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I haven't always been a dog trainer. In fact, before I began training professionally, I was an engineer for nearly 25 years! I enjoyed working in engineering but it can be very stressful, and is certainly a field that is up and down. Working as an engineer taught me to be analytical, which I've taken into my career as a trainer. As you read further, you will see that I had to rely on my inquisitive nature to finally learn about training.

The first year of training with Bailey went so well that I thought I had everything figured out. Boy was I wrong! But, before I tell you about what went wrong, let's start in the beginning.

  Bailey Photo
 

In July 2001 our family adopted Bailey, a beautiful black Labrador Retriever. We think Bailey was about a year old when we adopted him. We noticed a big difference in his temperament from our first lab, Yogi, who died of canine lymphoma just a month earlier. The main difference with Bailey was his mellow nature! It took Yogi at least 5 years before he settled down. Don't get me wrong, Yogi was a great dog, but he was a "field" lab and very energetic during the early years. Bailey is closer to the breed standard in terms of his physical structure and his temperament is laid back.

In December 2001, my dad had to have open heart surgery. During his hospital stay, some people brought Therapy Dogs to visit and cheer him up. Their visits provided my dad motivation to work hard in rehab so he could get home to be with his own dog! We saw first hand how Therapy Dogs help people. It seemed to us that Bailey had a similar temperament as the dogs that worked with my dad. It was this realization that prompted my interest in dog training.

I started training Bailey in February 2002 to be a Therapy Dog. I signed up for two different group training classes, one at a big box pet store, and the other with a well known private trainer. The classes were diametrically opposed in terms of how they taught how to train. One used lots of treats while the other used "do it or else" methods. Having been a U.S. Marine for four years (1977-1981), the "do it or else" method fit me perfectly!! However, it didn't fit "mellow" Bailey much at all, little did I know. We had a practice obedience trial at the end of the "do it or else" class, which Bailey performed flawlessly, taking 1st place! The big box pet store class ended with a CGC test, which he passed with flying colors. Needless to say, I was impressed with my "training abilities". Right!

Our main purpose in training Bailey was to take and pass the Therapy Dog test. So, in July 2002, Diane and I were evaluated with Bailey and passed easily! This was exciting for us because we had achieved so much so quickly with sweet Bailey. But, there's more!

As I said, the last session in the "do it or else" class was a practice obedience trial. Because Bailey did so well in this trial, I had the idea we could be competitive in real AKC Obedience Trials and possibly earn an obedience title for Bailey. The only problem was we didn't have any AKC registration papers for Bailey, he was a rescued stray dog!  The AKC has a program called the Indefinite Listing Privilege program that provides a way for purebred dogs from unknown sources to be evaluated by the AKC to determine if they look like a purebred dog. Well, in July 2002 we received a letter from the AKC granting Bailey his ILP registration. The first thing I did was enter us in the Santa Barbara Kennel Club dog show to compete in Novice A Obedience.

So, in August, Diane and I with Bailey took off for Santa Barbara to compete. The trial was held on a Saturday and Sunday. I was so excited to be competing with Bailey, but was I nervous! I watched the other competitors work through their exercises, and then it was our turn. Novice Obedience consists of a series of exercises that tests how well the handler and dog work together. Here's a list of the order of exercises:

1.  Heel On-Leash - The judge prompts the team to heel forward, making a series of left and right turns, interrupted with a few halts that requires the dog to automatically sit for each halt. This was pretty easy for Bailey.

2.  Figure 8 - This exercise requires the handler and dog (on-leash) to heel in a figure 8 pattern around two people standing about 8 feet apart. This is done twice with a halt between the first and second figure 8.  Bailey always did great with this exercise.

3.  Stand for Examination - This is a pretty simple exercise. The leash is taken off the dog and then the judge cues the handler to "stand the dog" and then "leave the dog". Bailey, being a friendly dog, loved this exercise because the judge would come over and run their hand over him. BUT, Bailey could not move his feet! Bailey was very good about understanding this, so he would just stand there wagging his thick "otter" tail. 

4.  Heel Free - This is identical to the Heel On-Leash exercise except the leash is gone! The dog heels "free" walking next to the handler. Bailey always seemed to be one step behind me on this exercise, but he usually did well enough to get a good score.

5.  Recall - The recall exercise has a few parts that can really mess up a trial. The first part is to sit the dog, then cue them to stay as the handler walks to the far side of the ring. Once the handler reaches the far side of the ring (about 50 feet) they turn around and face the dog holding the sit-stay. The judge signals the handler to recall the dog. The handler cues the dog to come. The dog should trot to the handler, sitting squarely in front of the hander. The judge then signals the handler to "finish" the dog. This is where the dog moves to the left side of the handler, sitting at the heel position. Sounds easy, right? Well, with practice this isn't that hard to do.  Bailey was usually really good with all of this. But, on our first day in the ring, we failed this exercise. It wasn't Bailey that screwed up, but rather it was me! Most exercises allow the handler to cue the dog with a word or hand signal, and sometimes both.  But, never shall three cues be used. Well, because of my nervousness, I cued Bailey to stay with my hand signal and a verbal cue of "Heel"! As I started to walk toward the other side of the ring I realized what I just did. To "fix" the problem I turn around and said, "I mean STAY!"  Not too smart huh? Little did I know but Bailey knew what the exercise was because he was just sitting there when I turn around to say stay!  That third cue cost us a qualifying score for our first competition, and it was totally unnecessary.  As the saying goes, "Live and learn".

