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Manchester Terrier
A Breed in Crisis?
by RG Benton

The Kennel Club has designated Manchester Terriers as a “Vulnerable Native Breed” because registrations are below 300 per year. That the breed is in decline is not in doubt, and it is not just numbers that are cause for concern, the quality of the dogs is also falling. After several years gap, I attended a Championship Dog Show. These events are intended to showcase the very best dogs. A few years earlier the judge would have had the exceedingly difficult, but pleasurable, task of selecting the best Manchester Terrier from a line up of very good dogs. Not so on this day.Of the assembled Manchester Terriers only two or three could be described as good, and none outstanding. I felt sympathy for the judge who was forced to pick the least worst for his winners.

I am no longer directly involved with Manchester Terriers and do not anticipate the breed becoming extinct in my lifetime, though expect it will pass the point of no return within that time unless effective action is taken to arrest its decline. I firmly believe this is an inevitable consequence of the actions of those within the breed over the years since the end of the Second World War.

What has lead up to this Crisis

A number of significant problems have, over the years, found their way into the Manchester Terrier world. Perhaps I should say Show World, because the reason Manchester Terriers exist at all is because they are Show Dogs, and the Dog Showing Fraternity have been the only people breeding and using these dogs so the root of any problems can only lay there.To my mind the most bizarre fact is that breeders, judges and exhibitors do not agree what the dog actually is and what it looks…

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DOG FIGHTING LAWS

Dog fighting is illegal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the interstate transportation of dogs for fighting purposes is prohibited by the federal Animal Welfare Act. 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have made dog fighting a felony offense; 47 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands prohibit the possession of dogs for fighting; and 48 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands prohibit being a spectator at a dogfight.
Indiana considers promoting or staging an animal fight, using an animal in a fight, or attending an animal fight having an animal in the person’s possession to be a class D felony subject to 1 and a half years imprisonment and a fine up to $10,000. It is also a class D felony to possess animal fighting paraphernalia and possess, harbor, or train an animal that has scars, wounds or injuries consistent with an animal fight knowingly or intentionally purchasing or possessing an animal for the purpose of fighting or being a spectator at an animal fight a Class A misdemeanor and can carry a punishment of up to 1 year imprisonment and a fine up to $5,000. Possession of animal fighting paraphernalia is a Class B misdemeanor and can carry a punishment of up to 180 days imprisonment and a fine up to$1,000.
Since 1976, federal law has prohibited transporting animals for fighting purposes across state lines or national borders. But federal authorities have pursued no more than a handful of dog fighting and cock-fighting cases, despite repeated violations of the law across the country, frequent tips from informants, and requests to assist with state and local prosecutions. That’s largely because the crime of animal fighting carries only misdemeanor penalties under federal law….

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What is clicker training?

“Clicker training” is the popular term for the training or teaching method based on what we know about how living organisms learn. Research has shown that any creature—whether a dog, cat, dolphin, parrot, fish, horse, llama, or person—is more likely to learn and repeat actions that result in consequences it desires and enjoys. So clicker trainers provide consequences desired by their animal in exchange for actions or behaviors desired by their trainers. We call these consequences “rewards” and the process is called “reinforcement.” Clicker training, therefore, is a positive-reinforcement-based system of training.

1. -Why is clicker training effective?
2. -Why is a clicker used?
3. -Why use the click? Why not just a word?
4. -How does clicker training work?
5. -How do clicker trainers ask for behaviors?
6. -What if the animal does not obey the cue?
7. -Why don’t clicker trainers use punishments as well as rewards?
8. -How can clicker training be used to get rid of behaviors?
9. -Do clickers and treats need to be used for every behavior, forever?
10. -Can clicker training be used with any animal?
11. -Is clicker training a training method or a philosophy?

Why is clicker training effective?

When an animal intentionally performs a behavior in order to bring about a desired consequence, as clicker trained animals do, they are learning in a way that researchers call “operant conditioning.” Animals (and people) may also associate an action, event, place, person, or object with a consequence, whether pleasant or unpleasant. The more a certain event or environment is paired with a particular consequence, the stronger the association. This type of learning is called “classical conditioning” and represents reflexive or automatic behavior, rather than intentional behavior.

While clicker training initially employs classical conditioning, it quickly becomes operant conditioning as soon as the animal intentionally repeats an action in order to earn a reward. Training through operant conditioning results in purposeful behavior, while training through…

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The stays

When training your dog to stay in the sit position, which is an extension of the sit in heelwork, as soon as the ‘stay’ command is given you should step around to face your dog. This keeps him looking at you and in the same straight line on which he had been walking at heel. Having returned and praised your dog, heel it forward in the same straight line. You should do exactly the same with the drop stay and later the stand stay position.

After so much experience, dogs get to know what the next part of an exercise is likely to be. When these three stays have been firmly instilled in your dog’s mind, i.e. to keep straight without turning or flopping over to one side or the other, you can then start moving around in front of your dog and they should remain with their bodies facing in the same straight line. Don’t hurry into it. Do it very gradually. When returning to your dog, return by the same way you left it.

Don’t return by walking around the back of your dog until you know it is quite stable, otherwise it is likely to twist around and get up. Basic training for a guide dog It may interest many to know that the first exercise a guide dog learns is to lead out slightly ahead of the trainer and walk in a long straight line, crossing over side roads without stopping at the down kerbs. After a few days it is taught to stop in the stand position at a few down kerbs, where it is praised gently then commanded to go forward again to cross the side street and continue. As the days go by the guide dog is trained to stop at…

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Why it’s so difficult for people to get a dependable off-leash response from their dogs. Part of the reason is that for many years, most training techniques were based on punish¬ment and involved using a leash and some sort of collar as a correction tool. Dogs were taught to avoid being yanked, and while this type of training sometimes generates decent control on leash, when the leash is removed the dog realizes your ability to inflict punishment on her no longer exists. At that point, the dog often does not comply. Today, modern training methods are based on reward rather than punishment, thus eliminating that focus on punishment tools—such as the leash.

The other reason owners have found attaining off-leash control to be so difficult is that some dog owners inadvertently teach their dogs not to respond to them off leash. This happens when owners givehundreds, and sometimes thousands, of off-leash commands from the first day they bring their dogs home, without any reinforcement at all. If you are unclear about why this creates problems in getting an off.

The focus here will be to teach you an effective way to establish off-leash control of your dog before you start on-leash training. In point of fact, if this is done correctly, the leash and training collar will probably not even be used to teach “sit,” “stay,” “come” and “down.” Instead, it will be used as a safety measure (just in case) when you take your dog around difficult distractions, such as other dogs, cats, people, public places and so on. Of course, it should also be used to teach loose leash walking and/or heel, which I will not cover in this book.
Owners who successfully train their dogs to consistently respond to the “sit,” “stay,” “come” and “down” commands off leash with distrac¬tions…

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