Dale on Dogs

A final word on Pit Bulls and other aggressive breeds

2007-03-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks very much for all of your responses. I appreciate your sending along your opinions. I understand your passion for the Pit Bull and your concerns for the dilemma it faces in our society today.

I want to clear up several misunderstandings about what my position is and what I have to say about your breed and other aggressive dog breeds.

I did not express any dislike for the Pit Bull whatsoever. My comments were in regard to the breed's purpose. Dog fighting of any kind is banned and illegal in every civilized country in the world. Watching dogs slaughter one another is no longer considered entertainment. The Pit Bull therefore can no longer serve its original function, unlike other breeds that still retrieve, point, protect, herd, do scent work, hunt large or small game, rescue, or are ratters, etc. The original purpose of the Pit Bull is obsolete and no longer acceptable in a civilized society.

I never stated nor would I support the position that the Pit Bull breed should be banned.

The answer I gave was given in the context of a local family tv show during which I was asked which breeds I would recommend for easygoing people and which breeds I would recommend such people steer clear of. I think that my answer was a fair one given that the Pit Bull is a fighting dog that is not appropriate for the average family, who would be better off with a Golden Retriever. I also think it is fair to say that rough and tough active people usually own a rough and tumble dog, just as soft and quiet people tend to own soft, easygoing dogs. This does not represent a condemnation of anyone.

As to banning breeds of dogs, as much as I don't agree with nor would I participate in these bans, I would not fight against them either, even though one of the first breeds to go would be my beloved German Shepherd, which when poorly trained is without a doubt one of the worst offenders when it comes to serious dog bites. In places where the Pit Bull and German Shepherd Dog, for example, have been banned, or there are muzzle restrictions in place, serious injuries due to dog bites have dropped to zero and bites in general decreased 70%.

It is hard to argue with these facts. When push comes to shove, I care more about the safety of children than I do about my own favorite breed.

The Pit Bull fancy has much less to fear from me than they do from many Pit Bull owners themselves. If the majority of the e-mails I received, full of misrepresentation, hatred, and personal attacks, are any indication of the majority of Pit Bull owners, you have much to be concerned about. I think it is time that the Pit Bull fancy stop describing their dog as docile, harmless, loving and caring, which is a description that I have never used for the German Shepherd Dog. In fact I admonish everyone who owns a German Shepherd to take full responsibility for their dog and its aggressive tendencies.

We as dog lovers owe it to the general public to be clear and forthright about the true nature of our dogs, because it is this very nature that we admire about them.

I think that my book has a lot to offer the Pit Bull fancy, and condemning me and my book will do nothing to solve the problem that Pit Bull owners have created for themselves. In fact my book would do a great deal in helping Pit Bull owners to train their dogs properly and eliminate much of the unwanted aggression these dogs exhibit.

Society has changed and is changing and we dog lovers need to change our attitudes toward public responsibility if we are to avoid being left behind. Society does not have endless patience and will sooner or later eliminate all "problem" dogs if we do not act in our own best interests. The Pit Bull fancy's organized response of "attacking the messenger" -- misrepresenting any comment they perceive as negative, and pretending that the average Pit Bull is as gentle as the average Golden Retriever -- may produce reluctance in some people to speak out about dogs, but this is a double edged sword. If the owners of aggressive breeds like the Pit Bull, the German Shepherd, and the Rottweiler, among others, do not acknowledge their aggressive tendencies and train accordingly, in the end it will be the dogs themselves that will pay, with extinction, for the actions of those who claim to care about them so much.

Pit Bulls Pro and Con

2007-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, March 8, on “Breakfast Television Vancouver,” during an interview about my book, LET THE DOG DECIDE, I was asked what sorts of dogs I recommend as pets for easygoing people. I mentioned the Bichon Frise as a small dog and the Golden Retriever as a larger dog that would suit such people, although a number of other breeds could also be mentioned in that regard. And then I said that German Shepherds and Rottweilers and working dogs in general are bred to be aggressive, and that people who are interested in owning such dogs need to understand that and take responsibility for training and controlling them properly. I also said that we should stop being shocked and surprised when dogs of these breeds are involved in incidents that result in nasty bites. I added a remark I make in my book, that we never hear about a pack of Irish Setters attacking and hurting someone, but we do hear about such attacks by German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and Pit Bulls.

The host, Simi Sara, then asked me, “What about dogs you should steer clear of?”

I said, “I don’t believe that the Pit Bull is a dog that we should have around anymore at all. Its purpose is to fight to the death, to kill. This is something we do not engage in anymore. It is not an entertainment.”

Simi Sara asked me, “Are they trainable?”

“They are certainly trainable,” I said. “It’s just that their genetics predispose them to act in extremely aggressive and violent ways. When you stimulate a dog by choking, pinching, or making him uncomfortable, he will discharge that aggression somewhere. If he cannot discharge back at his rough, tough owner – people who own Pit Bulls tend to be rough, tough people – he will discharge it against something he thinks he can do it to. And that’s why we get attacks on children. These dogs go looking for someone who they can attack safely. And it’s usually little kids.”

That’s what I said on the air. In addition to many positive e-mails about this and the rest of the interview, I received the following e-mails from fans of the Pit Bull. I want to thank the senders for writing to me in a friendly spirit of concern for the dog.

