Looking to the Future Where are we going with Force-Free?

1. Looking to the Future Where are we going with Force-Free? • Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA • Fairplay, MD • www.peaceablepaws.com Speaker Name

2. A Modern History of Dog Training • Patricia McConnell • Published “The Other End of the Leash” • Karen Pryor • Published “Don’t Shoot the Dog” • PPG • Established • CCPDT • Established • Jean Donaldson • Published “The Culture Clash” • IAABC • Established • Pat Miller • Published “The Power of Positive Dog Training” • Ian Dunbar APDT • Founded APDT • IACP • Established 2004 2012 2001 1999 2001 1999 2002 1996 1962 1978 1984 1993 Konrad Most Published “Dog Training – A Manual” in German (translated into English in 1954) 1950’s 1954 1910 Keller Breland Introduces the concept of a clicker (tin cricket) to animal training Monks of New Skete Published “How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend” Whole Dog Journal First Issue Published William Koehler Published “The Koehler Method of Dog Training” Blanche Saunders Published “The Complete Book of Dog Obedience Training”

3. This? Or This?

4. Association ofProfessional Dog Trainers • Established 1993 (as Association of Pet Dog Trainers) • Follows LIMA (Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive)

5. What Is LIMA? LIMA requires that trainers and behavior consultants use the “least intrusive, minimally aversive technique likely to succeed in achieving a training [or behavior change] objective with minimal risk of producing adverse side effects.”  It is also a competence criterion, requiring that trainers and behavior consultants be adequately trained and skilled in order to ensure that the least intrusive and aversive procedure is in fact used.

6. Positive Reinforcement and Understanding the Learner Positive reinforcement should be the first line of teaching, training and behavior change program considered, and should be applied consistently. Positive reinforcement is associated with the lowest incidence of aggression, attention seeking, and avoidance/fear in learners.

7. International Association of Canine Professionals • Established 1999 • Follows Balanced philosophy

8. “We support our members’ rights to properly use and promote effective, humane training tools and methods to create success for each dog and owner, while expanding the understanding and cooperation among canine professionals and dog owners across the full spectrum of the canine industry.” The International Association of Canine Professionals strongly opposes legislation that bans or limits the humane use of any training tool. It is our conviction that limiting the humane use of training tools would result in a higher incidence of nuisance and dangerous dog behavior, and more dogs being surrendered to already over-burdened public shelters. The IACP advocates the education of canine professionals and the public in the correct, humane use of all training tools. The benefit to the community is a reduction of problem behaviors, and enhanced relationships with dogs as companions, assistants and working partners – a relationship which has been enjoyed by dogs and mankind for thousands of years.

9. Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers • Established in 2001 (Created by APDT, with the intention of spinning it off to be an independent organization) • Follows the Humane Hierarchy

10. HIERARCHY OF PROCEDURES FOR HUMANE AND EFFECTIVE PRACTICES Please utilize the following steps to modify or manage a behavior: 1. Health, nutritional, and physical factors: The certificant ensures that any indicators for possible medical, nutritional, or health factors are addressed by a licensed veterinarian. The certificant also ensures that factors in the physical environment that have a potential to impact the dog’s health, nutrition and physical condition are addressed. 2. Antecedents: The certificant implements environmental management strategies to prevent the behavior from occurring. 3. Positive Reinforcement, Classical Conditioning (not listed in order of preference): a. Positive Reinforcement: The certificant ensures that reinforcement is delivered for the desirable alternative behavior, and that such reinforcement is of higher value to the dog than the reinforcement the dog has received in the past for the unwanted behavior. b. Classical Conditioning: The certificant changes the dog’s association with an aversive stimulus while presenting the aversive stimulus at a sub-threshold intensity.

11. 4. Live With or Manage the Behavior, Negative Punishment, Negative Reinforcement, Extinction, Consult Another Professional (not listed in order of preference): a. Live With or Manage The Behavior: Certificant elects to cease modification techniques and implement a management plan. b. Consult Another Professional: At times, it may be beneficial for the certificant to consult another professional such as a dog trainer, veterinarian, or behaviorist for additional advice. Consulting with other professionals can be beneficial, particularly when a problem behavior does not resolve with the previously mentioned interventions. c. Negative Punishment: The certificant withdraws a positive reinforcer when the undesirable behavior occurs to reduce the probability that the behavior will occur in the future. d. Extinction: The certificant withholds reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior with the goal of extinguishing the behavior. e. Negative Reinforcement: The certificant withdraws an aversive stimulus when the desired behavior occurs in order to increase the probability that the behavior will occur in the future. 5. Positive Punishment: The certificant delivers an aversive consequence in response to the undesirable behavior in order to reduce the probability that the behavior will occur in the future

12. International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants • Established in 2004 • Supports LIMA (Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive

