FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Doggone Crazy! Board Game Creators Recognized with International Awards

Campbellville ON (PRWEB) December 7, 2005 – The creators of the family board game Doggone Crazy! and the Clicker Puppy dog training DVD, Joan Orr and Teresa Lewin, were recognized with several awards from the International Positive Dog Training Association for their work in 2005 promoting positive dog training and public education for dog bite prevention.

Orr and Lewin were awarded the IPDTA Innovation Award for the Doggone Crazy! board game. Doggone Crazy! is a family game that allows players to be dog detectives and figure out what dogs are communicating in the more than 100 colour photo cards. Question cards test the player’s knowledge of how to act in many different situations with dogs and there is lots of physical activity to keep even fidgety youngsters captivated. The central message imparted by the game is Be a Tree if a strange dog approaches, any dog is causing concern or even if the family dog is getting too frisky. Trees are boring to dogs and the dog will most likely go away. Doggone Crazy! president Joan Orr reported that "we have received emails and phone calls from grateful parents informing us that their children have ‘been a tree’ in a real-life situation with a dog and the dog went away”.

The International Positive Dog Training Association has announced that it endorses Doggone Crazy! IPDTA Chair Norma Jeanne Laurette said, “I was thrilled to find the Doggone Crazy board game, to teach entire families how to prevent problems before they occur and how to handle dogs in a humane manner, through understanding and respect for our canine companions”. The IPDTA endorsement of the game adds to a long list of organizations and professionals who have reviewed and recommend or promote the game. These include well-known behavioral scientists and best selling authors Karen Pryor and Stanley Coren as well as the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, the Professional Animal Behavior Associates and NAHEE – the education division of the Humane Society of the US. Testimonials can be viewed at the website www.doggonecrazy.ca.

Stanley Coren, Author of "The Intelligence of Dogs", "How to Speak Dog" and "How Dogs Think" said, “Doggone Crazy is a fun game that teaches children how to interpret the body language and expressions of dogs. I gave the game to my grandchildren and they enjoyed it immensely. The oldest taught the dog signals and appropriate responses to her younger brothers and then proceeded to 'instruct' her parents as well. I think that this is a wonderful contribution toward understanding dogs better and keeping kids safer.”

Doggone Crazy! also produces the Clicker Puppy DVD, which teaches children and families to use the positive clicker training method. Clicker Puppy is unique among dog training videos in that all the dogs are puppies, some as young as eight weeks old, all the trainers are children and there are no leashes. All training is done with loose puppies who have the free choice to stay with the training or go off and play. The puppies learn basic obedience as well as several tricks. Teresa Lewin, Joan Orr and her two daughters, Anne and Jennifer Wormald were awarded the Innovation Award by IPDTA for the Clicker Puppy video. Anne (age 14) and Jennifer (age 11) played a major role as trainers in the video.

Orr and Lewin also received the Society Education Award and Humane Dog Training Award from IPDTA for their work with Doggone Crazy! and non-profit Doggone Safe in educating the public about dog communication and dog bite prevention. They were awarded the Writer of the Year Award for their work with Doggone Safe and articles published in various magazines and newsletters on the topics of dog body language, clicker training and dog bite prevention. This is the second writing award in 2005 for Orr, who was also awarded third place in the John Fischer Scholarship by the Association of Pet Dog Trainers for an article about clicker training.

Clicker training is an all positive method that uses the science of operant conditioning to teach dogs without force, punishment or correction. “Clicker training is hands down the best way to train a dog” said Teresa Lewin, animal behavior specialist and Vice President, Education and Development for Doggone Safe. “If everyone would train their dogs with clicker training from the day they bring them home as young puppies, we would see a lot fewer behaviour problems and aggression as they grow into adults”.

Doggone Crazy!^TM is a trademark of Doggone Crazy! Inc

Be a Tree ^TM is a trademark of Doggone Safe Inc

About Doggone Crazy!

Doggone Crazy! is a company dedicated to dog bite prevention education.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Joan Orr

Doggone Crazy!

2295 Mohawk Trail

Campbellville ON

Canada L0P 1B0

877-350-3232 (phone)

905-854-3271 (fax)