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How To Choose A Trainer Academy Rewards What to Do For a Poisoned Animal : Be Prepared Foods to Avoid Feeding to Your Pet Toxic Plants What is Puppy Class? Puppy Play Biting Recommended Reading for Positive Reinforcement Dog Training A Rough Guide to Kids and Pets Reconsidering the Dominance Model in Dog Training OUR ANIMALS Academy Rewards by Christine Rosenblat Humans enrolled at The San Francisco SPCA's Academy for Dog Trainers get a good education. The dogs get a good time. "It's the best thing I've ever done," exclaims Rose Tang. "I never knew that there was another way to teach dogs, and now that I know, I'd never go back. And I've made it my goal to make sure that everybody knows this alternative way, so dogs won't have to suffer again." Tang is referring to the Academy for Dog Trainers, one of the brightest jewels in the crown of The San Francisco SPCA. She graduated from the Academy nearly two years ago and has been applying her new knowledge ever since at the Hong Kong SPCA, teaching dog training classes and setting up that organization's new Hearing Dog Program. Founded with the aim of providing comprehensive and innovative education for dog trainers, behavior counselors and other companion-dog professionals, the SF/SPCA's Academy is rapidly gaining a reputation as the "Harvard for dog trainers." Since opening its doors in 1999, it has bestowed diplomas on nearly 100 graduates from all over the United States, as well as Hong Kong, Canada and Japan. There is a six-month waiting list to enroll. The Dean of the Academy for Dog Trainers -- its conceptual leader and guiding force -- is renowned dog expert Jean Donaldson. Donaldson wrote two highly acclaimed books, The Culture Clash and Dogs Are From Neptune, which have revolutionized the way people look at the relationship between people and their dogs. The Culture Clash won the prestigious Maxwell Award of the Dog Writers' Association of America. In 1999 Donaldson took over the helm of the fledgling Academy; the next year she was also named Director of The SF/SPCA's Department of Behavior and Training. Recruiting someone of Donaldson's caliber was a high priority for Ed Sayres shortly after he became President of The SF/SPCA. "Behavior is the number one reason people give up their animals," he says. "Teaching people how to take care of their dogs' behavior problems means they won't surrender their pets. And we're unabashedly ambitious," he adds. "We're trying to knock those numbers down nationwide." Starting, of course, in San Francisco. The first animals to feel the Academy's good effects are the homeless dogs at The San Francisco SPCA because they receive one-on-one quality time with the Academy's students. These dogs never know they have behavior problems; the Academy uses positive teaching methods exclusively, so the dogs just have a good time and bask in all the extra attention they receive. Molly Wright, one of the dog trainers from the SF/SPCA's Department of Behavior & Training, has seen the benefits first-hand. "It makes such a difference to the dogs," she says. "They really get a lot of attention, and the dogs make incredible progress in their obedience.

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