Steve Mann - Easy Peasy Puppy squeezy

STEVE MANN

& Martin Roach

Published by Blink Publishing
2.25, The Plaza,
535 Kings Road,
Chelsea Harbour,
London, SW10 0SZ

www.blinkpublishing.co.uk

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Trade paperback 978-1-788-701-60-0
Ebook 978-1-788-701-61-7

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Copyright Steve Mann & Martin Roach, 2019

Steve Mann & Martin Roach have asserted their moral right to be identified as the authors of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

Blink Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk

To Gina, Luke and all who work with rescue dogs

I N 30 YEARS as a professional dog trainer, Steve Mann has worked with over 100,000 dogs in many diverse and varied environments in the security and detection field, for the TV and film industries, as a higher education lecturer on Animal Behaviour and Husbandry, as well as with a number of international sports stars and high-profile celebrity dog owners. He has made many television appearances as a dog behaviour expert, including as the winning trainer on BBCs The Underdog Show. Steve is the founder of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers, the leading body for trainers and behaviourists worldwide.

With a passion for ethical and science-based dog training, Steve has taught throughout Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East to lead the way in modern, positive dog training. Steves approach is based in sound behavioural research as opposed to dog training myths and hearsay.

Steve is also a passionate champion and supporter of dogs in rescue: If we get it right with our puppies and educate society as to how to live right with our canines, then my dream of no dogs in rescue centres may just become a reality.

Steve lives in Hertfordshire with his wife Gina, son Luke and seven (yes, seven!) dogs: Nancy chihuahua mix; Pablo Staffordshire bull terrier; Ash German shepherd; Pele greyhound; Spider whippet; Summer lurcher; Carlos Fandangos of the West Malinois.

If youre struggling for time and just need the puppy training shortcuts skip to .

T HEY USED TO call me the freaky dog boy. I grew up in Waltham Abbey in Essex in the 1970s and 1980s; then there were always a couple of dogs out playing with the kids in the street and I just loved em! Thats how it was back then. Dogs were just out and about, doing their thing. Yet, at home we never had a dog. My mum tried to fob me off with, How about a rabbit, Stephen? to which Id reply, Well, no, it aint a dog, Mum, is it?! So, we never had a dog and rightly so, because my parents worked hard and while it was a lovely idea for a kid growing up, it wasnt the right thing to do.

My family are all Irish, so we would go to Ireland in the summer holidays and over there it seemed standard that everyone had dogs. I can still remember that magical, summer holiday feeling, travelling to Ireland all excited, then seeing and being around loads of dogs when we got there which made it all the more frustrating that we never had a dog when we got back home. Not being able to have one just magnified my obsession with them because they felt a lot more precious. So, I played with the dogs in the streets by my house to get my fix. Pretty quickly I was just obsessively into dogs.

Then, one day I found out there was a dog training class nearby, so I went along and just sat at the back, watching the trainers and the owners, but mostly the dogs. Over time I started taking neighbours dogs to the training class. Sometimes Id even take a dog off the street and go to the class with them. If there werent any dogs around to take with me, Id still go without a dog. The freaky dog boy, sitting at the back.

I soon started helping the trainers tidy up at the end of class, then I began to set everything up with them at the start of the lesson. Id be making the tea, putting up the jumps, getting out the toys, then Id go and do the same at another dog school, then another school and so on. I became a dog training groupie.

Perhaps, inevitably, the trainers began asking me to help in the class itself. Maybe watching a certain dog who needed a little reassurance or whatever. I got under the wing of a few these of trainers and they tried showing me how to train dogs. The universal philosophy was pretty much, Dog does something good, you give them something good, namely a pat on the head; dog does something bad, you give them something bad, which meant you pulled on the lead or shouted at them or even, bizarrely, threw water at them. And, yes, some of the trainers and owners would hit the dogs.

Thats when it got serious for me.

I was only twelve or thirteen at this point, but I felt very uncomfortable with some of the training that was going on. Back then, the methodology was pretty old school: at best strict, at worst very harsh. It was heavy handed, it was physical. There was widespread use of punishment. Thats how it used to be, but I just didnt agree. There was a real emphasis on corrections on punishing a dog and a strict focus on how to stop the dog doing something. I would sit there and watch while shuffling uncomfortably in my seat, thinking, Why dont we just focus on what we do want, rather than only looking for the bad? The more I was seeing and learning, the more I was thinking, This training aint actually very good.

Thats the stuff that would keep me awake at night because I couldnt understand or agree with so much of it. Subconsciously I began to read dogs body language (which was never even mentioned at any of these classes) and how the dogs exhibited their feelings and what sort of relationships they had with their owners. Behind the very rigid classes, I started seeing the scabby bits: the dog getting a bit stressed but no one noticing, the dog that was scared because of the punishments, the puppy that was struggling for breath every time their owner yanked their lead as discipline and, crucially, Id notice the owners who were getting stressed, too.

Looking back, that approach was pretty grotty, but it was across the board. Everyone seemed to do it like that.

But they were wrong. I know now that they were wrong.