If asked what I would consider the best achievement in the 14 years of using positive relationship and clicker training the answer would be the relationship of trust love and respect build between the dog and their human.  The most heart warming compliment I ever received from my mentor Susan Sharpe was “Ava trusts you”.  Ava was a German shepherd, who I call my teacher.  She was the dog who introduced me to the power of a hot dog.  A hot dog which replaced fear with love as she overcame her fear of children.   When she looked at a child and heard the click she received a hot dog or piece of chicken or other yummy treat.  The association of a child causing fear was changed to a child making treats fall from the sky which decreased her fear.  We continued on with our relationship building and she was honored to become a Certified Therapy Dog as well as Canine Good Citizen. 

Taking all that she taught me I went on to develop my skills and knowledge and am now a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed as well as a Dog Gone Safe Educator. Certified Fear Free Trainer and instructor through E-Training for Dogs.  Being a CPDT-KA allows me the opportunity to continue my learning through seminars and webinars to earn CEU’s to retain the certification.  I am very fortunate to live close to Wolf Park in Indiana and have attended weekend seminars with Nicole Wilde and Dr. Susan Friedman.  Along with my brain expanding with learning the having the ability interact with the domesticated wolves who have been taught using a clicker and reinforcement with a yummy treat put the escalation point behind how positive reinforcement training does work!   Also very happy to volunteer at Animal Care and Control as well Fort Wayne Pit Bull Coalition.  

Not only has this training helped me with dogs it has also helped me with the relationships with people.  It has taught me patience knowing that all are at different stages of learning.  That learning history does impact behavior.  Have clear and concise communication.  To click and treat the humans when they do a behavior to be repeated.   Have mentored others who have continued on and become CPTD-KA trainers.  These are my goals; continue learning, continue helping, and continue to be a teacher and a trainer.  Want to join me?  Enroll in one of the classes taught here. 

Student Testimonials:
“I am so impressed by Jan and her ability to train both the dogs AND the people who seek her expert advice. My dog just graduated from her basic training class, and she is not only better behaved, but the class helped us form a true bond. Now, together, we are a better pair! We understand each other better–my dog WANTS to please me and is constantly watching me to see what I want her to do next. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.”   Allison

“Jan is amazing and knows her stuff! Because of what I’ve learned from her my Bella and I have a great bond. I highly recommend Jan for any issues you may have with your four legged friends. Thank you so much for everything Jan. I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am for you sharing your knowledge with me. Oh and your patience for when I mess up more than Bella.”  Sarah

“Janis was amazing to deal with. She was kind, patient, and gave us so many tools to work with. Working with her I never felt like we were just a job to her, she truly loves what she does and she cares for the dogs she works with.”  Cassandra

By Chris Redenbach CDBC, CBCC-KA

For years I’ve been telling people that different dogs need different

approaches to their training and enrichment. This is a species of unparalleled variation in both behavior and morphology. But they are almost all of human design. When we look at truly wild dog populations around the world, they tend to be medium size animals with generally brown or white coats, prick ears and moderate angulation. They are, like wild animals everywhere, adapted for a niche where they make their livings from predation, scavenging and eating treats such as berries when available. Their environment dictates their morphology and behavior as it does wolves or any other wild animal up against considerable odds for survival and reproduction (inclusive fitness).

By contrast, the domesticated dog has become a marvel of selective breeding, setting traits for many hundreds of generations, to aid humans in so many extremely different roles. Studies reveal significant differences in innate behavior sequences and the morphological differences are glaringly obvious. It is not hard to think of this as a human guided evolution of sorts. Species differentiation can be quite rapid. A marvelous illustration of this phenomenon is the differentiation of the anole lizard of the Caribbean in nature and in an eye-opening experiment carried out by biologists. You can see the videos about anole speciation at the links below. The point for this article is that speciation occurred based on the requirements of differing habitat and prey. And the morphological and behavioral changes were well established in as short a time as two years. The anole species adapted for tree living (long legs and thick textured toe pads for gripping big branches) placed on a small island devoid of trees, quickly developed shorter legs and different toe pads adapted for living and hunting in bushes. Just two years!

So it was no surprise, but rather a joyous holiday celebration, when Dr Erin

Hecht of Harvard, published her study of brain scans of different breeds, demonstrating that brains of different breeds have, at least in some cases, changed the brain itself, adapting to the new specializations that selective breeding has brought¹ ². I hope that this finally leads us in the right direction of understanding our dogs better. The phrase “a dog is a dog is a dog” is not now and never was true. We are the lucky guardians of a genetic diversity that deserves understanding and protection.

For more about the rapid evolution/adaptation of anoles, see these two videos: Adapting Anoles  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0kDf_ozVd4 and Islands in Evolution: Anoles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vlx8fSqYVE

By Jana Rade

I think we can all agree that nutrition is a corner stone of health. But do we understand what we should feed our dogs and why? And where do we turn to in order to find out? Is it OK to just grab any old bag of dog food in a grocery store?

When Jasmine came to our lives, we quickly learned that while she was a beautiful, smart, amazing dog, she was not blessed with good health. Some of her health challenges started from the get go and more piled up over the years. At an early age, she was put on a prescription diet. But did that do her any good?

Watching her body struggling with one problem after another, it didn’t make sense to me that a dog could have all those things wrong with them separately. I became convinced that there had to be a connection. How much of that could have been caused or exaggerated by what she was eating? How much of that could be improved by a comprehensive nutritional strategy?

