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before you go for advice
to any trainer you need to be sure they will treat your dog in a way
you are comfortable with, using techniques you are willing and able to
use.
The Teamwork Training approach is about
- teaching and helping dogs
to understand the human rules
we need them to learn to fit in with us, rather than us trying to fit
in with them and have us try and act like some kind of 'pseudo'
wolf
- within clear
and consistently applied boundaries, allowing dogs to be dogs
- treating your
dog (and you) with respect
- establishing
a friendly, positive and stable relationship between you and your
dog.
Rewards
Teamwork Training uses positive training techniques, using attention,
play and food rewards. The only punishments that are used are ones
which involve removing what the dog hopes to gain from getting things
wrong or the removal of an expected reward. The popular belief of
reward training is that trainers are constantly stuffing food in the
dogs' faces to 'bribe' them. That is misunderstanding what positive
reinforcement (and what is called 'negative
punishment') is about. Dogs need to learn consequences of their
behaviour (good and bad) and how better than through the things they
want and need? Why create an atmosphere of apprehension and expectation
of confrontation to try and get the dog to behave as you want when you
can get that by
supplying (or witholding) the good things in life that make your dog
happy?
Clicker training
Paddy was one of the first people to introduce
clicker training into the UK some 15/16 years ago and she has been using it ever since. It is a
technique developed out of the science of operant conditioning which
enables communication between dog and handler to work much more
effectively when teaching them new tasks. It works particularly well
with the strong mnded dog who has his or her own agenda.
Being nice to our dogs!
Does that mean they are going to walk all over
us? Not if we don't want them to, no. You manage to establish
boundaries
and rules for your children without pinning them to the floor, or
throwing things at them don't you? You expect your kids to be
naughty sometimes, well, because kids are kids! Well, puppies
will be puppies and dogs will be dogs too. They can only behave like
dogs. They sometimes make mistakes. They get scared and anxious. They
sometimes don't understand what you
want . Does that mean they need to be shouted at, or picked up by the
scruff of the neck and shaken? if course not. They need to understand what you want, to feel
safe and secure and they need you to
be their caring
guardian and to behave like the parent you are to your children.
Practical
and sensible
The
Teamwork Training approach aims to be practical, sensible, sympathetic
and most of all relevant to your household and your needs as
well as respecting the dog's needs. It
uses calm, sympathetic, consistent handling, a practical approach to
good management and an understanding of very simple rules of learning.
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If you want to
cuddle your dog on the sofa while watching Corrie, then fine, cuddle
away!
Aggression
and
disobedience are not caused by owners loving their dogs and showing
them affection.
You can be
nice to
your dog, have it show personality and individuality and have
it behave as you want.
A dog that is happy, confident and
stress-free will learn more easily and will want to cooperate
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