We’re thrilled to share that Elisha and three of our trainers recently 
attended the 2024 APDT Conference, and it was an incredible experience! This year’s conference was packed with opportunities to learn from some of the best minds in dog training. Our trainers engaged in workshops, panel discussions, and lectures led by professional dog training experts from around the globe.
This year, the Association of Professional Dog Trainers made an exciting announcement; rebranding itself as the Association for Professional Dog Training International. This signals a shift in focus from solely professional dog trainers to a broader coalition of veterinary professionals, groomers, dog walkers, and pet guardians. The APDT wants to make its membership and resources more accessible to professionals and hobbyists.
During the 4 days we spent in Riverside, we collectively saw more than 20 guest lecturers speak on various topics ranging from accessibility to nose work, treating aggression, and working with high-drive dogs. We couldn’t possibly recount every session we attended for this blog post, so instead, we’ll each highlight some of our favorite lectures and biggest takeaways.
Elisha
The brain is an amazing organ! During the conference, we had quite a few speakers talk about the canine brain. My favorite speaker was Dr. Kathy Murphy. She delivered the opening keynote talk on neurodiversity and dog behaviors. The most fascinating part was a deep dive into the adolescent canine brain.
Dr. Kathy Murphy’s insights into adolescent dog brains shed light on their challenges at this age. A striking fact is that adolescent dogs have an increased tendency to approach stimuli and a reduced inclination to retreat from situations. Think of how challenging that can be for our young dog. I always remember the phrase “Your dog is not giving you a hard time, your dog is having a hard time.” That rings so true for adolescents, and to make it all more challenging, aggression can be the brain’s fastest response when a situation becomes overwhelming. This can play out like this: your teen dog is curious about something, let’s say a shopping cart, they approach with interest and curiosity and as they do the cart moves and the wheel makes noise. This sets off a response in your dog whose brain is reducing their ability to “flee” so they stay and are spooked and turn to aggressive barking.
Now what? Now you need to support your dog. Adolescent dogs have increased sensitivity to emotional stimuli and punishment and decreased sensitivity to reward. These teens take twice as long to recover from an incident like this. Maybe a walk, maybe a run, or maybe quiet time at home. Each dog will have its own way to get back to a calm baseline. A key takeaway is that adolescence is a time for patience, not push, as there are lots of changes occurring in the adolescent brain.
If you are struggling with a teenage dog, our team can help you set up a plan to navigate this challenging time with kind and thoughtful training and play. We can support you with private sessions or educational daycare to help your teen dog and you learn how to work together during this emotional time of adolescence.
Lexi
Of all of the presentations I saw at the APDT conference, I felt that Amanda Gagnon’s discussion about controlling dogs & how we can give them more choices was so relevant to dog training today and pet parents/guardians. Amanda’s anthrozoological work focuses on the relationship between people & dogs in different cultures/communities. She has a master’s degree in Anthrozoology & has been training dogs in Manhattan for over 15 years, focusing on the human-animal bond & how we can make it stronger. She is also a founding board member of Muddy Paws Rescue which focuses on community outreach and providing accessible education to improve the lives of people & their dogs.
Control is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as the action or fact of holding in check or restraining. Think of how much choice our dogs have in their day. We as the caretakers are typically in control of when/where they go on walks, how much they eat, what kind of food they eat, what toys they have access to, what training methods we use, the equipment they wear all day, the types of enrichment they take part in, and so on. The kind of training that we take part in with our dogs can also affect their confidence & ability to think critically. If we continuously have to prompt our dogs to do a certain behavior in a given context, are they learning or depend on us to give them instruction every time? This is why it is crucial to not only practice obedience training with your dog but to allow them to make desirable choices (when it is safe to do so) without intrusion from us. There are many forms of control that we as humans impose upon our dogs, even if it includes things that keep them safe like a leash/harness or crates, because we are still restricting them in some way. I don’t think the solution is to get rid of safe restrictions such as keeping our dogs on leash, because our environment would not be safe.
