Meet Norma Jeanne
Norma Jeanne began her studies in 1987 while she toured North America as a professional rock musician. She began private training in 1989 and opened Puppy Power, the first positive dog training school in the Kitchener/Waterloo, Cambridge/Guelph area in 1992. Norma Jeanne has consulted with clients as far away as China, and students have come from as far as Italy to take her Canine Correspondence Studies professional certification career course. With students and graduates in three countries, nine provinces and fifteen states, many graduates are now running successful businesses internationally as a result of successful completion of the Canine Correspondence Studies professional dog trainer certification correspondence course .
Norma Jeanne is founder and Chair of the International Positive Dog Training Association (IPDTA), former Editor in Chief for the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers (CAPPDT) and mentor trainer for the Animal Behaviour College of California (ABC). She has lectured at the CAPPDT and IPDTA Annual Conferences, Montreal's Chienposium, Camp Dog Wood and numerous other venues. She hosted Puppy Power’s Annual Dog Show for ten years as a fund-raising event, with proceeds donated to the Kitchener/Waterloo Humane Society and IPDTA Dogs In Need Fund.
Canine Correspondence Studies
Utilizing years of study and experience; having taught over eight hundred and fifty classes and attending over one hundred canine behaviour, dog training and animal science courses, lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences, symposiums, and with the use of other references, Norma Jeanne created the Canine Correspondence Studies professional dog trainer certification correspondence course. Because every dog is different, every dog trainer needs a toolbox containing numerous options. Over the past twenty one years, Norma Jeanne has presented a wide variety of humane tools and techniques for solving training, behaviour and aggression problems. Her goal is to share her knowledge to create as many humane and effective certified dog trainers as possible, and to help dog owners create a strong bond with their canine companion while putting a stop to abuse in the name of dog training.
Norma Jeanne’s Training Methods
Norma Jeanne developed a touch-free training program using motivation to teach dogs to think for themselves. Her philosophy is that dogs can learn to problem-solve and choose the desired behaviour in order to affect a pleasant outcome. When a dog learns to offer desired behaviour, it is more reliable when the owner/trainer is not around. Because ‘positive’ does not mean ‘permissive’, self-control is taught, and respect is mutual. Although training treats are used as a temporary training tool to lure, motivate, and reinforce, they are faded with the use of a reinforcement schedule, and gradually replaced with other valued resources such as; walks, car rides, games, toys and attention. This enables us to maintain a reliable response to cues, without the long-term need for food. By making training fun and instilling trust, we can create a well-trained dog with a resilient temperament.
Norma Jeanne’s Training History
Norma Jeanne is a ‘cross-over’ trainer. With no other options available at the time, she was taught common dog training practices including the use of choke chains, pinch collars, alpha rollovers etc. While implementing these techniques during the beginning of her career, she began to realize that something was wrong with this picture. Although the tools and techniques seemed to be effective with many dogs, she saw others cringing with fear, stress or discomfort, and some were downright traumatized. She noticed another trend as well; although she was taught that most canine aggression was based on ‘dominance’ she found this to be untrue. She learned through experience that most aggressive dogs were reacting to fear and were forced to defend themselves, many resulting from unpleasant dog training methods. Many were misdiagnosed as ‘dominant dogs’ and paid with their lives.
Norma Jeanne strongly believes that dog trainers should not be contributing to the problem, and has made it her life-long goal to present as many humane and effective options possible for dog training, behaviour and aggression modification, so that the use of fear and pain in dog training will no longer be necessary.
Her awakening came during a class when she did the alpha rollover with a Jack Russell Terrier that was so frightened by her man-handling that it spun and urinated with fear. During the same class she alpha-rolled an adult Rottweiler. In hind-sight, Norma Jeanne feels this was more than stupid, but that is what she was taught to do – that every dog had to be physically dominated in order to gain control and respect. Well, this was a big dog – she stood at its side, reached over, grasped his legs and pulled them out from under him. The rotti fell to the ground, raised his head, looked at her and growled. She held firm as she was taught, and she growled louder than he did. The dog submitted and she let him up.
