Joel Silverman - What color is he?

(c) Joel Silverman  "Joel with Foster his dog."

I recently had the pleasure of talking with a man that has such a passion for dogs, Joel Silverman. Joel really and truly believes that we the people can change the way others treat and train dogs by utilizing what he incorporates each and every day to his own dog as well as all the others he comes in contact with. Joel has been training for several decades now and has not skipped a beat during that whole time. He has created a way of training that he has perfected to a point that he wrote a book about it to share his training techniques with others. The book is called “What Color is your Dog?” This book describes how to effectively learn about your dog, how to use what you learned and apply it to create a special friendship and bond with that dog. After creating that bond you now have trust and can at that point begin training your dog effectively.
I know Joel has done several interviews and most seem to be based on how to train a dog to do something or asking generalized questions. I wanted readers to learn another side of Joel Silverman and how he would handle dogs of a specific nature. There are dogs that are so commonly in the news that we may not know how to work with these types if we actually wanted one. Here is how the Joel responded to my questions.
 

(c) Joel Silverman "Book Cover"

Dena: My first questions refers to the extremely blue (overly fearful) or blue/green (shy) dogs. How would you personally handle a dog from a puppy mill rescue? What would you do and would you utilize treats, praise or both during training?
Joel: I would definitely utilize treats. You need to find something that utilizes their natural prey drive, whether it is a favorite toy or treat. These dogs are very reserved and very scared of everything. You need to find something to bring them out of their shell and begin to trust you. The first step is building that trust level before anything else. You want to work on getting that dog from a blue to a green or maybe it’s a green type dog and getting it to a yellow (more mellow) type dog. Most dogs will not go from a blue to an extreme like yellow but they can move to the next color nearest the center. That’s what you want is to find your dogs center and help him work towards that goal.

Dena: How long do you think it would take for the three phrases (get to know the dog, develop the relationship and build the trust) to happen when training a puppy mill rescue dog? Just an approximation, of course, as each dog is different.
Joel: This is a hard question to answer as the key here with these types of dogs is socialization. You have to make sure they know everything is ok, that they are ok. They need to be introduced to everything. You have to start with simple actions as giving a treat when they come to you. 99% of your training is going to be giving treats and pats or even introducing a clicker. All these things will help to reinforce a positive behavior in its new surroundings. The time frame here could be weeks for a green type dog to possibly months for a severely blue dog.
 

Dena: Once you got them through the three phrases and you had the trust level, how would you go about progressive training? Things beyond the normal sit and stay. Do you utilize treats or only praise at this point.
Joel: Treats are to train behavior. I would continue to train with treats and praise but slowly decrease the treats and add more praise. This way you are going from 75% treats and 25% praise to eventually 90% praise and 10% treats. Treats are the greatest tool to use. I use Bil-Jac treats  as they offer a variety for training purposes. I have used Bil-Jac treats for 20 years and they fully support all that I am doing and the stand behind The Human Societies and their work.
 

Dena: Now to the other side of the spectrum, the red (off the wall) or red/orange (high strung) dogs. I’m talking about the fighting pit bull dogs in rescues. Some of them can actually be a blue or blue/green type dog. How would you personally handle a pit bull rescue dog that may or may not have aggressions? Would you give treats, praise or both?
Joel: Well let me point out that most of these dogs tend to be fear aggressive and it still puts them in a red/orange color. These dogs are very prey driven and that’s why they bite, like taking a toy and them going after it to bite it and shake it. With this type of dog I would take everything away from it that would excite it. You want to calm this type of dog down. Do not run, do not do any type fast motions or eliminate other things of motion like small critters. These dogs have a high praise drive, use that. I would not recommend treats until they are calm. Treats can create excitement. Give them praise with head pats and build their trust. I have done demonstrations at a local shelter before where I took a pit bull that looked to be of a fighting type and brought him out and started to play with him with a toy. I held the toy and got him extremely excited and wanting the toy. I then gave it to him to let him know he won. Others asked why I did this and why I didn’t establish the leader role with him. I said that he needs to win to establish a friendship. The leadership would come from that. This is what people need to understand. Leadership can happen without setting up the leader role right away.