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From: Hello Bully
Date: March 10, 2007 2:18:38 PM PST
To: dale@precisiondogs.com
Subject: Dog Training

Mr. Stavroff,

I am writing to you in reference to your comments about Pitbulls on Breakfast Television. I was very disappointed to hear that someone who is looked to as an expert would make such statements.

When I checked out your website, I was further shocked to see that you follow the teachings of some of the great minds in dog training. It seems you've decided that compassion should not include Pitbull type dogs. How quickly we forget that not long ago it was the GSDs that suffered the unfair reputation of being "dangerous dogs."

While what you are doing in training is nothing new, it is something that should be brought to the public in light of the popularity of Cesar Millan. But why would you take such an ignorant position on Bully breeds? In the community of PR Trainers, I find that more often than not, people have a level of education and an understanding that breed discrimination is a horrid injustice.

I am asking that you rethink your stance on Pitbull breeds. As civilized beings, we decided years ago that it was wrong to judge an entire race on stereotypes and individual instances. The same should apply to our canine counterparts. I am attaching a copy of "Bully 101", it is an educational handout that we use to try and open people's eyes about Pits. Please take a moment to look it over? We need people like you on our side so that we can repair the reputation of these wonderful dogs. There is also a wealth of information on www.pbrc.net

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Daisy Balawejder
Hello Bully
Rehabilitating, Rehoming, Repairing the Reputation
www.hellobully.com

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From: "Lisa Bruning"
Date: March 11, 2007 9:42:06 AM PDT
To: dale@precisiondogs.com
Subject: Pitbulls

sorry I don't subscribe to your point of view about Pitbulls all being bad.. Yes they are a dog that not all people should have and I really believe that the ill-educated and people in this world who think these dogs are status symbols are to blame for the bad rap these great dogs get. And you should also realize that I have been around these dogs my whole life and have a great deal of experience with them from a small child.. As early as the age of 7 I was walking 3 SBT's all at once and had complete control.
So again I am really really sorry that you have never seen the great family dog that these animals are and only ever seen from the Media's view. Breeders are also to blame for the misrepresentation of the breed. They inbreed, or breed the more aggressive dogs to gain a stronger fighting dog.. they put puppies in front of them as young dogs to train them to fight.. (I own a dog that was used as such).
So don't slam the breed, Slam the deed.. these dogs are devoted and loyal (and also part of our heritage and history) and only want to please and if that means that they have to fight to do this that is what they will do to if that is all they have ever known.
Please talk to the real and responsible Pit owners, like myself, who deeply care about animals and would not wan't to see the good dogs die out.

Thank you

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From: "Kim and Mike"
Date: March 11, 2007 12:26:10 PM PDT
To:
Subject: Police Dogs
Reply-To: "Kim and Mike"

Hi:

I'm sorry I missed your appearance on Breakfast Television. I am forwarding this website address to let you know that not all Pit Bull owners are criminals. Some of them are Police Officers.

http://www.lawdogsusa.org/k9neville.html

I volunteer with a dog rescue group in Ontario. One of the dogs rescued by this group is now a K9 Officer in Washington state. APBT are working dogs. When owned and trained by knowledgeable people they are some of the best working dogs. They are also great companions.

Two of my close friends own APBT's. Both of them are university educated professionals. They are not criminals.

Banning a breed won't stop the criminals from owning dogs. They'll get a different breed. The breed is not the problem. Two of my family members have been bitten by German Shepherds and both times the owner was clearly the one to blame.

Kim

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From: "Zoe Lees"
Date: March 11, 2007 4:33:10 PM PDT
To: "dale@precisiondogs.com"
Subject: Fwd:

Dale,

After hearing about your spot on Breakfast Television I was utterly appalled to hear your stance on pit bulls. As an owner/lover/foster/advocate of the breed, I have spent the last 16 years surrounded by countless pit bulls and
I have never been harmed by a single one, nor have my children. In fact, the more pit bulls I meet, the deeper my appreciation for them grows. While we spend so much of our time battling the stereotypes inflicted not only on the
breed, but us as owners, by the media and the ignorant, it is more than disappointing to have someone who is supposed to be educated in dog behaviour, slandering us and our family members and perpetuating the myths.
In this time of Breed Specific Legislation, where we are ALL at risk of having our breeds of choice legislated out of our lives, we should have each others backs. When I hear people making negative comments on the breed, I always wonder how much personal experience they actually have with them. Take it from someone with an abundance of personal experience with the breed, you are obviously grossly misinformed about these wonderful dogs as
many people are.

I'll share some photos' with you of the REAL pit bull. Enjoy.

Zoe Lees

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Although all these folks assume I have had little experience with Pit Bulls, in fact I have had a great many interactions with them and other aggressive dog breeds over the years, including training dogs for protection work. Based on that experience I would say that the exceptions to a general rule don’t disprove that rule.

To answer the comment about Pit Bulls working as police dogs, a dog’s being used for K9 work does not guarantee that it will be reliable and safe in its contact with the public. An RCMP German Shepherd recently escaped from its handler’s home in the Vancouver area and savaged a harmless eight year old boy, who had to have 80 stitches.

