Foundations in sound alerting: Training dogs in basic sound alerting skills

• SW101- Foundations in Sound Alerts

Instructor: Martha Hoffman, BA 
and Barbara Handelman, M.Ed., LCMHC, CDBC

Purpose: This course teaches students techniques for training dogs in basic sound alerting skills. This course offers the essential foundation skills necessary for a dog to alert to sounds. Completions of the course will not certify that a dog or person or person/dog team is eligible, under the ADA, for access to places of public accommodation.

Course Information: This course, SW 101: Foundations in Sound Alerts, teaches basic sound alerting skills and builds a foundation for your dog to eagerly communicate with you about what it perceives. Social motivation, food treats, toys and games are used to give the dog an intensely positive association with an alarm sound, door knock, verbal or signed name call, and an alert behavior of your choice. The dog also learns to move toward the trainer or toward the sound. This course does not result in finished alerts to sounds, although many students are satisfied with the basic level of excited response that they achieve at this level.

The basic skills taught in this training dogs in basic sound alerting skills course are the building blocks used in further courses to train many different types of alerts in real life situations. The motivation level created in this course allows the trainer to channel the dogs’ energy into many different future directions. The techniques achieve fast results, are simple, and have been successful in making training easy and rewarding for both amateurs and professional trainers. Clients with even minimal ability have been able to maintain training with our methods. We only teach positive training techniques in our Soundwork training. Aversive equipment or other forms of punishment are discouraged.

Prerequisites: Access to a dog that is not fearful of sounds.

Course Length: This course runs 6-8 weeks (dependent on the student and dog progress). It consists of 8 lessons.

What you can expect to learn from this Course (Course Objectives):

• Fast, positive techniques and games to motivate a dog to eagerly respond to sounds.
• Innovative techniques for coaching human clients and family members.
• Teach your dog a positive response to an alarm sound, door knock/bell, and Name Call.
• Teach an alert behavior of your choice (for example, a nose-nudge.)
• Teach your dog to go towards a trained sound source.
• Teach your dog to come towards you when a trained sound happens.
• Combine social motivation, life rewards, food treats, and toys for great teamwork with you.

For Credit option also includes:

• Weekly one-hour online group chats (Messenger) with the instructor.
• Group chat participants get instructor advice on training strategies for their specific dog, homework discussions, and problem solving.
• Group chats are in written format in order to benefit different communication preferences.
• Secret-level Facebook (FB) group, set up only for the current participants in each course, intensively moderated by the instructors.
• The FB group is a safe and kind space to socialize, share your experiences, and help each other.
• The FB group gives you access to bonus lessons, tips on supplies and training, and posting questions for the instructor

Text and Required Supplies:

• Required reading: Book, “Lend Me An Ear” by Martha Hoffman (also available as an Ebook). This book is very informative, but is not a textbook.
• Digital electronic timer that can be set to one second
• 2 additional timers are useful.
• Small step stool
• Cake pan
• Soup ladle
• tape, Velcro, thumbtacks
• several treat containers the dog cannot open easily
• treats: low-value to very high value
• plastic yogurt lids
• treat pouch
• A “Treat’n’Train/Manners Minder” or “Pet Tutor” remote control treat dispenser is not needed to succeed, and the Pet Tutor is very expensive and more difficult to use. However, trainers will progress faster with one.
• Two identical remote wireless doorbells if the student wishes to train doorbell response as well as a knock.

CEUs:
CCPDT – 16.5 Total (7.5 CPDT-KSA) CEUs
IAABC – 16 CEUs
IACP – 8 CEUs

Course Cost –

For Credit:  $250.00 USD

For Audit: $125.00  (Same content as the “For Credit” except there are no CEUs, Certificate, no Instructor contact, or homework to be turned into Instructor)

Payment plan available (For Credit only) – 2 monthly payments of $130.00 each. Use the “Subscribe” button below. 

Student Information:

You must also read and agree to the E-Training for Dogs, Inc. Standard Terms and Conditions prior to taking a course: Click HERE to read these. You will be asked when you register if you have read them and will not be allowed to take the course if you do not agree to the terms.

Please read our policy on refunds. Click HERE