13. Suggested Hierarchy of Behavior Change Procedure from Least to Most Intrusive *

14. *Intrusiveness refers to the degree to which the learner has counter control. The goal is to use the procedure that is the least intrusive, effective alternative. In the course of an experienced behavior consultant’s practice, there may be situations in which a relatively more intrusive procedure is necessary for effective outcomes. In this case, a procedure that reduces the learner’s control may be the least intrusive, effective alternative. Wellness is at the top of the hierarchy to ensure that a learning solution is not implemented for behavior problems due to pain or illness. The hierarchy is a cautionary tool to reduce both dogmatic rule following and practice by familiarity or convenience. It offers an ethical checkpoint for consultants to carefully consider the process by which effective outcomes can be most humanely achieved on a case-by-case basis. Rationale like, “It worked with the last case!” is not enough. The evaluation and behavior change program of every animal should be a study of the individual (i.e., individual animal, setting, caregiver, etc.). Changing behavior is best understood as a study of one.

15. Pet Professional Guild • Established in 2012 • Committed to science-based, force-free training • https://www.petprofessionalguild.com

16. The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) was founded based on a commitment to provide educational resources to pet care providers and the public coupled with an emphasis on building collaboration among force-free pet trainers and professional pet care providers and advocates for mutually agreed guiding principles for the pet care industry. PPG partners, members and affiliates focus on each pet’s physical, mental, environmental and nutritional well-being adhering to a holistic approach to the care and training of family pets Section One PPG  Non-Negotiables. To be in any way affiliated with the Pet Professional Guild all members must adhere to a strict code of conduct. Pet Professional Guild Members understand Force-Free to mean: No shock, No pain, No choke, No fear, No physical force, No compulsion-based methods are employed to train or care for a pet. Definition of Force Any definition can never be so expansive and explicit that every possible situation is  addressed. This is seen everywhere in life and most obviously in the US legal system where very often courts cannot agree on a single interpretation of what terms and definitions mean, including physical force. Recognizing this we understand, in the context of our guiding principles and as a general framework, physical force to mean “any intentional physical act against a pet that causes psychological or physical pain, harm or damage to the pet.” 

17. COMMONALITIES • We all care about dogs. • We all have an interest in seeing that dogs are well-trained and well-cared for. • We all have an interest in having well-educated, qualified, capable professionals working in our field.

18. So – What About Licensing? A growing number of states are looking at licensing of some sort for dog training professionals. Would that be a good thing? Only if done well. That means we have to be involved. I propose: APDT, CCPDT, PPG, IAABC and IACP working together to create model legislation that we can all live with, and that might actually have a chance of passing – especially if our groups and our members work to educate and influence their legislators.

19. APDT POSITION STATEMENT ON LICENSURE OF DOG TRAINERS Recent allegations of animal abuse against two individuals have spawned proposed legislation on a statewide level in New York and in Hillsborough County, Florida.  As with any issue, APDT cautions against reactive legislation, and encourages a careful and in-depth consideration of the pros and cons of imposing a licensing requirement on dog trainers. In order to allow full and fair consideration of the necessity and pros and cons of licensing, APDT strongly recommends that states or localities establish a study group or work group that will elicit public comment and input from professionals and stakeholders and public comments prior to adopting legislation that would require dog trainers to be licensed.

20. Some of the benefits to requiring dog trainers to be licensed include: • Imposing standards for dog training that will protect public, consumers and animals• Identifying trainers for the public• Identifying disqualifying conditions for trainers, which should include convictions for animal related offenses Some of the arguments against requiring dog trainers to be licensed include: • Licensing may give dog owners the impression that a particular trainer is competent when that may not be the case• Inadvertently detracting from the need to zealously prosecute abuse or neglect, or other animal related offenses• Added expense to state or locality, trainers, and the public• Risk that licensing is seen as a revenue resource for the state or locality without achieving the goals of welfare, health and safety• Allowing easy identification of trainers for improper purposes, including for spamming and blast marketing efforts

21. About Pat Miller Pat Miller is a Certified Behavior Consultant, Canine (KA) Certified Professional Dog Trainer (KA), A former Board member of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, past president of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, member of PPG, APDT, APDTA, MAAAPPT and owner of Peaceable Paws, LLC, located on an 80-acre campus in Fairplay, Maryland. Prior to establishing Peaceable Paws in 1996 in Monterey, California, Miller worked for 20 years at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California, and trained her own dogs for obedience and herding. She titled two of the first dogs in the world in Rally obedience, and has done agility and canine freestyle “just for fun.” Her Scottish Terrier could ride a skateboard, push a shopping cart, say his prayers, salute, and play an electronic keyboard. Miller is also Training Editor for The Whole Dog Journal (WDJ), and a regular contributor to WDJ and several other publications. She has published 7 books and including “Beware of the Dog,” on canine aggression, and a 5-booklet behavior series, and several DVDs. Miller and her husband Paul, share their home with three dogs, eight cats, four horses, a pot-bellied pig (plus several equine boarders), and five chickens.

22. The End