The violent dog training methods commonly used on Pit Bulls and police dogs are loading them up with aggression that they all too often discharge against innocent, vulnerable people. The difference, again, is that whereas the other aggressive breeds have been bred to fight until the other side submits, Pit Bulls are unique in having been bred to fight to the kill. As I said on the air, and as I emphasize in my book, all dogs that have had aggression bred into them need special handling and represent a special responsibility for their owners. But Pit Bulls represent an even higher level of threat and responsibility. It is reasonable to ask whether that level of extreme threat has a place in our society.

Are there “good” Pit Bulls and responsible Pit Bull owners in the world? Certainly there are. But this is not the point.

I cannot for the life of me find any other dogs, besides Pit Bulls, that have been bred purely for the so-called “sport” of fighting, and killing, their opponent. This would not be such a concern if it weren't for the fact that this "sport" goes on in Canada, the USA, and Mexico, as well as the rest of Latin America to this day. So there is no assurance that any particular dog has not either fought itself or come directly from fighting lines.

With no Pit Bull breed registry, and from the looks of it none forthcoming, a prospective owner cannot research the background of any of these dogs. This is easily done with other aggressive breeds, such as the German Shepherd Dog, the Malenois, the Rottweiler, and the Doberman Pinscher. These and other aggressive dog breeds can also regularly be seen demonstrating their reliability and stability in competitions such as Schutzhund. However, there are no sanctioned competitions held by Pit Bull enthusiasts to demonstrate and prove the reliability and stability of this breed. Given the extreme levels of aggression that have been bred into Pit Bulls, it is surely not unreasonable to ask why Pit Bull breeders and owners do not hold such competitions and demonstrate to the world that their dogs can remain reliable and stable in a wide range of circumstances.

Let me point out that Pit Bulls are not banned from Schutzhund competition, for example, but rather that Pit Bull fanciers do not enter these dogs in competition. In forty years of involvement in the dog world, I have seen only one Pit Bull at a Schutzhund trial, a lovely little bitch who did a fine job of work. But one dog is not enough to prove the soundness of a breed. Against the documented statistics on severe injuries inflicted by Pit Bulls on people, especially helpless children, anecdotal evidence from a few good and caring owners is just not a convincing argument. No other breed of dog is involved in anything like the number, and the severity, of dangerous incidents that Pit Bulls are involved in.

We could analogize here with the car. I have been driving for forty years without harm. Does this mean that cars are not dangerous? Certainly not! The trail of tears that flows from the automobile is long and full of tragedy. However, there is no substitute for the car at this time.

There are, however, many worthy breeds to substitute for the Pit Bull, such as the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. A prospective owner can research the pedigree of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier for many generations, and can also observe Staffordshire Bull Terriers demonstrating their reliability and stability in dog competitions. The pedigrees of German Shepherds, another aggressive breed that has proven its ability to work with people in a reliable and stable way and is available almost everywhere on the planet, can be traced back for a hundred years.

One can claim forever, "It's not the dog, it's the owner." And you would find me well on your side in this. However, no other dog bites as hard or as ferociously as the Pit Bull by even half. We don't need a dog that bites like this. Quite frankly, I think the same concerns apply to the South American/Canary Island "guardian breeds" as well. People have enough trouble with the proper handling of Labrador Retrievers! If the dog goes wrong, and dogs do go wrong, I'd rather it didn't have a chain saw for a mouth.

The Pit Bull is just not worth the risk it represents at this time. If those who love this dog wish to secure a place for it in civilized society, they should establish a breed registry, train for and hold public competitions that demonstrate the ability to remain reliable and stable in challenging conditions, and so prove that the Pit Bull has value. Until then, it is no good to point at the misbehavior of individual members of other breeds that have proven themselves, when properly trained, to be reliable and controllable on both the competition fields and in the parks and neighborhoods in which our children play.

Finally, Zoe Lees included a number of pictures of Pit Bulls with children in her e-mail. I have not reproduced any of them, because in fairness I would then also have to show photographs of children who were savagely mauled and even killed by Pit Bulls, usually ones belonging to their immediate family. The fact is that how a dog behaves around children when an adult is present and snapping photographs is no guarantee at all of how it will behave when there is no physically powerful and imposing adult present. In England on New Year’s Eve this year a typical such incident occurred. The adults went out for the evening and left their beloved Pit Bull alone with a five year old girl and her frail grandmother. When the adults returned from their partying, the little girl had been killed and the grandmother badly injured by the Pit Bull. Afterwards the family and neighbors alike said that they had often seen the child playing happily with the dog, but that was under adult supervision.

These tragedies occur because of a combination of the aggression that has been bred into the dog and the additional aggression and resentment that the dog gets loaded up with through improper training and handling, using choke chains and pinch collars, by adults who are trying to “be the pack leader.” Again, the dog may not feel it can discharge this aggression back at the “pack leader,” but it will feel free to do so when left alone with a vulnerable person like a child.

I would NOT support breed specific legislation as it now exists on Pit Bulls or any other breeds, however. Such legislation becomes a political football and an excuse for those who seek to enact indiscriminate anti-dog measures disguised as "public concern." What I am calling for is better education of the public on the pros and cons of Pit Bulls, and thus better informed decisions about owning, training, and controlling them. And I urge all those who love Pit Bulls, if they wish to counter concerns about them, to establish a breed registry and take the other steps necessary to demonstrate the value of the breed.

