PDTE 2012 March Newsletter

PDTE NEWs 

MARCH 2012 l Issue 18 

www.pdte.org 

Photo: Arja Pirttimaa, Finland

MESSAGE FROM the CHAIRMAN 

MESSAGE FROM 

the PRESIDENT 

Dear members of the PDTE, 

As a member of the Oslo committee I was 

so happy to see so many of you there in 

September. Networking is my passion, 

knowing how important it is to exchange 

ideas and views and learning from each 

other. That is how we can achieve moving 

ahead in trying to teach and educate dog 

owners to be better for their dogs, and 

thereby give dogs a better life. I have 

no patience with dog trainers who keep 

secret techniques and knowledge; we 

have to share what we think is good and 

important. And with a wide network we can 

also learn more, because nobody is able 

to achieve eveything new, so we have to 

share with each other what each and one 

of you learns. 

Since the last newsletter we had our wonderful AGM and Seminar in Norway which was 

brilliantly organised by Turid and her team of helpers, thank you all so much for such a 

truly fabulous event. Everything about the three days was just wonderful and I felt more 

knowledgeable and inspired following talks from the very varied speakers and chats that 

I had with other members. There are so many members doing such a variety of great 

things to improve the lives of dogs that it is hugely interesting to share our knowledge 

and experiences. It was also encouraging to see some of the newer members doing 

talks, well done as I know it can be quite nerve wracking! 

The Board remains unchanged again this year as we were all voted in again, thank you 

everyone who was there and voted. We, the Board, continue to meet monthly online to 

ensure that everything runs smoothly. Everyone on the Board works extremely hard to 

keep things progressing within the PDTE. 

This year our AGM and Seminar is being hosted by Maxwell and Cecile Muir, Action 4 

Dogs, in Edinburgh – I hope you’ve booked as I certainly have and can’t wait. The PDTE 

AGMs are the highlight of my year. 

Each year I make a point to attend a variety of interesting talks and seminars to keep up 

to date with what’s going on, progress my knowledge and skills but also, very importantly, 

to meet others. For me learning more each year is an essential investment in what 

I do as a professional dog trainer and I would encourage all members to get out there, 

as learning more is mind expanding and it’s a great opportunity to meet and get to know 

others in the industry better. The Country Representatives are a good source of knowledge 

regarding talks and seminars, as is the PDTE website. 

My dogs and I are loving the lighter days and all the blossom, spring is definitely in the 

air. I find spring very inspiring in many ways and have been reviewing how I do things 

and how I can improve life for my dogs. As each year passes each of my dogs has 

slightly different needs in terms of exercise, stimulation, diet and attention and this needs 

to be constantly assessed to ensure that their needs are met to ensure optimum health 

and happiness. I see too many dogs whose energy levels and abilities have changed but 

their owners haven’t noticed. Spring is a good time to do a review of your dog to ensure 

that their lifestyle and routine is truly suited to them. 

Enjoy the spring and I look forward to seeing you in September!! 

Winkie 

Chairman 

An open mind, but with a critical sense, is 

important. I learn all the time, but I always 

think about whether it is good for the 

dog. It does not help if it is good for the 

owners in getting more control or better 

results, if it is not of benefit to the dog. 

Always have that in mind. 

Oslo was fabulous in networking, now 

Edinburgh is coming up! We look forward 

to seeing you all there, and spend the time 

well! Network, listen, learn and get new 

ideas. The tools for becoming better dog 

trainers are there, you just have to use 

them! 

Looking forward to seeing you all,and have 

a nice spring and summer, 

Turid 

President - PDTE 

Next newsletter 

AUGUST 2012 

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BOARD’S CORNER 

Contents: 

Board´s Corner 3 

Welcome our new members 4 

What´s up in 2012 10 

Greetings from 

member countries 12 

Briar 14 

Environmental enrichment 

for dogs in a shelter 

in Vienna 17 

Minutes of AGM 2011 18 

Talks in AGM 2011 

Sit 22 

How to become a missing 

pet detective 23 

Yes, you can train 

a deaf dog 26 

A pulse measuring project 27 

Dogs and kids 29 

Positive dog trainer 31 

The heart of the matter 30 

Hyperactivity in dogs 40 

Communicating without 

words 41 

The sexual behaviour 

of male dogs 42 

Invitation to AGM 2012 44 

MESSAGE FROM 

the EDITOR 

Dear Readers! 

I would sincerely like to apologise for 

the lateness of this issue. I was unable 

to prepare it earlier due an overwhelming 

schedule of lectures and courses, 

combined with a nasty cycle of illnesses 

ranging from seasonal flu to some kind 

of Mexican virus, which I brought home 

as a rather unwanted souvenir. But now 

that you are finally holding it, I wish you a 

relaxing and informative reading time. 

And I again would like to thank all of you 

who have contributed by sending materials 

and photos. I couldn´t have done this 

without your help. Please continue doing 

that and you will keep me very happy! 

Speaking of which... as you have noticed 

from this severe delay, I really need an 

assistant editor in order to ensure that the 

newsletter comes out on time. If you are 

interested, please contact me and read 

more on page 4. 

I wish you all a great spring and summer 

and hope to see you all in Scotland. 

Raili 

Editor of PDTE News 

raili@doi.fi 

President 

Turid Rugaas 

Boks 109, 3361 Geithus, Norway 

Phone: +47 (0) 32 780 987 

E-Mail: turidrug@frisurf.no 

Website: www.turid-rugaas.no 

Chairman 

Winkie Spiers 

121 Harbut Road, London SW11 2RD 

England 

Phone: +44 (0) 207 924 3744 

Mobile: +44 (0) 7718 332 914 

E-Mail: winkie@winkiespiers.com 

Website: www.winkiespiers.com 

Treasurer 

Philippa Woodward-Smith 

58 Pettinger Gardens 

St Denys 

Southhampton SO17 2WL 

England 

+44 (0) 7944 565 085 

pwoodward_smith@hotmail.com 

www.pippawoodwardsmith.co.uk 

Membership Secretary 

Andrea Knoblauch 

Dorfstrasse 66, 8955 Oetwil a.d.L. 

Switzerland 

Phone: +41 (0) 44 748 57 10 

E-Mail: a.knoblauch@bluewin.ch 

MeetingS Secretary 

Raili Halme 

Pärehöylänpolku 15, 03220 Tervalampi 

Finland 

Phone: +358 (0) 50 504 2109 

E-Mail: raili@rakkaathaukut.f 

Website: www.rakkaathaukut.fi 

BOARD ASSISTANT 

Adelaide Lönnberg 

Finland 

AdelaideL@me.com 

PDTE NEWS Page 3

WElCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS 

Janneke van 

de Bool 

NETHERLANDS 

I’m Janneke van de Bool, 27 years old 

and I’m from the Netherlands. I followed 

the education for pet care and now I work 

in a pet shop. During my education I had 

trainer posts at a pet shop, grooming 

parlour and a kennel. That’s when my 

interest in dogs and their behaviour began. 

For the last few months I’ve been the 

proud owner of a Cane Corso puppy and 

I’m going with her to a dog training centre. 

That training centre is a member of the 

PDTE. I like the way they train dogs and 

their opinion about the behaviour of dogs.I 

want to have a good relationship with my 

dog and I want to understand her. 

This training centre is hosting a Dog 

Oriented Behaviourist course with Raili 

Halme. When I am ready with this I hope 

I can help other people better understand 

the behaviour of dogs and make their 

relationship with dogs better. 

In my childhood we always had dogs in 

our family. From the moment we got our 

own puppy in 2005, my interest in dog 

behaviour and training started to grow. I 

have worked for the Royal Marechaussee 

as a warrant officer, but decided to quit this 

job at the end of 2007. I then started my 

own dog training school. In 2007 I started 

the first course to become a licensed dog 

trainer and dog behaviourist. I finished 

the complete course at the beginning of 

2011 at cursuscentrum Dierverzorging 

at Barneveld, The Netherlands. The 

website of my dog training school is: www. 

hondenschool-k2.nl (only in Dutch). 

LIsa Lang 

Norway 

I am Lisa Lang, 25 years old. I was born 

and grew up in a little village in the North 

of Germany. When I was 18 years old I 

decided to move to Norway and have been 

living here for 6 years . This is where the 

“addiction” started. 

After many years with a zoo at home and 

several dogs, little Saga , a Tibetan Terrier 

mix, moved in with me, a little furball that 

has taught me some wonderful things in 

life. It didn’t take long until I had to admit 

that I wanted a second dog in my life, and 

Lykke , a TT, moved in with us in 2011. 

These two rascals keep me pretty busy 

and fill my life with a lot of fun and joy. I 

am temporarily more than happy that my 

apartment is too small for another dog, but 

as soon as I start living in a house I can’t 

guarantee anything. 

It is very important to me that my dogs live 

a good life and don’t suffer from anything. 

I am interested in a friendly way to cohabit 

with them and I am aiming for a relationship 

based on trust, empathy, love and respect. 

I want them to develop into friendly, 

social and safe dogs. I’m very interested in 

dog psychology, behaviour and language. 

As Saga is suffering from it, Hypothyroidism 

is one topic I am very interested in 

too. Unfortunately there is not so much 

information about Canine Hypothyroidism 

yet, but as science is developing some day 

there will be. I am also very addicted to all 

information about stress, its causes, symptoms 

and treatment, as well as separation 

anxiety. 

I have studied media management and am 

now heading for a degree as a translator. 

Most of my free time I spend with the dogs 

or on horseback. I love to paint and draw, 

read and listen to music, enjoy time with 

my friends and to be outside. Photography 

is a big passion and my dogs can probably 

tell you long stories about that. 

From my membership in the PDTE I hope 

to satisfy my addiction and find others in 

the same situation, catching yourself with 

a minimum of five books on your bedside 

table that all include one word: DOG! 

ARNOUD BOUMAN 

NETHERLANDS 

My name is Arnoud Bouman; I am married 

and we have two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. 

Looking for: 

ASSISTANT EDITOR, PDTE NEWS 

Would you like to join the working team 

at PDTE News? The work incudes a whole range of things that 

need doing to get the magazine ready :-) and right now 

we are in dire need of assistance. 

You don´t have to be a professional in magazine work, but 

being able to work with Adobe InDesign is an asset, 

even more so if you have a Mac :-) 

If you would like to help me and Adelaide, 

please get in touch ASAP: 

raili@doi.fi or call +358 50 504 2109 

Page 4 PDTE NEWS

WElCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS 

Agnes Prins 

Netherlands 

Hello, I’m Agnes, 32 years old, and I live in 

the middle of the Netherlands. Ever since 

childhood I’ve been busy with animals. 

From birds, cats, dogs to horses, all could 

count on my love. After I completed my 

studies in animal care, I started working in 

an animal shelter. I gained over 6 years’ 

experience in animal care at this shelter. 

Within this period I also participated in 

and completed several courses and training. 

This includes my degree as a canine 

instructor. At the shelter I have trained a 

great variety of dogs and given guidance 

to their new owners. 

From the shelter I also have taken a number 

of cats and five dogs into our home. 

They were not always the easiest boys 

and girls :) Again and again I was always 

intrigued as to why dogs do what they do. 

And my interest in dogs and their behaviour 

began to grow by the day. 

The ‘dog friendly’ manner of approach is 

what got my specific attention. It was at 

that moment that I started to realise that 

this would be the way I would live with my 

dogs. 

In 2008 my partner and I built up a company 

called ‘Pet Nanny’. We started teaching 

parenting guidance, based upon mutual 

respect, communication and friendly guidance 

of the dog. Learning is part of the 

development and I am very happy that I 

currently take part in the TR IDTE. At the 

end of this year I will also participate in the 

DOB (Dog-Oriented Behaviourist course) 

in the Netherlands. This is organized by 

Nelis Verhoeven and will be given mainly 

by Ralli. Great that the opportunity is there 

to follow those courses! I’m really looking 

forward to learning a lot through the courses 

and the PDTE and I’m very grateful to 

be an associate member. 

FERNANDO BROWN 

SPAIN 

My name is Fernando Brown, known as 

Nando. I have always had a keen interest 

in dogs. While in the Royal Marines, I applied 

many times to join the Dog Unit, but 

it is a very small and sought-after field, so 

it was near on impossible! After leaving, 

I got my first pet dog who was a dream. 

A good girl, Minky loved everything & 

everybody so I thought it was that easy I 

went off and got my 2nd dog Balou, where 

everything went wrong! Looking back I 

now know I bought the wrong breed, I 

chose the wrong puppy, and I went down 

the wrong training route which all resulted 

in a very fearful and scared dog — who 

was also a big mastiff - not a great combination! 

This led me through the world of 

finding behaviorists, and I saw person after 

person who all gave me different things to 

do until one day I met somebody who gave 

me completely different advice and for the 

first time I could see an improvement in 

Balou. 

It was from this point onwards that I became 

thoroughly engrossed in ‘thinking 

dog’ and wanting to know more. From 

there I started assisting in classes at the 

school where I got positive help with Balou, 

and then started instructing classes 

for a larger dog school in the UK. On my 

days off, I was back at the school training 

with my own dogs as well as after teaching 

finished for the day - I was totally bitten by 

the bug! I became involved with Working 

Trials and Security training as well, and 

started running courses for these specialties. 

It was during this time I met my partner 

who trained her dogs at the school and as 

we stand today, between us we now have 

7 dogs! Living with 7 dogs is entertaining 

and demanding but we love them all and 

they each have a definite personality type. 

I decided to launch my own dog training 

centre ‘In The Doghouse’ in the UK as I 

had some very definite ideas about how I 

would like to see dogs (& people!) trained, 

and there was nothing like this in the area. 

Two successful years later, together we 

decided to move this to Spain and we purchased 

an established kennels & cattery 

which we have expanded to incorporate 

Behaviour, Training & Grooming. 

JASON DEVEREUX 

UK 

My name is Jason Devereux and I am a 

dog behaviourist based in the North West 

of England, UK. I have been working full 

time for the last year and a half, working 

with many breeds of dogs on a one-onone 

basis with the client and their dog(s). 

I have two dogs of my own, a collie/lab 

mix who is 6 years old and I have had him 

since he was a puppy, and I also have a 

chocolate labrador who is 3 years old. I 

adopted the chocolate labrador when he 

was 1 year old as he was not getting the 

right enviroment to flourish as a happy dog 

and had not received the early socialisation 

that he required and the owner was 

not concerned or bothered about the dog, 

and so I took him in. I hold a certificate 

in dog pyschology, an EFR Canine Responder 

First Aid certificate and at present 

I am working through my Advanced Diploma 

in Canine Behaviour Management 

with Compass, who are based in Scotland. 

I will be using this to put forward towards 

a BA Honours degree in the dog pyschol- 


WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS 

ogy. As well as helping dogs and owners 

with their behavioural problems, I am also 

fascinated in the communication between 

dogs and humans and the so called “calming 

signals”. 

MARIEKE BOVEE 

NETHERLANDS 

My name is Marieke Bovee. I am 27 years 

old and live in the south of the Netherlands. 

I had to put my dog to sleep in 

December 2010. He was a Labrador Retriever 

called Timo and he lived 13.5 years. 

Because of him I really became interested 

in dog behavior and everything related to 

that. On 22nd July 2011 I got an Australian 

shepherd puppy born on 8th May from a 

breeder who is also a PDTE member, Melanie 

Linssen. In 2009 I started teaching 

obedience at a local dog school, because 

I love working with dogs and humans, and 

helping people with the upbringing of their 

dog. Now I am planning to set up my own 

business, called Timoh; Totale interactie 

met onze hond (total interaction with our 

dog) and help dog owners understand 

their dog and their behaviour and expanding 

the bond between owner and dog by 

giving them a positive and stress-free 

education. 

TIINA FINN 

NORWAY 

My name is Tiina Finn. I live in Hedmark 

in the eastern part of Norway with my 

two dogs Kaisa and Whisky. I have a little 

dog-training school, called Hundens Egen 

Hundeskole. For now I do mostly one-onone 

sessions with dog-owners to help with 

behavioural problems. I plan to run more 

classes in the future. I would like to arrange 

dog walking groups to help socialize 

dogs with other dogs and enlighten owners. 

My belief is that well informed people 

make better choices for their dogs, so I 

hope to write articles and arrange lectures 

and workshops to educate people on the 

true gentle nature of dogs, their emotional 

lives and language. 

I plan on spending the rest of my life learning 

more about canids, and meeting as 

many as possible. My collection of books 

keeps growing and I attend as many 

seminars and lectures as I can. I have also 

studied ethology at the University. 

Issues that are close to my heart are 

informing people of the side-effects of using 

punishment on their dogs, and of the 

use of e-collars in training hunting dogs to 

avoid livestock. I dream of a total ban on 

the use of e-collars in Norway. 

I never had my own dog as a child, but still 

found some of my best friends among the 

neighbourhood dogs. My summers were 

spent on my grandparents’ farm in Finland, 

walking, playing and just sitting with the 

farm dogs. It broke my heart each year 

when we had to leave them behind and 

return to Norway. 

As an adult I was finally able to get a dog 

of my own. Along with my ex-husband I got 

Kaisa. She was a reserved and stressed 

puppy, and we were told to use harsh 

methods on our so-called “dominant” 

puppy. Even though I felt in my heart that 

is was wrong, I did so. A year and a half 

later we got Whisky, an eight month old 

drever. Kaisa was insecure and lacked 

socialisation with other dogs and displayed 

aggressive behavior towards Whisky. She 

became very stressed. Luckily I found a 

dog trainer who told us that what we were 

doing was wrong. It was such a relief, but 

also a struggle. I had become addicted 

to correcting my dog! Around that time I 

came across Turid Rugaas’ book about 

calming signals, and started to fix the damage 

I had done to my poor Kaisa and healing 

our relationship. 

After that I did a year on a clicker-training 

course, and then attended Turid Rugaas’ 

dog training education. I felt right at home 

and there was no looking back. 

STEFANIE RENTTO 

FINLAND 

I am Stefanie and I’m German and I live in 

wonderful Finland in the countryside near 

Tampere. I have a husband and a son 

and daughter. My dog Timon was about 

7 months old when we got him. He had 

severe allergies and had to take strong 

medicine. The first morning he was living 

with us, we were sitting next to each other 

and I was wondering how we could live a 

happy life together, and how I could understand 

what he wanted to tell me. And that’s 

how everything started. I called a consultant, 

who became a very good friend. Now 

I am a dog trainer and behavioural adviser, 

and I am planning to give lessons on a 

regular basis.I want to tell people about 

the language of dogs, and help them see 

their dogs through new eyes — how they 

communicate with each other and with humans. 

I want them to be able to see their 

dog as a friend that it is a joy to spend time 

with. I hope that more and more people 

will understand how much easier things 

become when one is nice to a dog. Dogs 

give us unconditional love — just take it 

and give it back. I really hope that with my 

work with dogs I can share the happiness 

and joy I have with them. Writing this, I 

hear calm breathing next to me, and I can 

see my lovely, most beautiful, peacefully 

sleeping dog. He is happy, and so am I. 

WINNIE HARTELUS 

DENMARK 

Page 6 

PDTE NEWS


I was raised with dogs, and have always 

had dogs in my family. It was usually I who 

trained the dogs, and I often took the responsibility 

to walk them and groom them. 

I decided to get myself a dog when I grew 

up and moved out. Today I have two lovely 

Shiba Inus, one of them a kennel dog, 

whom I had to introduce to a new lifestyle. 

The second a puppy was born in January 

2010. 

Needless to say, I love dogs. I enjoy 

watching and observing them, understanding 

them and appreciating them. Lately 

that has escalated to a desire to train and 

interact with dogs and their owners. Too 

many owners are unaware of how to treat 

their dogs. I therefore helped out a trainer 

in puppy training - only using positive training. 

I took the dog trainer course by Turid Rugaas 

in 2009-2010 and I dream of owning 

a dog daycare. In my spare time I council 

dog owners through my website (www. 

omhunden.dk) and by being present at 

training sessions 

TONI 

BALLANTYNE-CLARKE 

ENGLAND 

Hello fellow PDTE members, it is a privilege 

to join such a compassionate dogwellbeing 

centric organisation. I have lived 

with animals all my life, dogs, cats, sheep, 

rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, gerbils, 

birds and fish; and I was described as ␣animal 

mad␣ by my family who like animals, 

but doted on them in the way that I do. 

I was forever finding and bringing home 

stray dogs, cats and other small animals, 

injured birds and even healthy birds. I 

would take cat food outside and feed the 

stray cats, even though mum would be 

furious at me, because she didn’t want to 

encourage them, but I couldn’t just NOT 

look after them. 

As a child and even as an adult, I have 

always been fascinated with animal behaviour, 

especially dogs and cats. In early 

2007 I joined a dog training class with my 

then young pup Ruby (Lhasa Apso) and 

was quickly captivated by the approach 

that the trainer took towards training. He 

talked about how to motivate our dog 

to carrying out the behaviours All done 

without using compulsion, and that was it, 

I had the bug and I was hooked. I completed 

the 9 week course with my dog and told 

the trainer that I wanted to be a behaviourist 

and dog trainer, amazingly he agreed 

that I could join his class as an instructor 

and said he would train me. That was my 

regular practical training taken care of, but 

I knew that I needed a fully rounded understanding 

of dog behaviour, so I pursued 

academic qualifications. I enrolled at Compass 

Education & Training and completed 

Cynology, passing with distinction, and 

then completed the Advanced Diploma 

In Canine Behaviour Management, again 

passing with distinction, in February 2010. 

After completing four years at the pet dog 

training class, in which I trained my own 

dog, I figured it wanted to do, but I knew I 

wanted to do something a little different, I 

looked on the internet and luckily for me, I 

found Winkie Spiers. I spoke with Winkie 

and she was absolutely brilliant, she is so 

positive and inspiring, and not forgetting a 

fantastic behaviourist, of course. Winkie, 

ever willing to share her knowledge, allowed 

me to sit in on her puppy socialisation 

classes and I decided very quickly that 

this is exactly what I should be doing in my 

own area of London. I have also attended 

her social walks and while I already had a 

good understanding of training and behaviour, 

watching Winkie run her classes has 

helped me to see how I can put my own 

knowledge to good use and I now have 

puppy socialisation classes set to run in 

three different veterinary surgeries, starting 

in July 2011. 

