CPT Internal Training Seminar- Calming Signals

In our continuing efforts to keep the CPT training staff as the most educated group of pet trainers in the Atlanta area, we have commenced a series of internal seminars designed to enhance the trainers’ knowledge regarding canine learning theory, canine communication, new equipment and applications, and leading edge training methodologies. On August 14, 2007, the first in a series of bi-monthly seminars featured a DVD of Turid Rugaas’ groundbreaking work on cataloging canine calming signals. Ms. Rugaas is a world-renowned trainer and lecturer who specializes in the study of canine communication. She has catalogued numerous canine postures, facial expressions, and movements that can aid pet owners and pet professionals in better understanding and managing their dogs.

Fourteen CPT staff members attended the viewing of the 48-minute DVD “Calming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You” and participated in the subsequent open discussion seminar moderated by CPT owner, Mark Spivak.

CPT trainers learned how to better:

1. Increase the cooperation of anxious animals.
2. Disarm the aggression of dominant or fearful animals.
3. Determine which training strategies to employ dependent upon the client dog’s emotional state.
4. Decide when or whether it is better to end a training session due to a dog’s confusion or anxiety level, and
5. Interpret the potential for friendly interaction versus aggression during a dog-dog or dog-human greeting process.

Consequently, CPT trainers can now deliver superior instruction while maintaining a safer, more productive environment, regardless of whether the contact is in a group, private, or boarding setting or away from work during informal interaction. Future planned seminars will cover issues such as using the Gentle Leader, clicker training, age appropriate puppy training, and psychological theory.