CAMP R.E.W.A.R.D. June 25-27, 2004
(Realizing Excellence With Attention Redirection and Desensitization)
3 Day Camp

Wow! The fourth Camp R.E.W.A.R.D. was stupendous!

Camp Motto:
Okay, all you have to do is;
breathe
be in your safe place
breathe
watch your dog at all times
breathe
watch your environment at all times
breathe
watch your timing
breathe
work on using other types of reinforcers other than food - a.k.a. be interesting and fun!
breathe
plan your session ahead of time
and, and, and

The players:

• Terri Bright and her husband Richard O'Connell and their Bull Terrier, Pepper came all the way from Massachusetts! (reactive to humans and dogs)
• Jill Zimmer and her Mastiff, Quest came all the way from North Carolina! (reactive to humans and dogs)
• Linda Daniel and her mix, Sunshine came all the way from Florida! (reactive to humans and dogs)
• Florence Selvin and her Border Terrier, Huck (reactive to humans and dogs)
• Ellie Biancanello and her mix (who looked like a Rhodesian Ridgeback without the ridge), Jake (reactive to dogs)
• Alice Compel and her field Lab, Emma (reactive to humans and dogs)
• Lisa Lonergan with her Catahoula Leopard dog/hound cross, Buddy (reactive to dogs)

Again, we had a mix of reactivities and a mix of training expertise. It was really cool that in the beginning of camp, you could see the differences (from the human campers) but toward the end, it was harder to tell who was the professional trainer and who wasn't!

Day one:
We did my usual classroom time in the morning, followed by breathing and relaxation exercises. In the afternoon, we did our first sessions with each of the dogs to see what their thresholds were so we knew where we stood. It was amazing to me how many of the dogs had some good foundation behaviors already in place. Terri and Pepper were outstanding and a beauty to behold in the behaviors presented and the different kinds of reinforcers used. Quest did a great imitation of loose leash walking, sit, stay and come and Jill didn't believe us when we told her he was great. Florence and Huck were super - that little guy is so damned cute we just can't believe he has a problem! I got very close to him and he didn't care one iota! Sunshine was very stressed and I had Linda go very far away to try to see where his threshold was to remain calm. The Trainer of the Day Award went to Ellie -she went from a very high pitched, demanding voice (and a very stressed dog) to a soft, gentle voice and manner and very focused and compliant dog who could have cared less that my dog Cody was in the room!

Day Two:>
We continued to work at the building. We utilized parallel walking "a la Turid Rugaas" on 30 foot leashes with all of the dogs and wowie zowie - not one dog aggressed and I was able to get quite close to just about every dog! Sunshine was much more relaxed today and he decided that I was “friend” and that my Cody could be tolerated too! Richard blew my mind at how well he worked Pepper (I had seen him work her about a year ago and I can't believe this is the same person!) Huck has an issue with direct contact from people, so we worked on my leaning over from about 5 feet away and he was very calm and I think he wanted to come and visit me. Alice was great in handling Emma the second time around and I could see a real bonding start to form. I walked right up to Jake with my dog Beau and then arced around and Jake didn’t care one bit – he was glued to Ellie. Quest was a little tired and hot, but he worked well and Jill was definitely getting the idea of the whole thing. Quest was also a bit sore – he had fallen off of a ramp and hurt his shoulder, so we took it easy on him. I was hard pressed to decide, but The Trainer of the Day Award went to Lisa Lonergan – she was great at keeping her dogs focus and Buddy did not react to my dogs at all.

Day Three:
Cool beans! We worked with protected contact, with the dogs in a batting cage. It was incredible how relaxed the dogs and people were! Very few outbursts and the few that happened were so minor they almost didn’t count. All of the dogs and people were so amazing there aren’t enough words in the Thesaurus to describe them all. Even Quest, who reacted to my dog Shadow, was able to respond to Jill and she was overjoyed! None of the dogs had any reaction to me at all, (other than one very tiny growl) even when I ended up practically hanging on the fence. Huck learned to look at me and my obnoxious hands and then look back to Florence and not once did he react to me.

For the second session of the day, instead of using my neutral dogs, we paired up and did team training. We started out on opposite sides of the ball field, walking parallel. Then, once the dogs were completely focused, we started to walk toward each other, arcing at a distance of about 15 feet or so. OUTSTANDING! INCREDIBLE! AMAZING! MIRACULOUS! Goose bump time! The Trainer of the Day Award went to Richard O’Connell for superlative everything!

Miscellaneous
This was the first time in two years that Jill had a regular collar on Quest, rather than a prong collar and the first time that he was able to walk calmly past another dog and people!

First time Pepper allowed another person near her without aggressing and the first time in her life that she had three whole days without aggressing!

Read Richard's AHA moment!