For those interested in the statistics on attacks by Pit Bulls compared to other aggressive breeds, www.dogbitelaw.com is a good source of information.

"Ruff Trade: How to Speak Dog" -- The Complete Interview

2007-03-05T05:22:00.000-08:00

"Ruff Trade: How to Speak Dog"

2007-03-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to my interview in yesterday's Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/
article/187976.

Out and About with the Dude

2007-03-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

The Dude, my family's Wirehaired Dachshund, and I had a great time demonstrating my training method at the BC Book Fair in Vancouver last month, and since then I've been doing a lot of interviews. It's been great to get opportunities to share my new method of dog training and let people know that there is an alternative to ineffective training as usual with choke chains and so on. Yesterday there was a great column on my book, LET THE DOG DECIDE, in the Vancouver Province and an interview in the Toronto Star.

Thanks to my publishers for setting all these things up. They're running the Dude and me hard, but so far we're loving it! The schedule will include some public appearances, and I'll be posting information about them as soon as they're finalized. The Dude and I hope to make your acquaintance soon.

Walk Your Dogs or Medicate Them?

2007-03-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

A Diet Pill for Dogs

When people first began to keep dogs in their company, there was method in their madness. When survival was in question, dogs had to serve a useful purpose or be driven out. By the same token, if dogs were going to fulfill our ancestors’ purposes and help them survive, they had to take good care of their dogs. That naturally included appropriate food and rest. The fact that our ancestors were self-interested users of the dog was the very reason their dogs were so healthy as individuals and breeds.

Nothing has appreciably changed since the first dogs wandered into human camps. We are still self-interested users of dogs, but now we mainly use them as pets. When we deny pet dogs proper exercise and overfeed them, that use becomes abuse.

Dogs still have their true friends who work and hunt with them and train them for these tasks, celebrating and cultivating their many extraordinary capabilities, or who, as pet owners, run, jog, hike, bike, walk, stroll, and play with their dogs. The best pet owners have chosen dogs that suit their own healthy lifestyles, from very to mildly active, give their dogs the daily exercise that both owner and dog require to stay fit, and provide good nutrition without overfeeding.

Countless other dogs are overfed and underexercised until they are sadly obese and can barely move. This abuse of dogs by their owners is matched by the abuse of dogs by breeders who flood the pet market with physically and temperamentally unsound dogs.

Back in the day, as current lingo has it, veterinarians might have admonished owners to take better care of their stock, and livestock owners would have listened or lost the services of the only vet in the area. In today’s cities and suburbs, however, with many vets in competition for the same clients, a veterinarian must consider the risk of losing clients to some more sympathetic ear. Just as the peace officer has reluctantly entered into the world of "law enforcement" and no longer keeps the peace, and as the school teacher has been transformed into an "educator and facilitator" who no longer teaches, veterinarians have become independent business people, some of whom can no longer be concerned with the well being of animals as much as the well being of their business if they hope to survive in an increasingly competitive market. Better to give pet owners the quick fix they are looking for, or someone else will. This kind of thinking could not be more apparent in the recent FDA approval of a diet pill for dogs.

Perhaps this should not be considered so surprising an event in a society that treats behavioral problems in children by drugging them. A society that has already prescribed using such drugs for dog behavior problems as well! There is great danger in deferring our personal responsibilities to institutions and professional practitioners. We have seen the terrible outcome of this behavior, and will see more as we continue to leave our problem children, dogs, cats, and the disturbed and vulnerable among us in the hands of others. B.F. Skinner warned years ago that handing off social problems to professional caregivers, without proper oversight, would lead to self interested institutions and persons that no longer regard their original purpose as important and that instead become dedicated solely to their own status and privilege. One need look no further than the local animal shelter or child protective services organization, public or private, for evidence of this tragedy in the making.

The truth of the matter is that, in this climate of total abdication of personal responsibility, how we are treating dogs is just a reflection of the methods we have adopted to disengage from the more relevant problems of our lives. In what other time period or climate could we make a hero of the likes of Cesar Millan, who has single handedly taken dog training back into the Stone Age? Is driving a dog into fearful submission the answer to our concerns about dog behavior? Is giving the dog a diet pill because we now refuse to walk him, both for his good and ours, the answer to our ills? I think not.

An excerpt from my book, LET THE DOG DECIDE

2007-02-12T14:58:00.000-08:00

Q and A

2007-02-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Publishers’ Q and A with Dale Stavroff, author of Let the Dog Decide: The Revolutionary 15-Minute-a-Day Program to Train Your Dog Gently and Reliably

Q: With all the dog training books available, why is your book needed?

