PDTI Pet Dog Training Instructors

The PDTI proudly presents its first NATIONAL CONFERENCE

14th April 2012 … Start time: 10.00am Finish: 4.30pm

We can now announce with delight, our two ‘not to be missed’ main speakers:

Robert Alleyne
Robert came into the public eye through his involvement in Dog Borstal.
He will be talking about his experiences of dog training and posing the question ‘Do dog-training classes contribute to aggression?’ Robert is not only an experienced pet dog training instructor, he is author of ‘The Trouble-free Dog’, an ex-Dog Warden of many years, Secretary of the UKRCB, and a Board Member of the KCAI Scheme.

Dr John Bradshaw
John is Director of the Anthrozoology Institute at Bristol University. Since 2009 he has focused his attention on communicating the latest advances in canine science to the dog-owning public worldwide. His recent book “In Defence of Dogs”/”Dog Sense” has featured in the best-seller lists in both the UK and the USA. He will be talking about the comparison between the wolf and the dog’s social structures to understanding dog behaviour, and also about how dogs perceive and interpret the world, focusing particularly on the sense of smell.

Tickets: £45.00 PDTI members, £50.00 to UKRCB members, £55.00 non members inclusive of tea/coffee on arrival from 9.00am and a farmhouse buffet lunch

Visit our website for booking form, further information and updates
www.pdti.org or email pdticonf@moordogtraining.com

Conf. Admin: Wendy Shufflebotham LPDTI, 3 Under the Hill, Biddulph Moor, Staffordshire, ST8 7RR
PDTI Registered Office: 87 Coleridge Close, Hitchin, Herts SG4 0QY Tel: 014 6223 0585 chris.17@sky.com

Socialise, socialise, socialise! Every book, every DVD, every TV show emphasises the importance of socialisation. The problem is none of them seem to tell you exactly how this is to be achieved. As a result, many owners know that they should socialise their puppy, but have no idea how they’re supposed to do it. They are told about the importance of socialising their dog with other dogs, with people, with traffic, and with a whole host of other stimuli. But I believe that without the owner being taught how to do this correctly and efficiently, the dog is much more likely to develop training and behavioural problems. And ironically, these problems may be directly attributable to the class that they took the dog to, and to the trainer who with the best of intentions may have created exactly the problem for the dog and owner that they were trying to prevent.

Why is it that when there has never been more emphasis placed on the importance of socialisation that dogs are becoming increasingly aggressive, seemingly to almost everything? I believe the cause of this is down to several factors, and one of these is puppy parties/puppy socialisation classes. In many of the classes that I visit, instructors who are new to instructing are given the puppies to train since it is seen puppies are easier to teach than adult dogs, and this may be true in some ways. However, if you make a mistake with a puppy, there’s a much greater likelihood that you are setting that puppy and owner up for major problems later on. Continue Reading →

Basic Principles of Dog Training and Behaviour

I believe that dogs learn by three basic principles, what’s rewarding, what’s punishing, and what’s of no consequence. The most influential of these to the dog are the rewards and the punishers.

I encourage all of the owners that I work with to help their dogs to understand the rewards of making the right choices and getting paid for it. It is very difficult for a dog to stop making the wrong choices if they haven’t been taught what the right alternatives are. However, once the dog knows what it is that you want it to do, it needs to then learn the consequences for making the wrong choices. These may be punishers – designed to make the dog regret the choice it made. Or you may simply take away something that the dog considers valuable.

Continue Reading →