BBSP TEAM

Vania

My View As A Dog/ Service Dog Trainer

We are going to school to learn how to train a dog. Learning commands in how to signal to a dog what we as human request of them to do. However, I have found all that we learn does not always go into practice.
Every dog is different in their behavior and understanding. I as a professional dog trainer, to be successful must level my mind and objectives to the one dog I have before me. Find the emotional connection between human and dog. This is a vital recognition that needs to be made by me the dog trainer.
Yes, I can teach any dog the basic commands, SIT STAY DOWN COME. But what about the unseen?
I am asking my dog to think and accordingly to act or react. This is only possible if I am breaking down the steps of learning to successfully reach the end goal.
Many people falter in this area because the time is not calculated into learning step by step to advancing and when needed to return to the basic concept when things don’t click the way we want the dog to execute the command.
Proofing each step to advance to the end goal is key.
Proofing the end command to the ending goal becomes imperative.
If the dog has mastered the end goal only then am I satisfied with the result.

Complicated tasks require complicated planning and setting time aside to train.
We must step back from advancing if we find that the task is too complicated and even break the step further down if required. The dog must trust in me the trainer to guide him safe through the steps to reach success. At no point is the dog allowed to feel failure in the exercise we are doing. Failure is the road to success! Every training session must end with a high note of a job well done even if it is just for trying.

Actively involved within the community saving dogs and rehabilitating them

(Giving them hope of a future) In February of 2020 she signed on to assist shelter staff with her training expertise at Huron County Humane Society, OH.

Canine Specialist

Service Dog

Public Access Training specialist

specializing:

PTSD

HIGH ANXIETY

CROWD PHOBIA

HEARING DOG ALERT

THERAPY DOG

American Kennel Club Test Evaluator

AKC S.T.A.R Puppy

CGC(Canine Good Citizen)

CGCA(AKC Community Canine)

CGCU(AKC Urban

Active Participant:

PTSD Consultation Program Lecture Series

Hearing Dog Forum (Martha Hoffman HA SD Trainer & Author "Lend Me An Ear")

Additional Information

You asked a dog trainer to assist you with teaching your dog not just obedience but teaching it to understand being a good dog does not mean it is always tethered to you through a leash. A good dog understands the joy of feeling free yet belongs to you the handler. Able to do the unimaginable and imaginable because it wants to and not because it must. The dog does not dread being your dog. The world is arguing R+ and R- training and working on dictating how dog trainers shall be training dogs. Even working on banning training tools that are effective in countries like UK. Why are they arguing over effective tools? Because they don’t see the work, we the dog trainer put in with the dog in teaching. I can do nothing but state I fully agree with Ivan Balabanov’s (World Champion Dog Trainer) argument. We as dog trainers focus on the dog in front of us. One dog at a time. Not all dogs are the same even there can be overly or under stimulated dogs by nature. Our job is to bring out the best personality there is in them. I had folks approach me asking me to recommend an E-Collar just because they heard from someone that E-Collars are good for dogs that don’t want to listen to their owners. Back up!!! Yes, you are asking me to recommend you an Ecollar because you need your dog to listen? This is not how we dog trainers operate! Who is the R- enforcer here? Clearly not the dog trainer! I am not here to punish the dog into obedience. I am here to help the dog understand the behavior I am seeking without being punished. This can only be achieved if we can understand the dog and let the dog perceive the Ecollar not as a threat. Please understand, I will never recommend an Ecollar to anyone that has no clue in how to use an ecollar and feels the need R- shall be in place without understanding R+ and R- and how to get the results. I have come into my professional career as dog trainer across people that simply have bought an ecollar and don’t know what they are doing with an ecollar and then ask me the dog trainer to fix it. I do not recommend buying any ecollar, especially not any that I have never had in possession for training or found the brand of ecollar being a total problem of use. I cannot stress it enough let your professional dog trainer teach you and your dog how to work with an ecollar. ~ VM

I’ve been working online with Vania, and she is a really proficient and creative SD trainer. She understands how dogs think! She was taking my course, but I learned so much from her sharing so many techniques and ideas, that I have rewritten and added some to my course, with her permission. Thanks

Vania , we work really well together!

Martha Hoffman

SD Instructor for HA

Author of "Lend Me An Ear"

Words from Martha Hoffman

Untrained and unwanted alerts are common in our relationships with dogs. The dog barks too much, or reacts to things in annoying ways.

And we often don’t see the potential when dogs communicate in unwanted ways. The behavior can sometimes be changed with training into a consistent helpful alert.

I’m thinking of how we don’t know till too late what they are doing for us.

My Border Collie hated motorcycles and would bark loudly at them while i was driving. This was so annoying!!!

But when she got old and went deaf, I was puzzled by how many near misses with motorcycles I was having while driving.

Why were the bikers suddenly so much more reckless than before? Darn bikers, so annoying and dangerous!

Then I realized that the awful startling barking had unconsciously trained me to check for nearby motorcycles. I could only hear them when they were very close. And I would look around when Jinx barked, along with scolding her to shut up!

I had to learn to be observant of them on my own, after that. Thank you Jinx! I now wish I’d trained a SILENT alert if I had noticed the potential of her behavior then. I could have taught her to alert silently, or used Vania Mahon’s
genius method using a flashing light button for alerts while driving.

An example of tweaking a dangerous or annoying behavior into a useful one.

BBSP TEAM

Vania

Mike

Additional Information

Words from Martha Hoffman

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