Thursday, September 27, 2012

September 27 is Train Humane Day

On Twitter one night last week, I saw that DogTipper was one of the sponsors for Train Humane Day.  I of course said to myself (or maybe to Elka) "Hey, what's Train Humane Day?"

From the Train Humane site:


Train Humane’s Mission:Our mission is to make the world more humane for dogs through the use of humane training tools and education.Raise the bar on the tools we use to train all dogs and puppies to ensure that they are humane, safe, respectful and cause as little stress as possible without choking.

Sounds pretty good to me!


Alecia Evans is the founder of Train Humane day, and I do confess that I couldn't remember having heard her name before. Then I realized that, from All Things Dogs, I had seen her Walk in Sync training method mentioned, and had intended to read more about it. Oh yes, that that September 27 as Train Humane day was mentioned there. There's memory for you!

This video is from the train humane site:


I've tried very hard to train Elka without force, after I began to educate myself more regarding training methods. Have I been able to do this 100%? No, unfortunately, but that's my shortcoming, not Elka's. If I'd known about clicker and marker training from the beginning, I think that my training toolbox would have been far better in her younger days. There are times I lose my patience and raise my voice, because "she just isn't listening". Of course it's easy to want a robot dog that bows to your whim, stops pulling on the leash, etc. At least I never really bought into using a choke chain; I had one, for reasons that escape my memory (there it goes again), but it was ill-fitted, my timing was bad, and Elka really didn't seem to care that she was being choked.  So I found another way. Good Jen! click/treat. Every day, we work on things, get closer, get further, it's the way it goes. She forgives, which is a significant detail. 


Another video from the Train Humane site, this one about dog physiology, the opposition reflex, and pressure on the chest versus the neck:





16 comments:

  1. Very cool Jen! I have never heard of Train Humane Day. I wholeheartedly Support this. Thanks for getting the word out!

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    1. I never did either, 'til I saw a tweet by Dog Tipper and though "Oh, what's that?" The more you know!

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  2. Yep good one. Have a terrific Thursday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  3. I met her at BlogPaws, and she was promoting Train Humane Day, but I had a very hard time getting her to talk to me. We also have a few unique training issues with Kuster that I asked her about and didn't get a really satisfactory answer to. I like the idea behind Train Humane Day, but I'm not sure that I completely understand her mission.

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    1. As I frequently do, I took from it what I wanted: use positive reinforcement techniques rather than crank 'n' yank. I'm sorry that your experience with her was less than satisfactory, that kind of stinks. I've never spoken to her at all, and have only heard of her in this context.

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  4. Sorry, but the more that woman speaks the less I think she has any idea how to actually train a dog. A collar is to choke a dog and pull its spine out of alignment? Un no. It is to control the dog's head if it is used properly. And the things she says about ecollar are just bunk. She has no idea.

    Look I understand the use of a harness for teaching a dog to walk at heel, but that is about all it is good for. I wish people would not knock training tools that they have zero idea how to use or even what they are actually used for. Just because that woman did not use her choke collar correctly, doe not make it a bad tool.

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    1. The mission itself I can get behind, anyway. I think too many people use too many different dog training tools without the proper education; the tools themselves are just tools. The humans shouldn't be, erm, "tools" as well.

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  5. I like the idea of Train Humane day and think the key to this is making people aware of what training tools are available to them.

    Of course there will always be those people who think that dominating and manhandling a dog are the proper way to train.

    But 2browndawgs has a point, most people don't use the tools properly.

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  6. I am going to listen to this at lunch. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. I like the idea, thanks for sharing the videos

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  8. I like the way dogs are so forgiving when we yell at them.

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  9. Hey Elka's peoples. My peoples are all about training humanely, so when I found out about Train Humane Day from Snoopy's Blog I put up a post about training humanely this morning too.

    Later learned that there was a blog hop too, but a very small one. It seems the word got out a little late for this event, unfortunately. Anyway, there is a hop, if you want to join, but like I said, it's small. - Toby

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  10. Yes! I hate correction/dominated based training. It's useless, cruel and primitive. Nola was/is trained with strictly positive reinforcement, clicker training and free shaping.
    I disagree with 2browndogs on the harness thing; for my breed, a harness truly is safer on their backs and necks than a collar.
    Nola's Mom

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  11. I'm just sad that we need a train humane day. Perhaps someday it will be the norm and there will be no need for a special campaign to promote it.

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