As those of you reading my Swedish blog know, Rasken and I have started taking classes from Doggie-Zen and one of the concepts I heard of from my instructors Sara and Hanna was Touch Associated Clicker Training (TACT). They told me that they had taken a class in TACT and that they where very inspired by it.
Since then I’ve been blogging about it and I’ve defined TACT a bit wider than it might actually be. I’m truly sorry about that, I didn’t mean to mislead anyone. My purpose with heading the things I’ve been doing “TACT” has been dual:
1. According to Swedish manners and ethics that is the right thing to do. If you are really inspired by someone else’s method you indicate the source of the information you get the best way you possible can. Otherwise someone could blame you for trying to steel their ideas.
2. Sara and Hanna told me that the people that invented TACT will come back to Sweden to give some classes and certificate people in their method. I thought that they could need some advertising while only a handful of people in Sweden seem to know about the methods existence.
When I first heard about the method I googled to try to find out more, to learn more, and to be able to state quotations correctly. The only thing I found was that there had been a registered trademark in the US (not in the EU), but it expired in 2010, and I didn’t find any homepage of the owner Julia Robitalle. So I decided that the proper thing to do was to refer to the name of the method it self. Obviously that was the wrong decision.
From now on, and dating back, I will use the heading Doggie-Zen for this type of training. Actually that’s also a more proper heading when most of the things I’ve been telling about under the heading TACT are much wider than TACT.
Doggie-Zen is not only the name of the Swedish company where I take classes’ whit Rasken. Doggie Zen is about self-control and that really is the big issue I and Rasken are dealing with. Doggie Zen is inspired (that word again…) by Zen-Buddhism where the faith state that humans should give up something in their lifes on earth to get a greater reward in heaven. With dogs the time span is shorter – the dog should just take it a bit easy and wait for us to say that it’s ok before it’s on it’s way to the thing it badly wants right now.
Another “trademark” (I have not found any registered trademark) is Greg Derretts wonderful handling system from which I have been taken I great deal of inspiration and which I also teach. Of course I would never say that I teach Greg Derretts’ system of handling, only he could know exactly what that is.
Most of the classes I give (and it’s not many I only do this as a sideline) are about the subject “agility” and of course handling is just part of it and not everyone wants to do Gregs’ system. But I also, every semester, try to give a class based on Greg Derrett´s DVD “Great Dog… Shame about the Handler!” on the subject “double box”. That’s not my sexiest class, I suppose, because that’s the only one I have a hard time to fill up. I do not make any profit from this class. So, why am I doing it? It’s actually quit simple – I want Greg back to Malmö every year and I would love to get him to Stockholm. So I want to get people interested in his system of handling.
If I’m doing something wrong or questionable, please do tell me.
It occurs a lot of culture clashes when dog people all over the world try to exchange ideas, concepts and services and I think this is one of those clashes.
In Sweden, all of the dog clubs are nonprofit and the idea of commercializing knowledge about dogs are for many Swedes a controversial question(!), as strange as it might seem.
We are far from the culture of suing each other that, to me, seem the case in the United States. Some dog people in Sweden actually are publishing books and DVDs whish obviously and mainly are based on somebody else’s idea or concept, and are getting away with it(!).
Sometimes doing the best you can, based of what you know, simply isn’t good enough. Personally I’m happy to learn more if somebody is willing to teach me something about the ethics of trademarks, world wide.
/Mija Jansson
Hello Mija,
I read your post today, and wanted to introduce myself. I along with Emma Parsons are the founders of the TACT methodology, Touch Associated Clicker Training. Emma and I did a small introduction of the TACT program in Tomelilla, Sweden during Emma’s ‘Click to Calm’ five day seminar. The program we did in Tomelilla was just a small introduction as there are many aspects to the TACT program. This may be how you have come to hear of the TACT method. We are in the process of publishing our methodology as a DVD and companion workbook through Clean Run Productions. We are excited to report a release date coming in the near future. Keep watching http://www.cleanrun.com for information. I am happy to report Emma Parsons and I are returning to Sweden (Stockholm and southern Sweden) in early May of 2012. We enjoyed our time in Sweden and are excited to return. We do have a Certification Program for Canine Professional (CTACT) to become certified in our method. Our website is http://www.tactdogs.com which is currently down for updating but keep checking back for more information. I hope you can come learn about our program when we come to Sweden in 2012. My hope is that this may clear up some of the questions you may have had about us and our TACT method. My email is julie@tactdogs.com and I am always available by email if you have any additional questions.
Best regards,
Julie Robitaille, CAMT, CPDT-KA
Hi Mija,
I also wanted to mention that I am so pleased that people in Sweden were inspired by TACT after our presentation! All of our human and canine students inspire us everyday. We do this work for the love of the dogs and their owners. We are publishing the TACT information to help more trainers and students hopefully all over the globe. I wanted to make sure that I explained a few things about our TACT Canine Professional Certification (CTACT). This certification is for people who want to learn about TACT in great detail, have one on one instruction from Emma and I, and be able to confidently provide TACT services to their students. You do not need to be certified to do our TACT training. Our certification provides students detailed TACT training information, training materials and marketing. It allows students the opportunity to have us guide them step by step with TACT’s practical application. This certification is for those trainers who want or feel they need a detailed TACT training program and want a formal certification to enhance their services and training portfolio. Thank you for your interest in our work. My hope is that TACT can continue to be helpful to you and your students in the future. Again please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any unanswered questions.
Best Regards and Happy Training, Julie Robitaille
Thanks, Julie, for your comments, very interesting! I would love to learn more.
(I also got a private comment from Greg who said that it was ‘no probs’.)
/Mija