I am Brenda Aloff. I have been training dogs professionally for over 30 years. I specialize in problem dogs. I have 5 published books and a DVD. I also teach at clinics and workshops in the US and Internationally.
I became interested in animal behaviour because I had a very difficult dog. I went to several trainers and behaviorists in order to understand her behavior. It was not all that helpful. So I started reading everything I could find and discovered Karen Pryor's book, Don't Shoot The Dog. This was one of the first dog training methods that made sense to me, coming from my horse training background.
Soon local veterinarians were referring dogs to me for training and clients wanted to leave their dogs with me. So, I started a boarding kennel and was providing private consults and doing a lot of rescue work at this time, as well. After about 9 years, I wanted a job in which I did not have to work 24/7 year-around and neglect my family on holidays. Mostly, I was doing so much training it was difficult to keep up with both training and the kennel. I decided to close the boarding kennel and built the Heaven on Arf Training Center and started providing training and behavioral work exclusively.
I love watching dogs and owners create a more understanding and closer relationship. After all these years, I still get a shiver of delight when I see a dog "get" the message I am trying to communicate, or when the dog has that "Ah ha!" moment. I get all warm and fuzzy when my human student has the thrill and increase in self confidence that results when using excellent mechanical skills combined with the right timing and technique. These are some of my favorite things!
When I am not working dogs I am riding horses. This has been a life-long passion of mine, and I cannot wait every day to spend time on ground work or mounted work with the horses. Over a decade ago I got very involved with Dressage and love it! I find myself more intensely horse crazy even than when I was a child (which was already bordering on OCD behaviour).
The most important thing I wish people knew about their companion animals is a knowledge of dog ethology. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour, especially under natural conditions.
Understanding how dogs would naturally operate opens new horizons in understanding your pet. Not having an understanding of the species or breed specific traits causes so much grief that is absolutely preventable. Most dogs lose their homes because the dog just did not behave in a way that the person was expecting.
So people need to have a dose of reality BEFORE they even choose a dog. However, because I think the majority of dog purchases are an emotional decision, I think this trend will not soon change.
Once people have the dog, I wish they could read the dog's body language better, because, again, problems that are entirely preventable could be curtailed or avoided altogether. When you have even a general idea of what the dog is communicating, you have lots of opportunities to give feedback to the dog about his behaviour.
Once these two topics are understood, training and living with your dog is an absolute easy, breezy time! And then the closeness of the relationship people were dreaming about when they got the dog can develop, and wa la! No more homeless dogs! Only happy, fulfilled dogs and people.
I think, without a doubt, the most important things we should teach our companion animals is a way to relax themselves and good impulse control. The two walk hand-in-hand because you can use the same exercises to teach both concepts to the dog.
Restraint Tolerance and Body Handling, as well as some specific types of Body Work that I have developed, are a definite part of this process, because domestic dogs are going to be handled and restrained (husbandry behaviour, leashes, crates and fences) for their whole life. Since this is not a thing that most dogs are naturally willing to put up with, it is so important to build a trust in people, that restraining and handling are not dangerous.
This makes veterinary visits and strangers walking up to be "safe" activities and the dog can remain relaxed and calm and be able to be the friendly dog that is inside of them, just waiting to blossom!
We place dogs in so many situations that they do not have skills to cope with. If dogs understand the concept that people are odd, but basically harmless, creatures, then the dog does not feel confused and defensive when people make clumsy attempts at communication.
Not all people who come into contact with our dogs are "dog savvy" and restraints can go a long ways towards preparing dogs to cope with the humans they will meet during their lifetime.
It is also important that dogs have good impulse control and a lack of anxiety on approaches and during greeting ceremonies - this allows the dog to think clearly and make good decisions even when people make poor decisions.