Two months ago, in the June issue, we presented two articles about the importance of using play in training and keeping dog training fun for your dog. Our long-time training editor, professional trainer Pat Miller, weighed in with Dogs Just Wanna Have Fun, which discussed enjoyable activities you could participate in with your dog, to strengthen your interest in each other and to motivate his continued attention and learning. And I interviewed Kathy Sdao, a trainer and associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist from Tacoma, Washington, about the importance of keeping training fun and positive.
Fun. Play. Enjoyment. These seem to be something that all positive trainers agree are useful to training and that are on the dog-training industrys radar. The 2008 conference of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), scheduled for October 15-19 in Louisville, Kentucky, has an entire days worth of presentations related to play behaviors and the uses for play in training. Plus, two terrific books just came out on the topic. The first is Pat Millers Play With Your Dog.The second is a booklet by Karen B. London and Patricia B. McConnell (both trainers and behaviorists): Play Together, Stay Together. Happy and Healthy Ways to Play with Your Dog.
I didnt know about the books or the APDT agenda when I asked Pat Miller if she would write an article about play for the June issue. The topic idea came to me when I was photographing some training classes; I noticed that a few particularly grim handlers seemed to have the most trouble in engaging their dogs attention. It struck me that they didnt look like they were having much fun and that maybe if they themselves had more fun with their dogs, the dogs might be more interested in them!
In addition to talking to Pat and interviewing Kathy Sdao about the uses of play in training, I also interviewed two more noted positive trainers: the aforementioned Patricia McConnell and Jean Donaldson. Both women are highly educated experts on animal behavior and learning, gifted dog trainers, fascinating speakers, and prolific authors. My original intention was to include just a few, brief comments from each about incorporating play in dog training, but each was so interesting to talk to, and had such unique insights on the topic, that I had to find more room to include their thoughts on the matter, too. They appear on the following three pages.
Say, I have a new dog! Its so exciting for me even though he is supposed to be my husbands dog. Ill tell you more about him in Otto Maddockly in Love, on page 6. Its occurred to me in the three weeks (as I write this) that weve had him that a lot of the new dog stuff we seem to be going through may well be stuff youve had to go through or might be about to go through with a new dog of your own. Im trying to apply everything Ive learned through editing Whole Dog Journal for the past 11 years, and hope it might be of interest to you. If not, please write and tell me to stop; like any new mom, I may well talk about him way too much!
