® 120 DOG TRAINING VIDEOS Visit Our 10,000 Page Website Leerburg.com ED FRAWLEY Meet Ed Frawley’s Ed Frawley Philosophy Owner of Leerburg® on Dog Training Copyright 2005 Kennel and Video I look at people who train dogs and lump them into three main categories. These categories can be placed on a sliding scale. The first category, on the left, is the group of people who beg or bribe their dogs to do something by offering food or toy reward. Don’t get me wrong, I use food and toys in training, but I also use distractions and corrections. These people use neither. The problem with this group is that the dogs often choose not to do what’s asked because they don’t think the reward is worth the task. These dogs end up being pushy, dominant and often antisocial dogs. They are the dogs that are turned in to animal shelters as being unmanageable when in fact they act the way they do as a result of ineffective training. At the other end of the scale, on the right side, is the second category of people. These are trainers who intimidate or force their dogs to do what they want. I call them the old school “yank and crank” trainers. Leerburg® Kennel and Video is owned by Ed Frawley. Ed has owned German Shepherds (GSD) for 45 years. Since 1978 he has bred over They put a choke collar on a dog and force it to do everything. Many 350 litters of German working bloodline GSD’s. His dogs work in law professional dog trainers use these methods because to them time enforcement, as S&R dogs, as competition Schutzhund dogs, and as is money and with enough force a dog can be trained to do about family companions and protectors. anything. Since 1980 Ed has produced over 120 dog training videos and DVDs, The problem with yank and crank trainers is the dogs seldom like their more than anyone else in the world. If you go to the Leerburg® web site handlers and in fact are often afraid of them. These are the dogs that you will see that it’s over 10,000 pages. www.leerburg.com tuck their tails or lay on the ground when asked to do something. When these dogs are near their owners they don’t look happy because they Ed has also spent hours corresponding with customers that were seeking never know when the hammer is going to fall. training advice. If you go to our Leerburg® website you will have hours and hours of reading material listed under “Training Articles” at http:// The problem with both of these categories of trainers is the training leerburg.com/articles.htm and “Questions & Answers” at http://leerburg. produces inconsistent results and dogs that don’t respect their owners. com/qa.htm that Ed has written. If you don’t have a good bond with your dog, or if your dog does not respect you as a pack leader you will never reach consistency in training. The third category of trainers is where I like people to be. These are *Check out our Web Discussion Board at: the trainers that are in the middle of the two groups. They balance http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/ in the middle but are always prepared to move one way or the other depending on what’s going on at that point in time. Our web discussion board has over 10,000 registered users and an archive of over 100,000 posts. It features over 1000 different The third group also uses food, toys, or praise to take a dog through topics to chose from. It’s not uncommon to have 100-200 a learning phase (where the dog actually learns the meaning of a people on the web board at the same time. You do not have command – for example “lay down”) but then they add distractions to to be a registered member to view the posts. Between our web the program (i.e. having the dog lay down when someone tosses a ball site, web discussion board, training videos, and products, we in front of the dogs feet). If the dog is disobedient under distraction or are a one stop training center for information on dog training. does not follow directions this group teaches a dog that they will be corrected for being disobedient. 1 CALL US AT: 715.235.6502 FAX US AT: 715.235.8868 EMAIL US AT: [email protected] VIEW OUR WEBSITE AT: Leerburg.com ED FRAWLEY How to Build Leadership and Respect read the article I wrote on my web site about training with markers. When asked how to build a bond, gain respect and still maintain a The difference in what I do and what these ineffective obedience leadership role with our dogs, the answer is that we must make sure classes do is that once the dog has learned an exercise with markers I the dog understands that we will always be fair with him. Dogs think add distractions. I then correct the dog when the distraction becomes in terms of black and white. They don’t understand English and for the high enough to promote disobedience. This is the only way to get most part they don’t reason, they just react. consistency in training. We teach the dog that we are only going to ask him to do things he On the other end of the scale we find professional dog trainers who knows how to do. When he does something correctly we always let him take customer dogs in for training. The vast majority of these trainers know he is doing the right thing. This is called training with markers. use way to much force in training. I have already said “time is money” to these people and they can force a dog into submission a lot quicker We never correct our dog for things that he has not been trained to do. than they can take it through a learning phase that uses markers. This supports the black and white rule. We don’t correct because “WE THINK HE KNOWS BETTER.” We only correct because we know, through Thirty five to forty years ago people trained dogs almost exclusively training, that he understands a command and then refuses to do it. with force. Read the old William Kohler books. He was the master of yank and crank. In recent years the pendulum has swung to the The dog must learn that we are 100% consistent in how and when we other end of the spectrum – now it’s clickers and head halters with administer corrections. Being consistent at all times is one of the most no corrections. This is wrong and is playing itself out in the dog world important parts of being a pack leader. For example, we can’t ignore where we see an explosion of dominance and aggressive problems in aggressive behavior towards guests in our house and then correct the family pets. Once again the correct place is in the middle. The difference dog for aggression while on walks. between a good trainer and a great trainer is the great trainer learns the balance between motivation and correction. Corrections must also be administered within 1 ½ seconds of an infraction, not an hour after he peed on the floor. When I hear people If you study pack behavior or even herd behavior you will see that rank say “He knows he did something wrong when I was gone,” I shake my issues in the pack are often dealt with very passively but disrespect head and feel sorry for the dog. is dealt with very quickly and aggressively. The same thing needs to happen in a relationship with a dog. One of the most important parts of training is for the handler to learn to administer corrections at a level that produces harmony in the family Respect-Cooperate-Try pack. This means that the handler must learn when simply saying I tell people a dog should respect me, cooperate, and try to do what “NO” is enough of a correction to let the dog know that he is doing I ask. If it does that then I can train it. This is not good behavior - it’s something wrong VS. learning when a level 10 leash correction with a expected behavior. That’s a very important concept in dog training. prong collar is needed (i.e. showing aggression to a child). Many people own dogs that are disrespectful and behave badly. When Dogs Can Love You and Not Respect You these owners start to train their dogs and the dogs start to mind, the I tell people that your dog can love you and not respect you. You cannot owners mistakenly think the dog is respecting them. These owners are love your dog into respecting you. Love and respect are two unrelated often wrong. Respect comes over time and is a result of good leadership emotions when referring to a relationship with a dog. techniques. When my dog shows disrespect I increase the pressure I put on the People too often act like they are begging their dog to mind them. Go dog. This means I work the dog harder and control his free time until to any beginner obedience training class and you will see it. The sad he shows me the respect that I demand. A pack leader controls the lives thing is that this attitude in dog training not only produces inconsistent of pack members.