A: Because classical conditioning, the kind of “Be the pack leader” training that Cesar Millan for example uses, is hurting dogs and causing them to hurt, maim, and even kill vulnerable people, especially little children. The “Be the pack leader” approach can appear to work in the short term, but over time it puts the dog under tremendous stress. I am deeply concerned about the violence and the damage that dogs are being driven to inflict on children and the elderly because of this incorrect training. I am fed up with children having their faces torn off or being killed by dogs that have been trained with classical conditioning with choke chains and pinch collars. There are terrible incidents regularly (one happened this New Year’s Eve in England where a five year old girl was killed by her uncle’s dog and her grandmother was badly injured, and another occurred recently in Vancouver where an RCMP dog savagely mauled an eight year old boy). There are an increasing number of these incidents every year. Not to mention all the neurotic, destructive behavior that isn’t directed at people that pet dogs engage in: obsessive chewing and barking and urinating in the house and so on. It’s the result of bad training that subjects the dog to unbearable stress.

And we should know better, because Konrad Lorenz and B. F. Skinner and a few other pioneers established the theoretical basis for training dogs properly a long time ago. But it is one thing to consider the theory, and it is another thing to build a system that is continuous with those theoretical ideas and completely practical in its application. I have spent thirty years searching for that and developing that, and I have built a system that removes all the stressors, the violence and intimidation, that build up and build up in their assault on the dog in classical conditioning and leave the dog no escape from that stress except submission, avoidance, and eventually aggression. We’re not going to change the dog’s nature. The dog needs to escape from stress. My training system doesn’t fight the dog’s natural need to escape from stress. Instead it gives him a place to escape that is comfortable for him and us. My training system never puts a dog into conflict that we haven’t taught him how to escape. That way we can always Let the Dog Decide to be comfortable and relaxed. And we do that with Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion.

All the puppy wants to know is the right thing to do. And if we show that to the puppy, the dog will happily do that for the rest of its life.

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Q: What does it mean to LET THE DOG DECIDE?

A: It means shaping the training situation so that the dog can use its own problem-solving ability -- and dogs are great problem solvers as every dog-owner knows from all the mischief they can get into -- to discover what behavior brings reward, including food treats and the owner's praise and pets. When the dog discovers things for itself, when you LET THE DOG DECIDE, its learning during training lasts a lifetime. For example, instead of forcing the dog to sit by yanking on a leash attached to a choke chain, you can let the dog decide to sit on its own -- sitting is a very natural behavior for a dog -- reward that, and begin to guide the dog to sit on your signal without ever forcing it to do anything.

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Q: We usually think of dog training in terms of getting a dog to obey commands. How can "letting the dog decide" produce reliable obedience?

A: Actually, “letting the dog decide” is the only way to achieve truly reliable, immediate obedience. Traditional training methods can produce grudging, rote obedience that is dependent on who is handling the dog or the use of a choke chain that the dog has learned to fear and resent. That won’t keep the dog from rooting in the trash when we’re not there, or from running into the street when it’s not under our immediate control. Dogs are very strong willed and when they’re off the leash will do what they want, as everyone knows who has tried to get their dog to come when it’s running free in the park.

To get the dog’s willing cooperation and obedience, we have to recruit the dog’s natural problem-solving ability. I describe in my book how to shape training so that the dog can see a clear choice between a behavior that wins reward, praise and affection, and one that doesn’t. If we’re consistent in training, the dog will decide on the right option. And because the dog is making its own discoveries, its learning becomes much stronger. Before long, the dog cooperates for its own reasons, and its obedience becomes both leash- and handler-independent. Then we never have to worry about the dog’s instinctive behaviors – like chasing a squirrel or a ball across a busy street – putting it in danger or creating some other problem.

Look at sheepherding dogs. They have to think and make decisions for themselves all through the day in response to unpredictable events like the weather or the approach of predators. My training system shows you how to develop the same positive decision-making ability in any dog.

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Q: What is training with your system like?

A: Training with my system is fun for you and the dog, because it begins with making sure you have a good relationship by establishing and enhancing Benevolent Eye Contact. And then it keeps things fun with brief, high-energy training sessions - three 5-minute sessions a day -- that keep the dog's mood and your own mood upbeat and positive. Keeping the mood positive is crucial to good training, and Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion all help establish and sustain that positive mood.

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Q: What makes LET THE DOG DECIDE different from other dog training books?

A: Other training books and methods, like Cesar Millan’s for example, treat the dog’s natural behaviors as problems that have to be controlled with dominance, which is usually enforced with a painful choke chain or pinch collar. This approach produces resentment and shuts down the dog’s mind.

My training system accepts the dog’s independent will, insatiable curiosity, and strong instinctual drives, not as problems that training must eliminate or control, but as fortunate natural attributes that can aid effective learning. In addition to keeping the dog’s mind open to learning, the training system in Let the Dog Decide limits stress on both you and your dog with an easy-to-follow program of informal handling, quiet time, and three formal five-minute training sessions a day.

The most effective way to train is to engage the dog as a partner in its own training. My system makes that possible through three breakthrough techniques: Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and the use of Compassionate Compulsion that never hurts the dog or forces it to do anything you haven't already taught it how to do.

My training system doesn't begin with trying to get the dog to do anything, it begins with establishing the right relationship with the dog. And then all the training has the foundation of that good relationship. Instead of telling you how to dominate the dog and force it to do something, I show you how to make the dog see you as a partner and how you can shape the training system to Let the Dog Decide and use its tremendous natural problem-solving ability to discover that cooperating with your wishes brings tremendous reward. And then the dog will be eager to learn its obedience and cooperate with you.

