I am very sorry to even have to take up space and anyones time by posting this,but I feel I have the right to face those who I think were miss informed.
My name is Tony Pallotta I operate a small training club in Toronto Ontario Canada.For the sake of not being accussed of trying to promote our club I will leave the name of the club out.
A client of mine recently made me aware of a thread that was posted about 6 months ago, about a training phylosophy question that seemed to drag me unknowingly into much heated debate and negativity.
It seemed to start when somone by the name of Vincent M (those of you who were involved would know the full name of the person I am refering to) posted a question.It quickly took a turn for the worst,.
So here I am with some much needed info.
First off,I have no members by the name Vincent M,this is important because he was accussed of trying to promote the club on this board.
His question was vague and had little useable info to make an educated response.After reading some of the posts on this board I reaserched a bit and looking back into some old emails I found Vincent M.
I met Vincent M at a vet clinic were he had a dobe.We spoke about his dog and conversation went toward sport dogs,protection dogs and sport dogs biteing on hiden sleeves. I invited him out to watch a class and he came out to ONE class, I doubt anyone can completely understand all of a trainers phylosophys in one session.This is probably why lack of info, vague descriptions were put forth to those of you on this board.During Vincents visit if memory serves me correctly there was a dutch shep which very recently joined our group with handler aggression issues.
This led me to demonstrate some things with my Sch 3 dog that I belive (my opinion only) help curb and improve k9 and handler relations when handler aggression is a possibility or already evident.
In many military training programs dogs are often carried on soldiers shoulders,k9's are often repelling down cliffs ,out of helicopters with their handlers or even lowered down canyons and gourges in SAR work.This type of training often requires a dog to trust and rely on their handlers for direction.Which once again only in my opinion helps with leadership role issues ,trust and the human k9 bond.I dont see anything wrong with this!However before I'm once again taken out of context let me please state that we dont repell out of helecopters or down cliff faces and WE DONT HOLD DOGS UPSIDE DOWN BY ONE LEG UNTILL THEY STOP SQUIRMING.We use obsticles.And we start off with things as easy as a milk crate,Systematic desensitization with very small incremental increases on objects not commonly experienced in a dogs daily routine,obsticles are used to promote obedience proofing and trust.ANY DOG EXPERIENCING ANYTHING NEW without socializing and environmental awareness and preperation, no matter how minimal could elevate anxiety,stress or even fear.For gods sakes just asking a dog to crawl under a chair can cause confusion enough to envoke either refusal or handler aggression.In the real world, dogs that have never been forced to do anything often cant cope with being forced to comply in new situations without taking the time to shape a whole new excercise.
OH SHIT I used the word FORCE.
Now Im dead in the water aren't I?
Now for the mind blower.
Are you sure you can handle this?
Lets see.
I am a FIRM beliver in marker training!!!! No really I am.I use it in tracking,All aspects of OB, including send aways and retrieval work(I DONT BELIEVE IN THE FORCED RETIEVE) and in protection training from blind searches,teaching transports guarding you name it.
Marker training in MY humble opinion is the easiest and most effective way to teach an animal anything.We dont't even recomend prong collares unless the dog is to large or strong for the handler.As a matter of fact during the teaching of the five basic positions sit in heel,down in heel,stand in heel,front from heel and finish from front we guide the dog into position by slowly and calmly manipulating the dog into position, marking the position, and rewarding with either praise,food,or tugs.During these manipulations NO CORRECTIONS ARE ALLOWED I repeat NO CORRECTIONS ARE ALLOWED.Contrary to someones reply "yank and jerk training"or something along those lines.
Well what a contradiction considering on my site we talk about forcing a dog into situatioins that are uncomfortable or anxiety ridden.I believe in proofing, sorry Im a sceptic by nature and I like to proof.Obsticles are a great way to proof a dog that has already been taught by marker training because marker training has already taught the dog how to learn.The use of both marker training and proofing allows us to do OB exercisess like retrival or recals and send aways while the decoy is present and aggitating and we can use the decoy as a tool for rewards also.
As for holding my dog upsidedown by his feet, that is just a way for me to demonstrate how awsome my relationship is with my dog,how I can put him in any situation or position,and how there realy is nothing that we can't do together as a team who trust one another
In the future I would recomend if anyone feels the need to pass judgement on ANYONE, they should atleast contact that person and give them an opportunity to explian anything you dont agree with, or understand why they do things in the way they do.I for one will never close my mind to any training method because learning something new no matter where it comes from is still adding to ones knowledge and skill.
Passing judgement on someone you know nothing about or care to inform yourself about, is a testament to ones GODs syndrome,lazines and poor character.
Yours truly and humbly
Tony Pallotta
God syndrome,Bashing without really wanting truth
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