Sheila Booth - Purely Positive Training: Companion to Competition

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

SCHUTZHUND OBEDIENCE
Training in Drive
with Gottfried Dildei

The Positive Puppy Preview

Cover design by Leslie G. Perry

All rights reserved.
Copyright 1998 by Podium Publications.

No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form, or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the author (Sheila Booth)
or the publisher (Podium Publications).

Fifth Printing - Year 2006

PODIUM PUBLICATIONS
P.O. Box 32, Free Union, Va. 22940
onpodium@optonline.net

ISBN 0-9663020-0-1

Printed on Recycled Paper

The Royal Fireworks Press Unionville, N.Y.

Printed in the U.S.A.

For my Mum
and my Dad,
who gave to me
and share with me
my most precious gift
a love of animals.

Special Thanks

to Patty Ruzzo,
for endless inspiration and encouragement,

and Ron Harris,
for keeping the faith in purely positive training.

Thanks also to those special friends who
provided valuable input and technical support:
Capt. Dick Bernier, Fran Bernier,
Edna Booth, Deborah Harris, Fran LeBarron,
Melani Nardone and Sandi Wasch.

Ask the animals
and they will teach you.

The Book of Job

Until he extends
the circle of his compassion
to all living things,
man will not himself find peace.

Albert Schweitzer

I loved Sheila's first book, Schutzhund Obedience: Training in Drive, and I was one of many who prompted her endlessly to write a sequel.

This new book makes my heart sing. The message -the fun is in the process and the process is FUN - rings clear and true throughout. All I need to proceed with this hands-off, compulsion-free, positive-power approach to training is myself, my dog, his favorite toy, a pocket full of cookies and smiles, and eyes and a mind taught to look for what the dog is doing right

One may begin applying these purely positive principles immediately, with any breed of dog, at any age or level of expertise, and no matter what the previous reinforcement history, great things will begin to happen almost at once. The most satisfying result is being teamed up with an ears-forward, eyes-bright joyous canine partner. As John Rarey, a nineteenth century horse tamer said,

Kindness is Power.

It is my pleasure to enthusiastically endorse this book, this author, and this way of training dogs. Read it for the sake of your dog, because

EVERY DOG DESERVES THIS BOOK!

Patty Ruzzo

This book, like this purely positive training method, is a work-in-progress, though now it has a cover and a title. It is a story still being told. So, like all good stories, it has a once-upon-a-time beginning and some characters you need to meet to understand the plot.

Once-upon-a-time for me was the first time I ever saw someone training a dog in obedience. It certainly wasn't very motivational. Looking back, it wasn't even very good. But it took less than a minute for me to be hooked. I knew what I wanted to do. Dog training has remained my passion for 25 years now.

During that time, I sought answers - often without managing to ask the right questions of the right entity. Along the way, I learned. Sometimes I even succeeded, but the whole process was missing something. Somehow it just didn't feel right.

Then I saw Patty Ruzzo. Truly, when it's right - you know it. Patty was already a winning trainer in obedience competition when she chose to dedicate herself to training without any sort of correction. She brought her trust and respect for her dog to training, and added that all-important ingredient - love.

Those of us gravitating toward positive training were already using food, despite those other folks who told us that it was bribery, and that the dogs wouldn't work when we didn't have the food. How were we ever led to believe all that stuff ?

We had also learned to use toys and games as rewards so our dogs loved training. But we still bought into the premise that eventually you had to use corrections or the dog would never be reliable in the ring. We compromised.

But Patty refused to compromise. She threw away her prong collar and began training without a leash. She substituted cookie-power and brain-power for compulsion. She decided if she had to hurt her dog to do it, then it wasn't worth it. With that decision, she opened the door for the stampeding herd of folks behind her who want to use their brains instead of their brawn to train their beloved dogs.

Then Patty suggested a seminar by Ted Turner, a behaviorist and trainer at Ohio Sea World. By the end of that weekend, I felt like I'd been training in the dark for 20 years. Somebody had just turned on the light!

Not only did we learn the difference between behavior and learning, we were introduced to the huge body of scientific evidence explaining why and how positive reinforcement works. Not only does it work, it's the only way that works without doing damage to your precious relationship with your dog.

But will this type of training hold up in the ring? The dolphins and killer whales perform reliably, several shows a day, during the entire season. They do this without ever wearing a prong collar or feeling an electric shock. And they play to audiences much larger and louder than are found ringside at our shows!

Well, sure, then maybe you can train this way for competition. But your neighbor will still have to use corrections to train that unruly brat dog he just got from the shelter. Right?

Wrong. Leslie Nelson found a way to use these purely positive principles in pet obedience classes. Through the correct use of positive reinforcement, owners learn how to build a strong relationship with their dogs, and teach them good manners and basic obedience at the same time.

So now you understand why you might read Patty says, or according to Ted, or Leslie recommends. They are the pioneers who paved my way down this new road. Today, I'm proud to be a standard bearer for the quiet revolution in positive training.

Putting all this together has been pure pleasure for me. I have more excitement, enthusiasm and energy for training now than I've had in 25 years. Funny, the dogs seem to feel the same way! And I'm a lot closer to waking up each day and being found worthy of my wonderful dogs.

Speaking of my dogs, since they are the main characters in this story, you might as well meet them right now.

The dog who graces this cover, Espe, was the first to open my eyes. I brought her from Germany when she was four years old and titled to SchH. II. She came into my life to show me just how much damage compulsive training could do, even to the most singularly sensational dog.

Espe arrived with visible baggage, and I vowed she would never be hurt that way again. I opted to find out what motivational methods might produce, and devoted myself to seeing how joyful I could make her training.

I made a lot of mistakes floundering down the path by myself, but I learned some valuable lessons along the way. Two years later, Espe scored 298 points (100-98-100) in SchH. III a regional championship, one of the highest scores ever earned in that sport.

Espe was my super dog, the standard by which all others will forever be measured, but Charra became the one to teach me the most about positive training. In her 13 years, she succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, and showed me so much along the way. Although I bred Charra (Espe was her mother), she was sold to an experienced trainer as a very promising puppy. She was returned to me at about 14 months old, after an international trainer and judge had deemed her stick shy and pronounced her unsuitable for Schutzhund work.