Unlike most trainers and most dog training books, I don't throw you out there with a leash and a choke chain and a "be the pack leader," none of which will work in the long run. I show you step by step how to establish Benevolent Eye Contact and train all the obedience behaviors without choke chains and without ever hurting the dog through a combination of Gentle Covert Control with Overt Positive Reinforcement. This creates a deep, fulfilling, devoted relationship between you and the dog. Then I show how to establish absolute reliability by training the obedience behaviors on a small bench, a space of restricted mobility that acts as a form of Compassionate Compulsion that never hurts the dog and never forces it to do something you haven't already taught it how to do. Benevolent Eye Contact; Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement; and Compassionate Compulsion -- these are the three unique hallmarks of the LET THE DOG DECIDE training system.

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Q: What is Benevolent Eye Contact?

A: Benevolent Eye Contact is the best means of deepening your relationship with the dog and accelerating its training. If the dog doesn't look at you, it doesn't have to do what you want. But eye contact is naturally very threatening among dogs -- when dogs stare at each other, it means they are going to fight; and if you stare at your dog, it makes the dog uncomfortable and anxious. I have developed a way to override that and make eye contact with you comfortable and enjoyable for the dog. I show step by step how to do this even with a fearfully withdrawn or aggressive dog, at first with a lot of food treats -- eating something yummy relaxes and calms the dog -- and then gradually decreasing the food treats, until you reach the point where the eye contact is self-reinforcing and the dog experiences eye contact with you as something benevolent and soothing in and of itself.

Benevolent Eye Contact is the first of three breakthroughs in my training system, and it's the foundation for the other two: Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement and Compassionate Compulsion training for reliability on a small bench. Benevolent Eye Contact enables you to manage the dog through the rest of training, because it enables you calm the dog whenever the stress of learning rises a little. All learning is a little stressful, and we want to lower that stress as much as possible. Together these three things – Benevolent Eye Contact, Gentle Covert Control combined with Overt Positive Reinforcement, and Compassionate Compulsion enable you to keep your dog's mind open to learning and Let the Dog Decide to do the right thing in every situation.

Many dog training books note the value of non-threatening eye contact with the dog, but Let the Dog Decide is the first book to offer an easy-to-follow, reliable way to build benevolent eye contact with your dog. This alone will transform your relationship with your dog in profoundly positive ways.

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Q: Dogs can be very mischievous and strong willed. How do you control and discipline the dog during training?

A: My book shows how to manage the dog with Gentle Covert Control and Overt Positive Reinforcement through the use of long lines attached to the dog’s flat collar. This enables you to interrupt the dog’s unwanted behaviors without its realizing that you are responsible for the interruption. This in turn prevents the resentment and avoidance that are instilled in the dog when it sees you yanking on the end of a leash, especially when that leash is attached to a painful choke chain or pinch collar. After interrupting an unwanted behavior surreptitiously with the long line, you can call the dog to you for praise, pets, and a treat, which quickly makes you the center of the dog’s positive associations, heightens its focus on you, and accelerates its learning.

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Q: Your training method includes getting the dog to do sits, stands, and downs on a small bench. What is the purpose of training on the bench?

A: Reliability in training requires some form of compulsion, which is why all guide dog training, for example, employs compulsion. But compulsion produces resentment, and we therefore need a form of what I call Compassionate Compulsion, something that never hurts the dog and that it learns how to avoid by compliance with our instructions. My innovation is to use the bench as Compassionate Compulsion, placing the dog into a space of restricted mobility where -- through a combination of benevolent eye contact, food treats, praise, and pets – you can intensively reward the dog for its good decisions and limit its ability to refuse the training.

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Q: Why is Cesar Millan's "Be the pack leader" bad advice?

A: As I explain in a section of my book called “Do You Really Want To Be Alpha?”, trying to be the alpha pack leader is a losing proposition for both you and your dog. The reason is that among dogs, being alpha is a tenuous, temporary position. Beneath the alpha male and alpha female in any dog, coyote, or wolf pack, the other dogs are constantly wrangling for position, with the stronger dogs lording it over the weaker ones.

If you reduce your human status to that of an alpha dog in your dog’s eyes, you are condemning yourself to trying to keep the dog permanently in submission. Every dog, like every other living creature with a mind of its own, resents enforced, prolonged submission. As times goes on, dogs with submissive temperaments will respond to your alpha pack leader behavior by withdrawing into themselves and shutting down their minds, whereas those with dominant temperaments will grow more, not less, inclined to test your alpha status.

Meanwhile, neither dog will respect or listen to anyone else in the household. Among the most common problems that people ask me to help them with is when one member of the household, usually the husband or father, has become alpha to the dog and no one else can control it. Alpha dominance can easily create havoc, and even tragedy, in a household. When little children or other vulnerable family members are hurt by the family dog – a very frequent occurrence – it is generally because the dog is expressing resentment at being dominated by the family member who has assumed the role of alpha pack leader.

In farming families that still rely on working dogs, the dog does not submit to the human beings as it would to a pack leader; it respects and defers to them as we would to a wise elder. The dog is a willing partner in the family’s life, as every pet dog should be -- and can be with my training method.

Cesar Millan’s “Be the pack leader” approach is not just counter-productive to good training, in that it creates an unending battle of wills with dominant dogs and shuts down the minds of submissive dogs. It is also dangerous, a prescription for producing misbehavior towards other members of the family, including nips, bites, and worse.

