Sunday, September 20, 2015

Great Party, What's With All the Dogs?





At the St. Louis meeting of the International Association of Canine Professionals.

2 comments:

Donald McCaig said...

Dear Patrick,

Any off leash?

Donald McCaig

PBurns said...

I think most of the dogs had a leash on, but I do not think I saw a single dog that actually needed one. Dogs were put in down-stays all over, and folks walked away for beers, conversation, etc. Some dogs were rescues getting their wires straightened out, and that was very clearly working. The dogs were better behaved than the people, and the people were very well behaved. I think most of these folks use e-collars for some parts of their training for some dogs, but I do not think I saw an ecollar on a dog at the conference. That was not the case in 2011. The IACP has grown a lot since then, and the tone is very balanced. I think folks are about 90% or more food-rewards based, with collars used for off-leash proofing, with well-timed low-pressure tap-stims. This is a practical group. Lots of theory, of course, but the theory has to be proven in demonstration and experience and has to be replicable. A wide mix of dog many with high drive. Malinois were very common, and Pitbulls and Bulldogs most common after that, with a variety of dogs from Chihuahuas to Landseers, and a lot of mixed breeds. There were one or two border collies and a few GSDs. No bird dogs or running dogs that I saw. No health wrecks or deformed mutants either.