Cathy Toft's training philosophy

Cathy Toft

Davis California

Training Experience:

I've been training dogs seriously since 1994. I was extremely fortunate to have been able to ride the crest of the clicker training wave. Most of the experienced clicker trainers in the dog world (such as Melissa Alexander) started clicker training exactly the year that I did, in 1996. I was a deliberate crossover trainer (aka a positive traditional trainer), however, until 1998 when I took on "Babe" one of the most extreme abuse cases ever handled by Lisa King, of Colorado Collie Rescue, and similar to those "Montana Collies" who were unable to walk on a leash. Babe transformed me into a purely R+/P-/E trainer (with only a touch of P- and none on any abused dog!) -- OK that's a bunch of jargon :-), but a lot of clicker trainers (including Gary Wilkes) use R- and P+, which makes them a type of "crossover" or positive traditional trainer. Babe revolutionized my training because punishment was worse than useless with her. I discovered early on how R-/P+ works--there must be something pleasant to compare the unpleasant correction with. Babe, however, found everything unpleasant. She hated humans, was terrified of me, and wanted nothing more than to disappear from the planet. It was simply impossible to achieve any goal with her using traditional dog training methods. I felt like I was training with one arm tied behind my back, which turned out to be the most amazing gift that a dog could ever give me. After 5 years of Babe forcing me to be a purist, and holding me to the highest standards of dog training, I stand back and see a dog that is as well trained as any of my crossover dogs. The best part, however, is that look of total and utter trust that she gives me during training, as our eyes lock and hers are ablaze with anticipation and love of training. I have never, ever hurt her deliberately in the training process, nor deliberately caused her intimidation or fear. She comes to the training environment as an equal participant, boldly experimenting to see what can make me click. The joy of training with her was well worth the long, hard journey that look me where I am today. There is no going back.

Babe's story and my evolution as a trainer are archived at her web site: http://r-plusdogtraining.info/Babe/index.htm

Dogs and their accomplishments: