PDTE 2016 July Newsletter

Veronica
Taborga
France
M
iracles happen in people’s
lives all the time. My
miracle is Eli, a long hair
dachshund, a shorty clown with a
huge personality and character. He
pushed me to learn dog language, to
understand why dogs do the things
they do. Eli, by being very patient,
taught me about patience. Then, Patch
entered our lives. A dalmatian mix, full
of joy and happiness. Then, KitKat,
a Norwegian forest cat. He was
definitely waiting for us. He is the zen
of our four legged family.
I guess like almost all dog teachers, I
started working and getting interested
in Animal Behaviour because I found
the need to work on my dogs. As I
progressed, my curiosity took over and
I started educating myself, attending
seminars, and conferences, reading
books and sharing experiences. That
brings me to one of my special interest
M
y name is Mieke van
den Boogaard. Since
childhood I’ve liked dogs
a lot. In our family, we’ve always had
at least one dog. I went to puppy
class with my current dog. In my
opinion the teaching style of one of
the instructors was very interesting.
Her way of dealing with dogs was in
line with my way of thinking about
dogs. I started an internship at that
dogs chool. My interest in dogs
grew. I like to observe what dogs do
- neuroscience. The more I learn the
more I come to realize that I just know
the tip of the iceberg.
Eli and Patch helped me discover my
passion. I am so happy and grateful
to them. Now, it’s time for me to start
working, to start giving back, to align
with my passion. That is why I receive
the gift of Doggily - my company
where I love teaching my human and
non-human students.
I am here because understanding
animal behaviour is my “why”.
and the way they communicate with
each other. The instructor told me
about the Turid Rugaas International
Dog trainer Education. I started this
education in May 2014. When I finish
the education I want to help other
people with their dogs.
Mieke van den
Boogaard
Netherlands
Liz Ott
Lanzarote, Spain
Iam originally Swiss, from the
nice mountain area of St.Moritz.
A body therapist and nutritionist
by profession, I’ve been living with
my daughter and animals for almost
20 years on the magic volcano island
Lanzarote.
I have always been surrounded by
animals. As a child, I spent time after
school with the donkeys, horses, cows,
pigs, cats, dogs on my grandparent’s
or neighbours farms. I spent my
holidays in my uncle’s zoo, feeding
the small lions, bears, chimpanzees
or other animal babies with the bottle
when their mother couldn’t do it. Uncle
Walter was my first animal teacher
and to date I hear him saying: “If you
really want to know the animal needs,
just sit down, keep quiet and observe
their interactions and behaviour. Read
a lot about the species. This is the only
way you will learn to respect them.”
So I did! I observed ants, squirrels,
deers and birds in the forest along with
domesticated animals with people. I
took the village dogs for walks, which
ended up with me letting them offleash
so they could sniff around in a
safe area. We always found interesting
things. They opened my eyes to small
things we normally don´t recognize.
After that, they were happy and tired,
the dog owners always thought we
are running long distances. Oh no, just
sniffing around! This was much more
fun!
Then I got my first German Shepherd
from friends who could not handle
him, because of his aggression. In
1976 the only possibility was to train
“Mandy” in the GS-Club, where they
used the aversive methods. I saw
awful things, poor dogs and some
helpless owners. Nice puppies turned
into reactive youngsters. But most of
the owners seemed to be proud about
their reactive dogs. I suffered enough
and Mandy was more reactive than
before. So finally I quit the training,
even as the trainer scared me with
bad prognosis for this dog. But I had
to find my own way. I found out that
he is only aggressive because of fear,
and not because he was a bad and
dangerous dog. So I followed my heart
and after a few month we became a
strong couple. Friends then started
to bring their dogs to me to change
the “bad manners”. With each dog I
learned more about respecting them
as individuals.
During my last 35 years of work with
all kinds of shelter dogs which were
aggressive, traumatized or mistreated,
I progressed in my knowledge of
training and resocialization.
And then Turid came out with her
CALMING SIGNALS. Wow, great!
That answered so many observations
I did over the years. It was a big step
further in my work to help fearful
creatures becoming nice socialized
dogs! Thanks Turid, you changed the
life of so many dogs all over the world
by explaining their body language,
signs of stress and avoidance and
of course...feeling happy! After so
many years and knowing several
training methods and philosophies, I
still keep my positive reinforcement
and respectful training, based on
principles of Ethics in the best interest
of our lovely furry friends
Petra Tobben
Netherlands
Hi! my name is Petra Tobben.
I am 33 years old. I was
educated as a veterinary
assistant and I have been totally
crazy about dogs since I was a
little kid. I’ve been in love with the
Dogue de Bordeaux since 2002. The
combination of their soft nature and
their robust appearance made me fall
in love with them.
I live with my boyfriend Ludy just
outside a small town called Montfort.
We live just across the woods where
we love to spend time with our dogs.
At this moment we have seven Dogue
de Bordeaux - Two boys, Mex and
Boes and five girls, Jopie, Qadira,
Kaatje, Dink and Juulke. We also have
a cat, some rabbits and two parrots.
I’ve worked for ten years as a
veterinary assistant till my boss retired
and the practise closed.
We occasionally breed our Dogues.
It’s our goal to try and breed healthy,
mentally stable dogs. We spend a lot
of time finding good ‘foster-parents’
for our little furbabies. We try to
inform and coach them as much as we
can. Last year, I attended the IDTE
education at Calming signs. I really
enjoyed all the things we learned
about the behaviour of dogs.
Apart from behaviour, I am also
interested in nutrition, genetics,
homeopathy and veterinary medicine.
Outside the dog world I like
photography, cooking and baking.
Je-an
Shields
United Kingdom
M long
y name is Je-an Shields,
and I’ve had a lifepassion
for dogs. I
worked for the RSPCA in the 90’s as a
kennel assistant, and then worked in a
dog shelter in Spain, which was a very
different experience to that in the UK.
I was lucky enough to have my first
dog at the age of 30, and have lived
with several dogs since then. I would
be the first to admit that I made lots of
mistakes with her, and she developed
social issues with other dogs. This
led me to take her to an aggression
specialist, who used teaching
dogs to teach appropriate canine
communication. I was so intrigued by
this method, that I asked to learn more
about it, and did an internship for three
years, where I learnt a great deal about
dogs, and how they communicate with
each other.
During that time, I acquired a couple
of rescue dogs, offered a dog boarding
service, became a professional dog
walker, assisted in training classes,
and then set up my own business to
become a trainer myself. I have been
a trainer and behaviourist for over
ten years now, and have loved every
minute of it. Each dog teaches you
something different and I never stop
learning from them
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