I have been seeing clients for behavioural 

work, for a year and half now and my training 

is still ongoing, In September 2011, 

I take up a degree, Bachelor of Science 

(BSc) In Applied Animal Behaviour, at 

Sparsholt in Hampshire. 

TURE OZER 

TURKEY 

After having had an intense business life 

I decided to take a break from my profession 

last year. Then during my break I 

wanted to do something that I would really 

enjoy. I have always felt close to animals, 

especially dogs. Suddenly I realised that 

I would be so happy to do something related 

with dogs. 

I did a bit of research and decided to attend 

the Stardogs Positive Training Programme 

(Stardogs Trainers Academy) in 

Istanbul, Turkey in order to become a professional 

dog trainer. The Academy is run 

by Yiannis Arachovitis of Stardogs, Athens, 

Greece, and his partner in Istanbul. My 

course was completed at the end of summer 

2011. I realise that working hard and 

doing lots of practice are the main issues. 

Therefore, as well as participating in the 

course I have been assisting a professional 

dog trainer who is also a Stardogs 

Positive Trainers Academy alumni and has 

22 years of experience in the field. 

I have also been reading books written 

by worldwide dog trainers in order to see 

different perspectives. In March this year 

I participated in Turid Rugaas’ seminar in 

Birmingham, UK, “From the Dog’s Point of 

View”. It was definitely very useful for me 

in terms of improving my knowledge and 

networking. 

At this stage my priority is to improve my 

knowledge and work hard, and practise as 

much as possible. I honestly find myself so 

lucky to have such a great opportunity... I 

can build up a great profession as well as 

enjoying my passion, dogs. 



LINE SKAUGERUD 

NORWAY 

was there as an assistant. An exciting way 

to get repeated all the lessons from my 

own education. 

Right now I am in the startup phase of my 

own dog business as a dog trainer, mostly 

based on private lessons. Currently, this 

will be something I do when I have time 

to spare, and when I am contacted in particular. 

I also plan to arrange lectures and 

many seminars in my area, in future. 

DIMITRI PONTIKAKI 

GREECE 

character, and also how our relationship 

became so much better. I strongly believe 

in the dog-oriented methods of training, 

and I’m sure of its best results. 

ARLETTA HODGE 

ENGLAND 

My name is Line Skaugerud, and I live 

with my partner Eirik, our border collie mix 

Kira and two cats, Lilo and Stichi. I work as 

Office Manager at the Norwegian Animal 

Protection Alliance (NAPA) four days a 

week. NAPA concentrates on helping animals 

on fur farms, in intensive agriculture 

and in animal experiments. When needed 

I’m the one who answers dog-related 

questions, together with our veterinarian. 

The fifth day is dedicated to the publishing 

house, Huldra, which I own together with 

Anne Lill Kvam and Turid Rugaas. Huldra 

publishes animal books, for the present 

mostly dog books (www.huldraforlag.no). 

Huldra is working to increase knowledge, 

understanding and respect for animals. 

I am an educated economist with specialization 

in Marketing from the University 

College of Buskerud. 

I have worked with dogs in periods since 

I was fifteen, and had my first job at a 

kennel back then. In 2004 I started to 

study Animal Welfare at Nord-Trøndelag 

University College, but after a few months 

I found that it was all about producing as 

much meat as possible for less money. So 

I dropped out, and went back to my job at 

a bookstore. This was like taking a huge 

step backwards in life, so I searched everywhere 

for some other animal-related, or 

ideally some dog-related work. In February 

2005 I went on a weekend course with 

Anne Lill Kvam about dogs with behavioural 

problems. She told me that Turid 

Rugaas needed a dog sitter, and in May 

2005 that became my job! From spring 

2005 - autumn 2007 I worked for Turid 

as her dog sitter, and in 2007 I graduated 

as an international dog trainer from Turid 

Rugaas’ dog trainer school. When last 

year’s students graduated in Norway, I 

Page 8 

Hello, I’m Dimitra Pontikaki, a positive dog 

trainer, and I live in Greece. I have two female 

dogs: Mimi, an 11-year-old Labrador- 

Grenendal mixed, and Neda, a 5-year-old 

English Setter. Both of my dogs were stray 

animals and Neda, whom I found last November, 

was abused and left on a mountain 

by her previous “parent”. I studied at 

Yiannis Arachovitis’ positive dog trainer 

academy and I have worked with dogs and 

their parents for almost four years. During 

this time I have helped many people who 

have problems with their dogs, and as 

result many dogs who had problems with 

their parents. My interest in positive dog 

training started when Mimi and I started to 

work in a pet therapy group. To be able to 

enter the program, we had to be trained 

in basic obedience. The trainer of this 

group wasn’t that positive, so I started to 

reach for an other method to train my dog. 

Until then I hadn’t looked for any training 

technique because I had no problems with 

my dog, and I didn’t care that much for 

basic obedience. I was happy that I had a 

healthy, social and happy dog who could 

participate in every activity of my family. 

On the other hand, the image I had of 

dog trainers was the traditional image of 

the cruel man. That really didn’t express 

either me or the relationship I wanted to 

have with dogs. Finding a positive dog 

training method changed my mind, and 

when starting to train Mimi that way I sow 

the difference to both myself and my dog’s 

I have been very lucky to spend my tender 

years surrounded by animals. 

My best friend, German shepherd girl Wilma, 

used to take me for walks in my pram 

and told me stories, straight into my ear! I 

think of her often and have a clear picture 

of her in my mind. 

While studying, I was allowed to live in 

student accommodation with my dachshund-cocker 

spaniel cross, that was very 

unusual but the credit was hers not mine, 

as everyone loved her company. She was 

a fabulous dog. We slept, ate and travelled 

together, shared everything — well, maybe 

except boyfriends. 

I was naïve in thinking that I knew something 

about dogs, even though I had spent 

lots of time with them. My current dog 

Mela, an English Bull Terrier, laughed hard 

and long when I tried to use my ‘knowledge’ 

on her. 

Meeting her has changed my life. I have 

enrolled in Sheila’s Harper IDTS and have 

been very fortunate to also meet Turid, 

Winkie, Anne-Lill, and many more ‘doggiemad 

people’. 

I work from home now, helping my better 

half run his business. I have a degree in 

psychology and used to work with disabled 

and autistic children. I truly believe this 

helps in dealing with people — after all we 

train them not dogs. 



CLAUDIA ZÖLLNER 

DENMARK 

I’ve always liked animals and ever since I 

can remember I wanted to be a vet; now 

I’m a veterinary nurse and what interests 

me most in my line of occupation is working 

with the animals and their owners. 

Everyday I give good advice to people 

about their animals, whether it’s a dog, cat, 

rabbit etc. I now train dogs as a part of my 

job. I know I make a difference, that everyone 

can make a difference to the benefit of 

the animals - and their owner’s life. 

So animals have been an important part 

of my life since I was 3 years old, when 

my family and I became the lucky owners 

of an unwanted 6-month-old labrador mix. 

Next came the stray cats in the neighborhood; 

we tamed them and had them 

neutered. Later we were joined by desert 

rats, birds, rabbits and horses. I had a 

spare time job at a veterinary hospital, 

later on becoming a vet nurse and now a 

dog trainer. 

My special field in working with pet owners 

is probably my capability in explaining 

things to people in a diplomatic way; so 

they listen. Using analogies helps them to 

understand. Communication is so important 

when you work with people. I observe, 

and my one goal in life is always to do 

better. I never think that I know everything 

or have all the answers. 

PAULINA DRURI 

FRANCE 

My name is Paulina Druri, I’m Polish, but 

I have lived in France for 8 years now... 

Dogs were my passion from childhood. To 

have a dog was my dream for many years. 

Now I’m the happy owner of three adopted 

dogs. Some years ago I discovered calming 

signals from Turid’s book, and my story 

in dog understanding and training began. I 

still have many things to learn, but I’m sure 

that I’m on the right road. 

Hanne TRUELSEN 

DENMARK 

Since I was a kid I have lived with animals 

— dogs and horses being the ‘main 

animals’. I am educated in Sales and Marketing, 

and have worked in the Travel Industry 

since 1978. I have been married for 

26 years to my husband Peer, and have 2 

‘kids’, 22 and 24 years old. Both are university 

students and have ‘flown the nest’. 

In my ‘adult life’ I started in 2000 with a 

Kleiner Münsterländer bitch. We got her 

when she was 11 weeks old. She was not 

an easy dog, a little bit aggressive and 

in that way I was introduced to a training 

centre in Copenhagen called Hundeakademiet. 

They asked me to start up as a 

‘coach foal’ which I did, and in that way I 

got became nosey and very interested in 

dog behaviour. I have through the years 

joined several courses/lectures in Denmark, 

since 2001. Eg: Anders Hallgren, 

Runar Næss, Freddy Worm Christiansen, 

Irene Jarnved, Marianna Bendixen (a Danish 

respected chiropractor) Gry Løberg, 

Turid Rugaas and others. I have attended 

a wide variety of lectures such as tracking, 

clicking courses, obedience, telepathy, 

massage, genetic and breeding, herding 

etc. Since 2005 I have been an agility 

trainer. The way I train is to take into account 

the need to treat the dogs well, 

without stress. We introduce kind and humane 

training. Through all these courses I 

realised how important ‘the good daily life 

is for the dogs’ and in 2009 we were very 

lucky here in Denmark that Turid Rugaas 

started the Dog Trainer Education, which I 

was so happy to attend and which I completed 

in april 2010. 

Astrid Verkuyl 

NETHERLANDS 

Hello, my name is Astrid Verkuyl. I Iive in a 

village close to Amsterdam (the best part 

of Holland) with my husband, our daughter 

and German shepherd Diego. Diego is 

my third dog. Before him I had a border 

collie and another German shepherd. My 

love for dogs probably started when I was 

born, because as far as I know they were 

always there.....The first dog I remember 

very well was Oscar, a German shepherd 

who belonged to friends of my parents. As 

a child I told this dog many stories. I think 

that’s where my love started for German 

shepherds. In daily life I am a professional 

dog trainer. I started a long time ago as an 

volunteer at one of the training centres run 

by the animal protection body, and later 

on, in 2005, I started my own dog trainers 

school. I like teaching people how to live 

with their dogs in a friendly way. 



Iris Esser 

GERMANY 

During my work in different departments 

of Human Resources and Personnel 

Development, my deep interest in the 

psychology of learning and motivation was 

born. I recognized more and more people 

suffering from stress-related health and 

behavioural problems because of major 

changes in living and working conditions 

(industrialization). 

Later my experiences as a mother gave 

me the idea to do something. The idea to 

work with children and teenagers to get 

them into contact with nature and animals 

was born. In order to realize this work in 

a nice way — not only for human beings 

but also for animals — I had to learn 

more about dogs and decided to attend 

the International Dog Trainer Education 

with Turid Rugaas and Anne-Lill Kvam in 

2010/2011. When starting this education 

I just wanted to learn more about how 

dogs behave. I never wanted to become 

a dog trainer. But I really couldn´t foresee 

how deep Turid would get me in touch 

with nearly the same problems in dogs. I 

should have known better and Turid and 

Anne-Lill planted a seed. More and more, I 

started to think about making a change not 

only in young people but also in dogs. 

After finishing the education I founded 

a company which in future will hopefully 

publish dog-friendly books and 

information. I´ve also started working with 

clients. The more people know about the 

nature of dogs, the better they will be 

able to live together with them. The first 

book we published was my own work, 

which I developed during the dog trainer 

education, a booklet giving some dogand 

family-friendly advice and training 

proposals for living together with children 

and dogs. 

Today my special interest is focused on 

working with dogs showing behavioural 

problems (for whatever reason), family 

dogs (problem solving, also biting kids), 

second-hand or shelter dogs, as well 

as the psychology of learning in and 

motivation of dogs. I try to teach owners 

about dogs´ real nature, motivation as 

well as being patient with their dogs and 

themselves, and giving dogs time for 

social learning and integration. At the end 

even I became a dog trainer. 

My husband and I live together with our 

three children and two dogs in a small 

town in Lorraine/France near Saarbrücken/ 

Germany. 

What‘s up in 2012? 

PDTE Events, Courses, Seminars, Workshops... 

These events, courses, seminars and workshops have been accepted by the PDTE Board. 

Part of the income contributes to the work of the PDTE. If you would like to organize a PDTE event, 

contact Raili Halme raili@doi.fi . 

GERMANY 

Seminar with Turid Rugaas in English 

Turid Rugaas: 

PDTE - Practical Weekend Seminar "Everyday 

Dog Handling" on Sat, 21. and Sun, 22. 

April 2012 

Turid Rugaas has a special way with dogs. We 

are pleased to offer you the chance to observe 

her when handling dogs practically - this will be 

the first suchlike seminar in Germany! 

Schedule: The seminar is meant for beginners 

and professionals. You may take part with or 

without a dog. Turid will get to know every dog, 

and consider the wishes of every participant. 

However, the first obligation is to the dogs 

present, so there can be only a projected 

schedule. 

Barking / Visitors / Doorbell ringing / Leash 

work / Training techniques / Parallel walking 

Dogs meeting dogs / Training techniques 

for concentration and attention / Enriched 

environment / Nosework / Training technique 

Marking / Alternative behaviour 

For the dogs that are brought alone, a practical 

seminar means a lot of excitement and work. 

Therefore we ask you to bring your dogs with 

you only for one day. Please tell us what day 

you would prefer, Saturday or Sunday, when 

registering. 

The participation is limited! Please bring only 

dogs along who are able to cope with the seminar 

situation. We ask for some understanding 

that no bitch in heat can be brought along. 

Best selling author and undisputed star of 

canine behaviour, Turid Rugaas is presenting a 

unique seminar. We don’t know when she will 

be back so don’t miss this seminar! 

As well as aspiring dog trainers and behaviourists, 

this seminar is aimed towards any dog 

lovers who wish to gain a better insight into 

canine communication and behaviour. 

Website of the speaker: http://www.turidrugaas.no/UKindex.htm 

Turid Rugaas will talk in English (her English is 

very good), and there will be a translation for 

the German-speaking guests. 

Time: 

Saturday 09.00 am to 05.00 pm; Sunday 09.30 

am to 05.00 pm 

Venue: 

In the Hotel Rosengarten in 74206 Bad 

Wimpfen (South Germany, between Heidelberg 

and Stuttgart), more information is given to the 

participants 

Price 

- with dog: 280 Euro (PDTE member: 200 E 

- without dog: 180 Euro (PDTE member: 100 

Euro) 

Members of the Pet Dog Trainers of Europe 

get a discount! What are the PDTE? 

Please register by mail info@dogcom.de 


What‘s up in 2012? 

Other Events, Courses, Seminars, Workshops... 

AUSTRIA 

International Dog Behaviour & Training 

School (IDBTS) 

In-depth theory and practical study foundation 

Further study required for independent 

OCN accreditation 

Teacher: Sheila Harper, Guest speaker: 

Sally Askew 

Working towards a nationally recognised 

accreditation. Module Topics: Canine 

Communication and Handling, Training, 

Canine Behaviour and Instructing Dog 

Training Classes. Including: Applied learning 

theory, ethology, stress, canine body 

language, psychology, shaping, problem 

solving, creativity, instructing, puppies and 

FRANCE 

adolescents, behaviour modification and 

health & nutrition. In-depth case studies 

with students’ own dogs. 



Venue: near Vienna 

Contact Judith Utner judith.utner@hundeforum.at 

NetherLands 

An exciting opportunity for a small group of 

people to learn both 

Human and Canine 

Bowen Technique 

will start for the first time in 

The Netherlands in 2012:- T 

he Human Bowen Technique course will 

TURID RUGAAS 

"Comprendre son chien. 

A propos de langage, les émotions 

et le stress, le leadership et la dominance» 

«Un Chien (Presque) Parfait » vous invite à rencontrer Turid Rugaas. 

L’éducatrice norvégienne, la créatrice de Pet Dog Trainers of Europe, Turid 

est mondialement connu pour son travail sur les signaux d’apaisement. Elle 

parcourt le monde entier en enseignant les méthodes nouvelles et positives 

d’éducation canine. Elle révolutionne notre façon d’interagir avec les 

chiens, nous aide à comprendre les interactions entre chiens. 

Pendant le séminaire nous parlerons du stress, souvent sous estime chez les 

chiens, et qui peut provoquer des problèmes de comportement. Turid va 

partager avec nous ses idées, basées sur les années de recherches et les 

observations des chiens. Elle parlera des signaux d’apaisement et la 

communication canine. Elle nous fera partager ses connaissances sur le 

leadership, la hiérarchie et la théorie de dominance, est-ce bien un mythe ou 

la réalité? 

Ce séminaire est aussi bien adresse aux éducateurs canin et aux 

comportementalistes, comme aux bénévoles de la SPA, les moniteurs dans les Clubs Canin, les 

vétérinaires… Si vous êtes « juste » un amoureux des chiens, vous pouvez pendant ce weekend acquérir 

une meilleure idée de la communication canine et le comportement, cela vous aidera à avoir la relation 

plus profonde et constructive avec votre chien. 

C’est une possibilité unique d’écouter et apprendre avec Turid Rugaas, une star indiscutable du monde 

canin, grace à ses années d’expérience et son approche unique pour les chiens ! 

Le stage se déroulera en région parisien (l’adresse exacte de la salle reste à confirmer rapidement), du 10 au 11 

Novembre 2012. Turid va parler Anglais, mais une traduction en Français est prévue ! 

Modalité de payement : 230 EUR à payer avant le 1 Octobre 2012. Nombre des places limitées. 

Pour les réservations merci de me contacter par mail paula_druri@hotmail.com, ou par téléphone + 33(0) 627 65 27 21. 

« (Almost) Perfect Dog » invites you to the 

seminar with Turid Rugaas: "Understanding 

your dog. About language, emotion and stress, 

leadership and dominance » 

World famous dog trainer, Turid is president of Pet Dog 

Trainer of Europe (PDTE). During this seminar Turid will talk 

about stress in dogs, often under estimated, which can be 

source of behavior problems. Turid will share her ideas based 

on experiences and observations of dogs. She will speak about 

calming signals and canine communication. We will discuss 

also about leadership and dominance. 

If you are a dog trainer, behaviorist, vet, shelter stuff or “just” 

a dog owner, you will have a unique opportunity to learn 

from Turid Rugaas, incontestable star of canine trainers, so 

don’t miss this event! 

start in November 2012 and will be followed 

by the Canine Bowen Technique 

course in November 2013. Detailed 

information about this opportunity including 

dates and prices may be obtained from 

either 

Conny Ermen-Weerepas, 

email:- Conny@ceasaron.nl, 

Tel:- +31 (0) 623 788 560, 

www.ceasaron.nl or Sally Askew, email:- 

info@caninebowentechnique.com 





Teacher: Sheila Harper Guest speaker: 

Sally Askew 










health & nutrition. In-depth case studies with 

students’ own dogs. 

Further study required for independent OCN 

accreditation 

Venue: Natuurcentrum Veluwe, Ede Gld, 

Netherlands 

Contact Jane Bouwens 

Info@puredog.nl 

SWITZERLAND 

Contact Nicole Froehlich info@footstep.ch 





Teacher: Sheila Harper Guest speaker: 

Sally Askew 










health & nutrition. In-depth case studies 

with students’ own dogs. 



Contact Nicole Froehlich 

Seminar will have place in suburbia of Paris (exact address will be confirmed soon), from November 10th to 11 th , 

2012. Turid will speak English, but we will translate for French speaking persons. 

Price: 230 EUR to pay before 1 October 2012. 

For reservation, please contact me by mail paula_druri@hotmail.com, or by phone + 33 (0) 627 65 27 21. 


GREETINGS from MEMBER COUNTRIES 

Every year in December, the dog pound 

in Cracow, Poland, is organizing a “charity 

collection of gifts and things most needed” 

for the animals – that is called Christmas 

for the Animals in the Pound. It is a sort of 

a charity contest for schools, children and 

their parents, to engage them in helping 

the needy animals, and in spreading the 

knowledge about homeless animals. All 

the schools and classes that take part in 

the charity and collect things for the pound 

get diplomas. The class that collects 

the most things wins, and gets a unique 

diploma and takes part in a final gala. A lot 

of schools take part in this charity because 

it is prestigious, and they do something 

good for the local society. 

This year, in order to promote the action, 

the dog pound thought of a new way 

to advertise the charity. To reach out to 

the kids we decided to organize several 

training shows in schools. We hoped that 

this would interest the kids more they just 

talking about dogs. They would be able 

not only to see the dogs at school, but also 

to see how the dogs from the dog pound 

work, how they are trained, and to learn a 

few things about general proper behavior 

methods around dogs. 

Prega is a dog, who has been living in the 

dog pound for almost 2 years. She is more 

or less 6 years old, and she is a mix of an 

American Staffordshire Bull Terrier. She 

has been training for over a year, and her 

basic obedience skills are very good. She 

is very well socialized with people, and 

tolerates other animals to a satisfactory 

degree. She is very stable emotionally 

and calm. That is why, she was the dog 

that was chosen to take part in the training 

shows. 

One of the schools Prega visited was the 

International School of Krakow. She visited 

different classes, and kids of different 

age. She showed the kids all the basic 

commands that she knows, such as: sit 

and stay, lie down and stay, rest. She 

also showed the kids that she can make 

a circle and a slalom, and not to take food 

from the floor. With the younger kids Prega 

was demonstrating the 5 senses and the 

basic calming signals. The small kids really 

enjoyed it, because Prega was playful 

and very positive. 

All the kids where very interested in the 

training and listened attentively. They 

Page 12 

POLAND 

asked a lot of questions considering positive 

training, about how animals live in the 

dog pound. The kids where clearly touched 

by all the information that they received. 

