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30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-have book for every conscientious dog handler., April 2, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Beyond Basic Dog Training: New (Hardcover)
Beyond Basic Dog Training is a well-written book filled with practical advice. Every page screams with common sense in dog handling. Most importantly, the author's attitude is hard to beat. Diane L. Bauman, through the text, proves herself to be humane, experienced, and serious about dog obedience training. The author parts company with most other dog trainers when she says that a dog obeys not because the dog wishes to please its master. Rather, she says, the dog obeys only when the dog finds that obeying is in its best interest. Additionally, the author emphasizes that the best way to train a dog is to train it so it UNDERSTANDS the commands. To make sure the dog understands, the handler is taught to "proof" each exercise. Instead of being taught patterns that may fail when distractions are present, the "thinking" dog will perform, because the dog KNOWS what it is supposed to do. Finally, Diane L. Bauman's record of achievement as a dog trainer must be highlighted. Among other awards, her Golden Retriever, Charo, retired from dog obedience competitions with six perfect scores of 200, and is a three-time Gaines Superdog winner.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Competent but uninspired, June 28, 2007
Beyond Basic Dog Training is a competent, if uninspired, account of Diane Bauman's methods for training dogs to perform Kennel Club obedience routines. The book is a series of short chapters covering most obedience exercises from Novice to Utility, as well as short discussions on training equipment and trialing tips. Due to the limited scope this book will not be especially helpful to the pet owner wishing to teach basic manners and practical obedience, though it could be a useful read for an obedience competitor.
The teaching methods themselves are old fashioned and rather boring. Dogs are pushed into sits, pulled into send aways, ear-pinched into retrieving. There is no discussion of other methods that can be used to achieve these behaviours (luring, shaping, capturing, etc), leaving the reader rather at a loss if the given method does not work for them.
Bauman's catch-phrase is that it is "good to be wrong", which means that a dog should not be corrected in the learning phase of training. Like most good trainers, she believes dogs should only ever be corrected if they are defiant, not if they are confused or frightened. Bauman discusses how to safely fit and use several types of correction collar, and how to determine which collar is best for a certain dog.
Bauman emphasises the importance of praising the dog for good work, but doesn't present a particularly coherent account on how to motivate a dog or utilise his drives. She does suggest using small food tidbits to reward dogs, but does not go into detail about how or when to deliver these. She does not discuss the use of prey drive or toy rewards at all, despite them being exceptionally useful for some dogs. Neither does she explain anything about operant or classical conditioning, or about marker words or bridges.
In conclusion, although I doubt any dog would be harmed by use of these methods, I also doubt that this method will get the best obedience performance out of every dog. Some dogs need more motivation than Ms Bauman provides, or do better with "hands-off" techniques, and this book unfortunately does not cater for the learning styles of these canines. However, it is still worth a read for kennel club obedience competitors, who might well pick up some useful tips.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Dog Owner's Bible, August 26, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Beyond Basic Dog Training: New (Hardcover)
Diane Bauman is not only a great dog communicator, but also a great human communicator. I do obedience work with my Rottweiler, Mattie, and most of the obedience books on the market are difficult to understand and implement. Diane speaks directly to handlers of all ages and degrees of experience, in language that everyone can understand and examples that apply to almost every problem faced by trainers. I also enjoyed the photographs illustrating certain techniques. This book caters to dogs of all sizes and shapes. I was impressed with Diane's simplistic approaches and found that there definately is a big difference in having your dog understand what he/she is doing as opposed to just performing because of the enticement of bait. After implementing the strategies and techniques in the book, I found that the main reason for Mattie's non-performance was because I was giving her the wrong signals. I found that we worked wonderfully as a team once I got things straight. I think that this book should be every dog owner's bible, because so many dogs end up in the pound because we don't know how to talk to them. If only every dog owner would take the time to read through and implement the simple steps outlined in Diane's book, our dog pounds would be empty and what a wonderful thought that would be. Mattie and I are on our way to getting an obedience title and we wouldn't be if not for Diane's great insight. I was amazed at how quickly Mattie's performance changed. It doesn't take long, because if you love your dog they can't do enough to gain your praises.
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