Giving dogs an outlet for their destructive or excited behavior is allowing them to do breed-specific activities which decreases their need to do those “bad” behaviors in the wrong context. We just have to provide appropriate outlets at the right time/place & allow our dogs to be dogs so they can thrive in any given environment.
Chynna
I noticed a big theme at this year’s APDT conference: giving your dog agency. Agency is the sense of control that you feel in your life, when we give our dogs control over their behavior they start to have more confidence in their choices. A perfect example of this is nose work; nose work relies on the dog and not the handler. To get started, we set up a room with boxes, place treats in some of the boxes, and let the dogs search through the room and reward them for going to the right boxes. Eventually, we can work without boxes and even focus on searching for specific smells. While we as handlers set up the situation and reward the dogs for their hard work, the dog leads the way and makes the decisions. The boost in confidence can be seen almost instantaneously when they go in for their second round of nose work. When our dogs are confident, the focus is easier, and when the focus is easier learning is easier.
Sue Sternberg also did some amazing presentations that were all about reading dog body language. Whether you’re in dog sports or just walking around the block, observing your dog’s body language can make training way easier. Understanding your dog’s reactions can be the first step in creating a training plan that works for your dog. Dr. Kathy Murphy and Dr. Bobbie Bhambree created the “resilience rainbow” a sort of behavior modification plan, one of its first steps is creating safety and security so that your dog can decompress. To accomplish this you must be able to read your dog’s specific forms of decompression, different dogs have different coping mechanisms- some dogs sniff and cuddle while other dogs run and play. If you can figure out what your dog’s coping mechanisms are, you can start to use them to train “wanted” behaviors.
Trusting our dogs and giving them more agency seems like an easy concept but we can sometimes confuse training with controlling. Our dogs can make decisions, and with some guidance and understanding, we can help them live their lives to the fullest.
Sean
Although there were so many great presentations, I felt like the closing keynote speaker, Ken Ramirez did a great job tying together so many of the things we heard from other presenters. Ken Ramirez has been in the animal training industry for over 50 years and has worked with a huge variety of species from marine mammals to butterflies, elephants, and of course dogs. He is the Chief Training Officer for Karen Pryor Academy, author of “The Eye of The Trainer”, and one of my biggest personal role models in the dog training world.
It’s kind of crazy to think about how much change there has been in our understanding of animal behavior in the last century. B.F. Skinner’s experiments with the Skinner box where he laid out a foundation for our understanding of operant conditioning only happened 76 years ago. Karen Pryor only introduced the use of clickers in dog training in 1992 during a training conference, and since then there have been dozens of major new developments in animal training. In the last two decades, there have been several protocols developed for treating aggression like Look at That, Behavior Adjustment Training, Click to Calm, and Constructional Aggression Treatment. Even the concept of protected contact training in zoos only began in 1991- before that, keepers generally worked in close contact with their animals.
Today, the industry continues to evolve with new concepts, protocols, treatments, and models as our scientific understanding of our animal companions continues to develop. Within the last few years, the idea of choice and control has been a big topic of conversation within the industry, and the frameworks for ethics that we use to guide our choices are being reevaluated. We will keep our eyes open for the next big thing, and pass along the most progressive and humane training concepts to the public. As the industry continues to evolve, we must keep up with those changes.
Thank You for Your Support
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you who supported us during this time. Your understanding in adjusting schedules while some of our trainers were away means a lot to us. We appreciate your flexibility and commitment to your dog’s training journey, and we’re confident that the new insights gained at the conference will enhance your experience with us.
Looking Ahead
As we integrate these new ideas into our training sessions, we encourage you to reach out with any questions or suggestions. Your feedback is invaluable as we strive to create the best environment for learning and growth for your dogs. We can’t wait to see these new strategies’ positive impact on your pups!
Thank you once again for being part of our community. Together, we’re committed to making a difference in the lives of our furry friends!