The mid school kids wanted to know about 

animal safety, how to behave when a dog 

is about to attack, how to know if a dog is 

dangerous and how to behave in several 

situations. 

Thanks to this promotion of the dog pound 

and of training dogs in the pound, we 

hope to reach to a big group of children 

Turid Rugaas IDTE 

and their parent, and teach them to help 

animals in need. Teaching young kids will 

have an effect on their adult life and let 

them understand animals better. Children’s 

education is something that can change 

the future, so it is very important to invest 

in children, because they are the future, 

and they will decide some day what and 

how to do. The right, thorough education, 

will expand the children’s imagination and 

sensitivity to animal hurt. 

We are very pleased to announce that Turid Rugaas is coming back to Holland for her Trainer 

Education Program. (Turid Rugaas International Dog Trainer Education) 

The education lasts 30 days, divided in 10 units with 3 days each.All units except one - held by 

Anne Lill Kvam - shall be held by Turid herself. 

Maximum 20 students are accepted, age limit is from 21 years up to none. Main language will 

be English. Whether there will be a translation must be arranged with Turid. Dogs can be 

brought along. This must be discussed with Turid and the host in advance. 

PDTE NEWS 

Zula 

Topics addressed: Communication Puppies, adolescent, mature dogs Stress, fears, 

aggression Health, body issues Instructing and consultations Practical skills learning 

behaviour problem solving Stress, fears, aggression equipment observation training techniques 

and methods breeds nutrition history ethology creativity studies and research 

Exams: Midway: 1 short presentation 1 breed research Instruction End: 1 practical session with 

dogs 1 presentation of a main topic 

A certificate will be given at the end when the education was completed successfully. 

Dates: Unit 1 12-10-2012 14-10-2012 Unit 2 30-11-2012 02-12-2012 Unit 3 25-01-2013 27-01- 

2013 Unit 4 08-03-2013 10-03-2013 Unit 5 19-04-2013 21-04-2013 Unit 6 Anne Lill dates will 

follow Unit 7 16-08-2013 18-08-2013 Unit 8 11-10-2013 13-10-2013 Unit 9 08-11-2013 10-11- 

2013 Unit 10 29-11-2013 01-12-2013 Exam weekend 

More information? Call Nelis +31 6 227 552 14

Opening Gardens to 

Dogs 

Some time last summer the idea had 

crossed my mind. Again it was the time 

when people flooded our usually sleepy 

street to have an interested look into the 

“Open Gardens” that some neighbours 

allowed garden lovers access to. Pictures 

came alive in my dreams: Why not open 

gardens to dogs? There must be so many 

dog owners with a fenced in garden and 

there are so many dogs that would so 

much like to be off leash in them and take 

the chance to sniff and explore everything 

in them. 


GERMANY 

A sporting accident finally gave me 

plenty of time to start the project. The 

first steps mainly were to set up a 

website to communicate the idea and 

find dog-friendly supporters that are also 

enthusiastic about it. And it worked J. 

Friends who have also passed Turid’s and 

Ann Lill’s dog trainer education along with 

Silvia, who lives in the same town as I 

do, were among the first and encouraged 

me to keep going. We are now a group 

of fourteen German, Swiss and Austrian 

supporters –dog trainers from reliably 

dog-friendly organisations and also animal 

welfare clubs with the project starting 

on May 1, 2012 (PDTE members: Steffi 

Binder, Iris Esser, Judith Selina Keller, 

Dr. Susanne Lautner, Silvia Weber / also 

thanks to Maria Hense for putting me 

into contact with Gudrun Braun, who has 

specialised on working with enrichment 

for shelter dogs). The website www. 

schnüffelgärten.de is now open to the 

public (you’ll find a link on my homepage 

if the letters ü/ä do not exist in your 

language). 

The website shows many photos of dogs 

sniffing in gardens and covers topics like: 

“Dogs: Creatures of the Nose” 

(Carolin Reger) 

“The Sense of Sniffing” 

(Iris Esser) 

“The Discovery of Slowness” 

(Carolin Reger) 

“Enrichment for Dogs” (Gudrun Braun) 

„Harnesses for Dogs“ (Silvia Weber) 

Every dog owner is invited to take part 

in the project. You can open your garden 

to a dog whilst your own dog explores 

some other dog’s home. You find an open 

garden by either contacting one of the 

supporters of the project or by organizing 

the visit privately. In any case you must 

stick to certain rules: The dogs are to have 

a time of their own. They are allowed to 

explore the garden in their own pace, 

without commands or restrictions. Peeing 

(and more) must be allowed. Big gardens 

probably offer a lot to discover. Small 

gardens can be made more interesting by 

employing all kinds of enrichment. After 

the visit the dog should be taken home 

for a good rest. It is not supposed to meet 

the garden owner’s dog. Like the dog 

owner also the garden owner is asked not 

to center the dog on himself. “Opening 

Gardens to Dogs” is meant to be a stress 

free sniffing adventure, an important 

alternative to many dogs’ daily lives of 

running, chasing, catching balls … and a 

really attractive offer for dogs who 

- are mostly on leash because of a 

strong hunting instinct, 

- are handicapped or had an operation 

and like taking things slowly, 

- are stressed and can rediscover the 

fun of sniffing things carefully, 

- are puppies that can be off leash in a 

stimulating, safe area. 

- are young and take stressful daily 

encounters with other dogs and 

can take the chance to calm down by 

mental stimulation, 

- live in urban areas with many 

restrictions, 

- are fearful or newly rehomed and need 

to build up more self-confidence. 

- Hopefully the website’s information 

nspires to create more stimulating 

lives for dogs living in shelters. 

Last but not least the project is directed to 

dog owners. With this free offer we hope to 

put across the idea of taking things slowly 

with our dogs. Taking home a satisfied, 

tired dog may help to show how little it 

can take to make a dog happy. J People 

who like the project can wear the button 

and help to spread the idea of opening 

many gardens to dogs. It is so amazing 

how easily our dogs’ basic need of sniffing 

things carefully is ignored. Thus, if anyone 

else is interested in supporting the project, 

you’ll be warmly welcome. 

Carolin Reger 

Hundeschule nasenreich 

Bochum Germany 

www.nasenreich.de 


On 31st December 2010 we took into 

our home a blind nine week old Cavalier 

King Charles Spaniel who we called Briar. 

We have had several blind and partially 

sighted dogs in the past so felt we could 

cope with his problem. 

Briars mother had a virus during pregnancy 

causing three pups to be stillborn. 

The other surviving puppy appeared to 

be in good health. Briar was born with 

cataracts on both eyes but there was hope 

that as his eyes developed he would gain 

some vision. He has seen an eye specialist 

twice and is due to see him again in 

October with a view to surgery to remove 

the cataract on one eye. He has a light 

reaction so doesn’t bump into solid objects 

although he will run into light scrub or 

opaque things. 

BRIAR 

RICHARD SEATON, ENGLAND 

As well as Briars eye problems he had an 

upset stomach caused by two different 

bugs, the result of his mother’s virus. He 

came to us during a very prolonged spell 

of cold weather and he had never been 

outside of a warm room. Any exposure to 

the cold caused his glands to swell. His 

vaccine had to be delayed until he was 

healthier so he was an indoor pup for 

some time. 

When Briar came to us he was eating dry 

puppy food with a little chicken and ate 

from a bowl, though not very enthusiastically. 

Following the digestive problems 

feeding him became very difficult. Sally 

Askew gave helpful advice regarding 

appetizers and supplements and suggested 

feeding wet food by hand. We had 

already started this but it was nice to have 

the OK from an expert as hand feeding 

seems to be taboo. Briar would eat a food 

for a day or two and then refuse it. Chicken 

has always been the greatest success 

food and at first we cooked it. For a few 

days he would only eat it given as a whole 

thigh. We quickly found out that puppy 

teeth have no problem with the bone and 

had to remove it as cooked bones are hazardous. 

He liked small dog biscuits and at 

times these were all he would eat but they 

are deficient in nutrition. I started to make 

our own using oats and ingredients such 

Hand feeding. 

Briar´s arrival to our place. 

Briar´s first day in our 

home. 


BRIAR 

Eating from the bowl. 

Exploring surroundigs near by. 

Running on the hill. 

as sardine, chicken and liver. Even these 

he would eat some days and not others. 

One day, in desperation, I gave him raw 

chicken. This was a success and he has 

eaten 2-3 plump chicken thighs every day 

since. They had to be skinned and boned, 

cut small and hand fed but he was far from 

getting a complete diet. We gave him a 

supplement and looked round for a dry 

food that he would eat. Puppy foods of all 

makes were a non starter. Some of our 

dogs are on a mobility diet which seems 

to have helped them. Briar showed an 

interest in this and would eat a portion of it 

most days. I kept some in my pocket and 

when he nosed it I knew he was ready to 

eat but this still wasn’t ‘regular feeding’. It 

was July before he decided that he could 

eat his chicken direct from a bowl. He also 

developed a liking for tripe mix. Finally, 

after months of worry to us, he tucks into 

tripe mix and a lamb and rice dry food for 

breakfast and raw chicken and dry food 

for tea. 

Briar was surprisingly easy to integrate 

into our multi-dog home. He had been 

kept by the breeder in a room with his 

mother and brother as she was concerned 

that the rest of her dogs would be too 

boisterous for the puppies. We had made 

a pen for Briar and kept the other dogs out 

of that room when he arrived. We let the 

other dogs into the room, one or two at 

a time. The first ones were Cinders and 

Kassie, both ex breeding CKCS bitches, 

that we had taken in. They were very 

interested in him and as he was in them. 

After a minute or two we let them in the 

pen and they were very gentle with him. 

Gradually we let the family into the room to 

sniff him and in a short time he had left the 

pen and was mixing with them. 

The prolonged period of cold weather (and 

his poor health) meant that Briar could not 

be taken outside for several weeks. When 

it warmed up he was taken into the garden. 

At first he just sat not knowing what 

to do. It took a few days of this before he 

began to take his first hesitant steps of 

exploration. Once started his confidence 

quickly grew. Our garden is on two levels 

and it was necessary for Briar to go up and 

down three small steps. We gave him a 

little help with these then left him to deal 


with them in his own time. It was not long 

before he was running around the garden 

taking the steps in his stride. 

The wider world presented similar problems 

to Briar. When carried out and put 

down he just sat. It took longer for him to 

start exploring but one day he walked a 

few metres. The next day he walked all 

the way home. Briar did not mind wearing 

his collar or harness but it was several 

weeks before he walked happily on a 

lead. His handicap does not prevent him 

enjoying life. His nose, light sensitivity and 

vocal signals from us help with direction 

and he runs free without hurting himself. 

Like nearly everything he has had to learn 

it has been very slow at first, but followed 

by rapid progress. He has learnt from our 

cocker spaniels to dig for certain roots 

which they eat. They only dig where these 

roots are to be found. He is very intense 

when doing this and is oblivious to all else. 

We have very little trouble with new dogs 

at night. We make a pen at the side of 

our bed where they usually settle down 

and sleep. In Briars case we put Cinders 

in with him. She snuggled up to him and 

he very quickly slept. Our dogs always 

have access to our bedroom at night. This 

settles them and helps to build up a good 

relationship with us. 

The other dogs in our family quickly 

accepted Briar. Some played with him, always 

gently, irrespective of their size, and 

Pudding, our Labrador, was particularly 

gentle. Strange dogs outside did not worry 

Briar. He has coped with Great Danes 

and Yorkies alike and they are always 

polite to him. The only exceptions were 

other puppies which worried him. I have 

always found that the dog most likely to 

bully a puppy is another puppy. I therefore 

always avoid puppy classes, preferring to 

socialise with well mannered adults. 

Briar has found the dog flap a huge problem 

but much to our surprise a few days 

ago he forced his way through it when he 

realised it was dinner time. Now he pops 

in and out at will. This was a great step 

forward as not only had he mastered the 

flap but was also really wanting his food. 

October has now arrived and Briar has 

seen the eye specialist again. As we 

hoped, healthy lens tissue has developed 

as he has grown and there is peripheral 

vision in both eyes. It was decided that as 

this should not deteriorate and as he has 

enough vision for his needs as a family 

dog we should leave well alone. 

Since we have had Briar he has given us 

a lot of worry but a great deal of pleasure. 

He has grown into a healthy and happy 

member of our family and we hope to have 

many more years with him. 


ENGLAND 

Artical in This Week´s Wandswoth Guardian from Ali 


ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT 

FOR DOGs IN A SHELTER IN VIENNA 

In January 2012 I (Maria Hense) visited 

the shelter of Vienna to give two seminars. 

I was deeply touched by the way 

a very committed and compassionate 

group of trainers and caretakers try to 

improve the lifes of their animals. 

They tried to use every small thing that 

is possible in this less than optimal 

surrounding. I asked Gudrun Braun, a 

biologist who organizes a lot of enrichement 

for all the animals, to write 

an article about a part of her work. And 

she did it: 

BRAUN GUDRUN, AUSTRIA 

Environmental Enrichment has been a 

customary practice in zoos for many years 

and many good ideas about how animals 

can be mentally stimulated have been 

developed. This is difficult in facilities in 

which animals are kept that have been 

found without an owner, that were confiscated, 

or that were simply delivered. Most 

such places lack modern structure and 

are small and cramped. Money is often 

scarce, as are possibilities to maintain or 

improve the kennel. It is in precisely such 

a situation, where animals do not have an 

adequate living space, that it is extremely 

important to ensure that they are at least 

mentally occupied. 

The Shelter of Vienna has practised 

Environmental Enrichment for more than 5 

years. It is one of Europe’s largest animal 

shelters and houses an average of 1700 

animals, of which 370 are dogs. 

Dogs which have to live in a barren 

environment need more opportunities to 

make use of their senses. By stimulating 

all the senses, stress and frustration can 

be reduced - and this in turn increases the 

quality of life. In order to allow this, there 

are several activity options. 

• For dogs who like to destroy their blankets 

or baskets, it’s a wonderful thing to 

get a cardboard box they are allowed to 

destroy. In this box you can - wrapped in 

newspaper - give a treat or chewing sticks 

or a pig’s ear. 

Given such a filled cardboard box daily, 

dogs leave their blankets and baskets in 

one piece, as they can act out their frustration 

on the box. 

• There is also a great alternative for dogs 

who like to eat grass: lettuce prepared 

with some meat-rings, is great fun for 

those dogs. They can simply pull apart the 

lettuce and eat the meat-rings, or they can 

chew on the lettuce leaves. In both cases 

they are occupied. 

You can also replace the salad with other 

vegetables or fruits (but no avocados). 

Good experiences have been had with 

melons. 

• Since giving dogs ice cubes often starts 

heated discussions and conflicts with the 

shelter vets- another option can be to 

freeze a Kong filled with food or treats. 

Why should it necessarily be something 

frozen? Our dogs always eat their food 

or treats at room temperature. If we look 

back, what a very pleasant sensation on 

the tongue it is, to lick an ice- especially 

when the weather is hot. Thus, the taste 

buds are stimulated in a different way. 

• A slightly more consuming employment 

opportunity is a “pinata”. This is a ball of 

paper maché which is filled with goodies. 

The ball can also be used as olfactory 

stimulation if you add a few drops of olive 

oil or lavender oil to it. You can fill them 

with hay or sprinkle them with herbs. Dogs 

can sniff this extraordinary play ball or 

break it apart if they want. 

As no designated team is available in 

the shelter, our enrichment ideas are 

implemented solely by our staff and some 

voluntary helpers. Although enrichment 

techniques have been part of the daily life 

in our shelter for the past five years, we 

still need to learn a lot about organization 

and sourcing opportunities. Nevertheless, 

our successful eradication of behavioural 

problems shows us that we are on the 

right track. 

How to make a pinata? 

You take a balloon, mix flour with water 

until you get a creamy consistency. 

Then you take blank pieces of paper and 

places it on the balloon put as much of 

the water cream flour on it, that the paper 

sticks to the balloon. Make this until the 

entire balloon is covered with paper. The 

harder you want to have the balloon all 

the more layers you glued to the balloon. 

Three layers are well proven. Then the 

balloon is hung to dry. If it is dry, dissolve 

the balloon gently out of the Papmacheball 

and then fill it with treats or other things. 


PDTE AGM MEETING In NORWAY 24 – 25 September 2011 

MINUTES OF the AGM 2011 

In accordance with the AGM Agenda the following is a record of the AGM held in Oslo, Norway, on Sunday September 25th 2011. 

The meeting was opened by the President, Turid Rugaas from Norway. 

A gift was presented to each of the organisers by Raili Halme on behalf of the PDTE. 

The meeting was chaired by Maxwell Muir from Scotland. 

1a Register of those present 

Gunn Tove Bekken / Ed van den Berg AM / Steffi Binder AM / Stamatina Charami / Paola Corvino AM/ Erica Delvò AM / Paulina Druri AM / Tiina Finn 

/ Monica Grönkvist-Carlsson AM / Raili Halme FM / Chrissy Gough AM / Winnie Hartelius AM / Maria Hense FM / Esther Herrera-Kivijärvi AM / Arletta 

Hodge AM / Sonja Hoegen FM / Ronja Hyppölä AM / Eleni Kalioglou / Andrea Knoblauch FM / Anne-Lill Kvam FM / Susanne Lautner AM / Patrizia 

Legler AM / Heikki Lindqvist FM /Adelaide Lönnberg FM / Leonardo Massaro AM Maxwell Muir FM / Tone Myhrer FM / Jana Nemcova AM / Undine 

Nickerl FM / Agnieszka Nojszewska AM / Agnes Peins / Christianne Pereira Armari AM / Annika Petrén FM / Erini Pitsilidi / Inga Thorborg Robertsdottir 

/ Susi Roger FM / Turid Rugaas HM / Line Skaugerud AM / Sofia Skoglund / Winkie Spiers FM / Bente Stensland AM / Macie Ström / Emilia 

Tolonen FM / Hanne Truelsen AM / Agnes Vaelidalo AM / Natlaya Verhoeven AM / Astrid Verkuyl / Pippa Woodward-Smith FM / Claudia Zöllner AM 

TOTAL PRESENT 48 / TOTAL MEMBERS 38 

1b Apologies for absence 

Apologies were received from the following members who were unable to attend: 

Yiannis Arachovitis, Merethe Børgart, Marieke Bovee, Leonard “Buzz” Cecil, Pennie Clayton, Carlos Dangoor, Lee Darby, Susanne Erdelji, Nicole 

Fröhlich, Nina Haaland, Sheila Harper, Dave Hayes, Lisa Hird, Jeanne Hoogland, Sally Hopkins, Dewi Houwen, Ellen Huys, Jan Hyams, Judith- 

Selina Keller, Monique van Kessel, Christine Kiefer, Gerd Köhler, Melanie Linssen, Deidre Long, Rosie Lowry, Marina Mambretti, Karen Marsh, 

Dave Marter, Christina Nicolaus, Dolores Palmer, Lucy Parker, Helmi Pesonen, Zula Przybylinska, Carolin Reger, Gosia Rokicka, Annette Schneider, 

Richard Seaton, Olwen Turns, Magda Urban, Doris Vaterlaus, Erika Vota, Silvia Weber, Heike Westedt, Ali Zaffar, Paulina Ziółkowska-Radomiak 

2 Minutes of the last AGM 

The minutes of the 2010 AGM had been sent out in advance. The minutes were accepted by the membership. 

3 Chairman’s report – Winkie Spears 

How lovely to see you all, and welcome to the 2011 AGM here in Oslo. Firstly, I’d like to thank Turid and her team for hosting this wonderful event; 

it’s an enormous undertaking to organise something like this so thank you all very much indeed for your time and effort. The weekend has been 

wonderfully organised and I am enjoying my time here very much — it’s also great to see so many of you here and I hope that you are enjoying it all 

as much as me? Attendance at our AGM grows every year which is very positive and well done all of you for making the effort to be here. 

For those of you who are new or are unaware of the history of the PDTE, it was set up in 1999 with the aim of improving the welfare of dogs 

everywhere and developing and promoting the best practices possible in dog training and dog care; this is what we continue to do. Whatever your 

individual level of experience and education it’s hugely important that we all strive to continue to develop and increase our skills and knowledge of 

dogs in all areas. The aims of the PDTE are to share ideas, knowledge, experiences and information to improve the relationships between dogs 

and people and increase awareness of positive training methods. This is something that we take very seriously and we actively uphold our code of 

ethics. 

Being part of the PDTE enables us to network, form new friendships and have like-minded people to share with so that we can expand our minds 

and skills. We all tend to concentrate on improving the social skills, stress levels and behaviour in dogs, but I think it’s equally important to be aware 

of our communication skills, our stress levels and our behaviour as well! Remember to be kind, clear and consistent to yourself and others as well as 

dogs, as this will help you as an individual and gives out a more positive message. 

Our newsletter seems to go from strength to strength and has a mass of knowledge and interest within each issue. It’s a great way to share experiences 

and knowledge, and it’s encouraging to see many new members contributing. 

This year the Board has again stayed much the same, which has provided good continuity and enabled us to continue our work. Last year Pippa 

Woodward-Smith joined us as treasurer and has worked hard to bring about positive changes, thank you Pippa. All Board members work tirelessly 

for free, fitting in all that it takes to keep the PDTE running and progressing is no small feat – I thank you all — Turid, Andrea, Raili, Pippa and 

Adelaide our Board Assistant who so ably and generously assists us, and also our member and election committee, Anne-Lill and Susi. 

Earlier this year in London a lunch meeting of members was organised by our Country Representative, Ali Zaffar, which was a great success. There 

is another one organised by Chrissy Gough in Southampton in October. These types of meet up are a brilliant way to network, make new friends and 

share experiences – we will only ever progress if we share our thoughts and experiences. 

Without you, the members, there wouldn’t be a PDTE, so please continue to be involved, join the forum, network with each other and share experiences. 