Dena: In this case how long do you think it would take to get through the three phrases of training and trust? Again I know all dogs are different.
Joel: It just takes time. These dogs may take 6-8 weeks or so to get to another color level or more. You have to establish a friendship with these dogs. You should take 4-7 days just to get to know the dog. What they like and don’t like. Then spend the next few weeks taking what you have learned and developing a relationship with that. Making sure they understand you are there to help them and nurture them. Then with that, you are establishing trust with the dog. This trust lets them know you are there to protect and guide them. You do not want to establish a dominate leader role right from the start as this could set you up to fail with this type of dog. If you have a truly aggressive dog that does bite, then it would be best to get an outside professional to help you with this type of aggression.
 

Dena: When you got the dog to another color level and have established the trust factor and now you begin the progressive training, can you utilize treats now?
Joel: Once the dog has calmed down enough to where it is not highly excitable from toys and treats then yes. I love to utilize treats as much as I can as long as it does not make the dog hyper. That can take away from the training.

Dena: What advice would you give to a person looking to adopt a puppy mill rescue dog or a pit bull fighting rescue dog?
Joel: My very first thing would be to go online and do research on the particular breed they are interested in. They need to understand all the basic characteristics and behaviors of that breed. All dogs have good and bad traits. Before actually getting the dog they could get with a true breeder, not a back yard breeder, and ask questions about the breed or ask someone that has one of those type dogs. I have had so many people come up to me and say they have a pit bull and he/she is so sweet and has such a great disposition. I tell them no it’s not the dog it’s you and how you trained them. You are a good person. I would just love for more people to share what they do and what works for them and their training as that benefits others more. People need to make that difference.

Dena: I am truly grateful Joel for taking the time with me on these questions as they are important to so many people out there looking to help with these types of dogs. With your stature and good nature with dog training, I felt you would be able to give some great insight to people looking to get one. Anything else you would like to add?
Joel: I would like to give high praise to the Nebraska Humane Society as they go above and beyond the call of duty for the pets that come through their doors. They had a case where they had gotten over 140 Pomeranians from a puppy mill and 60 out of 140 needed a surgery. They got their veterinarian surgeons as well as other local veterinarian surgeons to donate their time on one weekend to perform the surgeries needed to make these 60 dogs adoptable. Without the surgery they would most likely have to have been put down. The Director there is very passionate about her work. I love to work with them. Also about my book, it is a book to give a great way to train your dog by finding out what type they are to know where the training goes from there. I also believe if your going to share a book then share it with a child. This book can also be read by a child for them to easily understand. The children are our future with pets and how they are treated. The children need to know how to effectively train and work with dogs.
 

(c) Joel Silverman       "Joel just hanging out with Foster being mellow"

Joel Silverman has a great attitude towards people and their pets. He was a very nice man to talk to and I found him to not only answer my questions but talk to me as another dog lover, not of a person just interviewing him. He is the type of person that gives much respect to dog owners that honestly treat their dogs as part of the family and do their part with training their dog properly. He also feels very strongly about spaying and neutering of pets as this helps with the overcrowding of the shelters. Responsible pet owners should spay or neuter their pets as it helps them lead longer and healthier lives. I give many thanks to Joel for chatting with me.
In conclusion to this interview I rate Joel as a “Mellow Yellow” type person but he is more of a “Hyper-orange” type person when it comes to his calling and passion in life: Dog Training. He loves to talk about it and loves to interact with people of the same nature. That is a great combination in my book of life. Please check out Joel’s website CampanionsForLife. There you can get an array of information on dog training, cat training, bird training, information on adopting a shelter dog and also his views on pure bred and mix-breed dogs.
 

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