Customer Reviews

Dog Psychology; The Basis of Dog Training,

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I like the approach to this book. The author breaks everything down in "laymen" terms and gives you examples with his own experience as well. He also gives you tips on training (ie. conditioning for upland bird hunting, field trials,guarding) and to let the dog do their natural thing and how to enforce this as positive behavior. My pyrenees is pretty stubborn and after reading other books on "positive reinformcement only" i.e. treats I was starting to get discouraged.It was not doing the trick. but this book states that you need to find the "drive" behind the dog in order for positive reinforcement to work. If you feed them before training, obviously getting a treat won't work because there "drive" food, has already been met.

I was also surprised that many dog owners make the mistake of calling "come" to there dog when he runs away and won't listen to you.(Myself included). This is the wrong thing to do because your conditioning the dog to "run away" by associating the word "come" to it. How to solve this problem... You will have to read the book..

First I'd like to correct the TOTALLY ERRONEOUS statement someone else made in their review that this book used force to achieve anything. That is precisely the opposite of what Dr. Whitney recommends, and I think that person had never even looked at the book.

These methods are fast, simple, easy to follow, and use the dog's own innate wishes to achieve success. For instance, training to sit, down, shake. Place dog on a table - might have to secure him to something if he wants to jump down. Take treat, hold over nose and contine to move it back until dog sits. When it sits, give treat and reward with a "good boy". Does that sound like the dog is forced into position? No, and the rest of the training in the book is similar. Hold treat below table to teach down, hold just out of reach for shake, etc.

He suggests separation from the family as correction, not rewarding bad behavior by lots of attention, simply taking the dog and putting him up when he misbehaves.

Dr. Whitney stresses that training is MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE WHEN THE DOG THINKS UP THE CORRECT BEHAVIOR BY HIMSELF. This is NOT coercive, and it encourages the dog to think.

You won't find a better book, IMO. You'll find modern people who took his basic ideas, changed them a little bit (like adding an operant for a faster sound reward) and wrote a book. They are good too. But in my view, this original book is best for the easiest, most practical advice you'll ever get.

A friend of mine, a K9 officer, recommended this book to me. Personally, I don't see any real-world applicable information in this tome. Sure, it's filled with psychological studies, but I wanted more of a hands-on book which would help me train/tame my Australian Kelpie, and this was not it.

the first comment was Very Helpful -
it explained precisely why *Not* to buy this book, : lol : thanks!

to the owner of the Pyr in that comment,
buying a self-willed LGD / Livestock-Guardian Dog as a pet is not setting oneself up for success, nor for that matter, the dog; LGDs come with a whole checklist of characteristic traits that are instantly problematic to the average pet-owner or pet-home... nocturnal barking and frequent night-time perimeter-patrols being only one.
a strong tendency to OWN ones turf is also an LGD trait, as is resource-guarding and suspicion of all strangers, however friendly.
i presume that this Pyr has no sheep to protect, no chickens to mind, no actual guarding job -
what has been provided as a substitute?
is the dog living in dense human-occupancy with lots of come and go visitors and passersby? this is highly stressful.
purchasing or adopting another breed, or even a *senior* Pyr from a rescue-group, might have resulted in a happier experience for both the dog and the human(s).

positive-reinforcement training is also effective for self-directed, powerful dogs - or aggro, defensive, fearful, distractible, manic, young, old... (its not just for mild-mannered, innately-calm puppies learning to sit on cue.)

forceful or confrontational training is not helpful or needed, IME of more than 25-years of training.
humane training is even more powerful than adversarial training - it builds a relationship, not only a cued behavior.
happy training,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF

Book arrived fine. Price was great, and I'm looking forward to reading it next! Thanks.