Feel free to give the Board suggestions, offer help, organise talks and courses, run a PDTE workshop, tell others about the PDTE, learn 

more and share. Share experiences both good and bad and be kind, encouraging and considerate to each other as well as to dogs. Most importantly, 

enjoy all that you do. 



Membership – Andrea Knoblauch 

4 Secretarial reports 

There are now a total number of 98 members from 16 countries: 26 full members, 68 associate members, and 4 honorary lifetime members (Turid 

Rugaas, Norway / Sally Askew, England / Sheila Harper, England / David Marter, England). 

New full members: 

Jan Hyams, England / Maxwell Muir, Scotland / Nelis Verhoeven, Netherlands 

New associate members: 

During the past year 28 associate members joined from the following countries: 

1 from Austria / 4 from Denmark / 3 from England / 2 from Finland / 1 from France / 2 from Germany / 1 from Greece / 1 from Italy / 4 from Netherlands 

/ 4 from Norway / 1 from Scotland / 2 from Spain / 1 from Switzerland / 1 from Turkey 

New friends: 3 friends joined from the following countries: Poland 

Additional topics: 

Delayed membership renewals 

Andrea pointed out that membership renewal was again difficult this year. By the August deadline, only 40% of members had returned their renewal 

forms. She had to send forms again to 15 members who had lost them. The Country Representatives sent out reminders around August 20th, as 

a result of which several renewals did arrive. By the time of the AGM, 20% of members had still not returned their forms or paid the fee. Andrea 

reminded the members that the PDTE strives to maintain a solid reputation based on respect, and asked that members put this into practice. The 

work of the membership secretary is extensive and wholly voluntary, and is carried out during evenings and at weekends. Delayed or non-existing 

renewals pose an additional burden that is entirely unnecessary. 

Meetings – Raili Halme 

Board meetings 

The Board met before the AGM, the only face-to-face meeting this year. 

During the year the Board met in a dedicated online chat room every month, totalling 11 meetings (two in 2010, nine in 2011), and communicated 

extensively by email. 

ACTION POINTS 

Marketing 

Facebook 

A Facebook site has been set up and has proved very popular. 

Newsletter 

The newsletter has seen a number of improvements thanks to input from members. Members were encouraged to continue contributing 

articles, photographs and short stories and announce their courses. 

Committees 

The past year has seen the various PDTE committees continue their work. 

- Education and Ethics Committee – Turid Rugaas 

The Committee desires to encourage members to arrange PDTE workshops and is prepared to give advice and assistance. 

- Marketing and Meetings Committee(s) – Raili Halme 

Raili Halme is responsible for both of these at present. 

- Country Representatives (Turid Rugaas) 

Being in charge of the Country Representatives, I have sent several letters to the CRs and have received good feedback from most of 

them. They have been reminded of their tasks and been asked to give information about dog laws and other things. We have an ongoing communication 

channel between us, and it seems to work quite well. The CRs seems to be a good link between the Board and the members, and this is 

developing. Not all of them are working well enough, but most of them are 

Country Representatives 

Denmark: Turid Rugaas / England: Ali Zaffar / Finland: Raili Halme / Germany: Sonja Hoegen / Greece: Yiannis Arachovitis / Italy: Chiara Gentileschi 

/ Netherlands: Nelis Verhoeven / Norway: Turid Rugaas / Poland: Agnieszka Nojszewska / Scotland: Maxwell Muir / Sweden: Monica Grönkvist- 

Carlsson / Switzerland: Susi Roger 

Sponsors 

The PDTE was again fortunate to be sponsored this year by Haqihana (AGM). 

Members 

Decisions were made concerning new members and transfers to full membership. PDTE events were 

discussed, as was support for various campaigns including one on the welfare of dogs in the EU. Further 

education for members was raised and continues to be discussed. 

Banking 

A new Euro account was opened at the HSBC bank in the UK. The German one was closed. 

5 Future plans for the PDTE – Winkie Spiers 

Future plans for the PDTE include: 

- Increasing the membership in all areas – Friends, Associates and Full Members 

- Continuing to seek ways to improve information system from members to members and from Board and committees to 

members 

- Finding more ways to provide benefits for members – price reductions on education, seminars and lectures 

- Exploring ways to share and swap knowledge with a book and picture library etc. 



- Gaining more sponsors – within (members’ firms) and outside (as long as they comply with our ethics) – both long term 

and short term 

- Arranging more PDTE events everywhere 

- Encouraging members to use the PDTE logo and to promote membership of the PDTE 

- Encouraging more articles and stories from members for the Newsletter 

6 Correspondence report — Turid Rugaas 

Two letters were sent this year by the PDTE: 

- Letter to the Austrian Government 

A letter was sent in early 2011 regarding a planned law according to which only certain trainers (members of ÖKV) would be approved. 

Some of these trainers use archaic methods, while trainers who work in line with the PDTE code of ethics are not considered true trainers. 

- EU Written Declaration 26 

Members of the European Parliament were asked to consider signing Written Declaration 26: Dog Population Management in the 

European Union. The Declaration calls on Member States to adopt comprehensive dog population strategies and requests that the 

European Commission encourages the introduction of mandatory identification and registration of all dogs, by means of an EU-wide 

compatible system. 

- German choke-chain / prong collar initiative 

The PDTE encourages its members to support a German initiative which is gaining popularity around Europe, whereby choke chains or 

prong collars are handed in in exchange for free instruction on a dog-friendly 

approach. 

7 Treasurer’s report — Pippa Woodward-Smith 

Euro account 

It has been quite a challenge to open the Euro HSBC account. Most of the expenses from the previous account held in Germany were for the Board 

attending the AGM. That account was then closed and sent to the UK account prior to opening of the new Euro account. 

The new account has been boosted by a number of membership fees, plus some workshop donations. The PDTE is very keen to increase the number 

of PDTE events, as this brings in some income that can then be put back into Treasurers educating members. Report 2010 – 2011 

The costs for the new Euro account have been similar, mostly for the newsletter, Treasurers and Board members’ Report 2010 attendance – 2011 of the AGM. 

UK account 

Most of the profit comes from the membership fees and a small amount of workshop donations, as well as the AGM profits. For the first time there 

has been some advertising income from the newsletter. There is now a good solid cash base, and the Board has decided that some of this will go 

towards educating members in certain countries that need it. 

Euro Account – old [Account closed] 

Euro Account – old [Account closed] 

Income/Expense Balance 

Balance 2009/10 

Income 

Income/Expense 

Expense 

Income Expense 

Balance 

0.00 


Friends PDTE 10.00 

0.00 

Friends 

Membership 

PDTE 

and Admin 

Membership 

Membership 

and Admin 

10.00 

1084.00 

Membership 

Sub Totals 

1084.00 

1094.00 

Sub Totals 1094.00 

Administration (Postage) 

Administration 

Board Meeting 

(Postage) 

1300.29 

Board 

Account 

Meeting 

Interest 

1300.29 

18.55 

Account Interest 

Sub Totals 

18.55 

1318.84 

Sub Totals 

Balance transfer to UK PDTE GBP Account 

1318.84 

2966.09 

Balance transfer to UK PDTE GBP Account 


2966.09 

€ 0.00 

Balance 2010/11 € 0.00 

Euro Account - new 

Euro Account - new 



Income 


Expense 

Income Expense 

Balance 

Balance 

0.00 


PDTE workshop donations 215.00 

0.00 

PDTE 

Membership 

workshop 

and 

donations 

Admin 578.02 

215.00 

Membership 

Membership 

and Admin 578.02 

204.00 

Membership 

Sub Totals 

204.00 

997.02 

Administration (Newsletter) 


912.00 


Administration (Postage) 

(Newsletter) 912.00 

222.63 


Board Meeting 

(Postage) 222.63 

Board 

Account 

Meeting 

Interest/Bank charges 136.70 

Account Interest/Bank charges 

Sub Totals 

136.70 

1271.33 

Sub Totals 

Balance transfer from UK PDTE GBP Account 2100.00 

1271.33 

Balance transfer from UK PDTE GBP Account 


2100.00 

€ 1825.69 

Balance 2010/11 € 1825.69 


Treasurers Report 2010 – 2011 


UK Account 

Income Expense Balance 

Balance 2009 /10 1674.98 

PDTE workshop donations 30.00 

Membership and Admin 807.17 

Membership 1270.00 

AGM profit – 2010 Bilbao 1961.51 

Newsletter – Advertising income 124.52 


Board Travel 85.32 


Balance transfer from/to PDTE old/new Euro Account 2459.85 1895.82 

Balance 2010/11 £ 6346.89 

Treasurer: - Pippa Woodward-Smith 

8 Election of the Board / Sub-Committee 

Candidates for nomination to the Board 

The following members were proposed and accepted for the Board positions: (Total participation: 38, vote counter Anne-Lill Kvam) 

President – TURID RUGAAS, Norway (votes in favour: 38) 

Chair – WINKIE SPIERS, UK (votes in favour: 38) 

Treasurer – PIPPA WOODWARD-SMITH, UK (votes in favour: 38) 

Membership Secretary – ANDREA KNOBLAUCH, Switzerland (votes in favour: 38) 

Meetings Secretary – RAILI HALME, Finland (votes in favour: 38) 

Board Understudy – NELIS VERHOEVEN, NETHERLANDS (votes in favour: 38) 

The following members were proposed for the Election Committee and have agreed to stay on for another year: 

ANNE-LILL KVAM, Norway (votes in favour: 38) 

SUSI ROGER, Switzerland (votes in favour: 38) 

Anyone wishing to nominate candidates for committees is asked to send an email to the meetings secretary (Raili). 

9 Board / Members’ Proposals 

Transfer to full membership 

The membership criteria states that a member must be an associate member for at least a year before being considered for transfer to full membership. 

It has been assumed by a number of members that this means an automatic upgrade after one year. The Board proposed updating the membership 

criteria to better reflect members’ involvement in the PDTE. A vivid and good-natured discussion ensued during which a number of views 

were expressed on what prospective full members can do to be better involved. It was finally proposed that Winkie Spiers would add the following 

sentence to the current criteria: “Any further evidence you think will support your application for full Membership” rather than setting specific criteria 

12/04/2012 

like number of AGMs attended. 

Votes in favour: 33 

Votes against: 1 

10 Venue/date of the next AGM 

One proposal has been put forward for next year: 

The next AGM will be held on 29th-30 September 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Further details will be published online and in the newsletter as they 

become available. 

Votes in favour: 38. 

11 President’s Closing Remarks – Turid Rugaas 

Turid thanked the members for a good and efficient meeting filled with excellent ideas and active discussion, and encouraged the members to attend 

next year’s AGM in Scotland. 



SIT! 

TURID RUGAAS, NORWAY 

Sitting down is one of the things we do the 

most. Have you ever counted how many 

times you sit during one day? Or have you 

counted how many times you ask your dog 

to sit? 

Actually, sitting is fine, and sometimes 

even comfortable. But we are different. Old 

people like me get a little stiff sometimes 

and it’s better to get up and move or lie 

down if we have pain in our hips or knees 

or back. But few people think about that 

when they ask their dogs to sit. 

Over the years I have seen a lot of really 

bad situations where old, stiff dogs had 

problems getting down, and people asked 

them to sit and stay, and sit and stay. 

Puppies have a very soft skeleton, yet they 

are taken to classes and told to sit, and sit, 

and sit. I have actually counted how many 

times in a class people ask their dog to sit 

and it is not unusual for a dog to have to 

sit between 180-300 times in one session. 

Can you imagine how it would feel if I did 

that with you? You would throw me out. 

When you are sitting down, it creates pressure 

on the back, muscles and hips. The 

good thing about people is that they can 

choose how to sit. But dogs often don’t 

have that choice. They are expected to sit 

straight or in a certain position. Some dogs 

would prefer to sit on one side or crouch 

or find some other position, but they are 

not allowed to. We want them to look nice 

when they are sitting. Do you ask your 

grandmother to sit nicely? I’m sure you allow 

her to sit in whatever way she wants. 

That is why many years ago I stopped 

having the sit exercise in classes and 

training. If somebody with an adult healthy 

dog wanted to do it, fine; no problem. But 

be aware: young dogs, dogs with some 

physical problem, old dogs, and others 

may not feel comfortable with it. Some 

years ago, everybody in the neighbourhood 

was talking about a man who really 

adored his dog. I happened to pass by his 

house in my car, and on the ice outside 

the dog was being made to sit and really 

looked like she was suffering, while the 

owner walked back and forth giving her orders. 

Do you think he really loved his dog? 

He loved himself and the control he had 

over this dog. Showing off control of your 

dog is often done with the command to 

sit. It is the most used command on earth. 

Everybody with a dog makes him sit. It’s 

so easy and it makes the owner feel they 

are in control, no matter how much the dog 

is suffering. 

When I saw this, I wondered whether it’s 

possible to have a dog who listens to what 

I say and feels good without me ever having 

to ask him to sit. I started right away. 

That was 14 years ago, and since then I 

never asked my dog to sit. I had decided 

that if at some point I really needed the 

dog to sit, I could 

teach him, but I never 

needed it once. He 

was so good at sitting 

all by himself when he 

wanted to! 

Of course it is okay 

to teach them these 

things, but we have 

to ask ourselves why 

we do it. You would 

be surprised by the 

answers people give, 

like: “I didn’t have to, 

it wasn’t necessary, it 

just occurred to me that 

it’s good for me to have 

the dog sitting there.” 

We can apply the same principle to lying 

down. If you watch how often a dog sits or 

lies down, which he does the most, it varies 

per dog. My dog lies down rather than 

sits. Many dogs in fact prefer this. 

Honestly, you should think about where 

you ask your dog to sit. He shouldn’t sit 

where it hurts his bottom, because it’s a 

vulnerable and relatively uncovered spot. 

It’s painful for a bare bottom to sit on ice 

or snow or hot asphalt or sticky stones. It’s 

unfair to demand it of your dog. 

When do we have to make dogs sit and 

lie down? I’m sure you will have trouble 

finding the answer. But if you sit down and 

look comfy and relaxed, what does the 

dog do then? He lies down. The freedom 

of being able to do it if he feels like it is the 

most important thing you can do to secure 

your dog’s well-being. When I feel like it I 

sit down. I wouldn’t like it if my friend made 

me sit down at certain intervals; we would 

have a war. 

So if you do teach your dog to sit, make 

sure the place and the situation are 

comfortable and the dog doesn’t have a 

physical problem. Too many of them have. 

Sometimes they sit down and scratch 

because it’s difficult to scratch standing, 

and believe it or not the owner gets angry 

because the dog is scratching instead of 

sitting straight. 

Photo: Kasia Harmata, Poland 

We can teach dogs to sit more or less correctly 

if in competition, but remember one 

thing: teach your dog to do it for competition 

only. Life is not a competition, and 

certainly not 24 hours a day. Competition 

takes on average seven minutes. Don’t 

do it every time you take the day off, and 

when you go for a walk, don’t march off 

like you would in a competition. Just let 

your dog be himself. 

As dog trainers we have to be very much 

better than we are at observing. How 

many of you feel one hundred per cent 

physically all the time? 

If you want to sit, sit. 

If you want your dog to sit, 

think twice. 



HOW TO BECOME 

A MISSING PET DETECTIVE 

STEFFANIE BINDER, GERMANY 

I was first inspired to try dog trailing while 

attending the International Dog Trainer Education 

run by Turid Rugaas and Anne-Lill 

Kvam. The dogs loved it, so we changed 

into a missing pet search group. Although 

we are pretty new, we have already gained 

some experience. 

At present the team consists of nine 

people and six dogs. Three of the dogs 

are now good enough to carry out real 

searches, so we decided to offer this service 

for missing dogs and cats within the 

scope of my dog school. 

In order to become better known, we made 

contact with shelters and vets and TASSO, 

a German organisation with whom dogs 

can be registered in case they get lost. In 

future we hope to build up a network with 

animal protection organisations and the 

police. 

In our region we are the only dog-trailing 

group, and according to Tasso’s recent 

statistics there were 255 dogs and 1980 

cats missing in this area alone. It’s not 

surprising therefore that as soon as the 

service came online I got the first calls, 

which helped us gain our first experience 

and find out how missing pets behave in 

order to improve our search strategies. 

These examples tally well with the information 

I have found in some literature and 

statistics. 

BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS 

OF LOST PETS 

Dogs 

One of the first cases we were involved in 

was Bagira, a livestock guardian dog mix. 

An animal protection organization brought 

her from Portugal to Germany where she 

stayed in a foster home for a couple of 

days. It was a very difficult situation; no 

one could touch her, and Bagira always 

tried to escape. She was chronically ill and 

needed daily medication. After several 

days she went to live with her new owner, 

who had no experience with shy and 

anxious dogs. He let her into the garden 

off leash and she escaped through a hole 

in the fence. 

The same evening we got a call and were 

asked to determine her direction of travel, 

because no one knew whether she would 

stay close to her new home, run back to 

the foster home, travel, or stay in the area. 

By the time we arrived she had been 

spotted close to her new home. She didn’t 

come into the house or garden but stayed 

in the forest close to the village. Besides 

us her new owner had engaged a man 

who used humane live traps, which he set 

up near the house. Two days later Bagira 

entered the trap and was caught. The next 

day she slipped out of her collar and escaped 

again, and of course she didn’t fall 

for the trap this time. She travelled back 

to the village where the foster home was, 

but wouldn’t allow herself to be touched 

or approached. To complicate matters, the 

weather was nice and she could cover 40 

km a day. We were called a second time to 

establish a direction of travel because she 

preferred to travel along the highway. After 

several weeks she was caught, because 

she had become a lot sicker without her 

medication and was hungry enough to eat 

drugged bait. Although we were not that 

involved, we followed every development 

very closely, and learned a lot. 

Thus we found that circumstances like 

weather, terrain and population density, 

temperament of the dog, appearance of 

the dog and reason for escape influence 

how far lost dogs might travel. Fortunately, 

not every case is as difficult as this one. 

Friendly and gregarious dogs may go to 

the first person who calls them. On the 

other hand, frightened dogs may avoid 

human contact but they may come closer 

once they overcome their fear and when 

they are hungry enough. Extremely shy 

dogs or former stray dogs like Bagira may 

run away when someone approaches 

them. Hunting dogs that get injured during 

a hunt might stay in the forest. A dog that 

escapes from home because of a bitch 

in heat might stay away for several days 

waiting for an opportunity. Thus each case 

is individual and all the circumstances 

have to be considered. 

Cats 

Because there are almost 2000 cats missing 

in our region we also get calls from cat 

owners. 



Cats of course behave differently to dogs. 

Again, circumstances and temperament 

influence how they behave. In general cats 

don’t travel as far as dogs do. Their behaviour 

varies according to where they have 

established their territory. Thus it depends 

on whether the cat has been allowed to 

roam outdoors or if it only lives indoors. 

Two cases we were called out for were 

cats Tom and Finn. 

Tom was an indoor cat who escaped. Days 

later the owner called me and explained 

that she had already searched around the 

house and garden. When I asked whether 

Tom might have access through another 

part of the house, like the cellar, she 

went to check there and found him hiding 

behind a shelf. 

Finn was an outdoor cat who had clearly 

been hurt by another animal. Although he 

was a very gregarious cat who loved his 

family and liked to be petted, after his injury 

he spit and hissed whenever someone 

tried to touch him. His owners decided to 

wait a few more days before taking him to 

the vet. He refused to come into the house 

and was cared for in the garden shed for 

two days before disappearing. 

The day he disappeared, a neighbour was 

sure she had seen him in her garden walking 

through the gate into the street. This 

was the point at which he was last seen. 

We tracked Finn with two dogs. Just as the 

neighbour suspected, he had indeed left 

her garden through the gate, crossed the 

street, and jumped into another garden. 

The owner of that house later confirmed 

having seen him. He had then left the 

garden at the side of a busy road, which 

he had followed for about 200 metres, then 

he’d crossed it. On the other side there 

was some grass, bushes and a very large 

wheat field. Here the trail ended, but we 

found some spots that could have been 

dried blood on the road. Both dogs working 

the trail sniffed intensely at the spots 

and the area of bushes and grass between 

the field and the road. We concluded that 

the cat might have had a car accident and 

his cadaver had already been removed, or 

that he had been hiding in the bushes because 

it was unfamiliar territory to him and 

he might have died from his injuries. The 

owners have continued to search by the 

side of the road, but Finn is still missing. 

From these two cases and others, we 

can estimate the following: 

When an indoor cat escapes outdoors, 

it is likely to hide in a place where it can 

feel safe. Therefore, very often they don’t 

travel far but stay close to their homes. 

A frequent reason for outdoor cats not 

returning home is that something has happened 

to prevent them from doing so. That 

can mean that they are injured or sick, 

trapped, panicked or dead. Other reasons 

are that the cat has ended up in unfamiliar 

territory, for example if it was chased by a 

dog. 

When displaced, a cat’s behaviour is also 

influenced by its temperament. Very often 

cats hide in silence for a long time and 

don’t even meow when the owner calls 

them. 

INVESTIGATION STRATEGIES 

These depend on the probability of the 

individual behaviour of the missing pet. To 

be effective it is important to plan how and 

where to search: 

Rapid search is used to locate a missing 

pet quickly and is useful in the initial hours 

of a search operation. It starts at the point 

where the animal was last seen. 

The trailing dogs can establish a direction 

of travel or have a good chance of a walkup 

find, where they walk right up to the 

missing animal. If they cannot establish 

the direction of travel, there is a possibility 

of narrowing the search area so the helping 

team can go from door to door and ask 

neighbours whether they have spotted the 

missing pet. If the pet has been seen, we 

can start at that point again. 

If we don’t make a find, we help the 

owners develop a detailed plan including 

mapping. 

AREA SEARCH 

Because there are so many cats missing 

in our region, I decided to train my dog 

in area search as well. This is used for 

searching for lost cats and other small 

animals that are likely to hide in silence. In 

this case the dog doesn’t get a smeller. It 

has learnt to alert to each cat that is within 

a certain and often small area. It is a very 

thorough search and is conducted by the 

dog handler. 

