I have a few seminars coming up that don’t have websites, so I wanted to say a little about them.

• Warwick, Rhode Island: May 5, 2012, full-day seminar on BAT. Hosted by Susan Parker, contact dynamic.dog.lady@gmail.com for registration and information.
• Toledo, Ohio: May 6, 2012, 4-hour seminar on BAT. Hosted by Tina Ferner and Agility Angels. Contact tinaferner@netzero.net for registration and information.
• Mentor, Ohio: May 7, 2012, 4-hour seminar on Troubled Teens and BAT. This actually has a website, but I’m mentioning it since it’s on the same trip as the other seminars. http://diggingdogs.biz/CURRENT-EVENTS.html

Here’s some January news…

1. I will be giving a 2-day BAT seminar in Seattle on February 16-17,
2012. It will be held at Ahimsa’s new agility space in Ballard. We
still have some spots for working dogs in Seattle, too! Info is at
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/class/batting-1000.php
The 2-day seminar has more topics than the 1-day seminar and it also
has hands-on work for participants.

2. I’ll also be in Poland, Norway, Sweden, Rhode Island, Ohio (twice),
the UK, Holland, Lithuania, Spain, Connecticut, Toronto,
Massachussetts and possibly Australia (I have one likely host, but
need one more)

My full schedule is at http://functionalrewards.com/seminars/upcoming

3. If you can’t make it to one of those seminars, there is a 2-day BATting 1000 DVD available (that page also has a YouTube sample clip so you can learn more about BAT for free that way).

4. If you regularly send people to my Ahimsa Dog Training site for Freedom harneses, leashes, DVDs, the book, etc., thank you! We now have an affiliate program (US only) where you can get 8% of the sales (either paid to you or donated to a charity of your choice). Info is at
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/affiliate.html

p.s. If you use BAT in your business, you should post about your
experiences on the Woofs page of this website to get some exposure! You can also post a review of the book on Amazon, Dogwise, Ahimsa…

A person on the FunctionalRewards Yahoo group posted this problem. Her foster dog had become slightly used to her husband using classical counterconditioning and systematic desensitization. But unless the husband was seated or lying down, the foster dog would bark, growl, and lunge. She wanted ideas on applying BAT to this situation. Here was my suggestion.

The benefit of living with the Scary Monster (your husband) is that you can do lots of short set-ups. In between, let your dog rest well – with a chew bone or whatever in another room (separate from hubby, ideally not alone unless the dog prefers that). I think you might be able to make a lot of progress this weekend if you strictly kept them apart except for multiple 5-30 minute sessions. Take 1-2 hours in between, longer if you went over threshold, shorter if it was fun.

You’ve already gotten him used to sitting and lying down with CC/DS. I would still do some BAT set-ups in those positions, as an easy way to get started. There may be some conflict because of the lack of balogna. If so, do Stage 2 BAT at first. Make a list of all the scary things your husband might do in real life and work on the more common ones first, at a distance. Ex: standing up, talking, moving arms, walking toward , hugging a child or you, putting shoes on, wearing a hat, carrying a box…

Work outside if any of these things are too challenging in a Stage 3 set-up indoors. Use Stages 1 or 2 (food plus retreat as rewards) if you have to.

(Lili Chin and I at the book signing)

I did two talks on BAT at the US conference for positive dog training hosted by the APDT. There was a 90 minute talk with videos and a 3 hour talk with live demo. I think both turned out well! Dogwise said they sold all but 4 of the BAT books they brought, and lots of awesome trainers came up to tell me they enjoyed the talk, so I think I did ok getting the word out about BAT.

There were a lot of people interested in participating in the research study on BAT, which will begin in earnest early next year. I’ll post info here soon.

I now get November and December off from speaking, then a full 2012 series of seminars (see many of them on the right of this page). Happy BATting!

Check this out! If you are interested in learning more about BAT in an audio form, please visit the Animal Cafe to hear an interview with me by Kelly Dunbar. Animal Cafe is a great new venue with a variety of well-known dog bloggers doing not just regular blog posts, but also podcasts.

The interview is about 2o minutes long. We go over some of the basics and some of the questions you might have about BAT. If you like the interview, please share on FB, Twitter, or whatever else you’re on these days.

