$5000 Dog Training Challenge

All winning money must be donated to a K9 Chairty

"If you're looking to train a happy, reliable companion dog in a minimal amount of time... you're not going to do it by bribing him with treats," said Bill Glatzel, Director of Training for TLC K9 ACADEMY in Phoenix Arizona, and experienced Dog Trainer and Behaviorist of more than 25 years.

BILL GLATZEL's TLC "MAGIC TOUCH" ™ approach is based on using the principles of operant conditioning. "We use Negative Reinforcement when the dog makes incorrect decisions for permanent, lasting and stable command reliability," says Glatzel. But then he goes on to say, "We also use Positive Reinforcement, and praise when the dog makes the right decision." "The concept of Negative Reinforcement is difficult to teach and learn because of the word "negative." Negative Reinforcement is often confused with Punishment. They are very different, however. I'm sure you have experienced Negative Reinforcement many times and did not even realize it. If you did not realize it, was it so EVIL!

Driving in heavy traffic is a negative condition for most of us. You leave home earlier than usual one morning, and don't run into heavy traffic. You leave home earlier again the next morning and again you avoid heavy traffic. Your behavior of leaving home earlier is strengthened by the consequence of the avoidance of heavy traffic. This is Negative Reinforcement!

Negative Reinforcement strengthens a behavior because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behavior.

Punishment, on the other hand, weakens a behavior because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of the behavior. But Bill Glatzel's detractors say they can train dogs without corrections, by simply using food as a bribe, clickers, toys, positive reinforcement only.

GLATZEL doesn't buy it, and remains skeptical.. .

Bill Glatzel agrees, "It is possible to train a dog without corrections, and by using food as a bribe. However, it takes many months to years to achieve the same results that I can get with a dog in only a few minutes or hours. And even after months of treat-bribery... if the dog finds something more interesting than your treat... say bye bye to your dog!" "I use clickers and food at times in very early puppy training, puppies are very impressionable, and have a built in fear stage around 8-16 weeks." Puppies at that stage of development need a lot of TLC and attention." "They are fearful and sensitive to just about everything to a lesser or greater degree." "If a puppy at this stage of development has a fearful traumatic event, this will leave a permanent imprint on the nervous system of the puppy and then you have problems that are now physiological and neurological to deal with." "They can not be trained away." "I find it unbelievable that ANY PROFESSIONAL TRAINER/BEHAVIORIST would encourage ANY group classes for puppies of this age." "You have inexperienced handlers, with crazy, untrained puppies and dogs in a new environment with a lot of insanity going on and aggressive puppies and dogs." "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU DON'T WANT, and MAY RUIN YOUR PUPPY FOR LIFE!"

"There is NO WAY you can train a dog to OFF-LEASH RELIABILITY by using food bribery and total positive reinforcement," says Glatzel. "These click and treat, food bribing, Positive Reinforcement Only EXTREMISTS, who call themselves, "Experts," "Behaviorists," "Dog Psychics," "Learning Theory Experts," ignore the TRUE SCIENCE behind LEARNING THEORY, and OPERANT CONDITIONING. They, the so called, "experts," love to extol the virtues of Operant Conditioning, but never mention that they throw out half the science behind canine learning theory, and learning theory in general.

THE TRUTH IS, THE MOST EFFECTIVE MOST HUMANE AND LEAST STRESSFUL WAY FOR A DOG TO LEARN IS WITH OPERANT CONDITIONING. Operant Conditioning requires the use of BOTH POSITIVE and NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT. The BIG FRAUD of the Treat Slinging crowd of trainers, is that they have DEMONIZED NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT.

They have played a linguistic game, started in California back in the 80's. Politically Correct amateur dog trainers, and hobbyists, decided that ANYTHING that means a CORRECTION is INHUMANE. You know... "It doesn't matter if little Joey doesn't understand how to read and is slow, behind, and failing. What is important is that little Joey has good self-esteem, that we just focus on the positive." This same mentality, says Glatzel, made its way into dog training believe it or not.

"I know," says Glatzel. "These extremists, clicker trainers, the food bribery folks, took it to a whole different level." "They think it is better to destroy a dog than make a correction," says Glatzel. "The General Dog Owning Public needs to be aware of this fraud, and these snake oil salesman." "This is one of the reasons we at TLC K9 ACADEMY provide a written lifetime guarantee on ALL our training services," as Glatzel showed me the Certificate and Guarantee he gives his clients. We spend most of our time fixing problems other trainers and training methods caused. Food bribery often causes aggression.

To prove his point, Glatzel and TLC K9 ACADEMY created the, "$5,000 Charity K9 Training Challenge!" with the following rules, with the most important rule being, ALL WINNING MONEY MUST BE DONATED TO A K9 CHARITY!

#1: You Must Use A Dog Training Approach That Is Fundamentally Different From his: Interpretation: Any approach to dog training that claims that dog training collars, leashes and corrections are some how "wrong" or "cruel" will do fine. If you consider yourself an "Anti-Correction Collar": Cookie Trainer, Food Trainer, Clicker Trainer, Psychic dog trainer, New Age Dog trainer (Energy) or Massage (Use-Only-Your-Hands and No Dog Training Equipment) Dog Trainer... then you're exactly the type of person he's looking for!