ACTION PLAN FOR PET OWNERS AND/ 

OR THE HELPING TEAM 

The action plan we set up includes putting 

up posters, canvassing neighbours and 

getting as many statements as possible 

from witnesses, setting up feeding spots 

for stray dogs or cats, and informing all 

important organizations and offices according 

to a checklist that those involved 

can get from us. 

Missing pet search is a very interesting 

topic. There are some differences between 

that and SAR groups because pets 

behave differently to humans when they 

are lost. 

TRAINING SPECIAL DOG TRAILING 

The target dog always lays the trail 

together with the owner, leaving a smeller 

at the starting point. Thus there are always 

two trails (dog and human) during training, 

contrary to a real case. 

Basic training 

For beginners the trails are easy and get 

more demanding in terms of track age, 

length and difficulty. We start in places 

with few distractions, like in the forest or 

meadows, but soon the dogs also learn to 

track in the streets in residential areas and 

even in busier areas in towns. 

Page 24 



Advanced training 

To create an interesting training that 

prepares our advanced dogs for real 

searches, we try to simulate real cases. 

That is a lot of fun. 

Forest / Fields 

Because dogs are not likely to stay on 

paths in the forest or in the fields, the target 

dogs are allowed to go wherever they 

choose — in circles or through deep brush 

if they want to, and their owners have to 

follow them! 

Dog parks / off-leash areas 

These are places with loads of interesting 

spots and distractions for the dogs. The 

target dog may even be running around 

and playing before laying the track. So it 

is difficult to have an exact starting point 

and the trailing dog has to find the freshest 

track. 

Residential areas 

Because we all live in different towns and 

villages, it enables us to vary a lot and 

train an escape from home or from a walk 

nearby. Close to home there is always a 

large mix of older and fresher trails. 

To train a dog well we include some difficulties 

and variations: 

Unknown target dog and owner. Because 

in training the dog always lays the trail 

together with its owner, we try to find variations. 

For example, the target dog waits 

with another family member at the end of 

the trail and the owner who laid the trail 

accompanies the search. Or the person 

laying the trail changes with another person 

along the way. 

When the target dog is fine with doing so, 

it can wait in the car while the owner accompanies 

the search. 

The end of trail is in a garden so that the 

trailing dog has to show that it wants to 

enter. 

Sometimes a witness statement is incorrect 

and the lost pet hasn’t been at this 

particular spot. So the dogs learn to show 

a negative when the missing pet has not 

been there. 

The dogs are trained to find the starting 

point of a trail from a distance. 

For two dogs laying a trail and that split 

at a certain point, one tracker gets the 

smeller of one target dog, the other one 

the smeller of the second one. This is 

good training to ensure that the trailing 

dogs do not follow each other rather than 

the right trail. 

The target dog circles and crosses his trail 

again, so that the trailing dog has to switch 

to the fresher track. 

Finding and marking objects of the target 

dog on the trail, like a part of the leash for 

example. 

Training of cold trails (using a smeller of 

the same age as the trail). 

The trails vary concerning length, age, 

searching area and difficulty. 

TRAINING AREA SEARCH 

For us it is important to make sure that 

the target pets are fine, too, when they 

are used as training partners for our dogs. 

We do not find it acceptable to put them 

in a crate and hide them somewhere to 

be found. The training partners must be 

well socialized with dogs. The area search 

training always takes place in the familiar 

environment of the target pet. The search 

dog is taught to alert his find from a small 

distance. To make sure that the dog does 

not chase his training partner and frighten 

it, the dog is on a long leash. 

Summercamp 2012 

Health and Happiness 

Some signals and methods can also be 

trained in other settings, like retrieving and 

square search. 

By the time a dog is a mature searcher, 

he has learned to check a certain area by 

hand signal and verbal cue: the name for 

cat, rabbit, or dog, so it can be used as a 

cue later, and a marking behaviour when 

the target is located. 

In my neighbourhood there is an area near 

a kindergarten that has a garden, meadow, 

bushes and a parking lot. One of the 

neighbours has rabbits that spend much 

of their time there. They are self-confident 

and well socialized with dogs. Thus they 

make very good training partners for my 

dog, who has learnt to search and alert 

to them whenever they are found in this 

pleasant area. 

Searching for lost pets is an interesting 

and rewarding adventure. We are only at 

the beginning of it and we hope to develop 

a lot more experience and become better 

known, and bring help and satisfaction to 

many distressed owners. 

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The program this 4 days will be filled with different Fun activities together with 

your dog, combined with interesting workshops. Your hosts will be Nelis 

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E-‐Mail: info@calmingsigns.nl 



Yes, you can train a deaf dog! 

Chrissy Gough, England 

My motivation for training was my dear friend 

Barry Eaton. Having seen what he could do 

in the space of three hours I felt this was 

something I should undertake. 

THE CAUSE 

— GENETICS OR OLD AGE? 

A dog may be born deaf, can gradually grow 

deaf, or can suddenly become as the result 

of injury, disease or old age. Outward signs 

may indicate deafness at an early stage but 

a veterinary surgeon or expert performing 

a BAER test (Brainstem Auditory Evoked 

Response test) is the way forward. 

Deafness is commonly due to a lack of 

pigmented skin in the inner ear - the nerve 

endings die off in the first few weeks of the 

puppy’s life, causing deafness in one or both 

ears. We physically cannot see into the inner 

ear, but just because a dog has white ears 

doesn’t’t mean he will be deaf. 

Traits that can include a proneness to deafness 

are white coated, merled or spotted 

coats, blue eyes or pink skin. Certain breeds 

more likely to be deaf include Dalmatians, 

Bull Terriers, English Setters, Australian 

Cattle Dogs, Border Collies and white Boxers 

amongst others. 

SOME MYTHS 

Deafness has sadly been used to justify 

wide scale euthanasia of otherwise healthy 

puppies. Some myths people tend to believe 

are that deaf dogs can never really live with 

children, if you startle them when asleep they 

might attack, and they are more likely to be 

hit by a car. All dogs are individuals, deaf or 

not, so it is possible that occasionally a deaf 

dog may have one of those problems. But, 

if a deaf dog is socialized, trained and cared 

for responsibly, there’s no reason why this 

should be so! 

DEAF FROM BIRTH 

To a dog born deaf, deafness is natural 

because the dog doesn’t know any different 

- only the ability to audibly communicate 

may be impaired. Deaf dogs simply use their 

other senses of sight, smell, taste and touch 

as we would, but these become stronger. A 

deaf dog will instinctively learn to use sight to 

a far greater extent than we imagine. But all 

dogs do this anyway, by watching everything 

we and other dogs do. In reality, SILENCE 

to dogs born deaf is normal. They won’t hear 

themselves or other dogs bark, unless they 

can feel the vibrations. Deaf Dogs learn to 

read body language in the same way, if not 

better, than a hearing dog. They learn from 

scenting, tasting, touching (mouthing) just 

like other dogs, so they are not different or 

peculiar – they are only deaf! 

BREEDERS, OWNERS AND TRAINERS 

Perhaps due to ignorance and financial aspects, 

a deaf dog may have been considered 

unsalable, so many were often euthanized. 

Sadly, some breeders may still share this 

cruel and short-sighted view. Also, perhaps 

due to lack of guidance, some potential 

owners may consider a deaf dog a liability 

— they want a perfect puppy for their money, 

not a deaf one! But fortunately, some dog 

lovers will knowingly take on a deaf puppy. 

However, the owner may sometimes only 

realise that the puppy is deaf three months 

or more after getting it. Panic sets in and 

naturally they seek professional advice and 

turn to the local dog trainer, only to be told 

that the trainer doesn’t train deaf dogs. So 

much for being a ‘dog trainer’. But why is this 

the case? Why do owners of deaf dogs find 

it difficult, if not impossible, to get help? The 

training required is little different to training 

a hearing dog. Do we then assume that the 

reluctance is due to a lack of knowledge, understanding 

and a fear of the unknown? Or 

is it simply that trainers can’t be bothered? 

Do trainers think they have to spend more 

time and give greater attention to the deaf 

dog? Nothing is further from the truth! Deaf & 

hearing dogs can be trained together. In fact, 

training is often easier than training a hearing 

dog as deaf dogs have already learned to 

watch their owners. 

Deaf dogs learn ATTENTIVE skills faster 

than hearing dogs. 

DEAF DOMINO 

Domino is her current owner’s first dog — 

what a brave challenge to accept! She was 

a 4-year-old rescued Dalmatian bitch, being 

deaf at birth. With no previous training, her 

owners found us after many telephone calls 

to trainers not prepared to help them. The 

owners willingly made a weekly 60 mile / 90 

kilometre journey to our classes. Her owners 

applied themselves to make her training 

successful by working hard with signage and 

body language, which Domino now easily 

reads. Dogs seem to have a far greater 

ability to overcome adversity than we do. 

Domino learned to look back for reassurance 

whenever on or off lead, and she quickly 

learned what many trainers think of as the 

worst problem to train – to gain and retain 

the deaf dog’s attention! 

CONSISTENT AND REPETITIVE 

I train all of my clients to constantly use both 

hand signals and body language, and to be 

consistent and repetitive. This applies to both 

hearing and deaf dogs. The secret is hand 

signals, body language, and facial expression. 

SILENT TRAINING 

What if an owner loses the power of speech 

later in life or the dog becomes deaf? How 

would he or she continue to communicate 

with their dog? The secret is silent training. 

So I ask owners of hearing dogs to work silently 

with hand signals / body language only 

(no verbal commands) to ensure they could 

still communicate if this were to happen. 

Are deaf dogs really time bombs waiting to 

go off? No! Are they incredibly difficult to 

train? No, of course not! All you need are 

hand signals, body language, and a happy 

smiling face. Of course you can also speak 

to your dog, even if he can’t hear you, to help 

convey what you mean with facial expression 

and body language. We find that owners 

develop their own signals as they continue 

working with their dog, because dogs are 

individuals. There is no “right and wrong” 

way to train a dog — only kind and fair. 

FROM A CLIENT 

A client wrote the following: “I think that 

your methods are very suited to deaf dogs 

being so full of body language and your 

encouragement of the use of additional 

signs alongside verbal commands is great. 

In Speech and Language Therapy your 

methods are similar to ‘The Total Communication 

Approach’, a method using a 

combination of communication modes such 

as signs, pictures, objects, as well as verbal 

attempts (e.g. for stroke patients, people with 

autism, learning disability, head injury etc.) 

and I think it’s brilliant and intend to base my 

thesis next year on it.” 

(Reproduced by permission) 



A pulse measuring project 

Bente Stensland & Agnes Vaelidalo, Norway 

It has become increasingly important for 

us to understand how we meet dogs, and 

to help people become aware of how they 

meet dogs, for example in the street. 

Pulse rate measurement has traditionally 

been used for measuring endurance, for 

example in sled dogs in a competitive 

context and for health. 

Measuring the pulse of dogs is, however, 

not common. There is no pulse-measuring 

equipment specifically developed for dogs. 

The most common use is for horses. 

CURVE TO CALM 

In her book On Talking Terms with Dogs, 

Turid Rugaas describes the calming effect 

on dogs of walking in a curve when we approach 

them. Dogs do this naturally when 

meeting each other in order to show that 

they are friendly and want to avoid conflict. 

They also apparently understand it when 

we do the same. 

We decided to put this to the test by 

measuring what happens to a dog’s pulse 

when a stranger approaches head-on or in 

a curve. 

THE PULSE 

The heart pumps blood by contraction and 

the heart rate varies between the resting 

pulse and maximum pulse. The blood is 

pumped to the cells and removes the dog’s 

waste products from the body, and also 

delivers oxygen. A high heart rate over a 

long period of time can cause stress and 

health problems. The heart rate increases 

when the dog is happy, afraid, in pain, 

excited, in heat or meets a bitch in heat. 

The heart rate goes down when the dog is 

calm and relaxed, only to shoot up again in 

a heartbeat when there is a reaction. The 

brain sets the body on alert and makes the 

muscles ready. This happens in the dog 

regardless of whether they experience it 

as a positive or negative occurrence. 

Of course every dog experiences some 

stress during the day; this is perfectly 

normal. Dogs never approach other dogs 

straight on, except sometimes young dogs 

who have not yet learnt polite behaviour. 

Observations show that dogs can get 

tense in this kind of situation, and it’s very 

likely that the heart rate will increase. This 

can turn into insecurity, anxiety and fear 

when they meet people who walk straight 

towards them, and it can be very frightening. 

PROJECT SET-UP 

The basic exercise involved asking the 

owner to stand still with the dog on the 

leash, while an unknown person walked 

slowly towards the dog straight on without 

looking at it. If we noticed a negative reaction 

in the dog we cancelled the experiment 

by changing the approach to a curve. 

We used a heart rate sensor developed for 

horses, and if the dog had a harness we 

used that to carry the sensor. The positive 

electrode was fixed to the back of the 

harness and the negative one to the chest 

piece. The heartbeat was recorded and 

fed into a computer in real-time through a 

Bluetooth device. 

One problem with the pulse measurement 

in dogs is that a dog’s heart beats 

irregularly. Thus in order to get the best 

measurements the pulse was calculated 

from the average of the last 15 beats. This 

created some delay between changes in 

pulse and readings on the computer. Also, 

some dogs did not like the equipment, and 

if they really didn’t like it we took it off. 

We set up three cameras — one showing 

the dog close-up so we could see how he 

reacted, another showing the dog from a 

distance as well as the person entering the 

room, and the third placed behind the dog 

to show approximately what the dog saw. 

What we could not control was the unspoken 

communication between dog and 

owner — how the owner stood, how he or 

she held the leash, and what signals he 

or she was unwittingly passing to the dog. 

Nor could we monitor what effect the harness 

had if it was unfamiliar, or the effect 

of the gel used to fix the electrodes. Some 

of the dogs might have felt unwell or had 



some undiagnosed disorder that affected 

their stress levels. 

RESULTS 

We tried the experiment in three different 

places: Drammen, an area unknown to 

most of the dogs, Hønefoss, which was 

known to some dogs and not others, and a 

third area that was fully known to the dog 

in the experiment. We believe that the latter 

gave the most accurate results. 

Unfamiliar area 

In Drammen, an area unknown to most of 

the dogs, the pulse went down by 0.43% 

from the “base rate” when a person approached 

head on, but down by 3.97% 

from the base rate when they walked in a 

curve. The most plausible explanation for 

the pulse going down slightly during the 

head-on approach is that it was higher to 

start with — not only was the area unfamiliar, 

but there had been a dog show there 

the day before. This meant that there were 

loads of distracting smells around and the 

pulse would initially have gone up until the 

dog got used to being there. 

Partly familiar area 

In Hønefoss, which was very familiar to 

some of the dogs but not to others, the 

average results were a bit clearer. On 

direct approach the pulse rose by 11.84% 

from the base rate. On curved approach it 

dropped by 2.42% below the base rate. 

Wholly familiar area 

In the area that was familiar to the dog, 

who had been on our courses before, 

the direct approach caused a pulse rise 

of 12.7% from the base rate, and curving 

dropped the pulse to 14.68% below the 

base rate. That is a difference of 26%, 

which is quite remarkable. We also feel 

that this was the most accurate result as 

the uncertainties caused by unfamiliarity of 

the area were eliminated. 

Average result 

Combining all three sets of results together, 

we got a pulse rise of 6.06% above 

the base rate with a direct approach by a 

stranger, and a drop of 5.29% below the 

base rate with a curved approach. 

DISCUSSION 

We observed that the pulse rate rose very 

fast and took longer to fall back. With most 

of the dogs we walked quite slowly. In 

a couple of cases when we were walking 

directly towards the dog, it looked as 

though the dog was completely unaware 

of what was going on. However, the pulse 

measurement showed that he was very 

much conscious of the person walking 

directly towards him, even at a distance, 

as the area was quite big. And when the 

person turned away, the pulse went down 

again even though the dog never at any 

point looked towards the person. 

There were a couple of things we could 

have done differently. We could have 

walked for longer directly towards the 

dog. Thus we probably would have got 

more reliable results. However, when the 

dog showed calming signals and became 

a bit uncomfortable, we interrupted the 

direct approach in favour of curving. Most 

people would probably have stopped 1 m 

in front of the dog, but most of the time we 

stopped at about 5 m and changed to a 

curve. We felt that we had enough results 

at least for now. Occasionally, the owner 

was outside the range of the camera so 

this is something we could adjust in future. 

The result, however, basically shows that 

walking in a curve does have a calming effect 

on the dog. If everyone did this, many 

problems could be avoided. We must use 

the dogs’ own calming signals to communicate. 

It’s impossible for us to know what is 

happening with a dog’s heart just by looking 

at it. Therefore we have to observe and 

react to their calming signals and become 

very good at observing. Remember also 

that a low pulse is not always a good thing; 

we have had one or two cases where a 

dog that was over-trained had a very low 

pulse rate, because it had probably shut 

down. 

My own dog wears his pulse measurement 

equipment quite a lot, and it was interesting 

to see once that his pulse shot up a 

lot faster and further when my husband 

showed irritation towards my daughter, 

than when the dog was bouncing up and 

down in front of the door waiting for his 

favourite guests to arrive. 

We plan to do a lot more with these experiments 

in the future and to develop them 

further. We have got the results so far with 

about 40 dogs but we would like to use 

several hundred at the very least. 

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Dogs and kids – a nightmare that 

can become a wonder 

Agnieszka Nojszewska, Poland 

My sister lives very close to me and has 

three children aged 3, 7 and 14 years. I 

spend a lot of time with them and so do my 

dogs. In fact, that is how I learned to like 

kids. My dog was not raised with children 

and experienced two rather unpleasant 

incidents with other children after they tried 

to take away his food. 

I decided to arrange lots of meetings and 

other things with kids, because I think that 

if we don’t spend time with kids teaching 

them how to behave around dogs, when 

they are grown up it will be too late. It is 

terribly hard to change people’s habits. 

Kids learn so fast it is really enjoyable. 

I’ll always remember a man in the movie 

business saying that kids and dogs are 

a real nightmare, because they are so 

unpredictable and can’t be forced to do 

anything — not to mention when you have 

both together! 

For me, dogs and kids are so similar. They 

are totally dependent on their parents (or 

owners). My sister asked me once whether 

I’d like to have a baby one day, and I said 

possibly. I asked her whether I would be a 

good mum and she had to think about it, 

then she asked my dog! 

Kids see things so simply. Both dogs and 

kids are very curious about things around 

them. You can’t block their curiosity or you 

block their development. The change in 

behaviour becomes clear very quickly, and 

it is easy to see how intimidated they are. 

They are very independent and creative. 

They want to do things on their own; it’s 

how they learn to be independent. If we 

don’t allow that they will learn helplessness. 

I meet many dogs in my classes with 

a severe, learned helplessness. The dog is 

constantly looking at the owner, not knowing 

how to think or make decisions. It’s the 

same with kids. They are unpredictable 

and surprising. They see the world from a 

different perspective. When I walk through 

a field, to me it’s just grass and sky and 

maybe the wind. My dog sees a totally different 

place. He knows there was a rabbit 

running through there recently, or a cat or 

a dog chasing something. So looking at a 

field through my dog’s eyes is a real eyeopener 

for me. Similarly, young niece can 

see things like people walking with dogs 

on a pinch collar, and she has noticed how 

easily people yell at their dogs. 

Children and dogs are also vulnerable. 

We need always to remember this, and 

that they can’t fight for themselves. Even if 

they try, we stop them. We don’t let them 

express themselves and we force them to 

do what we think is best for them. 

I have had to work with people on attitude. 

They misinterpret and misunderstand 

their dogs all the time. It is the attitude 

that makes all the difference. It we have a 

different attitude it will help us to communicate 

better. If we try to feel what the other 

creature feels, whether dog or child, we 

can communicate a lot better. There needs 

to be better communication, because often 

people can’t even see what the dog is trying 

to tell them. 

Many years ago children could be rapped 

on the knuckles or whipped by their 

teacher, but nowadays this is no longer 

allowed. Methods of education change all 

the time, and our attitudes must change 

along with them. 

I hold individual classes, group classes, 

family picnics, and classes in kindergartens 

and schools. One child was very 

afraid of animals, especially dogs, so we 

set up some training to help him. The first 

meeting was just the two of us talking, 

because I wanted to understand why he 

was afraid. It was just lack of knowledge 

and experience, because his parents also 

were not fond of animals. They had one 

dog in the family somewhere, but he was 

not behaving very quietly. He was big and 

black and hyperactive. The kid, who was 

11, was very scared of him. So I explained 

what dogs are, and asked what he would 

like to know about them. He said he had 

heard they had a good nose but he didn’t 

know why that was so. So I did some 

research on that and the next time we met 

I told him stories about dogs. Then I asked 

if he would like to see my dog, who is 7 

years old, and very stable and calm in his 

movements. 

He met my dog at home, but we started 

off keeping a really long distance between 

them, and I asked him to tell me if he was 

afraid. We met outside in the woods. I 

wanted to show him in reality how a dog’s 



nose works. His father went and hid in the 

woods, and my dog tracked him. The little 

boy was really amazed that my dog, who 

had never met his father, found him so 

easily. Then he felt he could approach a bit 

closer, but I stayed between him and my 

dog all the time so he could feel secure. 

Kids know when you are in control. At the 

end of the session he told me that it was 

the first dog he met that he felt secure 

with. I really did what I said I would do, and 

he felt secure. 

Therefore it is really important that we 

really know what we are doing, because 

kids can sense the truth. I have started a 

class for families, and there it is possible to 

observe how they interact with the dog as 

a family. I have been asked to join in family 

picnics. It’s really difficult to know how to 

bring dogs to a family picnic because there 

are so many distractions and noise! 

I also take my dog to a kindergarten, and 

after the first session my dog was very 

tired — and so was I because I had to 

stop all the little kids from grabbing him! 

