Dog behavior consulting is a fascinating field of study; there's always more to learn. I subscribed to another discussion group recently about teaching animals concepts. It's way over my head, but I enjoy it anyway.

Another challenging aspect is trying to learn how to tailor one's teaching approaches when working with adult people who have differing learning styles.

Just by way of introduction, I was a teacher by profession. Along in the early 1980s, I became a hobby dog trainer as an avocation, for fun teaching my own dogs.  They were responding well. Because of this, our veterinarian asked me to help some of his clients.That's how this whole new career began for me.

A bit later on, around 1988, I developed a fascination with helping foster dogs, many of whom had some behavior problems. They may have become my best teachers. Then my husband and I co-founded a small charity called Collie Humane Care, Inc. in an effort to encourage more people to volunteer as foster care providers.  The organization raised funds and offered grants of financial aid to pay for the dogs' veterinary expenses before adoption.  Recipients were voluntary foster care providers in the U.S. and in Canada.

The population we served were collies in the U. S. and in Canada whose owners needed help for their dogs' care because of serious family emergency, collie owners who were in crisis who otherwise, while under such stress,would not have been able to find and interview prospective new owners.

I'd like to share some things that helped me tremendously to obtain the important information I needed to succeed in learning more about canine behaviors and training, and about working with pet owners to resolve problems. Early on I joined a national breed club and two local all-breed kennel clubs as well as a dog-training club. They provided numerous educational opportunities.

I also subscribed to the AKC Gazette. I absolutely loved the breed columns and remember many of them to this very day. They helped me greatly to learn about the unique character traits of many different breeds from people who were very knowledgeable about specific breeds.

Attending one of the kennel clubs' show (conformation) handling classes for two years or so provided a real education for me. At each weekly session, we would take a break half way through. Then one of the participants would do a breed presentation for us. That's how I learned much more about many of the toy breeds. These sessions also helped us to better understand the anatomy and structure of different dogs.

Furthermore, those once-a-week handling classes provided a super opportunity for us to socialize our puppies to other people/other dogs with good tasting food tidbits around.It was an ideal setting to use Pavlovian conditioning, called Classical Conditioning today

The all-breed clubs sponsored important educational programs for their members in addition to those handling classes.

The dog-training club in Vermont was an excellent one. My husband and I drove a lengthy distance each week to attend sessions, but the experience was well worth the trouble. And we took part for many years. The club was consisted of about 45 active hobby trainers and their dogs learning the skills to compete in obedience trals, in the open and utility classes. To be a part of the club, a prerequisite was that one needed to have completed the basic class successfully. Actually, I attended basic class over and over again for several years, bringing a different dog each time for the experience it would gain, and then I'd stay an extra hour that evening to attend the club training sessions. Both the basic classes, intermediate and advance, and the practice sessions were under the guidance of a remarkable trainer and his dear wife.

Those evenings afforded me a marvelous opportunity to observe many other people and their interactions with their dogs, of all different breeds. Thus by observing, I learned that different dogs responded to different styles and approaches. 

I believe it can be immensely helpful to have knowledge of different breeds. I never would have started dog training in the first place without it. I found it helpful to know that Border Collies have an intense desire (drive, if you will) to control movement. I continually find it helpful to have learned know terriers have a strong character trait of persistence. In fact, I used that fact almost every day!

It was very helpful to me to learn that some dogs such as Rotties, Akitas, Chowchows that naturally carry themselves with an assertive posture may "present" as a provocative stimulus to other dogs who'd never before experienced such a thing.

When raising a dachshund, I learned that there's no known edible substance that a dachshund will refuse! That's helpful to know; store all food items with secure lids.

While raising collies, I found it especially helpful to know not to attempt to "herd" or push dogs out the door to the back yard by walking behind them! I learned to move toward the exit door ahead of the collies. (smile)They're great followers.

From my close friends who bred and exhibited Borzois, I learned some helpful things to keep in mind about sight hounds. For one thing, when running, they may run right into you, knock ya flat, without veering off the path. hey seem to have poor brakes.

Yes, I think I keep all these factors in mind, particularly when I want to choose some real-life rewards that the individual dogs will find to be highly potent. Not that I let sight hounds loose to chase after prey.

Perhaps most important was to learn some strange things about German Shepherd Dogs, some that were nervous, flighty. That definitely helped me work with some individual clients who had them. 

Then I began attending dog show 'matches' as well as point shows for conformation and actual obedience trials, to observe.

One of the first books I added to my personal library about dog training was William E. Campbell's Behavior Problems in Dogs. I love it still. I have the third edition now. Campbell was a nationally renowned dog-behavior consultant who set a very high standard for this profession. He had marvelous insights into dogs' behaviors. If we learned nothing else, we readers came away knowing the importance of having a client's dog receive a complete veterinary exam to rule out any medical issuers that may be contributing to the behavior problems. I value his insights and model for desirable behavior for a consultant to exhibit.

DogWise  <http://www.dogwise.com> is a wonderful resource for finding new books about dog behavior and training. Please check the RESOURCES section of this web site.  Please just click the Resources tab to go to the list of recommended books books and DVDs.

Joel Walton, who founnded the Aggressive Behaviors in Dogs group in 1996, asked me to take over as group owner of it in May 2000. At that time, the group had 508 members. It's grown every since. 

I became a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) through the IAABC (International Association of Dog Behavior Consultants) in 2005. That organization provides many educational opportunities for its members to advance their skills and understandings. I no longer list that CDBC after my name because I'm now retired. And I've revised this article to reflect that.

I hope that many of you will be encouraged to become positive-reinforcement  dog  trainers.There's a huge need for many many more  The public needs such help with their own dogs.

To learn more about other types of dog-behavior consultants, please see the FAQs section on this web site, and click to open the one called "Professional Organizations;" Those are membership organizations, most of whose web sites provide accessibility to locate a trainer of consultant within driving distance.

Best wishes to everyone who starts this career.

© 1/19/2009; revised 7/16/2010, 12/07/2011.  All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted with express written consent from the author, Barbara D. Brill, North Chili, NY. Email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it