APDT 2010 Atlanta
Just spent 5 days in Atlanta for the 17th Annual Educational Conference and Trade Show for the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. I got to see some new speakers but missed out on others due to conflicting lecture times, so I'll have to purchase those when they come out on http://www.prolibraries.com/.
10/20/10 started with a great presentation by Alexandra Horowitz, PhD. She discussed the world from a dog's point of view. By learning and appreciating what a dog is and how they perceive should lead to new approaches on how we think about research and training of dogs. http://insideofadog.com/author.php
“Discover why your dog is so sensitive to your emotions, gaze, and body language. Dogs live in a world of ever changing intricate detail of smell. Read this captivating book and enter the sensory world of your dog.”
—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make us Human
Then the day was split between Kyra Sundance and Victoria Stilwell- why/how on teaching tricks.
Day two was "the" symposium on A Dog's Mind- Thoughts and Emotions starting off with one the best speakers Patricia McConnell. I just love her style and content. Got to see a new speaker for me - Dr. Clive Wynne - he spoke about he canine/human evolutionary development/bond and how we two species connect cognitively. He's student Monique Udell presented her research on social behavior of pet dogs in different contexts. Dr. Mynra Milani followed.
Day three I spent most of the day in John Rogerson lectures. I've heard of him for a while but never really investigated him further. This was the first time I got to see him. He was dynamic and said some things worth thinking about in regards to dog-dog aggression/society connection. He has a new book out called The Dog Vinci Code. http://johnrogerson.com/
Day four I went to a new speaker for me - Dr. Rise VanFleet. Her topic was on our greatest challenge - the owners. They can be inconsistent, fail to follow through, continue to use aversive methods and sabotage the training you recommend. She presented a lot of great skills for trainers to use to be non-judgemental and priorities problems and get easy behaviors done first to give owners empowerment and hope. Great, great presenation. Then I went to see Dr. Barbara Sherman - her presentation was on the use of behavioral drugs: review of drug studies. The big thing there is that psychotropic drugs along with behavior modification got the best results for behavior change. The last lecture of the day inspired me. K9 Nose Work with Amy Herot and Jill Marie O'Brien. What a presentation!!!! So awesome to see dogs work on scent. When I got home I emailed them to find out how I can become a Certified Instructor. No answer yet but I know someone in the SF Bay Area that is and I got to speak with her about what's required. Michelle said it takes about a year of work to become approved.
Day five - closing day. I spent my morning in a Media Training workshop. Basically how to present my business to newspapers, radio and TV - we did a mock '3 minute interview' and got to analyze our behaviors on film. The closing session was with Temple Grandin. What else do I need to say. She emphasized that we need to acknowledge that our dogs do have emotions similar to ours and that they deserve our respect and be humanely treated. She made a couple of passing remarks on Cesar Millan I think.... can't remember.
I didn't get out much except for lunches and a special dinner. Saturday night Victoria Stilwell arranged for her VSPDT trainers to have dinner together. I got to meet and network with new people and hit it off well with Katherine Bredeen of http://www.bekindtodogs.com/ I also got to meet Judy Luther of http://www.dogstars.biz/. She had called me up to talk about my experience with VSPDT before she completed her veeting process. We had spoken on the phone prior to the conference - so it was good to meet her in person. I helped out at Victoria's booth at the trade show on Friday night and got to speak about her new program of veeting positive trainers to be part of her global network to those interested.
I also got to meet Patricia Gorianoff of http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ via Melony a VSPDT trainer. We had a nice dinner Sunday night.
Monday is when I flew back home. There was early morning thunder storms and a tornado warning. Oh boy..... I thought it was going to be a long way back home but things actually worked out and I got home late Monday night.
10/20/10 started with a great presentation by Alexandra Horowitz, PhD. She discussed the world from a dog's point of view. By learning and appreciating what a dog is and how they perceive should lead to new approaches on how we think about research and training of dogs. http://insideofadog.com/author.php
“Discover why your dog is so sensitive to your emotions, gaze, and body language. Dogs live in a world of ever changing intricate detail of smell. Read this captivating book and enter the sensory world of your dog.”
—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make us Human
Then the day was split between Kyra Sundance and Victoria Stilwell- why/how on teaching tricks.
Day two was "the" symposium on A Dog's Mind- Thoughts and Emotions starting off with one the best speakers Patricia McConnell. I just love her style and content. Got to see a new speaker for me - Dr. Clive Wynne - he spoke about he canine/human evolutionary development/bond and how we two species connect cognitively. He's student Monique Udell presented her research on social behavior of pet dogs in different contexts. Dr. Mynra Milani followed.
Day three I spent most of the day in John Rogerson lectures. I've heard of him for a while but never really investigated him further. This was the first time I got to see him. He was dynamic and said some things worth thinking about in regards to dog-dog aggression/society connection. He has a new book out called The Dog Vinci Code. http://johnrogerson.com/ Day five - closing day. I spent my morning in a Media Training workshop. Basically how to present my business to newspapers, radio and TV - we did a mock '3 minute interview' and got to analyze our behaviors on film. The closing session was with Temple Grandin. What else do I need to say. She emphasized that we need to acknowledge that our dogs do have emotions similar to ours and that they deserve our respect and be humanely treated. She made a couple of passing remarks on Cesar Millan I think.... can't remember.
I also got to meet Patricia Gorianoff of http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ via Melony a VSPDT trainer. We had a nice dinner Sunday night.
Monday is when I flew back home. There was early morning thunder storms and a tornado warning. Oh boy..... I thought it was going to be a long way back home but things actually worked out and I got home late Monday night.
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