I let him be off-leash so he could not be 

restrained by any of the kids. At first when 

the kindergarten asked me to come, I 

said I’d visit once and would see whether 

my dog liked it. He most certainly did. He 

enjoyed being in the centre of things. We 

talked about emotions, whether they think 

dogs have feelings or emotions, and the 

children said yes they do, but in a different 

way from us. Some of them thought it’s 

because the brain is a different colour. 

Here are few hints on managing dogs 

with kids: 

1. Keep it simple! 

2. Keep it funny 

3. Never punish 

4. Give options 

5. Have the same rules for kids and 

adults 

6. Have the same rules for all dogs 

7. Explain, explain, explain! 

THE SAME RULES FOR EVERYONE 

Another thing to remember in a family, 

when we have dogs, is that the rules must 

be the same for both kids and adults. 

When my niece came to see me, my dog 

was lying by my feet and I was scratching 

him with my foot. But then she came and 

put her foot on him, and when I told her off 

she said she was just doing what I was! So 

now I never do anything I don’t want her 

to do. 

The same applies to dogs — we must 

have the same rules for all of them. A 

kid might say that their dog likes being 

stroked on the head. Although that might 

be true and I do know one dog that likes 

being petted that way, I have an all-round 

rule that dogs should not be petted on the 

head. And I teach parents that kids should 

always ask first before going up to a dog. 

Kids do listen to people with experience. I 

teach children to “clap” in sign language, 

which is putting up both hands and rotating 

the wrists back and forth instead of clapping 

the hands together. I teach them to 

hide treats for my dog, and various other 

things that are fun and easy. 

THE IDEAL DOG 

The most ideal dog breed for kids of all 

ages is a stuffed one! These dogs learn 

very fast. They can be good guards 

against bad dreams and they don’t need 

long walks. They can live in a small flat. I 

try to explain that it’s not a matter of breed 

but a matter of raising the dog. The character 

and personality has a lot to do with 

us. So if you have really high expectations 

of your dog, just buy a stuffed toy! 

SHORT-TERM PROJECTS 

My current short-term projects include 

teaching clients 

• How be safe around dogs 

• To respect animals 

• How to control their emotions 

• To improve motor skills 

• How to communicate with dogs 

and other animals 

• More about animals and the rules 

of nature 

• How to be pro-ecological. 

LONG-TERM GOALS 

These include 

• Supporting social activities, promoting 

tolerance, nurturing 

responsibility, and promoting 

responsible pet ownership. 

• Promoting the positive influence 

of dogs on human health and 

a healthy way of living through 

contact with nature (considering 

especially kids, disabled, 

handicapped or sick people and 

problem children). 

• Supporting the integration, 

education and rehabilitation with 

dogs 

• Developing and sharing a new 

human attitude towards animals, 

especially towards pets. 

Having children and dogs together really 

does not have to be a nightmare. Done 

properly, it is a pleasure to watch and 

an even greater pleasure to be part of. 

Children are the future dog lovers of our 

society, and both they and especially the 

dogs will benefit greatly from our efforts if 

we do it right. 



Positive dog trainer? 

Anne-Lill Kvam, Norway 

What is a positive dog trainer? And why 

are they considered positive? There are 

several associations people tend to have 

with positive dog training. They are 

Positive reinforcement. 

Always treats in the pocket. 

No punishment. 

No rules or boundaries — Someone told 

me once that Turid Rugaas’ dogs walk all 

over her table, which is nonsense. 

Praise for anything and nothing. 

Poor results (in competitions, tests etc.). 

Cotton pad throwers (as opposed to metal 

disk throwers). 

More fun for dog and owner. 

I Googled positive dog training in English 

and got an amazing 10,300,000 hits. I did 

it again in Norwegian and got 54,700. This 

is interesting; it means that people really 

like to write or talk about it. 

But what is it? I spent a long time looking 

for a proper definition. The Association 

of Pet Dog Trainers defines positive dog 

training as: 

Training which first and foremost is using 

positive reinforcement, secondarily 

negative punishment, and only rarely and 

and/or as last possibility includes positive 

punishment and/or negative reinforcement 

(Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) 

spring 2011). 

A Norwegian dog school calls it: Positive 

dog training---based on what, in the 

psychology of learning, is called positive 

reinforcement. However, in our classes 

you will experience that we are able to adjust 

to the needs of each dog and owner. 

(My translation) But what on earth does 

it mean? It doesn’t necessarily mean that 

they are using aversive methods, but they 

could be, and it most certainly is confusing. 

Dog owners who call me are often very 

frustrated because the market is a jungle. 

Who will tell a potential client that a class 

uses punishment? You only find out when 

it happens, and that can be half way 

through a puppy class. Most teachers 

know that nowadays people want to train 

their dogs positively. They believe that 

they are 99% positive and that that this 

is enough. But the PDTE Code of Ethics 

does not agree. Sections 2.2 and 2.3 

states that every members must: 

2.2 Discourage and reject gratuitous or 

non-instructive, physical or psychological 

punishment of dogs, instead advising or 

instructing clients, where appropriate, on 

humane, instructive means of communication 

with their dogs. 

2.3 Discourage and reject inhumane or unkind 

physical or psychological treatment of 

dogs (as distinct from punishment in 2.2). 

According to the well-known Norwegian 

dog trainer Morten Egetvedt, there are 

nine reasons why “positive dog training” 

doesn’t work: 

1. Poor socialisation and environmental 

training 

2. Dogs do not learn to cope with rough 

handling 

3. There is a preference for problem dogs 

4. Dogs are dependant on human help 

5. The reinforcements are too poor 

6. Trainers lack ambition 

7. Poor handling of boundaries 

8. Inability to reinforce alternative behaviour 

9. Avoiding problems instead of solving 

them 

But the fact is that NO dog training will 

work properly if you follow these principles. 

Some definitions 

Positive: Positive doesn’t always mean 

nice. In science, we talk about positive 

reinforcement. Positive means to add 

something. And negative means the opposite: 

to take something away. It doesn’t 

mean that it’s bad; it only means that you 

take it away. 

Punishment: Punishment is something 

that we do, to another human or dog, to 

get them to not do something again. 

Reinforcement: On the other hand, 

reinforcement is something we do with 

somebody or a dog, in the hope that they 

will repeat a behaviour in the future. It is 

operant, choosing, behaviour. 

To summarise: 

Positive reinforcement = Adding something 

nice to get the dog/animal to repeat the 

behaviour, like a little mouse getting a fish 

finger for the right behaviour. 

Negative reinforcement = Removing something 

unpleasant when the dog “behaves”. 

Pinch collars and anti-pulling harnesses 

belong to this category. When the dog 

stops pulling, the pain goes away. 

Positive punishment = Doing something 

to stop the dog doing a behaviour again. 

Often this punishment is given by jerking 

on a leash, which doesn’t work; it only 

makes things worse. And often the owner 

doesn’t realise this is punishment. And 

the greatest myth of all: grabbing the dog 

by the scruff of the neck. People think it’s 

something mothers do to their puppies, but 

that simply isn’t true. It’s a real punishment 

for a dog. 

Negative punishment: Taking away something, 

like having food in your hand but 

refusing to give it to the dog if he jumps 

up. 

Some time ago I was eating with friends 

and a little pig was jumping up to get 

food. With a small pig it’s not a big issue 

but imagine a hundred kilos later, what 

a different story that will be. When he 

came over to me and I petted him on the 

head, I discovered he didn’t like that and 

went away. And suddenly I found myself 

absentmindedly petting him that way every 

time he came over so he wouldn’t jump up. 

I wasn’t thinking! When I realized what I 

was doing I felt ashamed. I, being a positive 

dog trainer, was positively punishing 

the little guy. It worked; and that’s why 

people sometimes do it. But that is not being 

a positive dog trainer in the real sense. 

Think before you act, and ask yourself why 

the animal is reacting or behaving the way 

he is. 

Some people claim that dogs are perfect 

actors, especially when it comes to punishment. 

They think the dog is acting in order 

to avoid punishment. If somebody wanted 

to beat me with a hammer, do you think I 

would be acting if I tried to avoid it? The 

problem with punishment is not always the 



punishment, but the period during which 

you are not punishing. People say they 

only punish 1% of the time, but that means 

99% of the time the dog is waiting for 

when it will come next. I know people who 

really believe that their dogs are trying to 

cheat, so one has to tell them the consequences. 

Methods, techniques to form a dog’s 

behaviour 

Methods for forming a dog’s behaviour 

include shaping (clickers etc.), luring, 

watching/copying behaviour, positive reinforcement, 

negative punishment. 

Many people think that as soon as you use 

a clicker, you are shaping. But you’re not. 

Some people are happy to use a clicker 

for training and an electric or shock collar 

at other times. Shaping is not guaranteed 

positive. I had to teach a chicken to do a 

trick, and when it was fully trained I had to 

extinguish the behaviour. It was so unfair. I 

trained the chicken one day to do something 

special, and she learned that when 

she does that she will get rewarded. Then 

the next day I ignored her behaviour. She 

was repeating it over and over, and the 

poor bird was desperate. If we could have 

measured her pulse it would have been 

off the charts. It still makes me feel bad 10 

years later. 

People say we don’t give rules to dogs. 

We do, but we use the stopping hand, 

or splitting, and we can teach them a 

response to a certain sound that will stop 

them from going places or doing things. 

Showing somebody an alternative is a 

more positive way than showing them 

what they did wrong. So when a dog 

jumps up and you turn your back on him, 

show him an alternative behaviour so he 

doesn’t have to experience that again. 

What is positive and what is negative? 

“Positive dog training” is an undefined, or 

at best poorly defined, concept. But it sells 

well. It may include negative reinforcement. 

It may even include positive punishment, 

pain and fear! 

There are some words that ring an 

alarm bell when I hear them. They 

include 

Dog whisperer (I’ve been called one of 

those!) 

Rank order 

Dog psychologist 

Dominance 

Leadership… 

And yes, positive dog training/dog trainer. 

The latter has joined the list. My advice is, 

don’t believe it until you see it. 

And my final question is, are we willing to 

learn new things, even if they go against 

what we already know? 

No man can reveal to you aught but that 

which already lies half asleep in the dawning 

of your knowledge. Kahlil Gibran, “The 

Prophet”. 

My perfect puppy 

Winkie Spiers, England 

WHAT IS A PERFECT PUPPY? 

The pressure is on puppies to be perfect. 

Almost every owner I visit wants to see 

their puppy do a huge variety of things 

instantly. They want them to sleep alone 

all night as soon as they arrive in their new 

home, be left alone quietly and not destroy 

anything for long periods of time during the 

day, get housetrained quickly (and even 

worse toilet on command), come back 

when called, walk nicely on lead (to heel), 

sit, lie down and stay on command, play 

with all the dogs they meet, put up with, 

play, and be nice with children, play with 

strangers, be touched and picked up but 

not jump up or mouth at people, and cope 

with traffic, and whatever else they can 

think of. The list is endless. And very often 

they want the puppy to be able to do all 

this within a couple of days! 

So I’m going to tell you about my new 

puppy Pete. 

I was very lucky, because a friend of mine 

owns his mother. I’ve known Fern since 

she was a puppy, and I’ve known her 

owner since we were children in the pony 

club together. So when Fern was having 

puppies, I was pretty sure I was going to 

have one. I saw her throughout her pregnancy. 

She knows my dogs after spending 

three weeks of her pregnancy with them at 

my mother’s home in the country. She was 

a very stress-free dog. 

The puppies were born inside, in a lovely 

home, in a nice calm environment. When 

they were two days old I chose my boy. 

He had a lot of sleep, cuddled up into a 

lovely bed with his brothers and sisters. 

Puppies always need companionship, 

whether it’s their siblings or their mother. 

They learn about each other through play 

and sleeping together, and they learn from 

their mum. A good mother is often there 

to watch over what they do, to care about 

them. 

WHAT I DIDN’T SEE 

I went to visit at least two or three times a 

week to watch my puppy grow, and took 

lots of things to enrich their environment, 

and to make sure that the mum had lots of 

things to lick and chew and enjoy as well. 

I never saw her pin any of the puppies 

to the ground. I never saw her jab them 

in the side. I didn’t see her give them 

any commands whatsoever. She never 

reprimanded them for doing anything. She 

never took anything away from them or 

taught them to leave things on command. 

They never had to sit and wait for their 

meals — they had it “on tap” directly from 

their mum whenever they wanted it. And 

they had a lot of freedom to explore. 

LEARNING TO USE THE BODY 

When puppies are spending time with 

each other they learn how to use their 

bodies. So very often when puppies go 

into a new home, they have a very one- 



dimensional world. They are not allowed to 

jump on the sofa or climb on things. They 

are always on flat ground and never learn 

to use their bodies. By clambering around 

they learn balance in a whole variety of 

ways, which is natural. Puppies are very 

curious and want to find out everything, 

not just about things that are on ground 

level. 

NO “NO” 

Of course we need to keep our puppies 

safe, and the mother and older dogs are 

always looking out for them. But there 

are no Nos. One of the things that puppy 

owners often want me to teach them in the 

first instance is how to teach the puppy the 

meaning of the word No. It’s something 

I don’t teach. I don’t like it. And I have to 

say that Pete is now nearly two and he still 

exploring the world just as much as he did 

then, and I’ve never had to say No. Even 

my two other dogs, one of them a grumpy 

old terrier, didn’t say No. They were amazingly 

tolerant of Pete, and when they’d had 

enough they simply walked away. 

A GOOD CHEW 

Puppies like interesting things to chew and 

play with. The pet industry is aimed at parting 

us with as much money as possible 

so they make things that appeal to us, not 

necessarily to our dogs. Pete actually prefers 

underwear! He’s got his own bra and 

his own pair of panties and his own socks, 

even his own shoes, so he doesn’t bother 

with mine. To take that away from him and 

give him a cuddly toy wouldn’t do anything 

for him, because what he actually prefers 

is a bra. My dogs do have toys; they have 

things that they can help themselves to 

whenever they feel like it. 

SAFE AND LOVED 

Feeling safe and loved is very important. It 

is ideally how they come into the world and 

how I think they should continue to live in 

the world. Too often I go and see puppies 

and the first experience they have in their 

new home is being put in a metal crate. 

They are shut away with no stimulation 

and no companionship. They don’t feel 

safe and they don’t feel loved. 

It’s also important for dogs to have attention 

when they want it. It’s what their 

mother gives them. So if your dog likes it 

and wants it, it’s perfectly fine for him to 

get on your knee. Pete is now quite a big 

lapdog, but he still sometimes likes to sit 

on my lap. He has a cuddle, and when 

he’s had enough, he gets down. My other 

two dogs aren’t remotely like him. He’s a 

particularly affectionate dog. But it’s his 

choice to do this kind of thing. 

GROWING UP IS EXHAUSTING! 

To be able to sleep uninterrupted wherever 

and whenever they feel like is crucial 

for puppies. I’ve seen people when their 

puppies fall asleep go and scoop them 

up and put them into their bed, because 

that’s where they should always sleep. But 

it’s nice for dogs to sleep wherever and 

whenever they feel like it. And they need a 

lot of sleep. I find that dogs tend to want to 

move around and sleep in lots of different 

places. They migrate around and they 

should have a variety of places to choose 

from. The developing body (and adult one 

for that matter) needs to be able to stretch 

out and sleep. This is really important. 

Puppies need to have good physical as 

well as mental development. Too many of 

the puppies that I see, because they are 

confined, seem to not be able to use their 

back legs even for something as simple as 

climbing a few steps. I find this more and 

more common, and this will lead to more 

problems in later life. Too often, dogs don’t 

have enough good quality sleep. It’s not 

uninterrupted sleep. Very often the dog 

sleeps when the owner thinks he should 

be sleeping, not when he feels he should 

be sleeping. And is often not where the 

dog would choose to sleep. 

In every room of the house, I have different 

places my dogs can choose to be. If 

they want to come and watch me take a 

bath or a shower, that’s absolutely fine. 

Especially when dogs are young, they 

want to watch everything we do, because 

it’s all really interesting. They are seeing 

it all for the first time. I prefer not to have 

boundaries of any kind in the beginning. Of 

course later, for the sake of safety especially 

when out in the world, some boundaries 

may be helpful. 

OUT IN THE BIG WIDE WORLD 

What puppies need to learn is to go out 

and have good experiences and feel 

happy about them. For example, you might 

think that walking on an icy surface is 

unsafe. But dogs are not silly; they learn 

how to be surefooted so they don’t slide 

around. Being able to explore the world 

safely with suitable equipment and a nice 

long leash and never hearing the word 

“No!” is wonderful for puppies. 

Exploring (and digging up!) the garden is 

something else they love to do. During the 

first year of your puppy’s life, you need to 

realise that your garden may not look as 

nice as you would want it to. But during 

this time your puppy will be learning to use 

his body in a variety of different ways. 

When we went to the vet for the first time, 

he went with a friend. Because the two 



dogs knew each other we thought we 

would make the experience as nice as 

possible by just going for a little check-up, 

and it went really well. 

Socialisation is important as well, and by 

that I mean going out and learning about 

the world with nice, well-socialised older 

dogs. What I did not do with Pete take 

him to a park with loads of dogs running 

around, playing ball, barking at each other, 

and getting highly excited. I didn’t want 

him to learn that that is normal dog behaviour 

because it isn’t. I find that so many 

nice older dogs are incredibly tolerant of 

puppies, but a lot of owners are not! One 

of my jobs as a dog trainer is teach owners 

tolerance. Of course Pete had some puppy 

friends, but he didn’t have a huge amount 

of play dates with other similar-aged puppies. 

A FEW BOUNDARIES 

FOR SAFETY OR FUN 

I live in London, so some safety things are 

important. Waiting at the side of the road is 

one of them. But all I want my dogs to do 

is to turn and look at me. Then when it’s 

clear, we cross the road. I may use treats 

for this, and it is useful training. 

I also teach the wait, so that as a young 

puppy Pete could wait while I set up a little 

game for him, like hiding treats. Just showing 

the flat of the hand is enough; it’s not a 

formal stay. They can wait in any position 

they feel like. But learning the wait is great 

if you want to set up games or other things 

with your dog. 

Walking nicely on the lead is important, but 

it doesn’t matter where your dog walks. It 

doesn’t matter on what side, or whether in 

front of you or behind you. For too many 

puppies, their first experience of going 

outside for a walk is to walk exactly next to 

the owner to heel. 

Sitting is also something one can teach, 

but for example Pete just sits whenever 

and whichever way he likes sitting. I don’t 

teach my dogs to sit. 

Recall is nice and can be a lifesaver. My 

dogs are very fast and can cover a lot of 

ground very quickly, so I really like it if 

they come back equally fast! Fortunately 

my dogs love to come when called. This 

is important to keep them safe. If I think 

they might not come back, for instance in 

an area infested with rabbits, I keep them 

on lead. 

ENJOY YOUR PUPPY AND LET HIM 

ENJOY YOU 

Setting up your environment and your 

experiences to be as interesting and safe 

as possible is great for your puppy. Allow 

him to learn new things at his own pace, 

without pressure. Let him sleep as much 

as he wants, with a choice of places to be. 

Give him loads of opportunities to relieve 

himself. Allow him to eat when he feels like 

it and use his body to explore the world 

around him. And just sit back and watch! 

Having Pete has been a huge learning 

experience, and no doubt my three dogs 

will continue to teach me. 

THE HEART OF THE MATTER 

OPENING 

Max MUIR, Scotland 

Marc Bekoff often opens a lecture with a 

very simple question put to his audience, 

‘Is there anyone in this audience who 

thinks that animals don’t have feelings?’ 

Even in this day and age the response is 

still very split down the middle. Some of 

the audience may look around them to see 

which way the tide turns before committing 

themselves to answer. The subject of 

emotions in dogs has received widespread 

debate over recent years. 

The author Frans de Waal once commented 

‘Sometimes I read about someone 

saying with great authority that animals 

have no intentions and no feelings, and I 

wonder, doesn’t this guy have a dog?’ If 

we are to understand a develop a deep 

relationship with our dogs understanding 

and acknowledging how they feel is crucial 

and very necessary during our interactions 

with them. 

Bekoff refers to himself as a ‘seer’. A seer 

means someone that has a fantastic ability 

to have deep insight and a person that can 

see something specified. ‘I try to become 

the ‘seen’, so if I am studying the Coyote, 

I become the Coyote, I become the wolf or 

I become the Dog. This means to imagine 

what it is like to try and step into that animal’s 

rich sensory world, to try to experience 

and discover what it might be to be 

like any of them, how they sense their 

surroundings and how they behave, react 

and move around in particular situations. 

He also proposes the question: Is attaching 

personhood to a dog a good or a bad 

thing? 

‘Calling a nonhuman a person does not 

degrade the notion of personhood. This 

however may result with in the dog being 

treated with the respect and compassion 

that is due them.’ 

Nothing is lost by attaching personhood to 

dogs in the proper way but there are also 

flip sides to the coin where people project 

certain personality types to their dog and 

this can have massive repercussions. 

How we name a dog can influence people 

and it can also have great effect on the 

dog. What are canine personality reac- 

Page 34 



tions to our attitudes and is it a good or a 

bad practise? This greatly influences how 

the world views specific breeds. There is 

mounting evidence that suggests dogs 

share many of the same neurochemicals 

underlying emotional feelings in humans. 

Dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine 

are all neurotransmitters associated with 

enjoyment and pleasure and the regulation 

of play, opiods are related to feeling 

relaxed or socially comfortable, which is a 

condition important for promoting play. 

Discoveries have showed that companion 

animals are social triggers that provide 

humans with opportunities to meet people 

and also allow them to be alone without 

feeling lonely. This is no more evident than 

in the case of the domestic dog. Dogs 

have deep therapeutic and healing powers 

playing an important role in decreasing 

high blood pressure, detecting cancers, 

reducing anti-social behaviour in offenders 

and helping children that have learning 

disabilities. Elderly people benefit greatly 

by being saved from depression caused 

by loneliness or feelings of uselessness 

through caring for their pet dog. 