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Q: What other problems are there with Cesar Millan's approach to dog training?

A: The overriding problem with all alpha dominance approaches such as Cesar Millan’s is that they create more and more resentment in the dog and close its mind to learning. Scientists of animal behavior have proven that dogs subjected to such treatment will look for the first opportunity to express that resentment, whether by peeing on the carpet, rooting in the trash, refusing to come when they are off the leash, or nipping the kids or another vulnerable person. These methods also make obedience dependent on the presence of the alpha pack leader or the use of a leash (the worst enemy of good training), both of which the dog has been taught to fear.

In contrast, my method empowers the dog’s own decision making and opens its mind to drive its own learning. It produces a devoted, cooperative dog whose good behavior is leash- and handler-independent.

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Q: What are the benefits and limits of clicker conditioning?

A: Clicker conditioning, which was introduced to the dog world by Karen Pryor, has been a great advance. It provides a gentle way to teach the dog positive associations with desired behaviors. But clicker conditioning alone cannot produce reliable obedience. There are many reasons for this. One of the most important is that it is very difficult to time the click so that it reinforces the behavior you want rather than a behavior you don’t want. Fundamentally the clicker is good for teaching, but not for training. So the dog is still at risk of running into a busy street to chase a ball or squirrel, ignoring the clicker to play or fight with other dogs, and engaging in other unwanted or dangerous behaviors.

Behaviors learned through clicker conditioning quickly “extinguish” without constant use of the clicker. An even more serious problem is that clicker conditioning diminishes deference, and increases aggression, in dominant, high-drive dogs.

Clicker conditioning is a form of operance teaching, and my training system combines use of the clicker with more advanced operance techniques that instill a reliable response to word signals in dogs of all breeds and temperaments and in all situations, no matter what distractions are present. If the dog’s behavior depends on a clicker or a leash, it really hasn’t been trained properly.

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Q: What is the most important factor in having a great relationship with your dog?

A: The least appreciated part of the dog-human relationship is choosing an appropriate dog in the first place. A dog that is a good fit for a single person with an active lifestyle may not be right for a family with young children, and vice versa. Each of the world’s many dog breeds has distinctive behavioral traits that you need to consider before choosing one to bring into your home. Unfortunately, most people choose dogs based on appearance or in ignorance of the dog’s basic characteristics. In Let the Dog Decide, I provide a set of guidelines for making good dog-human matches.

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Q: Many people are attracted to the idea of rescuing a dog from a shelter. What should they know before they visit an animal shelter?

A: The idea of rescuing an unwanted animal can be very attractive, not to mention the high prices that many good breeders charge for their dogs. But animals that have wound up in the pound or shelter, often through no fault of their own, have also usually suffered seriously before being placed there. The shelter itself is generally a traumatic experience for dogs, including the puppies that are born there. All of these factors mean that shelter dogs will need special care and training.

In addition, some shelter dogs have hidden triggers for aggression. As a result of their prior experiences, they have formed associations to human behaviors that may appear innocuous to us but cause them to bite in self-defense. There is no way to predict these events, and no way for the shelter to identify the problem in advance, because the triggers can be as simple as petting the dog in an “incorrect” manner.

Good dogs can be adopted from shelters, but I recommend that only experienced dog people look for a dog at a shelter. Single people, couples without children, semiretired and retired people – if they have sufficient experience with dogs – can all benefit from, and bring benefit to, unwanted dogs in need of a home.

However, I strongly advise families with children to find a reputable breeder and buy a purebred puppy. You are going to own this animal for many years. You and your kids and the dog deserve the best chance you can get at success. Taking someone else’s mistakes into your home represents a poor way to start.

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Q: You give a special place in your training to play, and you even talk about doing a “dance of delight” for the dog. Why is that?

A: The dog’s mood is crucial to good training, and a playful, happy dog is a quick study in a game involving learning something new. The more you delight the dog with fun behavior, including sometimes acting like a puppy yourself, the faster and better the dog will learn. That is why I give very specific guidance on how to gauge the dog’s mood during training and keep it in a positive frame of mind. Doing a “dance of delight” for the dog when it gives the desired response in training will make its learning more memorable and long lasting. By the way, it’s also a great stress reliever for you, too.

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Q: What is your final message to people about their dogs?

A: Owning and training a dog should be fun and beneficial for both you and the dog. If you step aside from the traditional idea of controlling the dog with rigid commands, you can take the much more productive route of shaping training so that the dog can decide to cooperate with your wishes of its own free will. It is a great experience to see your dog’s mind open up and its understanding and confidence grow into cooperative, willing obedience.

Your relationship with a dog that you have wisely and carefully trained will be richly rewarding in itself, do wonders for your physical, emotional, and mental health, and connect you to nature in a way that has become all too rare in the modern world.

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Welcome to "Dale on Dogs"

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Welcome to my blog, and thanks for visiting. For much of my life I've been deeply involved with dogs and their training, and I have written a book, LET THE DOG DECIDE, to guide people in training their own dogs. As the title probably suggests, I've developed a radically unconventional approach to training. On this blog, I'll be commenting from that same independent perspective.

