into what one can expect during the crossover process . Michelle Borchardt in her interview for “ The Crossover Trainer blog ” calls for acceptance and empathy for ourselves and for others : “ Challenging your own “ truth ” is scary ! Everyone learns in their own time and deserves respect .”
Changing the way we train often begins with an event that stirs our emotions to remind us of why we train . Sue Ailsby ’ s journey is an example of how a trainer ’ s decision to stop using compulsionbased methods doesn ’ t necessarily start with a difficult behavior problem . Her story also provides some insight into our human tendency to resist an internal shift in our mindset , despite the concrete evidence and logical arguments in front of us . Do we , as Sue posits , need to believe it before we can see it ?
I am very grateful to Sue Ailsby for being so generous with her time and agreeing to let me share her story . I hope you enjoy Sue ’ s journey as much as I do .
Being Open to Change : A Conversation With Sue Ailsby Over the past six decades Sue Ailsby has pretty much done it all , including ( but not limited to ) show ring competitor and judge , training and titling in nearly every dog sport , training her own service dogs as well as PTSD alert dogs , and dabbling in Search and Rescue dog training . Sue is a well-known international speaker , a faculty member of Fenzi Dog Sports Academy , and the author of “ Training Levels : Steps to Success Volumes 1 and 2 ,” a wellreceived step-by-step training manual now in its fourth printing . But one of the most important things Sue is known for , especially in Canada , is promoting non-aversive , positive reinforcementbased training , particularly clicker training .
Changing the way we train often begins with an event that stirs our emotions to remind us of why we train .
Sue began training dogs when she was nine years old , and in her early teens was an apprentice trainer at her local dog club . She used to smuggle her Chihuahua in her coat to ride the bus to dog class ! By the early 1970s Sue , now a young adult , had been competing and judging in Obedience , Conformation , and Tracking , which was all there was available at the time . It was around then when she started on her path away from traditional , compulsion-based training .
Sue describes the beginning of her search for an alternative type of training as a subliminal thought . “ I was raising my first litter and it occurred to me that I didn ’ t want to train a puppy in front of the bitch or train the bitch in front of her puppy . I thought “ Why not ?’
Sue Ailsby with Scuba , a Portuguese Water Dog , at a show in Connecticut in 1997 . Scuba was the first dog Sue trained as her own Service Dog and was the first dog she used with Freedom Dogs ( PTSD service dogs for Marines ).
And then I thought “ Well , because I don ’ t want the puppies to see their mother getting treated like that .’ I wasn ’ t being any harsher than anybody else ; it ’ s just when you ’ ve got a choke chain on a dog , you ’ re using the choke chain .”
Her next pivotal step happened when she won Best In Show with one of her Giant Schnauzers . “ When you trained in Conformation it was all positive . The attitude is the most important thing ; the dog has to be excited , interested , enthusiastic . We were waiting for the photographer and my dog was starting to fuss . I turned around and said “ Sit ’ to get her to stop , and she put her ears back and stopped looking like a Conformation dog . At that moment I made the decision to stop training Obedience because at the time I knew of no alternative to compulsion-based training . I said to myself “ Okay , I won ’ t do Obedience anymore because I ’ m not going to do that to another dog , so I guess all I can do is Conformation and Tracking .’”
But big changes were starting to happen in North America , and Sue ’ s training options were about to open up . “ Back in the early 1980s I started hearing rumors about some people using food to train dogs . There wasn ’ t any of that happening in my area , it was just people talking about it . There was no internet in those days , I mean it was very , very , very young . I don ’ t remember where I heard about it the first time , but when I did hear about it , I was
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Spring 2022 45