DVD Discusses Weakness in Dominance Theory of Training

Friend and dog trainer Elizabeth Stroter seems to read every book that comes out on the subject of dog training, and watches DVDs on the subject as well. Recently I asked her to recommend something on the philosophy of dog training. She sent the following about a DVD: “Fighting Dominance in a Dog Whispering World,” by Jean Donaldson and Ian Dunbar (DogTEC, November 2007) (retail generally around $39, available on Amazon.com, etc.). Liz is an APDT member, TDI evaluator, and AKC/CGC evaluator, and dog trainer in the mid-Hudson Valley. She refers...

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Mine Detection Dogs Can Work Remote

Mine detection dogs usually move across minefields, sniffing for TNT and other substances used in mines. This endangers both the dog and the handler, but a remote system, using air vacuumed from an area and passed through a filter, can be remarkably effective, even more effective than some machines that can search an area. A Norwegian scientist, Rune Fjellanger, has developed a system called Remote Explosives Scent Tracing (REST), in which dogs...

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It's Time To Update Tax Law on Service Dogs

Two weeks ago I sent the following email to certain officials of the Treasury Department and the IRS. To those of my colleagues in the dog world who say that the deductibility of service dog expenses has not been a problem and that I should not flag the issue, I would respond with three additional points: (1) the IRS is aware that there are ways of getting service dog certifications (at least one website will send you an official-looking certification if you check some boxes online and give them a few hundred dollars); (2) many people whose disabilities...

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Dog Play Between Littermates Includes Self-Handicapping

Determining the success of dogs as guide dogs and as police patrol dogs has sometimes involved studies of puppy behavior in hopes of determining if certain characteristics (aggressiveness, dominance, calmness) are fixed at an early age, thereby avoiding spending time and resources on animals that will ultimately fail. Three researchers, two from the Psych Department at U. Michigan and one from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, looked at videos of puppies in litters between 3 and 40 weeks of age to determine their patterns...

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Indiana Prison Canine Training Program Improves Morale Even of Non-Participating Prisoners

The benefits of prison canine training programs are so many that it is to be hoped that policy makers will recognize their advantages for both the prisoners, prison personnel, and the public that receives the trained dogs in the end. Some programs train shelter dogs in basic obedience, increasing the chances of the dogs for adoption. Other programs train service dogs, usually for the physically disabled. Many of the studies I’ve read are based on interviews with prisoners, sometimes including guards and prison personnel, but all have emphasized...

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Certification for Tortoise Detector Dogs?

There seems to be no end to what detector dogs can sniff out. A recent article in a scientific journal looks at how well dogs can find desert tortoises, comparing their skills in this regard against a team of scientists, most with between 15 and 40 years of experience. The dogs were each trained for about ten weeks, eight weeks at home with their handlers during which they were familiarized with the target odor (residual tortoise scent) and two weeks at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in Las Vegas. See Kenneth E. Nussear, Todd C. Esque,...

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Dingoes and Indigenous Australians

One way to look at dog behavior, and to consider the advantages they have provided to us as a result of domestication, is to compare dogs to wolves, their wild and not so distant ancestors (the separation occurring perhaps only 15,000 years ago). There are several lines to this research, establishing in general that dogs have adapted to us in many ways in the period of their domestication, ways that cannot be fully replicated even if wolf cubs are...

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Training To Tolerate Gunfire

Most military working dogs and many dogs that work for federal and state law enforcement are trained at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio in the Defense Military Working Dog School, known in the military and government as Dog School. The Army, Air Force, and Navy all have manuals that describe training standards and objectives of the dogs they obtain from Dog School. Training at Dog School emphasizes reward training, with the dog receive a reward for a correct or near-correct response, but none for an incorrect response. Verbal praise is...

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