Customer Reviews

Calming Signals : What Your Dog Tells You [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Every dog trainer should be able to read the dog's body language.Most dog owners can interpret their dog's obvious signals.Turid's video goes beyond the obvious.She brings into focus the subtle messages dogs are using to communicate. Signals that are mostly overlooked or misinterpreted. Dogs are individuals and no single training method works for every dog. The key to adapting the training to the dog lies in understanding what the dog tells us about his emotional state. Thus making training fun, safe and successful. A 45 minute video cannot provide the indepth education of a 3-day seminar. It is literally an eyeopener and the foundation for a better understanding of our best friends.

This tape is getting a lot of use by me, my daughter, and our local dog trainer. It gives a new slant on canine behavior, such as how to read signals before the raised hackles and growl, or how to defuse a tense situation. Much of the video is home type and little grainy, and the sound sometimes disturbed by wind. However, the content is excellent for anyone who wants to better understand and react with dogs.

Turid Rugaas' DVD shows typical dog behavior and the meanings within context. This DVD has completely changed how I interact with my dogs. Winding between the dogs when they play too rough really does stop them from roughhousing, and my 10 month old puppy will stop rushing me and sit down when I turn my back on him. It has given a lot more depth to the interaction between me and my dogs, and I feel sad that I didn't know how to "read" my dogs years ago. I highly recommend this DVD and the book. Turid Rugaas also has a website with questions and answers which has proven to be very helpful.

Turid Rugaas opened the door and set the ball rolling on the science of reading canine body language. The book was always a good read, the updated version being so much better with the photos and the extra bits she has added. The DVD is a little amaturish but I feel provides a good compliment to the book for those kenetic types that need to have something to look at rather than just read about.
Turid may not present things in a glossy manner (in fact I feel she is self effacing) but she is passionate with what she does. Going by the improvement she has made with the book - perhaps she will update that video soon too but I didn't have a problem with the video as I felt it helped me connect with the book even better.

Turid Rugaas's Calming Signals was to me the keys to the kingdom. my dogs are so much happier now that i understand so much more about what they are telling me. i have told many people about this remarkable work. it's really incredible.

This DVD is mostly useful as a a set of "live illustrations" of the ideas in the author's book, On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals. Videos are better than still images at demonstrating her points about dog communication.

The video quality isn't great, but that doesn't interfere with the learning experience. (From the timestamps on the image, it's obvious that this is a transfer from a rather old VHS tape.)

Much more annoying is the fact that the entire DVD consists of a single 45-minute scene. There are no scene markers and no menu, so the only way to navigate through the video is to use the "fast forward" button. This makes it very difficult to review particular behaviors. For an instructional DVD, the complete lack of random access is a serious flaw.

My only complaint about the content is that Rugaas presents the individual behaviors as if they always occur in isolation. In reality, a lot of "doggy signals" appear in clusters -- and this can help to disambiguate in situations where the dog's meaning isn't clear.

Overall, I like Rugaas's approach to dog interaction. I found the book and DVD to be helpful, but I probably would not have gotten as much out of the DVD by itself.

I thought this dvd was quite useful and informative. Although I see what another reviewer said about the dvd looking a bit amateurish or old fashioned, I really don't see that it matters - the content is what matters and what Tugrid teaches about spotting the signs of anxiety in dogs and how to curb it is as relevant today as it was 5 or 10 years ago and will still be relevant 100 years from now. I certainly found it worth buying.

Watching this DVD has really helped me understand the very quiet signs my dog was giving me. Before watching this, I always thought a dog wagged their tail when they were happy !! Little did I know that there was much more to the tail wag then meets the eye!

Turid Rugaas's calming signals book was great, but it was so much better to see actual visuals of what she was describing. This is a great purchase and will help you increase the bond between you and your dogs.

I recommend this for ANYONE who has a dog. Even if your dog is practically perfect, it will teach you what to look for with other dogs with the calm and quiet signals they are tossing out all the time and we 'stupid' humans miss. We all see the barking, growling, fighting, but miss the 5 minutes prior that the dogs were TRYING to calm the situation down to work things out.

Plus there are easy calm things we can do to help the situation or make it worse. BUY THE DVD! Really shows us what to look for with tons of real dogs.

I have not seen a video that so educated me in a short period of time. I have been working with dogs my whole life, and the author showed me things I never new of before. She is a gentle and insightful trainer. We could all benefit from watching her video.