When she looked around the room she didn’t like what she saw, contrary to what you may be thinking, most of her clients seemed quite impressed, a few of the women appeared a bit apprehensive, and the children were wide-eyed. That’s right – children! It was at that moment that she asked herself what she was doing. In her opinion, the Rottweiler had every right to growl at her, in fact, he had the right to defend himself, but had he done so, it could have cost him his life. Not only that, if she had chosen the wrong dog, she could have been seriously injured or worse, and it would have happened in front of the children. She explained her concerns to the class and promised them things were going to change.
She re-wrote her dog training manual removing all the physical tools and techniques, and began her search for a better way. Since all the schools in her area were using the same techniques, she didn’t know where to turn. Thankfully, Dr. Andrew Leuscher from the University of Guelph, told her about CAPPDT. She attended their conference that month and after the conference she joined the association. Although CAPPDT does not take a stand for humane dog training (their mandate is simply to educate) many of their lecturers used positive reinforcement as their main method of training, and a whole new world opened up for her. She has been a member for many years now and continues to learn from them, in fact, she was Editor in Chief for their newsletter ‘Forum’ and is a long time columnist.
The ‘Dominance’ Diagnosis
Norma Jeanne saw dog trainers labeling dogs as ‘dominant’ because they sat on your feet, jumped on you, rushed through doorways, stole food, pulled on leash etc. This didn’t make sense to her because these were all normal canine behaviours that could easily be controlled through training.
What she found even more appalling was that most of the dogs diagnosed as ‘dominant’ were in fact fearful. Through diagnostic interviews, Norma Jeanne found many causes for this fear; a few appeared to be inherited and/or learned from fearful parents, some were due to a poor or non-existent socialization or traumatic experience, but a staggering number of fear aggressive dogs were caused and/or aggravated by what the dog perceived as attacks by humans. Call it punishment or correction, the dogs simply learned that humans were frightening and unpredictable. Let’s face it, dogs don’t know right from wrong because they cannot reason like we can, but they certainly learn cause and effect and what is safe and not safe, and for some dogs, people are the enemy.
Dogs that learned people could not be trusted were sooner or later forced to defend themselves. Dogs that did not learn how to interact and communicate with, or had bad experiences with other dogs ended up biting and fighting. She found timid dogs that attended training schools using aversive techniques tended to become fearful and often fear aggressive, and the ones that entered the school already fearful, didn’t stand a chance.
Misdiagnosis
Over the years, Norma Jeanne has had numerous clients call after a dog trainer recommended euthanasia for their ‘dominant’ aggressive dog. “The trainer put a head halter on my dog, stomped on the leash and slammed my dog’s head into the ground.” “The trainer ran at my dog screaming and waving a stick in the air.” “My dog was afraid of the dog trainer, the trainer grabbed my dog and pinned her to the ground. She urinated, released her glands and tried to bite the trainer.” The trainer would then proceed to tell the owner that he/she had a ‘dominant’ dog, and that it had to be euthanized. One trainer went as far as to say she was coming by the following day to take the dog away and have him put down because she was too busy to work with it. These clients loved their dogs and were devastated. Dog trainers were putting dogs through frightening and painful evaluations, and after forcing them to defend themselves, they were diagnosing them as ‘dominant’ and sentencing them to death. This is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE!
According to Norma Jeanne, if someone were to attack her in the manner described, she would defend herself as well. These were not ‘dominant’ dogs and should not pay with their lives. These problems were caused by people and they could have been prevented and/or solved. Looking back over many years of aggression consultations and rehabilitation programs, Norma Jeanne came to a startling realization. The charts showed the majority of the aggressive dogs she treated were fearful, only a small percentage were assertive (not dominant), they were simply good at obtaining and holding resources. Although these dog would be great providers and survivors in the wild, these survival instincts cost many their lives. She is happy to say there are now many talented and enlightened dog trainers in her area.