6.  Group Exercises - After all the competitors finish their individual exercises, the enter group is brought back into the ring for a 1 minute sit-stay and a 3 minute down-stay. Bailey did these exercises with ease.

We competed again the next day and scored high enough to earn a qualifying score and a 2nd place Red Ribbon. This was a great way to recover from the mistake I made the day before. So, I was encouraged that Bailey really could earn a Companion Dog obedience title (A CD title is earned for the Novice class). We had one "leg" (a leg is a qualifying score, and it takes three to earn a title) and another show in a few weeks.

In early September we competed the Channel Island Kennel Club dog show in Newberry Park. Like before, the show was on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we went into the ring and nailed all the individual exercises. Then the group exercises were next. We did the 1 minute sit-stay, and Bailey did fine. We then started the the 3 minute down-stay. Keep in mind that during these exercises each handler stands at the far side of ring while the dogs wait, all sitting or laying down about 4-5 feet apart.  During the down-stay some dogs outside the ring started barking like crazy. I was cringing inside hoping for  the time to end.  With 15 seconds left to go, Bailey decided to sit up to see what all the commotion was about! Well, that ended that. We walked away with a DQ for the day.

The next day we came back and tried again. This turned out to be the best show we ever did! Bailey earned a 198.5 score (200 is perfect) and was awarded the High In Trial trophy, beating out even all the Utility and Open class dogs!  WOW! I was so pleased with Bailey. We now had two legs on a CD title and needed just one more qualifying score!

A few weeks later we drove out to Lake Parris for a show. This time the first day was the charm for us. Bailey did very well, earning 1st place and his Companion Dog Title!  Not bad at all for us to finish his title in five trials.  We did all this in 6 weeks! Having worked so hard to earn this, I decided we would take the winter off and then start training for Open class competition in March 2003. Little did I know what was coming.

  All during this time, Diane and I started making all kinds of therapy visits with Bailey. I continued working as an engineer, but in the evenings and weekends we took Bailey to Henry Mayo Hospital, nursing homes, battered women's shelters, and some schools. We used to keep count of how many people would pet Bailey on a visit. During most visits, at least 50 people would pet Bailey. Some of the events we attended had hundreds of people pet him. He loved all the attention, especially from kids.

In March of 2003 I started training Bailey for Open Class Obedience competition.  Once again I used "do it or else" methods of training, but this time Bailey refused to work for me.  He shut down!  When I saw him run and hide I realized something was very wrong. Putting Bailey through this kind of training for a stupid obedience title wasn't worth it! So, I stopped training to try and figure out what to do.
  Bailey and Friend
 
As an engineer I encountered lots of problems that were solved by going back to the theory of how something works. With Bailey, I realized I really didn't understand how he learns.  So, I started reading lots of books.  Books that explained how dogs learn, and books that didn't just explain a method, but books that taught canine theory. During this time I read a book called, "Don't Shoot The Dog", by Karen Pryor. It was this book that introduced me to a device called a clicker. I learned about the principles of shaping a behavior. My attitude and thinking about training began to change! I realized that I was using punishment to teach Bailey rather than using reinforcement.  What a huge blunder on my part. I look back on that first year of training and cringe.

So, I bought a clicker and sat down with Bailey one evening to see if this silly thing could help teach a behavior. I decided I would try and capture a natural behavior and then shape it to the point where Bailey would respond to a cue. The behavior he offered was a quick turn of his head away from me. Every time he did this I clicked and gave him a treat. He loved it!  After about 10 minutes of this he was offering me this head turn behavior as fast as I could click and treat!  Wow, I was impressed and he was happy!! I then started to say, "Turn your head" each time he did this.  The next day I said, "Turn your head" and he did it!  My reaction to this early success was to dive in with both feet.
  With my new found training tool, the clicker, I tried teaching Bailey to jump over the jump used in obedience competition.  Once again, he learned to offer this behavior on cue in one session. He learned to reliably retrieve the article used in Open competition in about two sessions.  All together it took about 6 weeks to teach Bailey all of the exercises for Open competition! This was exciting.

In August of 2003 we went back to Santa Barbara, where we're just a year before, and competed in our first Open competition. Bailey did great!  By September we were able to finish his Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title.  I have to say that training with the clicker and using reinforcement rather than punishment was eye opening to me.  Never again would I rely on punishment to teach any dog what to do.

I went on to train Bailey for Utility competition using the clicker.  We tried four different times to compete in Utility, but every time Bailey was more interested in visiting people in and around the ring.  I decided that he was more interested in people that being in the ring, so I retired him from competiton.

In June 2004 my engineering career came to and end when the company I worked for decided to shut down where I worked.  That was fine with me because I wanted to train dogs full time.  This little shove out of the comfort zone of a well paying full-time job was all I needed to start Happy Tails Dog Training.

