The Dog Listener

I am half way through reading The Dog Listener by Jan Fennel......fascinating read.

Must admit I've trained two GSDs and a Dobe over the years using the traditional methods with great success but this sounds a much more acceptable way of training our best friends.

Haven't had a dog for twenty years but get my staffie pup in less than 2 weeks and am open to any method of raising a well balanced member of the community.

Anyone on the forum used her methods? Would appreciate any feedback.

not me but interesting to know how you get along , keep us posted

I think she has some good ideas.

She says her methods are new and developed by her, they are not, her methods have been used for generations. She used to have a tv program, no matter what the problem was the method of training was the same, grab the dog by the collar and put him out of the room. At first she would grab the collar until she was bitten one day, after this she told the owner to do it.

Yes she does soulnd good when reading her books but when you put them into practice they are not good. The put a lot of stress on the dog which you don't want. There are a lot of other books that are much better.

Try:

100 Ways to Train a Perfect Dog by Sarah Fisher
Unlock Your Dog's Potgential by Sarah Fisher

Sarah has also written 2 books with Marie Miller, both are good.

Clicker Training for Dogs by Karen Pryor

Other End of the Leash by Patricia B McConnell

The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson

Train Your Dog Like a Pro by Jean Donaldson

Getting in Touch with Your Dog: by Linda Tellington-Jones

Your local library may have these books in or may get them for you, if you like them you can then buy them.

I certainly wouldn't completely reject her.

Thanks for the feed-back guys. I trained my previous dogs using John Cree's book, Training The German Shepherd Dog, after attending classes run by his daughter Joyce. I think a bit of mix and match might be appropriate, cherry picking the best bits, as they both use the basic premise of establishing a hierarchy.

Most of it is common sense but it's great to hear how you guys overcome specific staffy problems.

Love the forum by the way and, being a staffy virgin, have learned a fair bit already from you regular contributors.

P.S.
Have already bought his Stag Bar, Bento Ball and Kong.

Caryll wrote:I certainly wouldn't completely reject her.

I know people who have had her out and some of the things that they have been told to do with their dogs does make me reject her completely.

I've not red anything by her but from what I can gather, her methods are outdated and based on flawed pack theory like CM aka The Dog Whisperer.

You'd be much better off with the books Cyril baby has mentioned. If you were to buy just one of those then I'd recommend The Culture Clash.

The trouble is, like all celebrities, she's in the spotlight & people will follow what she says & does - like Cesar Milan (someone I can't stand, by the way). Not all her methods are bad, although yes, many are outdated (like Cesar Milan), but at least she doesn't use shock/prong collars & kick dogs.

I'm not particularly sticking up for her - just saying that not all of it's totally bad.

Probably not all of it is bad like not all of what CM says is bad but IMO, if you're going to buy and follow a book, you're better off going with ones that aren't based on flawed theory. At least until you're knowledgeable enough to know what advice to take and what to leave.

Galadriel wrote:Probably not all of it is bad like not all of what CM says is bad but IMO, if you're going to buy and follow a book, you're better off going with ones that aren't based on flawed theory.

True.

Caryll wrote:The trouble is, like all celebrities, she's in the spotlight & people will follow what she says & does - like Cesar Milan (someone I can't stand, by the way). Not all her methods are bad, although yes, many are outdated (like Cesar Milan), but at least she doesn't use shock/prong collars & kick dogs.

I'm not particularly sticking up for her - just saying that not all of it's totally bad.

Not everything is bad with her or Cesar Milan but people new to dogs or not had much experience how will they know the difference of what is good and what is bad. There is no doubt that CM loves dogs and with many of his fanss that is why they follow him, they don't see anything wrong with what he does because most don't know any difference. Once someone has gained knowledge and experience it will help them to learn other ways and what they do to dogs.

We have a responsibilty to new owners and dogs to help them through the minefield of information about training, so we should recommend the good books first until they have learnt more.

Another point is our instincts, when new to anything we don't trust them, as we gain knowledge, experience and get to know our dogs we start to listen to them so if something doesn't sound right we don't do it. I have heard so many owners in the past say, "We thought the trainer knew best so we done what they said", they didn't trust their instincts.

Eventually we can learn just as much from what not to do as we can from what to do, but we have to get there first.

One of the many things I dislike about Cesar Milan is that he's a liar, or at least is economical with the truth. I would at least respect him for his love of dogs, even given that I don't like his training methods, if he told the truth.

Thanks guys. Have ordered Culture Clash.

reuben wrote:

Thanks guys. Have ordered Culture Clash.

It's not the easiest book to read but stick with it and you'll be glad you did