Norma Jeanne’s unique methods of training have been featured; in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, on television and radio. Norma Jeanne lives in Breslau, Ontario, Canada with her beloved companions; eleven year old rescued Husky cross “Wile E. Coyote” and, eight year old Weimaraner, “Blue Rain.”
Norma Jeanne is founder and Chair of the International Positive Dog Training Association (IPDTA), former Editor in Chief for the Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers (CAPPDT) and mentor trainer for the Animal Behaviour College of California (ABC). She has lectured at the CAPPDT and IPDTA Annual Conferences, Montreal's Chienposium, Camp Dog Wood and numerous other venues. She hosted Puppy Power’s Annual Dog Show for ten years as a fund-raising event, with proceeds donated to the Kitchener/Waterloo Humane Society and IPDTA Dogs In Need Fund.
Canine Correspondence Studies
Utilizing years of study and experience; having taught over eight hundred and fifty classes and attending over one hundred canine behaviour, dog training and animal science courses, lectures, seminars, workshops, conferences, symposiums, and with the use of other references, Norma Jeanne created the Canine Correspondence Studies professional dog trainer certification correspondence course. Because every dog is different, every dog trainer needs a toolbox containing numerous options. Over the past twenty one years, Norma Jeanne has presented a wide variety of humane tools and techniques for solving training, behaviour and aggression problems. Her goal is to share her knowledge to create as many humane and effective certified dog trainers as possible, and to help dog owners create a strong bond with their canine companion while putting a stop to abuse in the name of dog training.
Norma Jeanne’s Training Methods
Norma Jeanne developed a touch-free training program using motivation to teach dogs to think for themselves. Her philosophy is that dogs can learn to problem-solve and choose the desired behaviour in order to affect a pleasant outcome. When a dog learns to offer desired behaviour, it is more reliable when the owner/trainer is not around. Because ‘positive’ does not mean ‘permissive’, self-control is taught, and respect is mutual. Although training treats are used as a temporary training tool to lure, motivate, and reinforce, they are faded with the use of a reinforcement schedule, and gradually replaced with other valued resources such as; walks, car rides, games, toys and attention. This enables us to maintain a reliable response to cues, without the long-term need for food. By making training fun and instilling trust, we can create a well-trained dog with a resilient temperament.
Norma Jeanne’s Training History
Norma Jeanne is a ‘cross-over’ trainer. With no other options available at the time, she was taught common dog training practices including the use of choke chains, pinch collars, alpha rollovers etc. While implementing these techniques during the beginning of her career, she began to realize that something was wrong with this picture. Although the tools and techniques seemed to be effective with many dogs, she saw others cringing with fear, stress or discomfort, and some were downright traumatized. She noticed another trend as well; although she was taught that most canine aggression was based on ‘dominance’ she found this to be untrue. She learned through experience that most aggressive dogs were reacting to fear and were forced to defend themselves, many resulting from unpleasant dog training methods. Many were misdiagnosed as ‘dominant dogs’ and paid with their lives.
Norma Jeanne strongly believes that dog trainers should not be contributing to the problem, and has made it her life-long goal to present as many humane and effective options possible for dog training, behaviour and aggression modification, so that the use of fear and pain in dog training will no longer be necessary.
Her awakening came during a class when she did the alpha rollover with a Jack Russell Terrier that was so frightened by her man-handling that it spun and urinated with fear. During the same class she alpha-rolled an adult Rottweiler. In hind-sight, Norma Jeanne feels this was more than stupid, but that is what she was taught to do – that every dog had to be physically dominated in order to gain control and respect. Well, this was a big dog – she stood at its side, reached over, grasped his legs and pulled them out from under him. The rotti fell to the ground, raised his head, looked at her and growled. She held firm as she was taught, and she growled louder than he did. The dog submitted and she let him up.
