New book shares training ideas to help dogs ‘listen’
Murphy – “My father died when I was 29 years old. He worked as the chief psychologist in a maximum-security prison and studied People Learning Theory,” Lisa Waggoner said with some pride.
Waggoner’s father, William H. Lyle Jr., went on to lobby against abusing prisoners and began advocating for positive reinforcement training instead.
Two decades or so later saw Waggoner unintentionally applying her father’s life’s work to her own. Unintentional because she didn’t plan for her life’s trajectory to deposit her in the career she loves.
“I do the same thing my dad taught,” she said. “I made a connection like my dad did, except I am working with a different species.”
Meet Lisa Waggoner, a world-renowned certified dog trainer. She recently released her first book, The Original Rocket Recall: Teach Your Dog to Come, “teach your dog to come,” and will celebrate her achievement with a book signing from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Curiosity Shop Bookstore during Art Walk downtown.
Being an author is far removed from her previous work as owner of an executive search company.
“I did well, we were making great money,” she said. However, two things happened that catapulted her out of her traditional career.
One, the economy shifted, becoming unfavorable for her business. Two, a car killed her beloved Australian shepherd, Carter.
This plummeted her into a deep depression. Just before Carter died, Waggoner took him to dog training classes.
“The training was very aversive,” she said. “A yank-and-jerk, old-fashioned kind of training.” She finished the class, saying it was the only kind of training she knew. Later, she was introduced to agility training.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! I can reinforce behavior with a reward!’ Crossing over into this new style of training was an epiphany,” she said.
Waggoner said Carter immediately bought in, and they began having fun. So when he died, she knew she must do something to pull up out of the depression.
“I was already hobby training,” she said, adding it was something she enjoyed. With her husband, Brad’s, income affected by the crash as well as her own company screeching to a stop, they decided to gamble on something bold – starting Cold Nose College.
“We took out a business loan, leased commercial space and began training dog owners on how to train their dogs. But for the death of the dog and tanking of the economy,” Waggoner said, “I wouldn’t be doing this.”
She calls herself a “dog owner guidance counselor,” and today teaches dog trainers all around the world. She’s not so much a dog whisperer as a liaison between dogs and humans.
“I am helping dog guardians understand their dog more, and teaching them to benevolently guide and teach [dogs] how to live in a people world,” she said. “Two of the common complaints I hear are how to get my dog to listen, and how to get my dog to come when called.”
Waggoner reveals answers in her book. She stresses positive reinforcement over punitive responses throughout the illustrated pages.
“We train using positive reinforcement – to increase behavior, to make that behavior happen again,” she said with emphasis.
Waggoner, who already had begun writing a monthly column for her local newspaper, the Cherokee Scout, started writing the book as a coping mechanism.
“I needed to write about the death of dogs,” she said, adding that she was writing a completely different book when she began the training book. “I was writing about Carter’s death.”
Reliving the tragic day and the weeks following became traumatic for her.
“I was about 70K words in and decided to write a training book instead,” she said.
Waggoner applies her dog training to her own life as well. “When I’m going through periods, like writing this book that took time and energy, I work really hard and then take a break, play with my dog. That is reinforcing to me,” she said.
“My training philosophy bleeds backward into all of the relationships I’ve had. If I’m sharing information, I’ll share it in a reinforcing way.”
Waggoner said the dogs teach her lessons as well. She said of her two Australian shepherds, Cailie and Cody, “teach me to live in the now, the moment.”