While I was learning about the medical problems she was dealing with, I also turned my attention to nutrition. I read every article and every book I could find. We did implement some changes and they did help some. But I kept wondering whether I could do better yet.

After you read a few books on dog nutrition, you realize they are pretty much the same. For the most part, they tell you what you should be doing (in the author’s opinion) but very little about why you should be doing it. To me, the WHY is always extremely important. The better you can understand something, the better you can implement it.

I realized I exhausted all the books and online content I could find. I decided to further my understanding by finding and taking a comprehensive dog nutrition course.

There is impressively very little out there available for online dog nutrition courses. Of course, you can always find one provided by one dog food company or another. How reliable is their information? Do I really just need to learn which kibble I should feed? I didn’t think so.

Then I came across an integrative Canine Nutrition Courses by Dr. Ava Frick, DVM. Sounded good. Before I went on spending my money on the course, I consulted with our vet, as well as several of my online integrative veterinary friends. Dr. Frick comes highly recommended as somebody who knows her stuff. And she certainly does.

I have taken both parts of the course, Intro to Canine Nutrition (Part I) and Advanced Canine Nutrition (Part II) and I’m happy that I did. I feel like I was given the key to the secret room where real dog nutrition information is kept. The course provided insights I was looking for as well as provided my with the bases for further learning.

I did, of course, started implementing my newly-gained knowledge for Jasmine. I believe her new diet contributed to the quality of her life.

I remember a vet once telling me, “Not all the bad stuff always happens and if it does, it doesn’t all happen to the same dog.” Well, he didn’t know Jasmine.

We feel that the fact she lived as long as she did, with the quality of life she had, was just amazing. She always had an amazing zest for life and enjoyed everything to the fullest. All the way to the end she had a bounce in her stop. It was a neck injury and side-effects of the treatment that finally sealed her fate.

Jasmine is the driving force and inspiration behind everything I do.

I now implement my knowledge for our other dogs, as well as I am happy to help out others.

Nutrition is the foundation of health. Feed your dog right. And don’t forget, whatever you feed them, keep them lean!

***

Jana Rade is a graphic designer by profession and never aspired to learning about dog health issues and nutrition until she met Jasmine. She received a crash course in the subject due to jasmine’s many health issues and has since become an advocate for other dog owners and their four-legged friends. In her blog, Dawg Business, Jana shares her experience and lessons she learned with others. This is the message she shares with all dog owners: “Your dog’s health is up to you.”

You can also check our Jana’s Dog Health Issues group or connect with Jana on Twitter.

In this presentation, you will learn important information you need to know before you begin to train a gluten detection dog. There is much more to it than teaching a dog a target odor. The dog needs to be able to work in an odor-filled environment and pick up on trace levels of gluten while sorting through millions of other odors. Much like the intense training and proofing that goes into preparing a service dog to work in public, ensuring the dog is comfortable and safe around a myriad of people, sounds, and other animals, the gluten detection dog will require just as much training and proofing on checking products and prepared meals.

We will discuss issues involved in working with a odorant (gluten) that does not behave like other odors you may have worked with before. You will gain an understanding of what you are working with, what you are training for, and help you understand the needs of the the person using a gluten detection dog at home and in the public. How to train a gluten detection dog is not as simple as the dog indicating whether something is or is not safe to consume. Understanding not only how this training differs from other scent work, it is also important to understand how a person with Celiac or other conditions requiring a gluten-free lifestyle can use the gluten detection dog effectively.

Speaker: Dawn Scheu

Available as a recording.

****Due to the nature of these webinars being recorded live, at the speakers home or office, there will/may be some technical issues that can not be helped or edited without losing important portions of the lecture.

In this webinar we will talk about:

• Some diseases that require a gluten-free diet
• Federal rules for gluten-free labeling
• Gluten-free products and why reading labels isn’t reliable
• Proper scent handling and cross-contamination
• Gluten protein as an odorant and why it is different from other odors
• What is a controlled search
• Working with both a trained indication and “all clear” behaviors

Cost: $25.00 USD

CEU’s: 
CCPDT – 2 (2 CPDT-KA; 1 CBCC-KA)
IAABC – 2 
PPAB/PPG – 2 CEUs
NADOI – 2 CEUs
IACP – 2 CEUs

Dawn Scheu is a Professional Service Dog Trainer and owner of Willow Service Dogs L.L.C. Dawn began training dogs in 1998 when she joined a Search and Rescue team and began training her first working dogs in the areas of Urban, Wilderness and Tracking/Trailing. It was after Dawn was diagnosed with a normally fatal form of Celiac disease that she trained the first gluten detection dog in the United States to save her own life. Dawn was the first trainer to implement a controlled search to allergen detection training of any kind, utilizing both an indication and an all clear behavior with her personal service dog Willow. She wrote the original Gluten and Allergen Detection Standards that have been used by service dog trainers nationally. Dawn also has trained dogs for other allergen detection and medical alerts including: seizure, diabetes, POTS, and mast cell activation disorder. Dawn is a founding member and President of O.D.O.R. Service Dogs Inc., an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring scent detection service dogs are trained to the highest standards and demonstrate reliability. She holds several professional memberships with her educational focus in animal behavior. She is also a APDT C.L.A.S.S. Evaluator/Instructor and an O.D.O.R Evaluator.