There'll be lots about the wonderful creatures dogs are and the extraordinary relationships we have with them. But because these relationships don't happen in a vacuum, I'll also be talking about what our treatment of dogs, and animals in general, says about us and modern society.

Finally, because I am also a guitarist and a singer/songwriter, you may find some observations about music, art, politics, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I hope you'll find it all enjoyable and stimulating, and I invite you to join in with comments, questions, and observations of your own.

Thanks again for visiting!

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Here's the cover of my book in the U.S.

And here's the cover in Canada.

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My book, LET THE DOG DECIDE: THE REVOLUTIONARY 15-MINUTE-A-DAY PROGRAM TO TRAIN YOUR DOG -- GENTLY AND RELIABLY

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My book is being published by Marlowe & Company in the United States in February and by HarperCollins in Canada in March. It is available now from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, booksamillion.com, buy.com, and overstock.com, and it will soon be in a bookstore near you. Here is how my publishers' press release describes the book:

ADVANCE PRAISE for LET THE DOG DECIDE:

“This gentle method can be used to teach basic obedience and to deal with problem behaviors…. Recommended especially for patrons who do not wish to use aversive methods such as those
expounded on in Cesar Millan’s Cesar’s Way.” –Library Journal

“Dale Stavroff works in a way that shows the dog that learning, training and obedience are enjoyable and rewarding, as opposed to something the dog is forced to do. . . . Dale has helped to instill happiness and confidence in both of my dogs, and he has shown me how to do the same.”
-- Anthony Kiedis, the Red Hot Chili Peppers

“Dale is a great guy and a fabulous trainer.”
-- Dr. Laura Schlesinger

“If you want to have a great relationship with your dog, the Stavroff method is just what you need.”
-- Gil Cates, multi-year producer of the Academy Awards Show, and Dr. Judith Reichman, author of I’m Too Young to Get Old

The first viable alternative for average pet owners to the choke chain techniques of Cesar’s Way and other books based on classical conditioning and the first to show how to incorporate clicker conditioning into a complete, reliable training system, LET THE DOG DECIDE has the potential to revolutionize dog training. Its unique, easy-to-follow concepts and methods engage the dog’s will in harmony with the owner’s and enable the dog to become a partner in its own training.

Until now books on dog training have fallen into two categories. There are books on so-called classical, punishment-based conditioning, like Cesar Millan’s Cesar’s Way, which make training dependent on the use of a leash and a painful choke chain or pinch collar, and which over time produce resentment, avoidance, and/or aggression, shutting down the dog’s mind and distorting its personality. And there are
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books on clicker conditioning, an important and gentle advance in teaching animals positive associations with desired behaviors, but one that cannot by itself produce the reliable, willing obedience necessary for the owner’s peace of mind and the dog’s safety.

LET THE DOG DECIDE provides a new approach based on a fundamental understanding of the dog’s evolutionary psychology and behavior, and employs a unique set of non-violent techniques that are available in no other book. For the first time there is a training system that
• Accepts the dog’s independent will, insatiable curiosity, and strong instinctual drives, not as problems that have to be controlled, but as fortunate natural attributes that can aid effective learning.
• Explains how benevolent eye contact can transform the dog-human relationship in profoundly positive ways and shows step by step how to build it even with fearfully withdrawn or aggressive dogs.
• Limits and virtually replaces dependence on the leash – the worst enemy of good training – through the use of long lines attached to a flat collar, a breakthrough technique that makes it possible to combine painless covert control of the dog with overt positive reinforcement, freeing the dog’s mind to drive its own learning.
• Achieves unprecedented reliability in the dog’s behavior by training on a small bench, which teaches the dog how to access reward and comfort in compliance.
• Shows how to incorporate clicker conditioning in the development of reliable obedience in all circumstances.
• Limits stress on both owner and dog with an easy-to-follow program of informal handling, quiet time, and three fun five-minute training sessions a day.
• Empowers the dog’s natural decision-making ability and produces a dog whose cooperative obedience is self-directed and both leash- and handler-independent.

LET THE DOG DECIDE explains why being the dog’s alpha pack leader, the basic prescription of classical conditioning books, is an unnatural role for a human being and ultimately a losing proposition for both owner and dog (see attached Q&A). Instead the Stavroff method lets the owner be a human being and the dog be a dog, and develops an enduring bond of trust and cooperation between them.

Stavroff also explains why behaviors learned through clicker conditioning, a form of operance teaching, quickly “extinguish” without constant use of the clicker, something that is not possible in all situations (see attached Q&A). Combining clicker conditioning with more advanced operance techniques, the Stavroff method instills lifelong, self-reinforcing behaviors in the dog in response to word signals. Another unrecognized problem with clicker conditioning is that it diminishes deference, and increases aggression, in dogs with strongly dominant temperaments. In contrast, the Stavroff method produces deference and cooperative obedience in all dogs, no matter what their breed or temperament.

Dale Stavroff is a pioneer in positive motivational dog training who has trained championship-winning dogs of many breeds. In addition to training companion dogs for select clients, he trains dogs for search and rescue, explosives detection, and other service work and conducts seminars for average pet owners. Stavroff lives with his family in British Columbia. Visit him at www.precisiondogs.com.