where you can find them.  If you have cats, this is a very important tip.  Make sure your animals are comfortable going into a carrier, so when things are chaotic, you will not have to worry about them going in hesitantly.  Occasionally feed cats in their carrier.  There are many videos and articles about working on crate games with your dogs.  They're fun exercises that can be very beneficial in the future.

3. Update your information?  If you're not able to take your pets during a storm, make sure they have identification on them.  During this time of the year, invest in new ID tags with updated information.  Microchipping is also a great option that should always be up-to-date.  If collars come off, a microchip is a great back up plan.

4. Where do we go?  Have a plan in place of where your animals can stay if you can not provide a home due to a storm or other catastrophe.  Contact your vet or boarding facility to ask about emergency situations.  Also make sure to check your emergency contact information at those facilities.  If you need to evacuate to a hotel, make sure you have a list of pet friendly options.

Be sure to have a plan.  Write things down.  Hopefully, you will not have to utilize these plans, but you will be prepared and have one less thing to worry about if you need them.  Stay safe!

UNT's ORCA Art & Science of Animal Training Conference (Break Down)

UNT’s ORCA Art and Science of Animal Training Conference is a one day seminar held in Denton, TX.  It also known at the Wicked Minds Conference.   This year’s presenters included Dr. Joe Layng, Bob Bailey, Phung Luu, Steve White, Alexandra Kurland, Kay Laurence, Ken Ramirez, and Steve Aibel.   The goal of this blog post is to cover the key points of each presenter’s topics for those that were not able to attend.  Please note that I didn’t record or write down everything the speakers said.  These are notes that I wrote down during the conference and are not exact quotes.

Dr. Joe Layng is a scientist that has created an online program for children to help them learn to read.   He explained that the terminology used in the psychology and training field has become somewhat confusing over the years….quoting 4 or 5 pieces of work that defined contingencies in different ways, but never really fully defining the term.  I’ll refer to his presentation as the “chair talk” for years to come.  He displayed many slides that showed that the idea of a concept really needs to be broken down as specific as you can make it.  His example was a chair.  Chairs have backs, but are not the same color.  They have legs, but not always four legs.  They usually make the person sitting in it have their legs extended at a 90 degree angle, unless it is something like a high chair.   A chair should also not be confused with a stool.  These are general concepts that usually people understand, but it is something we really need to think about when we are training and teaching others.  How much they know should not be an assumption.  He also mentioned feedback and when it should be administered.  Confirmatory feedback is immediate.  If you have a dog or trainer that is going to perform the behavior immediately after the previous behavior, feedback should be confirmatory.  Another example of feedback is instructional- it should precede the next occurrence of the task.  If you are at the end of a dog training class, you might give some notes of what to work on at home, but you may want to hold the feedback for the behavior they were working on until the next class, right before they work on that particular behavior again.  Dr. Layng also suggested reading “Analyzing Instructional Content” by Tiemann and Markle. 

Bob Bailey is a biologist and long time trainer.  His well know quote (which came from Keller Breland) is “training is simple, but not easy.”  He has trained many complex behaviors over the years, but stressed that they were all trained by breaking the behavior into very small steps.  He expanded on the chair presentation and discussed training ravens for the government.  They would send the ravens into buildings to retrieve objects and had to train them to go to different areas of a room.  He stated it became difficult when they started to think about how they need to define a chair vs. a recliner or a desk vs. a credenza in order for the raven to fully understand what they were asking.  Bob also made a great quote about behavior.  “The only behavior you can change is your own.”  We influence our animal’s behavior, but at the end of the day it is still their choice to change their behavior.  He also stressed there are two things you should focus on while training: What do I want? And What do I have?    I found it very interesting that Bob Bailey has never owned a dog in his life.   He trains a lot of dog owners and dog trainers and has found that many trainers lack good mechanic skills (he sees this when they come to chicken clicker camp).   His suggestion is to video tape your training and learn from it.

Phung Luu is a bird trainer and zoo behavior consultant.  He focused on Modal Action Patterns in animals.  These are behaviors that animals usually exhibit naturally or genetically.   Phung described a great story about a condor that was not in the training program at his facility because he was overly aggressive.  Phung took on the challenge to try to work with the bird in between training the other birds.   He took the steps that many dog trainers use to work with aggressive/reactive dogs.  He would throw meat into the cage to build up a trust and slowly worked his way into the cage and finally was able to bring the condor into one of their public shows a year later.  He trained a behavior that was a Modal Action Pattern.  He decided to shape a wing pump, which is a naturally occurring behavior in birds and in his mind, was a good behavior to work on because the bird wouldn’t be so focused on biting him.  There was a video after the story about two condors in a zoo that did not like each other and he again used the wing pump behavior to build up trust between the two birds until they were able to be in close proximity with each other. 

Steve White is a K9 officer from Seattle.  He began his presentation about discussing the idea of tribalism between trainers today.  Every form of training seems to be the best form of training.  Steve stressed how important it is to take data of your training.  It not only helps you see results and what you need to work on, but it is also a way to show clients the progression of your method of training.  It should be a way to give an idea of how long it might take to train a certain behavior and it is also a way to show mistakes.  In the world of dog training, where it might be faster to use some methods, it will be great to have data to show that using other methods might take longer initially, but will be more beneficial in the long run.  He made an interesting comment about dogs being cheap.  If a dog figures an easier way to reinforcement, they will go that route…and humans are the same way. 

Alexandra Kurland is a well know clicker horse trainer.  Her presentation was based around taking breaks during training sessions.  She made a great point in saying that breaks should happen during clickable moments and breaks, at the same time, can act as reinforcers.   Breaks can also make a good transition to a new criteria.  She also stated that breaks do not have to be very long, just a couple of seconds, and it does not have to completely stop a training session. During the presentation, Alexandra stated that while putting this presentation together she found that this topic might be a very good research topic for ORCA’s research students.   She is curious to know if taking a break actually betters the performance of the behavior and if break effectiveness differs between species. 

Kay Laurence is a dog trainer from England.  She has many border collies and stated that she has not taken her dogs to a training class since 1976.  She trains in her house or in her dog barn.  Her presentation was about the difference between training using targeting, luring, or free-shaping.  The three behaviors she taught with three of her dogs were walking around a cone, walking along a PVC pipe on the ground and “paddling” in two cat litter boxes that were taped together.  She showed videos of all of the training sessions and the progression of the behaviors.  After all of it, she showed a video of the “finished” behaviors.  If you did not know the back story of the training, it is very difficult to know how each behavior was trained.   It was noticeable that each behavior was slightly different though.   Kay also stated that in training, there may be certain behaviors that can be more effectively trained using luring and shaping.   Her new phrase of choice is “going operant.”   

Ken Ramirez is a marine mammal trainer at the Shedd Aquarium in Illinois and this year he asked Steve Aibel (Sea World) to also speak during the presentation.  This presentation showed some key elements from the aquatic world that have been passed down to other species training communities.  Ken discussed the idea of LRS.  This concept was created by the Sea World parks and stands for Least Reinforcing Scenario.  It is a couple of second break when the animal doesn’t given the behavior asked.  The trainer tries to make a neutral environment during this time and then goes straight into asking for another behavior.  He showed a video of a sea lion from the Shedd that he works with and how he executes the LRS with him.  It was such a short break in the training, that the normal person would not have realized it had happened.  He also showed a video of him using a LRS with his dog.  Ken went on to state that he has seen that dog trainers are a little reluctant to use LRS, but that they probably have used it without knowing.  Steve Aibel from Sea World San Antonio then discussed the idea of balance for the animals at their parks.  He stated that all animals need three types of needs: physical, social, and mental.  His coworker from Sea World, Mike Pool, went on to explain some acronyms they use to define what is needed for balance.  The first acronym is HELPRS (Husbandry, Exercise, Learn, Play, Relationship, Show) and the second was VRRV (Variable, Ratio, Reinforcement, Variety).  All of the marine mammal trainers stressed the importance of having a relationship with the animal you are working with and making sure the trainer and animal are having fun. 

At the end of the conference there was a Panel Q&A.  Dr. Jesus Rosales Ruiz chose one question from the attendees and the entire panel answered.  I am not really sure what the initial question was, but it was along the lines of whether or not they thought it was beneficial in training for the trainer to have fun and if it effected the outcome of the behavior being trained.  Bob Bailey stated he did not know.  He didn’t believe there was any scientific data to prove that it bettered the behavior.  Ken Ramirez stated that in his line of work it is beneficial to have fun and build the relationship with the animal and that the idea of having fun could possibly be turned into a conditioned reinforcer.  Bob Bailey went on to say that during his years of training for his company, he had more fun with the process of training than the relationship with the animal and found it more beneficial to see a result at the end of the training.  There was a lot of back and forth between the panel, but it also presented another great opportunity for another research project for the ORCA students.  Steve White did mention joining the Observation Skills for Dog Trainers Facebook group (I’m not sure where that reference came into the discussion, but it does look like an interesting group). 

ORCA's website