The trust, love and loyalty that we get 

from our dogs is pure. This is not because 

dogs are warm and ‘live’ cuddly toys but 

because they have the social ability and 

sensory awareness to empathize with you 

and understand your needs and emotions. 

I am sure we all can relate to some point 

in out life when we could not speak to 

anyone for deep emotional feelings but we 

found deep comfort in our dogs and they 

reciprocated this feeling and provided us 

with the much needed support we craved. 

Indeed dogs are much more than cuddly 

toys. It is imperative that we get the message 

across to our clients and the world 

that dogs have rich emotional lives and 

they are capable of suffering mentally as 

well as physically in order to change the 

way millions of dogs are treated. 

For centuries humans have displayed 

their power to dominate dogs. We can be 

intrusive, abusive or compassionate and 

we are responsible for our own choices. 

In the world of dog training and behaviour 

the way dogs are treated invites a vast 

opinion on a global scale of how they 

should be viewed and dealt with. As an 

organisation we are individuals who have 

come together because we share common 

goals in how we should behave, train 

and interact with our dogs. Our ethics are 

based on putting respect and compassion 

for our dogs first and foremost. We need to 

take seriously their point of view, focusing 

on the importance of their individuality. 

Much canine behaviour is related to being 

breed specific, even problem behaviours 

but we need to appreciate individual variation 

in our dogs. Every individual counts so 

having an understanding of their individual 

differences even within breeds shows just 

how different individuals can be no matter 

how closely related they are in breed. 

Margaret Mead, a renowned anthropologist 

stated ‘we should never doubt that a 

small group of thoughtful and committed 

citizens can change the world. Indeed, it 

is the only thing that ever has.’ DO NOT 

THINK THAT YOU CANNOT MAKE A 

DIFERENCE! A softened approach creating 

an enjoyable experience for them is far 

more conducive and beneficial for learning. 

Attaching specific names to breed types 

also has a deep impact on how people see 

those breeds. People who obtain dogs for 

status symbols and attach such names 

to them can forever alter others views on 

dogs of that breed. 

Before keeping dogs I kept Tarantulas 

as pets. I remember bringing friends to 

my home and there was always a mixed 

reaction from those that came into the 

room, some were curious, cautious and 

others were quite scared to be in the same 

room with these creatures. With many 

of them though they gradually became 

desensitized to them the more they got to 

know them and this was also due to the 

their names, in time they came to refer to 

them by their names, Bathsheba, Inca and 

Boudica, and at times they even spoke affectionately 

about them and took the time 

to study them. If I had called them Spit, 

Venom or Demon then they would probably 

have had an adverse reaction from 

the beginning with the spiders and one 

that would possibly never have improved 

or even deteriorated each time they were 

in the room with them let along getting to 

the stage where they might want to handle 

them. I would like to see this stigma taken 

away from our dogs. I think it would have 

a massive and positive effect on how 

society views them. Dogs that are bought 

for status symbols and given macho and 

gladiatorial type names and images suffer 

massive psychological drawbacks. In my 

experience guarding and fighting breeds 

are some of the most sensitive breeds 

of dogs out there and media assaults on 

breed types referred to as ‘devil dogs’ 

have done the dogs, owners and public 

perceptions of those breeds no good at all. 

HUMANISING DOGS has to be done with 

great care. As humans we have a human 

view of the world and this is a fact. 

When we are anrthropomorphic we give 

ourselves an image of the dog’s world and 

this brings it to life for us in the only way 

we know how. If we strictly categorize a 

dog’s behaviour and emotions simply to 

neural networks, muscle movements and 

hormonal effects we are not opening up to 

a world that will bring us closer to having a 

greater understanding or appreciation of a 

dog’s world and how they are emotionally 

attached to it. When we try to think ‘what is 

it like to be a dog…?’ we need to appreciate 

their individuality and see things from 

another point of view, by studying them 

and understanding through observation 

what their worlds are like to them. 

WHAT’S IN THE DOG’S MIND? 

Studying how they communicate is very 

helpful and provides us with the knowledge 

of what may be happening in their 

minds. Communication has many tell-tale 

signs of how they are feeling and this is 

where our expertise and study should be 

as trainers and behaviourists. We need to 

open our eyes, ears, minds and our hearts 

and to look deeper to understand what 

they are saying and communicating to 

us and each other. Shared emotions and 

empathy are the magical qualities that bind 

our relationships with dogs together and 

it is this reason that dogs are able to form 

these reciprocal social bonds with us and 

one another. I like to let inhibitive theories 

go and experience living interaction with 

them and free my mind. As Jane Goodall 

says, ‘WE NEED TO LEARN MORE 

FROM THEM, NOT ONLY ABOUT THEM!’ 

I do not get too hung up on what they 

might be thinking, letting that go and 

enjoying their company and intimacy at 

a deep level will provide you with the 

answers to all your questions. 

Their faces, eyes and the way in which 

they move around in certain situations 

will give you strong clues about what they 

are feeling, as you view changes in their 

muscle tone, posture, facial expressions, 

eyes and vocals. What can be visually apparent 

on the outside will give you a lot of 

knowledge about what’s happening inside 

their heads. 



Currently two types of emotions are recognised 

and these are primary and secondary 

emotions. Primary are inborn emotions 

that are rapid and reflex-like, they work 

automatically and are hard-wired dealing 

with fear and flight responses or anything 

that represents danger. Dogs do not have 

to recognise an object to trigger a reaction 

as it can be sound, odour or anything else 

that indicates immediate danger. They are 

wired into the limbic system around the 

amygdala, the emotional part of the brain. 

Although the limbic system is thought to 

be the main area of the brain responsible 

for emotions current research is hinting 

that all the emotions experienced do not 

necessarily stem from here and there may 

be more than one emotional system in the 

brain. Only time will tell. Time will tell… 

Secondary emotions are those that can be 

experienced or felt and conscious thought 

influences how a dog may respond to a 

situation that brings about primary emotions. 

Thinking allows the dog to make 

connections between feelings and how to 

react to them. It gives them a choice. 

Rick Bass who wrote ‘Into The wild’ stated 

‘Sure we can’t predict or tell what anything 

is feeling, or what its response is anymore 

than we can another person. But they can 

tell what we are feeling. Anybody who’s 

been around animals knows that you can 

and vice versa. It’s madness to set up 

this artificial barrier between humans and 

animals, saying that one has no contact 

or ability to tell what the other one feels or 

what moods there are between species. 

It’s the craziest thing I have ever heard of.’ 

Some of us will be familiar with the story 

of Lobo and Ernest Seton. Seton was a 

wolf hunter in the American mid-west who 

tracked Lobo with little success until he 

managed to locate and kill Lobo’s mate, 

Blanca. Seton used the grief he knew that 

Lobo would feel for the loss of his mate to 

trap and kill the male. Seton spread the 

scent of Blanca, the female by dragging 

her body across trap lines and then he 

waited for her mate Lobo, luring him to 

his death only to be killed because he 

was looking for his missing and beloved 

mate. It has to be said that this experience 

changed Seton dramatically as he underwent 

a change of heart through heavy 

sadness at what he had done. He never 

killed another wolf. 

Fear is one of the easiest emotions that 

we can recognise in most of all mammals. 

It is often debated now that dogs can smell 

fear. I sincerely believe that they can and 

this is important when we are dealing with 

fearful dogs. The smell of fear is conveyed 

by glandular secretion from the anal gland. 

Experiments have shown that rats can 

show a fearful response when they are 

exposed to the odour of a cat so fear is 

a very contagious emotion as well as a 

scent. 

As with all mammals the pursuit of enjoyment 

is a primary motive in our lives. Play 

is essential for a dog’s mental and physical 

well being, even through middle age and 

into older years. It nourishes the brain and 

provides growth by wiring and increasing 

new connections. In older dogs this 

is important to keep their brains functioning 

well. My dog is 12 and plays with the 

same enthusiasm he has always done, he 

enjoys it immensely and it brightens up his 

day. It plays a large part in maintaining his 

social confidence with other dogs as age, 

arthritis and aches and pains associated 

with age creep in. 

We all know the calm and healing effects 

of spending time away relaxing in 

a secluded beauty spot of our choice. It 

gives us a happy, content and peaceful 

feeling. As humans most of us have a 

deep inbuilt need to connect with nature 

and wildlife. It has a soothing and healthy 

effect on us. Dogs love to do this also 

and it is an essential part of their needs. I 

know the look on my dogs face as we hit a 

favourite route and walk off there together. 

We have a place where we settle down 

and they love it there and look forward to 

it. They graze, play and even take a small 

nap there. It’s good to get away from the 

stresses of daily life. 

The naturalist Brenda Peterson did a 

survey some years ago. She found that 

80% of children’s dreams centre on 

animals where about only 20% of adult 

dreams still include them. Teaching the 

future generation and cultivating their 

attitudes at an early age is absolutely vital 

in teaching about the value of life and care 

giving. I would like to see more taught 

about dogs and other domestic pets with 

studies focusing on the study of animals 

we live among in society and our responsibility 

to them. This in turn would create 

a great respect for all animal life. It would 

be hoped through this change that dogs, 

cats, wolves, bears, coyotes and other 

wild animals are respected for not only the 

individuals they are but the roles they play 

in the ecosystem and that they should be 

looked on as precious gifts of nature to 

us. The tools for change are knowledge 

and understanding, yes, but this must 

be bonded with love, compassion and a 

respect for life. 

What influences Behaviour? 

There are so many differing views in the 

world on how we should train dogs. I 

remember an old scene from the television 

series Kung Fu when Caine was asked to 

help a woman with a wild horse: 

‘Be careful,’ she said the horse is not 

broken,’ as he approached the pen. 

‘What is broken?’ he replied, and then he 

remembered the wirds of his wise teacher. 

‘Weakness prevails over strength, gentleness 

conquers. Become the calm and 

restful breeze that tames the violent seed’. 

We are all ambassadors to show the world 

that dog training does in no way have to 

be brutal, domineering or stressful and we 

need to provide the dog owning public with 

the knowledge we have about the minds, 

emotions and the rights that our dogs 

have. It is part of our responsibility to do 

this. Aggression does not heal aggression. 

We need to train with the dog’s mental and 

physical well being in mind. 

Much of today’s training is influenced 

heavily by control. Don’t tell the dog all the 

time what to do. This will make them totally 

helpless and too dependant on you. We 

must allow them to make choices. They 

must be able to choose for themselves. 

Dogs do have the skills to diffuse social 

encounters with each other and often we 

Page 36 



make things a lot worse by intervening too 

early. Let them use their body language. 

As humans we avoid many things by the 

use of our body language, actions and 

facial expressions. Dogs have their own 

ways too. We avoid prolonged eye contact 

with a stranger and many are sensitive to 

close proximity with other people. An old 

proverb comes to my mind in our response 

to aggression people-a calm answer turns 

away a rage. Dogs also do likewise. 

Dogs should have the freedom to come 

and go especially when at home. They are 

smarter than we think so do not become 

a control freak with your dog. Ask yourself 

‘do I really need the dog to do this?’, as 

too many commands and demands can 

destroy it. Remember that you cannot stop 

stress, and all you can do is to take the 

dog out of the stressful situation. There 

are no techniques for stopping stress, it 

is a physiological thing and you have to 

change the environment. Training a dog to 

cope with life has nothing to do with being 

obedient. 

How do we build up confidence? 

A coping strategy!!! 

• Introduce the dog to new places/ 

• Give the dog freedom to explore 

• Social walks with other dogs / 

parallel walking 

• Nosework-this builds up the dog’s 

ability to work on its own 

Step by step you build your dog’s social 

skills without getting angry or disciplining 

the dog too much. You are responsible 

for your dog’s well being and health. If it 

is in a stressful situation it is your responsibility 

to take the dog out of it. Dogs are 

functional animals and what doesn’t work 

they wipe out of the brain. We need to take 

away what causes or take steps to stop 

the behaviour, This is the best training 

technique you can have. 

Can dogs play dumb? 

Can they change their behaviour depending 

who is around? 

How often has your dog outsmarted you? 

When visiting clients this can often be the 

case. ‘I am afraid he won’t do it when you 

are here.’ Is it too simplistic to assume that 

they cannot control their behaviour according 

to who is watching? I feel we are 

selling them short with this type of thinking. 

Not only are they not stupid but in fact very 

smart and cunning. Indeed they can voluntarily 

inhibit their behaviour depending on 

who is around. Learning must be studied 

in the absence of intimidation or threat 

as evidence shows that even humans as 

well as dogs can inhibit themselves when 

they are in uncomfortable social situations. 

Scientists call this the ‘audience effect’. 

How many times have you felt on an ultimate 

high that lasted much longer than the 

actual activity that gave you the high? It 

can be days or even weeks. Daily stresses 

seem much minor don’t they? And you are 

able to cope with them much better. The 

best medication on the planet can be doing 

what you love to do. Doing it regularly 

is the key. Working dogs have their roles 

fulfilled. There are very seldom reports of 

behavioural problems. 

Very often owners obtain dogs from strong 

working backgrounds and bloodlines, collies 

from farms, gun dogs at country fairs 

and such like. The dog is then taken away 

to a completely different home environment 

and expected to adapt. Many of 

these dogs can be 6 months of age and 

then owners turn up at training class with 

a dog that is obsessively chasing cars or 

anything that moves, destroying things in 

the home, stress behaviours etc… Some 

think they have bought a dog that would 

make a good family dog happy to run 

around for an hour a day only to find that 

they have a formula 1 engine under the 

bonnet. 

Dopamine is so powerful that it can even 

reduce the capacity to feel pain. All focus 

is on the target as the source of pleasure. 

If you have ever watched working dogs 

as they prime themselves for the task 

ahead it’s a wonderful experience. When 

watching sled dogs being prepared before 

they go out there is an amazing build up 

of anticipation as dopamine is released 

and is surging through their bodies as the 

final preparations are being made to go. 

The noise and vocal expressions by all 

the dogs is quite a sight to see…and then 

finally once the sleds are underway there 

is complete silence and the dogs are in 

working mode. They are doing what gives 

them the greatest pleasure in life. The 

build up and anticipation is very powerful. 

We often say that the chase is better than 

the catch. Dogs that work in teams share 

this effect. It is very contagious as the 

anticipation of something good is a marvellous 

feeling. 

Thyroid importance during health checks 

also deserves a mention as does physiotherapy 

checks for back pains. A dog 

can come through a health check with 

many of the aches and pains associated 

with age going completely undetected. 

There is evidence in many cases involving 

reactive and aggressive behaviour by 

dogs towards humans and other dogs of 

thyroid dysfunction and seizure disorder. 

Thyroid disorders can cause many health 

and behavioural problems and they can go 

misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. It has been 

shown that many dogs suffer and die from 

this each year. We are in need of further 

knowledge in this area and should also 

include it in suggested veterinary health 

checks. 

In conclusion the Heart of the Matter centres 

on how we treat and educate people 

to treat dogs through training methods 

that are humane. By reaching out to 

people and understanding more about the 

dogs that we buy and not only buying for 

aesthetic qualities as this can so often be 

a recipe for disaster. Faith means believing 

that the results we cannot yet see will 

inevitably come. Can we move mountains? 

Yes! The new and full lives we have given 

to countless dogs with former impoverished 

lives are the proof. We need to 

appeal to hardened hearts and soften the 

attitudes of those that persecute animals 

both domestic and wild while teaching the 

future generation about the value of love 

and compassion for our pets. 

Further reading: The emotional Lives of 



Marc Bekoff often opens a lecture with a 

to recognise an object to trigger a reaction 

as it can be sound, odour or anything else 

that indicates immediate danger. They are 

wired into the limbic system around the 

amygdala, the emotional part of the brain. 

Although the limbic system is thought to 

be the main area of the brain responsible 

for emotions current research is hinting 

that all the emotions experienced do not 

necessarily stem from here and there may 

be more than one emotional system in the 

brain. Only time will tell. Time will tell… 

Secondary emotions are those that can be 

experienced or felt and conscious thought 

influences how a dog may respond to a 

situation that brings about primary emotions. 

Thinking allows the dog to make 

connections between feelings and how to 

react to them. It gives them a choice. 

Rick Bass who wrote ‘Into The wild’ stated 

‘Sure we can’t predict or tell what anything 

is feeling, or what its response is anymore 

than we can another person. But they can 

tell what we are feeling. Anybody who’s 

been around animals knows that you can 

and vice versa. It’s madness to set up 

this artificial barrier between humans and 

animals, saying that one has no contact 

or ability to tell what the other one feels or 

what moods there are between species. 

It’s the craziest thing I have ever heard of.’ 

Some of us will be familiar with the story 

of Lobo and Ernest Seton. Seton was a 

wolf hunter in the American mid-west who 

tracked Lobo with little success until he 

managed to locate and kill Lobo’s mate, 

Blanca. Seton used the grief he knew that 

Lobo would feel for the loss of his mate to 

trap and kill the male. Seton spread the 

scent of Blanca, the female by dragging 

her body across trap lines and then he 

waited for her mate Lobo, luring him to 

his death only to be killed because he 

was looking for his missing and beloved 

mate. It has to be said that this experience 

changed Seton dramatically as he underwent 

a change of heart through heavy 

sadness at what he had done. He never 

killed another wolf. 

Fear is one of the easiest emotions that 

we can recognise in most of all mammals. 

It is often debated now that dogs can smell 

fear. I sincerely believe that they can and 

this is important when we are dealing with 

fearful dogs. The smell of fear is conveyed 

by glandular secretion from the anal gland. 

Experiments have shown that rats can 

show a fearful response when they are 

exposed to the odour of a cat so fear is 

a very contagious emotion as well as a 

scent. 

As with all mammals the pursuit of enjoyment 

is a primary motive in our lives. Play 

is essential for a dog’s mental and physical 

well being, even through middle age and 

into older years. It nourishes the brain and 

provides growth by wiring and increasing 

new connections. In older dogs this 

is important to keep their brains functioning 

well. My dog is 12 and plays with the 

same enthusiasm he has always done, he 

enjoys it immensely and it brightens up his 

day. It plays a large part in maintaining his 

social confidence with other dogs as age, 

arthritis and aches and pains associated 

with age creep in. 

We all know the calm and healing effects 

of spending time away relaxing in 

a secluded beauty spot of our choice. It 

gives us a happy, content and peaceful 

feeling. As humans most of us have a 

deep inbuilt need to connect with nature 

and wildlife. It has a soothing and healthy 

effect on us. Dogs love to do this also 

and it is an essential part of their needs. I 

know the look on my dogs face as we hit a 

favourite route and walk off there together. 

We have a place where we settle down 

and they love it there and look forward to 

it. They graze, play and even take a small 

nap there. It’s good to get away from the 

stresses of daily life. 

The naturalist Brenda Peterson did a 

survey some years ago. She found that 

80% of children’s dreams centre on 

animals where about only 20% of adult 

dreams still include them. Teaching the 

future generation and cultivating their 

attitudes at an early age is absolutely vital 

in teaching about the value of life and care 

giving. I would like to see more taught 

about dogs and other domestic pets with 

studies focusing on the study of animals 

we live among in society and our responsibility 

to them. This in turn would create 

a great respect for all animal life. It would 

be hoped through this change that dogs, 

cats, wolves, bears, coyotes and other 

wild animals are respected for not only the 

individuals they are but the roles they play 

in the ecosystem and that they should be 

looked on as precious gifts of nature to 

us. The tools for change are knowledge 

and understanding, yes, but this must 

be bonded with love, compassion and a 

respect for life. 

What influences Behaviour? 

There are so many differing views in the 

world on how we should train dogs. I 

remember an old scene from the television 

series Kung Fu when Caine was asked to 

help a woman with a wild horse: 

‘Be careful,’ she said the horse is not 

broken,’ as he approached the pen. 

‘What is broken?’ he replied, and then he 

remembered the wirds of his wise teacher. 

‘Weakness prevails over strength, gentleness 

conquers. Become the calm and 

restful breeze that tames the violent seed’. 

We are all ambassadors to show the world 

that dog training does in no way have to 

be brutal, domineering or stressful and we 

need to provide the dog owning public with 

the knowledge we have about the minds, 

emotions and the rights that our dogs 

have. It is part of our responsibility to do 

this. Aggression does not heal aggression. 

We need to train with the dog’s mental and 

physical well being in mind. 

Much of today’s training is influenced 

heavily by control. Don’t tell the dog all the 

time what to do. This will make them totally 

helpless and too dependant on you. We 

must allow them to make choices. They 

must be able to choose for themselves. 

Dogs do have the skills to diffuse social 

encounters with each other and often we 

make things a lot worse by intervening too 

early. Let them use their body language. 

As humans we avoid many things by the 

use of our body language, actions and 

facial expressions. Dogs have their own 

ways too. We avoid prolonged eye contact 

with a stranger and many are sensitive to 

close proximity with other people. An old 

proverb comes to my mind in our response 

to aggression people-a calm answer turns 

away a rage. Dogs also do likewise. 

Dogs should have the freedom to come 

and go especially when at home. They are 

smarter than we think so do not become 

a control freak with your dog. Ask yourself 

‘do I really need the dog to do this?’, as 

too many commands and demands can 

destroy it. Remember that you cannot stop 

stress, and all you can do is to take the 

dog out of the stressful situation. There 

are no techniques for stopping stress, it 

is a physiological thing and you have to 

change the environment. Training a dog to 

cope with life has nothing to do with being 

obedient. 

Page 38 



How do we build up confidence? 

A coping strategy!!! 

• Introduce the dog to new places/ 

• Give the dog freedom to explore 

• Social walks with other dogs / 

parallel walking 

• Nosework-this builds up the dog’s 

ability to work on its own 

Step by step you build your dog’s social 

skills without getting angry or disciplining 

the dog too much. You are responsible 

for your dog’s well being and health. If it 

is in a stressful situation it is your responsibility 

to take the dog out of it. Dogs are 

functional animals and what doesn’t work 

they wipe out of the brain. We need to take 

away what causes or take steps to stop 

the behaviour, This is the best training 

technique you can have. 