When she looked around the room she didn’t like what she saw, contrary to what you may be thinking, most of her clients seemed quite impressed, a few of the women appeared a bit apprehensive, and the children were wide-eyed. That’s right – children! It was at that moment that she asked herself what she was doing. In her opinion, the Rottweiler had every right to growl at her, in fact, he had the right to defend himself, but had he done so, it could have cost him his life. Not only that, if she had chosen the wrong dog, she could have been seriously injured or worse, and it would have happened in front of the children. She explained her concerns to the class and promised them things were going to change.
She re-wrote her dog training manual removing all the physical tools and techniques, and began her search for a better way. Since all the schools in her area were using the same techniques, she didn’t know where to turn. Thankfully, Dr. Andrew Leuscher from the University of Guelph, told her about CAPPDT. She attended their conference that month and after the conference she joined the association. Although CAPPDT does not take a stand for humane dog training (their mandate is simply to educate) many of their lecturers used positive reinforcement as their main method of training, and a whole new world opened up for her. She has been a member for many years now and continues to learn from them, in fact, she was Editor in Chief for their newsletter ‘Forum’ and is a long time columnist.
The ‘Dominance’ Diagnosis
Norma Jeanne saw dog trainers labeling dogs as ‘dominant’ because they sat on your feet, jumped on you, rushed through doorways, stole food, pulled on leash etc. This didn’t make sense to her because these were all normal canine behaviours that could easily be controlled through training.
What she found even more appalling was that most of the dogs diagnosed as ‘dominant’ were in fact fearful. Through diagnostic interviews, Norma Jeanne found many causes for this fear; a few appeared to be inherited and/or learned from fearful parents, some were due to a poor or non-existent socialization or traumatic experience, but a staggering number of fear aggressive dogs were caused and/or aggravated by what the dog perceived as attacks by humans. Call it punishment or correction, the dogs simply learned that humans were frightening and unpredictable. Let’s face it, dogs don’t know right from wrong because they cannot reason like we can, but they certainly learn cause and effect and what is safe and not safe, and for some dogs, people are the enemy.
Dogs that learned people could not be trusted were sooner or later forced to defend themselves. Dogs that did not learn how to interact and communicate with, or had bad experiences with other dogs ended up biting and fighting. She found timid dogs that attended training schools using aversive techniques tended to become fearful and often fear aggressive, and the ones that entered the school already fearful, didn’t stand a chance.
Misdiagnosis
Over the years, Norma Jeanne has had numerous clients call after a dog trainer recommended euthanasia for their ‘dominant’ aggressive dog. “The trainer put a head halter on my dog, stomped on the leash and slammed my dog’s head into the ground.” “The trainer ran at my dog screaming and waving a stick in the air.” “My dog was afraid of the dog trainer, the trainer grabbed my dog and pinned her to the ground. She urinated, released her glands and tried to bite the trainer.” The trainer would then proceed to tell the owner that he/she had a ‘dominant’ dog, and that it had to be euthanized. One trainer went as far as to say she was coming by the following day to take the dog away and have him put down because she was too busy to work with it. These clients loved their dogs and were devastated. Dog trainers were putting dogs through frightening and painful evaluations, and after forcing them to defend themselves, they were diagnosing them as ‘dominant’ and sentencing them to death. This is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE!
According to Norma Jeanne, if someone were to attack her in the manner described, she would defend herself as well. These were not ‘dominant’ dogs and should not pay with their lives. These problems were caused by people and they could have been prevented and/or solved. Looking back over many years of aggression consultations and rehabilitation programs, Norma Jeanne came to a startling realization. The charts showed the majority of the aggressive dogs she treated were fearful, only a small percentage were assertive (not dominant), they were simply good at obtaining and holding resources. Although these dog would be great providers and survivors in the wild, these survival instincts cost many their lives. She is happy to say there are now many talented and enlightened dog trainers in her area.
Norma Jeanne’s unique methods of training have been featured; in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, on television and radio. Norma Jeanne lives in Breslau, Ontario, Canada with her beloved companions; eleven year old rescued Husky cross “Wile E. Coyote” and, eight year old Weimaraner, “Blue Rain.”
