John Richardson - The Dog Whisperer: The Essential Guide to Understanding and Raising a Happy Dog

First published in Australia in 2001 by

New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd

Sydney Auckland London Cape Town

www.newholland.com.au
1/66 Gibbes Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia

218 Lake Road Northcote Auckland New Zealand

86 Edgware Road London W2 2EA United Kingdom

80 McKenzie Street Cape Town 8001 South Africa

Copyright 2001 in text: John Richardson

Copyright 2001 in illustrations: Leslye Sharon Cole

Copyright 2001 New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:

ISBN 9781864366983 (pbk.).
e-ISBN: 9781921655500

I dedicate this book to my wife, Hazel, in love and appreciation for her help and support in all the things that I do.

I would also like to mention the other women in my lifemy sisters Doreen and Sylvia for the camaraderie we had whilst growing up, and my daughter, Kelly, who shares my love of dogs.

There are many people to whom I am indebted for their assistance during the writing of this book. In particular, I wish to thank Leslye Sharon Cole for her illustrations; Lorraine Hamilton for the foreword; Dr David Ball, B.V.Sc., M.Sc., Dip.Ed, for his input on dietary aspects; Inspector Commander Peter Crumblin for inviting me to the Police Dog Unit at Menai; Sgt. Paul Doney, Training Co-ordinator, for passing on his knowledge of how the Unit works and what skills are required by both dog and handler to become an effective team; and to Senior Constable Matt McCaldie and Merlin for demonstrating those skills. I would also like to thank Jenny Judson for her help and guidance; Susan and Ray Pitstock; The Greyhound Adoption Program (NSW) Inc; Ron Arnold and Alan Batchelor of Harold Park; Shane Clarke of Pestforce and Alf; Jim Silver and King; the owners of Boss; and the Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute Club of South Australia Inc.

Leslye would like to thank John and Hazel Richardson for the opportunity to illustrate this book; Anouska Good, Monica Ban and Nanette Backhouse at New Holland; and the following people for their help and support: Rod Cole, Tim and Tessa Cole, Max and Elaine Coates, Monty Sloane, Jim Brandenburg, Brodee Myers-Cooke, Rod and Rai Schieb, and Garry and Susie Murphie.

In my ten years of experience, culminating in the management of an animal shelter, I have been appalled at the number of dogs surrendered by owners due solely to problems occurring as the result of a lack of training. A large number of these dogs have died needlessly, and had their owners had a better understanding of the thought processes of a dog, many of them may have been saved from such a fate.

Amongst the many stories I have heard, one springs to mind. The case of a small, seemingly happy dog who had bitten on several occasions, and when seated comfortably on the lounge, would not allow anyone to remove him. He obviously believed that he was where he had a right to be, according to his own understanding of his position in the household. Right from the start, the little fellow had been treated as a woolly human (to use John's terminology). The matter may well have been resolved quickly and easily, using John's training methods, had the owner understood why the dog was acting in such a way. That little dog was one of many unfortunate animals to lose its life, due more to human error than any fault of its own.

I have always believed that to be a successful part of a family, a dog needs to have good manners, according to our human standards. Over the years, I had seen different styles of dog training, but was still to have my eyes opened to the more gentle reward-based methods of communicating our desires to our dogs.

I first saw John work his magic at a seminar, where he demonstrated his skills with two energetic, young working breed dogs, borrowed from the shelter. Both dogs had been surrendered to the shelter because they had outgrown their cute stage, and had entered the inevitable difficult teenage period of their lives. They were a handful and their owners did not have the knowledge, nor the desire, to deal with this. I was impressed at how quickly and effortlessly John put his theories into practice, and how within a very short time each dog was calm and concentrating solely on him, in spite of the obvious distractions of a crowd and the inevitable interesting aromas of a strange new place. The dogs seemed oblivious to everything and everyone around them, and were quickly beginning the process of a new way of learning, and clearly enjoying it. I was hooked!

Since then, I have become a dedicated advocate of this gentle, intelligent method of communicating with our dogs. If all dog owners had the knowledge and understanding to use such simple, humane methods, I feel sure that the shelters and pounds would not be forced into the unenviable position of having to euthanase healthy young dogs, simply due to behaviour mismanagement.

John is spreading his word as much as possible. As the founder of DogTech International and his individual in-home behavioural modification sessions, as well as his work in training veterinary nurses, and as a Canine Good Citizens Instructor, he is opening the eyes of other people involved with dogs. He conducts seminars and workshops to help staff and inspectors of shelters and pounds understand how to deal with aggression in some of the dogs they are confronted with. For such people, having the knowledge to interpret the body language displayed by a dog may indeed prevent a dangerous situation from escalating into an attack.

With this book, John will be able to reach even more people involved with dogs. Readers will gain an understanding of the dog psyche, and why different breeds have different characteristics. I find it exciting that as a result of reading John's book, even more people will come to use positive, motivational, reward-based training methods. It can only be good for all dog-kind.

Lorraine Hamilton

Animal Shelter Manager, A.C.T.

September 2000

by John Richardson

England in winter can be a very exciting place when you are six years of age and have just been given your first dog. As a child growing up in this cold climate, I would often wake up early in winter, when it had been snowing, to build a snowman and take my dog Monty outside to play. I would throw snowballs for him to fetch, which was one of our favourite games. Monty would run after the frozen balls, but could rarely find them as they would usually disintegrate as they hit the ground. When the snow was icy, and the snowballs didnt break up, he would find it difficult to hold the icy snowballs in his mouth. But with all this, he still loved the game and, of course, so did I.