Can dogs play dumb? 

Can they change their behaviour depending 

who is around? 

How often has your dog outsmarted you? 

When visiting clients this can often be the 

case. ‘I am afraid he won’t do it when you 

are here.’ Is it too simplistic to assume that 

they cannot control their behaviour according 

to who is watching? I feel we are 

selling them short with this type of thinking. 

Not only are they not stupid but in fact very 

smart and cunning. Indeed they can voluntarily 

inhibit their behaviour depending on 

who is around. Learning must be studied 

in the absence of intimidation or threat 

as evidence shows that even humans as 

well as dogs can inhibit themselves when 

they are in uncomfortable social situations. 

Scientists call this the ‘audience effect’. 

How many times have you felt on an ultimate 

high that lasted much longer than the 

actual activity that gave you the high? It 

can be days or even weeks. Daily stresses 

seem much minor don’t they? And you are 

able to cope with them much better. The 

best medication on the planet can be doing 

what you love to do. Doing it regularly 

is the key. Working dogs have their roles 

fulfilled. There are very seldom reports of 

behavioural problems. 

then owners turn up at training class with 

a dog that is obsessively chasing cars or 

anything that moves, destroying things in 

the home, stress behaviours etc… Some 

think they have bought a dog that would 

make a good family dog happy to run 

around for an hour a day only to find that 

they have a formula 1 engine under the 

bonnet. 

Dopamine is so powerful that it can even 

reduce the capacity to feel pain. All focus 

is on the target as the source of pleasure. 

If you have ever watched working dogs 

as they prime themselves for the task 

ahead it’s a wonderful experience. When 

watching sled dogs being prepared before 

they go out there is an amazing build up 

of anticipation as dopamine is released 

and is surging through their bodies as the 

final preparations are being made to go. 

The noise and vocal expressions by all 

the dogs is quite a sight to see…and then 

finally once the sleds are underway there 

is complete silence and the dogs are in 

working mode. They are doing what gives 

them the greatest pleasure in life. The 

build up and anticipation is very powerful. 

We often say that the chase is better than 

the catch. Dogs that work in teams share 

this effect. It is very contagious as the 

anticipation of something good is a marvellous 

feeling. 

Thyroid importance during health checks 

also deserves a mention as does physiotherapy 

checks for back pains. A dog 

can come through a health check with 

many of the aches and pains associated 

with age going completely undetected. 

There is evidence in many cases involving 

reactive and aggressive behaviour by 

dogs towards humans and other dogs of 

thyroid dysfunction and seizure disorder. 

Thyroid disorders can cause many health 

and behavioural problems and they can go 

misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. It has been 

shown that many dogs suffer and die from 

this each year. We are in need of further 

knowledge in this area and should also 

include it in suggested veterinary health 

checks. 

In conclusion the Heart of the Matter centres 

on how we treat and educate people 

to treat dogs through training methods 

that are humane. By reaching out to 

people and understanding more about the 

dogs that we buy and not only buying for 

aesthetic qualities as this can so often be 

a recipe for disaster. Faith means believing 

that the results we cannot yet see will 

inevitably come. Can we move mountains? 

Yes! The new and full lives we have given 

to countless dogs with former impoverished 

lives are the proof. We need to 

appeal to hardened hearts and soften the 

attitudes of those that persecute animals 

both domestic and wild while teaching the 

future generation about the value of love 

and compassion for our pets. 

Further reading: The emotional Lives of Animals 

Marc Bekoff 

The Ten Trusts Jane Goodall & marc bekoff 

The Canine Thyroid Epidemic by Jean Dodds 

KEYPOINTS 

l OPENING 

l SEER ANTHROPOMORPHISM 

QUESTIONS SOCIAL BENEFITS 

l HUMAN – DOG RELATIONSHIP 

ETHICS INDIVIDUAL DIVS 

l NAMES 

l HUMANISING WITH CARE 

l WHAT’S IN THE MIND? 

COMMUNICATION / SHARED 

EMOTIONS 

l BEHAVIOUR CLUES 

PRIMARY & SECONDARY 

l BASS 

SETON / LOBO 

l FEAR, ENJOYMENT, RELAX 

l BP SURVEY, IDAHO, 

TOOLS FOR CHANGE 

l WHAT INFLUENCES BEHAVIOUR? 

CONTROL, PLAY DUMB 

BUILDING CONFIDENCE 

l DOPAMINE 

l THYROID / HEALTH CHECKS 

l CONCLUSION 

Very often owners obtain dogs from strong 

working backgrounds and bloodlines, collies 

from farms, gun dogs at country fairs 

and such like. The dog is then taken away 

to a completely different home environment 

and expected to adapt. Many of 

these dogs can be 6 months of age and 

MOVING? 

Remember to tell us 

your new adDress! 

Send your information with or without photos to 

a.knoblauch@bluewin.ch 



Hyperactivity in dogs — possible 

causes and treatment 

Maria Hense, Germany 

Some dogs are very lively and reactive 

and react to so many small triggers in 

environment that their stress levels are 

constantly high. Many of my techniques to 

help them failed in the past. Then I started 

to look for information, spoke with colleagues, 

and studied books and articles. 

On the very same day that I published 

a book about hyperactivity in dogs, my 

brown lab Max moved in with me and my 

other dog. I thought I knew everything 

about hyperactivity; in fact I had hardly 

begun! 

I think the best definition is 

the following: 

Hyperactive dogs are more active than the 

average dog of the same breed and the 

same age. My definition is based on symptoms 

only, not on what is going on inside 

the dog, because we can only guess what 

is inside the dog. Symptoms of hyperactivity 

may be 

1) person-oriented behaviour (too much 

of it), 

2) high sensitivity to environmental stimuli, 

3) ongoing activity, 

4) difficulty with impulse control, 

5) strong reactions to conflict or frustration, 

and 

6) difficulties learning and training. 

The most important question is, are they 

suffering? 

One can discuss causes in the brain and 

body, and of course, there are causes in 

the dog’s life. 

PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES 

The first and most important is stress. If a 

dog is very sensitive to stimuli, he will get 

stressed fast and then get more hyperactive. 

With all hyperactive dogs we meet we 

have to do something about their stress. 

Hyperactive dogs use active coping strategies. 

There could be a shortage of serotonin in 

the brain. Serotonin makes you feel calm 

and happy and content. Everyone knows 

the good feeling one has after eating 

chocolate. It increases the serotonin in the 

brain, and the precursor is tryptophan. 

There could also be an imbalance of dopamine-dependent 

systems. These are essential 

in the brain attention centre. If it is 

imbalanced, we keep searching for a kick. 

Tyrosine is the precursor of Dopamine. 

Tyrosine and Tryptophan enter the body 

through food intake. They may compete 

with each for entry to the brain. With some 

dogs, if you feed them tryptophan you may 

do the wrong thing, because they might 

need more dopamine balance instead. 

Then, there may be a shortage of oxytocin 

receptors in the brain. Oxytocin, binding 

to these receptors, makes us feel socially 

secure in our home and with our family. 

Being with our dogs hopefully makes them 

have a higher level of oxytocin, which is an 

anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) compound. Some 

dogs need much higher levels of oxytocin 

to feel socially secure. 

CAUSES IN THE DOG’S LIFE 

Genetics, conditions in development, 

present upkeep, handling, and training 

are some of the factors that may cause 

hyperactivity. If you get a very active dog 

of a very active breed and you do the right 

things in adolescence and puppyhood, 

but the first two aspects are wrong, it can 

be difficult later. Certain breeds are more 

active than others, because they are bred 

for working, which means they are ready 

to perform more. 

There are two causes in the motherpuppy 

relationship. 

1) If the mother cares very well for her 

puppies, they build many oxytocin receptors 

in their brain. But if the mother is 

stressed, she is not able to care for them 

that well. For the rest of their lives they 

will seek contact more, perhaps in active 

ways. 

2) The mother has to be able wean them 

in a fair way. This is an important opportunity 

for dogs to learn impulse control. If the 

mother is stressed or the puppy is weaned 

too early, the dog will be too active. 

Dogs learn impulse control through 

interaction with siblings, so if you have a 

hand-reared puppy there may be difficulty 

with impulse control. When the puppies 

move to their new home, they feel traumatised 

and seek contact very intensely. 

The question is what behaviour you are 

reinforcing. Do you ignore the puppy when 

he’s calm and only give him attention 

when he’s very active? It’s important to 

find a balance. Adolescent dogs may be 

hyperactive because of their age; it can be 

perfectly normal for their age but people 

make the mistake of punishing them. So it 

can be traumatizing for them and they may 

stay adolescent. 

In my experience, you never find just one 

cause in the life of a dog. My dog Max has 

several. 

Can they be cured? 

It depends. 

If the reason is mistakes on the part of the 

owners, and the dog is just stressed, they 

may be helped. But if the causes are in the 

genetic makeup or in the stages of development, 

the help may be more difficult and 

the success may be limited. 

With hyperactive dogs, the humans also 

need helping in order to help the dog. 

Humans get stressed and angry, which 

doesn’t help matters at all. The dog feels it 

and gets stressed himself. 

It’s good to reduce the number of mistakes 

as far as possible. When Max is walking 

on the leash, I have to control every one 

of my movements — including how I look 

at him, and how I deliver treats. Now I put 

them calmly next to my foot so he can get 

the treat in a calm way as well. Sadly, I 

have seen hyperactive dogs that have not 

been on a leash or a nice walk for several 

years. I asked one owner with this problem 

to show me how she puts on the leash. 

Everything was wrong in her movements 

towards the dog. So improving knowledge 

and abilities is important. 

“Survival Training” 

Reframing means changing the way the 

human thinks. Many people think that their 

hyperactive dog is dominant, or that they 

are bad owners. We have to relieve them 

of this mistaken way of thinking. 

Page 40 



I usually give owners this picture: Your dog 

may be a tiger! Many dogs are like rabbits, 

but you will never make a rabbit out of 

your tiger. If you accept that, and if you 

handle your dog accordingly, he will be 

fine for a tiger. But he will never become a 

rabbit. 

Survival training for owners of hyperactive 

dogs includes making a list of the difficult 

situations they face. The next step is management. 

Can the owner learn to leave the 

room to make a call without the dog going 

nuts, or stepping through a door without a 

flash of activity charging out in front? 

Training includes counterconditioning and 

alternative behaviour. 

toys, as this calms him down. Not all dogs 

do, however. 

Be very clear. Plan, use rituals, for example 

going to the car the same way, or 

getting out of the car the same way. Use 

clear body language. When putting on the 

leash, always move the same way. Experiment 

to see which is most comfortable for 

your dog. 

Bodywork 

If I am not concentrating and I stumble, 

my balance system is activated and at 

once I am more focused. If you do things 

that require balance, with slow and strong 

movements, it may help an overactive dog. 

Like walking through snow or uphill, or 

slowly searching for treats. 

NUTRITION and medicine may be 

required in the most difficult cases, but in 

general help is always possible. Cure may 

not be, but the most important thing is to 

make the life of both dog and owner a little 

bit easier. 

Default behaviour: The dog can learn to 

show this instead of stressful behaviour. 

He chooses it spontaneously, because It 

has been rewarded very often. My dog has 

chosen to sit down spontaneously. I have 

set a rule with my tiny 82-year-old mother, 

that they both sit down before they make 

contact. One time I came into the room 

and both of them looked happy — with 

Max sitting in my mother’s lap! 

HELP THE DOG 

COMMUNICATING 

WIHOUT WORDS 

Monica Grönkvist, sweden 

Help for the dog includes being examined 

by a vet to check for physical conditions, 

stress reduction and management, satisfying 

the dog’s natural needs, relaxation 

techniques, outlets for the dog’s behaviour, 

and a sensoric diet. 

Also consider your dog’s preferred resting 

places. He may like to be high up, or in a 

“cave”. Avoid disturbances where possible 

and promote relaxation. And you can even 

try social relaxation: let all your muscles 

relax and your dog will probably do the 

same. I have done this even in seminars. 

On walks, if you are calm, your dog may 

relax or even lie down. 

Reward him with attention, food, everything 

he likes, especially when he is calm. 

Nice things start when you are lying down. 

You can train relaxation techniques by 

using spontaneous relaxation, combine it 

with music you like, or with a word. Use 

music that YOU like because you’ll have 

to use it often. You can also use massage. 

With your clients you must look closely 

at how they do it, and you have to teach 

them. If relaxing massage works, it can be 

combined with a signal to promote faster 

and deeper relaxation. Max loves to carry 

By comparison with dogs, we humans 

are extremely verbal in our communication. 

We are more than willing to talk with 

our dogs — or rather at them. If the dog 

doesn’t listen (obey), we raise our voice 

and possibly shout, as if that would help 

them understand better! We often believe 

that our dogs understand everything we 

say, which is, of course, not the case. 

Both we and our dogs use body language. 

Just look at yourself when you 

talk, especially if you are trying to explain 

something totally unfamiliar to the other 

person. The chances are you are using 

your hands, your face, even your feet! Try 

getting a bunch of people, say in a class, 

to communicate with each other without 

being allowed to speak, and the results 

can be hilarious. We do this occasionally 

at our dog school in Nora, Sweden, during 

a course on silent communication. The 

“penalty” for speaking during these “silent” 

exercises ranges from wearing a silly hat 

to placing a piece of tape on the lips. It 

easily ranks as our funniest course and is 

definitely one of the most popular. It certainly 

gives the participants something to 

think about in addition to hours of laughter. 

We have introduced this course elsewhere 

too, and run it for instructors and trainers 

in e.g. obedience and agility. Working without 

jerking the leash or overwhelming their 

dog with commands is quite new for them, 

but they have been astonished at how well 

their dogs respond, and how sensitively, 

with body language. Plus, their dogs have 

become quieter, calmer, and happier. 

Try it out sometime with your dog. Try 

communicating without words — a sound 

like a smacking sound with your tongue is 

fine — and watch the results! I promise, 

you will be both fascinated and rewarded 

by it. 

Go ahead — give it a try! 



The sexual behaviour of male dogs 

What is known about the sexual behaviour 

of dogs? Not much! Little research has 

been done, and most books abound with 

rumors or are based on studies not worth 

mentioning. Thus the misconception that 

either every problem is solved by neutering, 

or it removes all happiness from the 

dog. 

Sexually mature 

Most male dogs become sexually mature 

between the sixth and the eighteenth 

month. An approximate indicator is when 

they pee standing. However, although they 

are biologically able to produce offspring, 

they are far from ready to do so. 

Sonja Hogen, Germany 

Reasons for ever-readiness 

Why? This has not been researched, but 

these are my guesses: 

• Ongoing evolutionary process: there is 

more space for life, more resources. This 

produces more offspring. 

• Hormone-contamined food and water: 

industrial food, hormone-treated cattle, fish 

etc, and of cource, the birth-control pill for 

humans. 

• Selection by humans: only highly sexual 

males are allowed to reproduce. 

• Selection by nature: seen in stray dogs – 

only the highly sexual dogs reproduce. 

As always, the decision must be made 

individually, taking a close look at the dog 

and the situation. 

Reasons for neutering include the 

following: 

• An intact male has many conflicts with 

other intact males, sexually based 

• An intact male is frequently attacked by 

other intact males 

• An intact male tries to mount other dogs 

(not bitches in heat) 

• Pee-marking indoors 

• Straying, running off 

• Intense self-licking, possibly causing 

infection 

• Trying to mount women 

• Extreme weight loss due to bitches on 

heat somewhere 

Neutering, however, only solves a problem 

caused by a high degree of sexuality. It 

is not a general healing treatment or the 

magic answer to everythig. 

Dominance? 

When an intact male dog mounts another, 

it is soften considered dominance. However, 

humping can have three reasons: 

A play offer, sex, or stress. I have seen 

many dogs humping due to stress, but 

I have never seen it used to dominate 

another dog. 

Stress and sex 

Wolf males are only ready to mount a bitch 

once a year, when the bitch is on heat. 

This is probabably the reason why dog 

and wolf bitches have such a long rising 

heat. During this period the wolf male is 

not interested in mounting the female, 

but checks her regurlarly. Meanwhile his 

testosterone levels are rising along with 

the development of semen, just in time 

for when the female is ready to mate. The 

scent of a bitch in rising heat triggers the 

production of hormones in the male dog 

and wolf body. 

However, for the male dog it is different. 

He is always ready to reproduce. 

Those who would need a build-up-time like 

wolves are chased away. 

• There is always a bitch on heat somewhere, 

and males can pick it up over many 

miles. The male hormones are constantly 

being triggered and never have a chance 

to level off. 

In the past ten years the sexual behaviour 

in male pet dogs has taken a dramatic turn 

in Germany. Highly-sexual males seem 

to be the norm rather than the exception. 

Around 70% of male dogs are neutered. 

Reasons for neutering 

Neutering is a process you cannot reverse. 

Sex and stress are intertwined. An excessive 

level of stress can cause a high 

degree of sexuality. This in turn causes 

stress, and the vicious circle goes on. 

This is where the owner and dog trainer 

need to have a very close look: what is the 

cause? Will the sexuality go down when 

general stress is reduced? Or will the 

stress be reduced if the level of sexuality is 

decreased? 

Case study: Robbie 

I have known Robbie, a Labrador retriever, 

since he joined our puppy play group at 

the age of 9 weeks. He developed into a 

very social, very able conflict solver. Then 

suddenly at the age of two-and-a-half 

years everything changed. He became 

distracted, lost interest in treats, became 

Page 42 



angry towards other intact males, even 

those he had been friends with before, 

and tried mounting neutered males. The 

owner was against neutering because she 

thought Robbie would feel himself less 

of a male, and believed anyway that the 

behaviour would pass. The situation worsened 

to where Robbie had to be kept on 

leash most of the time and was immensely 

stressed. Surreptitiously I arranged 

“haphazard meetings” where other owners 

would share their positive experiences of 

neutering, and finally the owner decided to 

proceed. The change was dramatic. Three 

weeks later Robbie returned to the group 

and within 6 months he was back to his 

calm, friendly, happy self. 

Case study: Akimo 

every other dog. I do not like every human 

in the world either! 

Case study: Ivo 

Ivo was a 4-year-old German Shepherd 

cross who had bitten the family’s 3-yearold 

daughter in the face. To cut a long 

story short: given hope, the family kept Ivo. 

Stress was reduced, and at home several 

rules were established like rest time for 

Ivo, no touching him unsupervised, and 

good nosework. However, Ivo had no dog 

friends at all, and he continued trying to 

mount the owner. Every 2-3 months he 

stopped eating and lost weight drastically 

when bitches came on heat in the neighbourhood. 

Slowly we managed to socialize 

Ivo with a few dogs, which went well, but 

he still tried mounting the owner. After a lot 

of careful consideration he was neutered, 

and everything improved. He was much 

more relaxed; he was eating well, which 

helped him perform better. He never bit 

anyone again, and today at the age of 10 

he is doing great. With Ivo, neutering was 

one important part of solving the problem. 

To conclude, eutering is a medical interference, 

and is not to be taken lightly. It is 

the amputation of an organ and it interferes 

with hormone balance. It is best to 

leave a dog intact when he lives well with 

it. But if he is suffering, neutering can be 

liberating. 

Akimo is a Beagle who was brought to me 

because he had an issue with fear. He was 

afraid of noises, of new places, of foreign 

dogs. Twice a year he became lovesick 

when a bitch in the neighborhood came 

on heat, and he would lose his apetite. 

The owner asked whether neutering would 

be a good thing for him, but I told her that 

it wouldn’t help him with his fears. Being 

lovesick and trying to mount a bitch once 

or twice a year is not reason enough to 

neuter. Akimo is still intact, and we are 

working on his self-esteem, which I am 

glad to say is improving. 

Case study: Karlson 

Karslon is a Gos d’Atura, who came to our 

dog school because he had problems with 

other dogs and tended to stray. We worked 

on the owner’s signals and on loweing 

Karlson’s stress levels. Things got a bit 

better, but he still strayed from the farm 

whenever possible. He went nuts when 

he saw other male dogs, especially on 

leash. Upon visiting the home, it became 

clear that neighbouring farms had intact 

bitches that came into heat throughout 

the year. The owners didn’t want Karlson 

to produce offspring, so he was neutered. 

The straying stopped, but his problem 

with male dogs didn’t, because it was not 

sexually motivated! His socilisation had 

been poor, and the stress had not helped. 

It was learned behaviour, so we worked on 

that. Due to neutering Karlson was a bit 

more interested in food, and that helped 

in training. Today he is still on the farm. 

In summer they can leave the door open, 

and he doesn’t stray. He is coping better 

with other dogs, and shows more calming 

signals. He doesn’t have to fall in love with 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seminar Booking Form 

I wish to book a place on the Action 4 Dogs Seminar featuring: 

Marc Bekoff 

Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh 

9 th & 10 th June 2012 

Please complete in CAPITAL LETTERS: 

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form so that we can match the transfer to your booking. Please also ensure that your bank bears all the 

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CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS POLICY 

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No cancellations or refunds will be made after that date. Substitutions may be made at any time. 

 

 

 

 

 


PDTE Annual Meeting 

29 th – 30 th September 2012 

Hilton Grosvenor, Edinburgh, Scotland 

 

Over this weekend you will have the 

opportunity to meet and listen to 

trainers from all over Europe. 

Share experiences, talk about dogs and 

get to know others who work with dogs 

and share your interests. 

Both PDTE members and non-members are welcome 

Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th Sept. 

Lectures by PDTE Members both days 

 

Saturday: Dinner & Ceilidh 

Sunday morning: AGM 

Sunday afternoon: Edinburgh Tour 

Monday 1st October: Workshop 

For more Information & Registration 

www.pdte2012.co.uk 

info@pdte2012.co.uk 

 

Greyfriar’s Bobby 

We look forward to welcoming you to 

Edinburgh for a great week-end!

PDTE 2012 March Newsletter

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