#2: Time Limit: Four hours.

#3: Number of dogs to be trained: Each participant will train THREE DOGS.

#4: Both participants will be training dogs of similar sizes & temperaments. The first dog will be a small dog. The second will be a medium-sized dog (50 to 75 lbs.). And the third will be a large dog (75 to 100 lbs.). All dogs will display no prior training and will be borrowed from a local animal shelter, humane society, rescue organization or neutral private party.

Either a medium or large size dog for each participant, (challenger and Mr. Glatzel), will already show extreme dog aggression and will demonstrate little or no "ball or food" drive/motivation, but will otherwise be of sound mind and temperament.

Either the small, medium or large size dog for each dog trainer will already show average to above-average "ball or food" drive/motivation.

All dogs must be estimated to be between 9 months and 4 years of age and in both sound physical and mental health.

#5: All SIX dogs will be selected by Mr. Glatzel or an Agent of his or TLC K9 ACADEMY. However, the challenger will have first choice as to which SET OF THREE dogs that he desires to work with. A "SET" of dogs is defined by one of each of the dogs described above.

#6: This challenge will take place in a public park environment located in Phoenix, Arizona. Location to be determined by Bill Glatzel

#7: To win, each of the three dogs must display an understanding of the following behaviors and the ability to do each behavior around 4 types of distractions (see below for explanation of distractions) during the final evaluation period, at the end of the expired 4 hour time limit.

The dog trainer that exhibits those three dogs which most successfully complete the exercises will be declared the winner.

In the event of no clear winner, the winner will be decided by a Train Off of Exercises with High Intensity Distractions OFF-LEASH to be decided the sponsor. This sponsor will be a neutral party to both the challenger and Mr. Glatzel.

Exercises that each dog should be trained to do, within 4 hour period:

a.) Do not jump up on human when greeting, but instead sit politely and remain in the sit stay position until released by handler. This same exercise will be repeated again a second time but the human will be a dog handler with a dog on leash in a sit position. (The same human/handler with dog will be used for the training process as for the final evaluation, in the interest of time.)

b.) Walk on a loose leash without pulling. This must be done without continual interaction from the human at the other end of the leash. Handler must demonstrate visible slack (U-shape) in leash. The distance will be for 30 to 50 feet with obstacles as part of the course.

c.) Walk OFF-LEASH by handlers left side no more than 2 feet away from handler. The distance for the OFF-LEASH walk will be for 30 to 50 feet with obstacles

d.) Stop at curb regardless of distraction and without prompt from human. This will be demonstrated at the same curb used during the training period, in the interest of time.

e.) Hold down-stay position OFF-LEASH for a 2 minute time period and around all four distractions, until handler issues release command. Handler must be at a minimum of 20 feet away from the dog, and may not interact with dog.

#8: Distractions for each dog and participant during final evaluation period:

a.) One tennis ball, continually bouncing.

b.) One handful of raw hot dogs/or other food treats scattered on ground, within access to dog.

c.) One already trained dog, holding a long down-stay, and a long sit stay.

d.) One human.

Each of the distractions used during the final evaluation will be the same distractions that were used for each dog during the four hour training period. (Again, this is in the interest of time.)

#9: Acceptance of Challenge: In order to accept this challenge (and prevent cancellations and last minute drop outs) the following must be done:

a.) Challenger must submit in writing a signed and dated declaration to proceed with challenge, which includes a declaration of agreement to the terms specifically stated on this web page. This written acceptance of the challenge must be submitted via the U.S. Postal Service, Return Receipt Requested. This must be mailed to: TLC K9 ACADEMY PO BOX 71297 Phoenix, AZ 85050-1005

b.) Challenger must also submit a $5,000 "Good Faith" check or money order, payable to an escrow account which will be managed by a sponsor that has yet to be announced. Challenger will be notified of sponsor and escrow account within 10 business days of receipt of the declaration to proceed with challenge This "Good Faith" money must also be sent via the U.S. Postal Service, Return Receipt Requested.

c.) The above mentioned $5,000 check or money order must be received and cleared within three weeks of receipt of the declaration to proceed with challenge. If check does not clear, the challenger will lose by default. Upon receipt and clearance of challenger's money, Mr. Glatzel will match $5,000 to the previously mentioned escrow account.

#10: TLC K9 ACADEMY will retain all media, video and reproduction rights of this event, as well as any sponsorship monies received in exchange for the promotion and organization of this challenge and event.

#11: Challenger agrees that TLC K9 ACADEMY and Mr. Glatzel will not be liable for any damage or loss resulting from this challenge or any occurrences resulting from this event or from this challenge. Challenger also agrees to sign an industry standard safety waiver/release.

#12: In the event that the Challenger does not follow through with this challenge, abide by stated rules, or does not show up for the event, he acknowledges that he will lose the "Good Faith" money. In this case, the money will be relinquished from the escrow account to TLC K9 ACADEMY, as reparations for the time, energy and money spent in organizing this challenge and event.

Any questions should be submitted to: info@tlck9.com

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