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Demo Dog News Bonnie - The Makings of a Demo Dog

By Nature By Nature

Bonnie and the Crew at the PetSmart store in Millville, NJ on February 25, 2007. (This photo clearly shows the trauma to her hind leg due to a large hot spot cause by allergies)

By Nature by Nature by Nature by nature by nature by nature by n by nature

The Training of a Demo Dog

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Introduction

     Bonnie arrived in New Jersey on February 23, 2007. Her condition was actually good given the deplorable situation she had been in just a month prior. She had started to put on much needed weight at the Oklahoma Welfare Association (she was about 30 pounds under-weight when rescued) and, at our behest, was thoroughly vetted while still at that location. She was found to have an ear infection, erlichia (a tick-borne disease), significant dermatological damage due to multiple hot spots, and abscessed and broken teeth. Her coat was badly matted.
     The issues with her teeth were addressed prior to her arrival (those that were in need, were extracted and the remaining were scaled and deep cleaned. Upon her arrival, the other issues were addressed - oral antibiotic for the erlichia, topical for her ears along with cleaning, exfoliation, cleaning and drying for the hot spots, and, of course, a good grooming - as a matter of fact, I think we were all surprised that she is actually a very, very white dog (called "silver tipped white" in dog show circles ) with tan patches rather than uniformly cream or bisque colored!
     The one thing that was remarkable was her stable temperament and wonderful character. She took all the cleaning and scrubbing and medicine administering in stride. She never questioned and never acted fearful or concerned. It was this fact that made it an easy decision to see how she would react in public and, just two days after arrival, she wowed the staff at the PetSmart store in Millville like she had been doing store visits and meeting people her whole life.
     It was Bonnie's temperament and character that attracted the Monks of New Skete to welcome her into their training program - and, further, to include her in their latest book, "Divine Canine." The following are some of Brother Christopher of New Skete's training and follow up notes.

Dog Food Demo girl

Brother Christopher's Notes on Obedience Exercises

"During the four week training class, Bonnie was taught in the basic obedience exercises of Hell, Sit, Stay, Come, Stand and Down. She was work formally twice each day in 10-20 minute sessions. Initially, we conducted these sessions with no distractions present, but as her skills improved, we gradually moved to more challenging, distracted situations, particularly meeting strangers."

"Please follow these guidelines to ensure that a successful transfer of the training process occur:

1. It is essential to continue Bonnie's training by taking her through review sessions each day. Each session should be at least ten minutes long and it can be done in conjunction with a walk. Be consistent and upbeat, and be very brisk with both right and left hand turns.

2. Pay particular attention to the Stay. This is the exercise that Bonnie had the most challenge with during the course (not a real problem though), as her tendency is to lose focus and break. By working with her briskly, getting eye contact and simply paying attention, she improved.

3. In addition, make sure Bonnie does a thirty minute Down-Stay at least twice a day. This is very important. Use natural opportunities such as meals, TV, reading, etc. to practice with Bonnie. Be sure to enforce the Down-Stay should she break

4. Don't allow Bonnie on the furniture. Have her do her Down-Stay on the carpet a short distance from you (not underfoot). Since one of your goals is to reinforce Bonnie's sense of self-confidence, don't give in to her excessive demands for attention. Let her be a dog. I would discourage anything that confuses this."

Dog Food Demo girl

Bonnie's Event Training

While Brother Christopher and the Monks of New Skete gave Bonnie a solid foundation in basic obedience, it was necessary to go beyond the basics due to the work she would be doing. For this, we had to move to "on the job" training as there is no environmental simulation that would accurately portray venue atmosphere, noise, the number of people present, and, in general, the chaos that ensues at a major event like a State Fair or Trade Show.

Bonnie's first show experience was at the Lion's Strawberry Festival in Oceanport, NJ. As we didn't want to overwhelm her, she worked only a two days out of the five that we were there and only for a two hours each day. As we were just trying to ascertain how she would react, we were very loose with her interactions with people and we required only that she remain in a sit. She did extremely well and showed no concern for all that was going on around her - which was quite a bit as we were located right under the venue loud speakers on a corner which connected four main walkways!

Given this success, it was easy to teach Bonnie her role at the shows. As she is our "meet and greet" spokesperson, she has been taught to accept pets and pats (and sometimes pokes!) from everyone who wishes to stay hello and stay on a Down while doing so. She learned this quickly and loves the attention.

We are currently working on stopping two behaviors. Bonnie sometimes likes to roll over for belly rubs. While it does make her look very cute, she kicks her hind legs while doing so which could be a problem if there is a small child present. We are praising her only when she remains sternal. Additionally, she sometimes loses focus when there are small dogs present. This is a more severe infraction and must be stopped. We are now setting up situations where this occurs and correcting her for misbehavior while praising her for remaining calm and focused.

As Bonnie is very new to this and given her previous situation, we are more than thrilled (and, quite frankly, amazed!) with her progress and will continue to update her on-going training. Training, like anything worthwhile, is a process of perfecting and growth. Bonnie is well on her way ...