PDTE 2012 March Newsletter

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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
WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS 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. PDTE NEWS Page 7
Page 1 and 2: PDTE NEWs MARCH 2012 l Issue 18 www
Page 3 and 4: BOARD’S CORNER Contents: Board´s
Page 5: WElCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS Agnes Prins
Page 9 and 10: WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBERS CLAUDIA ZÖ
Page 11 and 12: What‘s up in 2012? Other Events,
Page 13 and 14: Opening Gardens to Dogs Some time l
Page 15 and 16: BRIAR Eating from the bowl. Explori
Page 17 and 18: ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT FOR DOGs I
Page 19 and 20: PDTE AGM MEETING In NORWAY 24 - 25
Page 21 and 22: Treasurers Report 2010 - 2011 PDTE

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