Dog trainer knows tricks of the trade

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

By Good Morning Tri-State - Evansville, Indiana
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

During his tenure as president of the city's Animal Control and Education Commission, Marlin Beck rarely has missed a chance to emphasize the "education" part of the panel's name - or to seize any teaching moment presenting itself during public meetings.

A nationally certified pet dog trainer, Beck is teaching three courses at Ivy Tech Community College this fall on dog learning and obedience. One six-session run of his dog obedience training course begins tonight at the Vanderburgh Humane Society; a second six-session offering starts Saturday. But Beck says both classes are "more than full," though it's likely they will be offered again.

On Monday night, Beck taught the first, two-hour session of a four-session class, titled "How Dogs Learn," at Ivy Tech.

Beck says many dog owners flat don't understand what makes their pet tick. Therefore, many feel helpless in training their animals in acceptable behavior. An important point successful pet trainers have learned, he says, is that training a dog is done with the dog, not to the dog.

"Dog training is endlessly simple and endlessly complicated," said Beck, a retired Vanderburgh County sheriff's deputy. "It's a marathon, not a sprint."

One of Beck's memorable teaching points is what he calls the dead-dog rule: "Anything a dead dog can do is not a behavior; therefore, it cannot be trained." Though a dead dog can't jump on people, Beck notes a lot of people waste time attempting to teach their pet to do something a dead dog can do - to refrain from jumping on people. "That makes the task of getting a loving dog not to jump on people harder than it needs to be," he says.

In his course on how dogs learn, Beck emphasizes that what dogs with behavior problems and their humans have going on between them is a failure to communicate. When humans learn effective ways to let their dogs know what is expected, the dogs learn how to earn humans' approval and praise.

The dog courses are offered through Ivy Tech's Workforce & Economic Development Department. Inquiries may be made at 429-9838 or by e-mail at cbergh@ivytech.edu