Matthew P Duffy - Ten Natural Steps to Training the Family Dog: Building a Positive Relationship

Ten Natural Steps to Training the Family Dog
Building a Positive Relationship

Copyright 2009 by Matthew Paul Duffy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN-13: 978-1456526306
ISBN-10: 1456526308
www.duffydogtraing.com

On the way, the queen and four of the brothers died; they were not sufficiently pure to be able to enter heaven in their human bodies. Only Yudhisthira, the royal saint, journeyed on, accompanied by his faithful dog. When they reached heaven, Indra, the king of gods, told him that the dog could not come in. Yudhisthira replied that, if this were so, he would stay outside heaven too, but he could not bring himself to desert any creature which trusted him and wished for his protection. Finally, after a long argument, both the dog and king were admitted. Then the dog was revealed as Dharma himself. This had been yet another test of Yudhisthiras spiritual greatness.

Bhagavad-Gita, circa 300 BC

Dedication

To Mother Nature,
Who taught me about Spirit

Matthew Duffy was born and raised in southern Indiana, the beautiful hilly country overlooking the mighty Ohio River. His natural rapport with animals became apparent at the young age of thirteen when Matt worked as a mounted trail guide for a local riding stable. After years of working with horses, Matt turned his full attention to dogs. He completed a comprehensive professional dog trainers course in 1980 and soon became the head trainer at a prominent kennel in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1983, Matt entered into a partnership with a dog training center in Indiana and several years later established his own training facility, Advanced Training Kennel, Inc.

During Matts very active career, he has:

titled dogs to various levels of working degrees, while a member of the United Schutzhund Clubs of America;

completed courses at the Koehler Method of Dog Training Clinic, the International Police Dogs (scent detection) seminar, the All Breed K-9 Academy (patrol dog) seminar, and the Tom Brown Tracking School;

studied psychology at Indiana University Southeast and was inducted into the National Honor Society in Psychology in 1983;

graduated from the Floyd County Police Academy and served as a K-9 officer;

been an active member of the North American Police Work Dog Association and the Indiana Search and Rescue Work Dog Association.

Currently, Matt owns and operates Duffys Dog Training Center LLC, where he oversees the instruction of several hundred dogs and their owners annually. A master of his trade, Matthew Duffy has trained literally thousands of dogs over the past two and a half decades for every imaginable purpose: family obedience, handicap assistance, search and rescue, even termite detection. Any working day of the week, youll find Matt with a leash in his hand, ever continuing to sharpen his expertise.

Without the help of the following people, this book would have never reached fruition. It is my sincere wish that every reader spend enough time to acknowledge the names listed below; for each one of these good friends invested real thought, real time, and real effort into this project. Their support and enthusiasm, at every turn, gave me the confidence to forge ahead.

I want to thank first and foremost my associates David Benson, Kathy Pruit, and Cathy Cantu for their undying interest in this book and for their invaluable insights during countless hours of dog training discussions. They truly helped to keep me focused.

I owe much to Mitzi Streepy and her expert editing ability; she helped turn my rough manuscript into a real book, and she, above all others, made me feel that this book was worth reading.

I am deeply grateful to my two scientific friends Dr. John Parker and Karen Brinkley who so meticulously and expeditiously edited the content and structure of the manuscript. Through their expert eyes, we were able to refine the book into its finished readable form. Simply because I asked, they carried out this task with the kindness and concern of true friends. I will never forget their favor.

I also would like to thank Nolan Hulsey for his professional and patient photographic skills. His contribution to this book is priceless, and we all enjoyed his infectious enthusiasm for photography.

I must say that this project would have come to a screeching halt were it not for my son, Zachary Paul. He jumped on board when I needed help the most, putting together all the final pieces of the book. Imbedding pictures, organizing everything in proper electronic format, satisfying the demands of the publisher, and developing a marketing strategyall these tasks combined with operating the training center created an overwhelming challenge for me. When Zachary came to my aid, he immediately stepped into the role of agent/book doctor with such ease and competence it was hard to believe he was actually a neophyte. In large part, you are able to appreciate this book because of Zacharys diligent contributions.

Just when I thought all of the tedious work was finished, the final proof readings rolled around. I needed one more set of fresh, intelligent eyes to meticulously read over every word of the manuscript. How grateful I was that my daughter, Heidi Rose, jumped on these challenge. With the Highest degree of care and comprehension, she covered this book from front to back and then from back to front, helping me with numerous clarifications and corrections. We made a good team.

Finally I would like to offer special thanks to all of our gracious clients, who allowed us to photograph their dogs and themselves during training. Without their contribution, this book would have fallen short of being the family-dog instruction manual we had intended it to be.

I am truly a fortunate man for having had the opportunity to work with my son and daughter along with so many other good people.

The more I see of the representatives of the people, the more I admire my dogs.

Alphonse de Lamartine, Count DOrsay (1850)

Ive spent my entire adult life working with dogs. Over the course of twenty-seven years, thousands of families have entrusted the training of their canine family members to me. Handling more than ten thousand family dogs has given me the unique opportunity to develop a training approach that specifically addresses the balance between a human family and its dogs.

My appreciation and acceptance of animals the way they are is a direct result of my mothers natural and insightful tutelage. Reared in the country, my mother was surrounded by animals through adolescence. Whether it was at home with her own pet crow, dog, or horse or at a best friends house with multiple horses or a weekend on Grandmothers farm, she lived for the animals. Mother always loved animals just the way they were. She proved to be an outstanding horsewoman all her life. Equally adept at English or Western riding styles, Mom rode with passion. I had the good fortune of working with her most of my life. We managed a riding stable together during my teens, and as soon as I finished my education, she followed me into the dog training business. All through the years, Mom carried with her an amazement for people who didnt understand animals. She spent countless hours on the phone explaining to clients how to adjust their dogs behavior to suit the family routine or modify the home environment to better suit dog ownership rather than fruitlessly trying to shape a dog into a four-legged human being.