Wow, it’s been a whirlwind of a month. My BAT book, published by Dogwise, is now ready. All pre-orders have been shipped out. In the process, the office at Ahimsa Dog Training has looked like Santa’s workshop (just busy dog trainers and staff, but no elves) as we ship books all over the globe.

You can your copy of the book as a paperback book with 212 pages (order signed or unsigned) or in digital eBook formats (select EPUB, MOBI, or PDF).

To get your own BAT book in any format, please visit the Ahimsa Dog Training store. Thanks to all of you who have already ordered and read your books!!

I’m happy to announce that my book on BAT for dog reactivity with Dogwise will be shipping in early September! It will be done in time for the Chicago BAT seminar, so if you are going, you can buy a book there or via the Ahimsa website.

Question: I’m curious how BAT could (or maybe it can’t?) be used for dogs that bark at people and/or dogs while riding in the car? Obvioulsy crating the dog up to reduce visual stimulus wouuld be ideal, but for situations where this is not possible, any ideas???

Grisha’s Answer: BAT can definitely be used for issues in the car. You do want to block the view for times when you’re not training, as you mentioned, via a crate, curtains, or a calming cap. The functional reward is still distance, which can be done by the other person/dog walking away or by letting the dog out of the car to walk away. I’ve done it both ways and I think they prefer the latter.

Visual barriers are important to keep the dog from rehearsing the stress and behavior of barking. If a visual barrier is really not possible, then you might want to do counterconditioning while driving (passenger feeds dog or use the remote on a Manners Minder to feed the dog in the back seat). Thundershirts, Anxiety Wraps, or home-made wraps using tight t-shirts or ace bandages are also great for calming dogs down in the car. But training or a visual barrier is the only ‘foolproof’ solution.

This BAT video was taken by Rachel Bowman of Bowman’s Canine in San Diego, who’s kindly given me permission to share it with you. She’s using BAT to help her foster dog, Theo, get used to the scary things out in the world.

Note that the talking during much of the training was this trainer’s choice for this dog, not officially part of BAT. I usually recommend being fairly quiet at the ‘choice point’ while the dog gathers info and then usually chooses to disengage. Praise is highly recommended after the YES marker!

Direct link: http://youtu.be/RnSYmCngByc

Things have been busy in the world of BAT! The UK seminars next month are both full (over 200 people). Switzerland is also full. There are still spots in Germany (2 days) and Lithuania (1 day).

* FunctionalRewards.com is BAT’s new home online. Please stop by (if you’re not already here), “like” a page on Facebook, etc. The home page has a new video describing BAT as well as links to some articles on BAT and a blog.

I’m hoping to put a list of trainers and behaviorists who use BAT on the FunctionalRewards.com website. I will let you know when that happens. In the meantime, if you have a meaningful experience with BAT that you’d like to share, please post it at http://functionalrewards.com/woofs

All of the scheduled seminar dates are on the right-hand side of http://functionalrewards.com We have just scheduled a 2-day seminar in the UK on June 2-3, 2012. Mark your calendars (or diaries, whatever you Brits call it!) There’s also Vegas, Seattle, Sweden, Connecticut, Toronto, and Chicago.

* New DVD: Give Your Puppy a Choice – Modern Socialization & Training. This video is being finalized now, and should be able to be shipped from Ahimsa in the next week or so. Info is at http://tinyurl.com/3qsz3sf

* The Book. The BAT book is still scheduled to come out in September or October. We’ve gotten some great feedback from Patricia McConnell, Leslie McDevitt, Teoti Anderson, Terry Ryan, and Virginia Broitman! McConnell wrote, “Every trainer should have the methods described in BAT in their tool box. There’d be a lot more happy dogs and happy owners if they did!”

Read more at http://tinyurl.com/4xvhw5w

Thanks for your support! I’ll leave you with this fun article: Dogs are friends with (psychological) benefits: http://tinyurl.com/3sbe4ys

p.s. If you shop in the Ahimsa online store, check out the rest of it…lots of new fun toys (including a tug toy you can put treats in), a fancy treat-friendly muzzle, and more.