That same month, Diane and I, with Bailey went through special training so we could volunteer in Animal-Assisted Crisis Response.  We joined a group called, HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response. With this organization we provide comfort and encouragement to people affected by crises and disasters using Bailey as the source of unconditional love and acceptance. Our first crisis callout was in January 2005 at a passenger train derailment.  Eleven people died and about two hundred were injured.  We remained at the crash site for about 8 hours, helping the first responders deal with the stress of this horrible scene. Eight AACR teams participated in this crisis.

  In October 2004, Diane and I decided we were ready to get a second dog.  Up to this point we never had more than one dog at a time.  We new we wanted another Lab, but didn't know if we would try rescuing again or maybe get a puppy we could train to be a therapy dog. Looking online, I discovered Blue Knight Labradors in Acton, CA, which only about 20 miles from Santa Clarita. Dian and Dan Welle consented to have a sweet little girl Lab puppy come live with us on Halloween, 2004. The picture to the right was taken the day we brought her home. It was fun to see Bailey interact with this little puppy that was quite mellow. Bailey taught her to not bite in about a week! If you ask me, the best thing you can do is have a well trained dog at home before bringing a puppy into the family.  Bailey was great with Bonnie!    
  Training Bonnie has been a wonderful experience. She has been completely clicker trained, and has never experienced any kind of harsh training.  She is so responsive and attentive, which makes training so much easier. I've trained her by shaping behaviors with the clicker. This has taught her to be curious and she experiments with behaviors quite readily. This makes it possible to teach her new behaviors very quickly.

Our primary goal for Bonnie was to train her to be a Therapy Dog. Because of this we looked for a puppy that was not too energetic or overly cautious. Thankfully, Dian Welle had three females we could choose from. Bonnie was right in the middle in terms of being energetic or cautious. She was a puppy with a lot of potential!

The day after we brought her home I had her out socializing her with lots of people. Because she was a puppy without all her inoculations, I carried her everywhere. We had people sanitize their hands before petting her. She loved all the attention! As she grew she had to start walking, but with all her shots, I wasn't worried about her getting a nasty canine disease any longer. Another goal I had for her was AKC Obedience Competition.  So, I began teaching her to walk on a loose leash, come when called, sit and down on cue, and stay in place.  She learned to respond reliably to her name and would focus on me.  In April of 2005, at 7 months of age we entered in a Pre-Novice Obedience competition.  She took first place with a score of 191 of 200! Not a bad start to an obedience career.
  We continued training and at 11 months of age Bonnie earned her Canine Good Citizen certificate. This was a good sign for us because 5 weeks later, at 1 year and 1 week of age, she passed the Delta Society Pet Partner Therapy Dog evaluation with Diane and I. She scored as a complex rated therapy dog with both of us!  I attribute her early success to excellent breeding, early socialization, patient reward based training, and her big brother, Bailey!

As we began taking Bonnie on therapy visits we saw first hand how sweet she really is.  One of the first things I taught her as a little puppy was "sit to visit". This paid off on visits because she learned to sit to have people pet her. To this day, I use "sit to visit" as her cue to interact with people. Since first becoming a therapy dog we've made visits at schools, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, libraries, and more.
 
  Another important goal we had for Bonnie was to eventually be certified as a crisis response dog.  In October of 2007 this became a reality.  Diane and I were certified with Bonnie as Crisis Response teams. Part of our training included learning to handle riding on trains, subways, airplanes, boats, and buses. She has been desensitized to all kinds of noises and funky smells, and people expressing strong emotions.

In March 2007 we participated in an obedience practice match. During the match a friend asked me to try Rally Obedience with Bonnie.  I didn't know anything about Rally but tried it anyway. I was blown away with how much fun it was! In April we entered the Labrador Retriever Club of Southern California specialty show in both Rally and Novice Obedience. Bonnie did great in Rally, scoring very well considering we just started training a month earlier for Rally. She earned her first qualifying score (called a "leg") in Novice Obedience.

We continued competing all through 2007 in Rally where she earned her Rally Novice title in three trials, then her Rally Advanced title in three trials, and her Rally Excellent title in five trials. So, as of today, she is "Blue Knight Bonnie Lassie, RE". In April 2007, at the Southern California Labrador Retriever Club specialty show, Bonnie earned her second leg towards her CD title.  Then, in May 2008, Bonnie finished her CD title at the Mission Circuit dog show in Pomona.  I am now working on training Bonnie for competition in the OPEN class.  Hopefully, we'll be ready to compete at the Santa Barbara Kennel Club show in August.

As you can see, Bonnie and Bailey have played a very important role in our lives. Bailey is the reason I am a professional trainer, and he is the reason we are so active in Animal Assisted Therapy and Crisis Response. Our lives, and so many others, have been enriched because of the unconditional love and acceptance of these two dogs.
 
 

Call to schedule a Free Consultation today!

Dave Valantine, CPDT
661-313-1447

Note: Free consultations are offered in Santa Clarita only.
Free phone consultations are available to people outside Santa Clarita.

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Certified Pet Dog Trainer #3040789
Updated: May 2008