Customer Reviews

Dog Training by Bash: The Tried and True Techniques of the Dog Trainer to the Stars (Signet)

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I'd just like to say this is a GREAT book for a beginner. I had never trained (or owned) a dog before and not only do I now have a great dog (Chloe) but people are always telling how well trained she is. And she's never been to an obedience class. This sounds cliché but this book is the reason I have a trained dog. It leads you through step-by-step w/ pictures and very sound advice. I found it different form all the other training things I've read in that this one makes sense. If you are worried about training your dog, this is the book to have.

I only take the time to write reviews for things that are really great or really bad. Must have's or must avoids. This is a great book. I have owned this book for about 12 years. I have had friends with "problem" dogs, and others that just needed help with dog training, and have let them borrow this book - with the comment that they better return it because it's really important to me. They've all used it, found it useful, and thank goodness - returned it. Now I see that it's under $7 - I should have bought them their own copy! Just get the book. You may want others, but you'll definitely want this one too. Another great book is "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete - go read the reviews. I have German Shepherds (GSD's) and these books make a huge difference. They help you understand how GSD's think and why they do what they do. Have fun...

This is traditional, tried and true, basic dog training. I have been training for over 25 years and I keep reading dog training books looking for some new and originial training techniques. I didn't find any here. I don't believe that personal anectodes about other peoples' dog problems really helps the inexperienced dog owner, although it is sometimes fun reading. For an inexpensive and portable guide to training, its a good buy. But for a completely new trainer, it is probably not clear enough.

I bought this book not thinking I would get much out of it since I am a huge Cesar Milan fan, but now my interest has gone further. This book helped me to understand so much of what I was going through with my puppy and his dominance issues. Anyone that says dominance plays a little role or doesn't exist much with dogs hasn't had much to do with powerful breeds of dogs and probably should criticize carefully before commenting on it. At first I skipped around the different chapters in the book, namely "How To Solve Aggression Problems" and "Problems Caused by Separation Anxiety" but then I grew even more intrigued as to what else the book had to offer. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to everyone whether or not they are having problems with their dog(s). This book has definitely pushed me into wanting to know more about dogs and their behaviors.

Bash Dibra is one of the most gifted trainers extant. His techniques differentiate him from all other trainers in that he teaches the owner to train his own dog. This book is one of the few training guides that actually gives easy-to-understand information in a format a novice can follow. All dogs fall in love with Bash, so he must know something other trainers don't!

This guy does have some good stuff going on. Written some time back, there are some methods that have been shown to be damaging such as bumping a dog in the chest to prohibit jumping. The physiology of a dog's chest is such that even a gentle bump at the wrong angle can crack or even break the breast bone. So other methods have been developed for that behavior since this book was written.

Overall, Bash does a fairly good job of describing tried and true methods that have been in place for eons. But one must realize there are more ways than one to train a dog. Read the dog and determine a training plan that will suit that animal. One size does not fit all.

In this book Bash Dibra, the self-styled "dog trainer to the stars," recounts some of his experiences raising and training an actual wolf. You'd think this would lend a great deal of credence to Dibra's training techniques and to his retelling of the now discredited alpha theory, which states that the social instincts of dogs and wolves is based on who's most dominant within the pack's hierarchical structure. But since this book was initially published in the early 1990s, it's now totally out of date and off-base, at least from a theoretical standpoint.

For instance early in the book Dibra says, "You should take the alpha role with your puppy early or he will always try to dominate you." But the top wolf experts don't even like to use the word alpha anymore because, as David Mech puts it, "It falsely implies a hierarchical system in which a wolf assumes a place in a linear pecking order." (Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2002.) Mech has also stated that in wild wolves "dominance displays are uncommon." So how can you "play the alpha role" with your puppy if there is no such thing as alpha? And why would a puppy always try to dominate you if dominance displays are rare in nature?

Why the disparity? Because it turns out that the alpha theory was based on studies done on wolves kept captive in sanctuaries, not on the behavior of actual wild wolf packs, who behave in a more cooperative and harmonic manner than captive wolves (or most dominance trainers) do.

Dibra also says that training a dog to lie down on command is difficult because lying down is a submissive posture and dogs never want to be submissive. There are two flaws in the logic here: First of all, the posture for the obedience "down" -- lyiing with the spinal column in a straight line, head up -- is radicallly different from a submissive down -- rolling over on one side and putting a back leg up in the air. That posture would not win points at an obedience trial! Meanwhile, Patricia Gail Burnham, in PLAYTRAINING YOUR DOG, says that she saves the down for last because it's too EASY. Again, why the disparity?

The other flaw in Dibra's logic: if dogs always want to dominate and never be submissive, and training them is about showing that YOU'RE dominant, doesn't that describe an ongoing, unending battle between you and your dog's instincts? Does that sound healthy, happy, and productive? Wouldn't it be better to find a way -- as Pat Burnham, Kevin Behan, and others do -- to work WITH your dog's instincts and not be constantly battling them?

With that said, there ARE some good bits of training advice here: don't rush the training process, give your dog lots of vigorous exercise, etc. Just keep far, far away from anything that smacks of dominance...the logic of that approach no longer makes any sense.

This came as a new book...was so pleased to get it...timely...thanks so...

I was going to learn how to train dogs under "bash" in NYC. I heard he was the best. I called him one day, and he said to read everything i could find on wolf behavior. This is a good book. More of the same, but i'm sure you'll get something from it. I live in VT now, and am in another line of work. I was walking in the woods the other day and was attacked by a wolf and i thought (as the wolf was tearing me apart) ... gee, i wonder where old bash is now.