Training Books

Read an interesting book lately?
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k9katet
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Tell us about yourself: We current own 1 Dutch Shepherd - ThunderHawk's Child of Lilith "Mazikeen"
And we have loved and lost 3 - Vrijheid's Amie "Vada", Vrijheid's Hafwen "Letty" and Sather's High On Life "Narcotic".
We train/compete in mondioring and agility.
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Training Books

Post by k9katet »

I'm currently in the middle of reading a few books. Different authors have been on different reading lists so I'm jumping around on books when I have time to read.

Agility Right from the Start
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http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fusea ... e=whatsnew

The Focused Puppy
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http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fusea ... e=whatsnew

How Many Dogs?
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http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fusea ... e=whatsnew

and soon I will be rereading Ruff Love in preparation of bringing home a new puppy
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http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fusea ... uff%20love
Heather Sather & Mazikeen
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leih merigian
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Re: Training Books

Post by leih merigian »

Hi Heather,

Funny how we're on the same kind of page in puppy preparations...

I'm rereading Purely Positive Training and Training in Drive, Excellerated Learning, Control Unleashed and a few other classics like those. The new ones are Flatwork - Foundation for Agility Training and the intro manual to Syn Alia. I've also got a bunch of Mike Ellis videos I'm watching.

I kept waiting to dive into everything until I was damn sure about a puppy, and now I'm scrambling :P . Keeps me outta trouble, tho.
leih merigian
Vrijheid's H'Geyser
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Central VA (near Charlottesville)
It's never too late to have a happy childhood...
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vneerland
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Re: Training Books

Post by vneerland »

I let my dogs do the reading. :lol: And once they finished the book, they master the skill.
:twisted:

All kidding aside. I am not familiar with the posted books. Any of them strike you as particularly worth while?
ImageJudith Van Neerland Dutch Shepherds Image
leih merigian
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Re: Training Books

Post by leih merigian »

vneerland wrote:I let my dogs do the reading. :lol: And once they finished the book, they master the skill.
:twisted:

All kidding aside. I am not familiar with the posted books. Any of them strike you as particularly worth while?
Smart dogs! :D

Seriously tho, Judith, with your vast experience, I'd expect you could pretty much write most of these books. If you had a mind to, that is.

Excellerated Learning is very dry, but I think does a great job of relating learning theory to dogs and how dogs learn. It always reminds me of grad school days and texts.

For someone such as unto myself, who hasn't raised a puppy for 12 years now, it's nice to be able to do a refresher course :ugeek: .

I'm very curious about the Syn Alia stuff. It's very similar to what everyone is used to, except she uses intermediate bridges a bit differently. The people who are into this method are really into it. For me, I think it would become, at most, another tool in the toolbox, rather than me becoming a passionate convert ;) . OTOH, I am always interested in anything that can help me to communicate even better with my dog, and so I'm open to checking it out.
leih merigian
Vrijheid's H'Geyser
Zodiac vom Younghaus (over the bridge)
Central VA (near Charlottesville)
It's never too late to have a happy childhood...
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k9katet
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Posts: 443
Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2010 8:04 pm
Tell us about yourself: We current own 1 Dutch Shepherd - ThunderHawk's Child of Lilith "Mazikeen"
And we have loved and lost 3 - Vrijheid's Amie "Vada", Vrijheid's Hafwen "Letty" and Sather's High On Life "Narcotic".
We train/compete in mondioring and agility.
Location: Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Training Books

Post by k9katet »

I wish my dogs could read! It would give them something to do while I was at work and save me the time! LOL

Is Syn Alia a person? What is the manual about? General training or a specific sport?

Ruff Love and the Focused Puppy are more puppy / new dog raising books. Susan Garrett wrote Ruff Love. She also has alot of other books and DVDs out. She runs a school in Canada called Say Yes. It's based on clicker training although they very rarely use a clicker. Susan Garrett is a brilliant dog trainer. She does VERY well in agility. She use to do competitive obedience and flyball as well. I like that they market to agility folks but it's not just handling. It's alot of dog training mixed in too. There is alot of information on good solid foundations. It can be applied to training anything although it's targeted at agility people. The Focused Puppy so far is alot of general puppy stuff. It has chapters on temperament testing and picking a breeding. Also, things on what to do to prepare for the new puppy. It has suggestions on what to teach them and do with them broken up by age.

Agility Start to Finish starts with a section on training philosophy and then has sections on teaching agility specific skills. The foundations can apply to other sports too but alot of agility specific. They follow the same agility handling system as Susan Garrett which is the Greg Derrett handling system. So the exercises won't conflict with the handling system which is important. It's a huge book.

How Many Dogs is about having multiple dogs in the house. We are always looking for ideas with the dogs and making things as good as possible for them and us. The ideas presented use positive methods. I don't agree with all of it or there are things that wouldn't work for us or would be really hard to implement but it's been good for getting ideas and thinking about things and thinking outside the box.

I have many other books that I'd like to get to one day too. I love dog training books and DVDs.

Are the Michael Ellis videos the ones on Youtube that Leerburg put out?

I'm hoping to put a foundation on this pup based on the Say Yes program. The challenge will be thinking outside of the box to have it apply to Schutzhund exercises. I am seeing crossover. Deb K just went to a Schutzhund seminar and the presenter was teaching shaping. And I think she said that Greg Doud was teaching rear end awareness exercises for obedience at his last seminar out there.

Judith - if you want to learn more about Susan Garrett you can read her blog. She's been on the topic of recalls lately.
http://susangarrettdogagility.com/
Heather Sather & Mazikeen
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leih merigian
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Tell us about yourself: Had a GSD, am getting a DS puppy in a few weeks. Compete in agility, obedience, and cross train in tons of stuff. Found out about this site from the DS Rescue yahoo list.

Re: Training Books

Post by leih merigian »

k9katet wrote:Is Syn Alia a person? What is the manual about? General training or a specific sport?

Are the Michael Ellis videos the ones on Youtube that Leerburg put out?
Heather, that was a great summary about Susan Garret and the other books you're reading.

Syn Alia is a training system called SATS (Syn Alia Training System<g>). It's been developed by a woman named Kayce Cover, who has worked with all kinds of animals, including exotics, over the years. It is general training, in the sense that it's a communication system. The main difference is that she has a very specific method of doing the intermediate bridges, where you provide a constant sound such as "g g g g g g g g" to communicate the bridge, as opposed to saying, "good...good." According to her, there are certain sounds that are more communicative to the dog/animal than the typical word bridges most of us use.

The important thing, to me, is developing a language to communicate with your dog, regardless of which particular approach or system one uses. She advocates a very detailed way of communicating with a dog, or any animal, for example, explaining to it how things will go at the vet when it needs to have an injection and is terrified of the vet's office. She has videos on her site that demonstrate her technique of communicating this kind of information to an animal.

Anyway, I haven't read the introductory manual yet, but I expect I will get some good stuff out of it. Here's a link to her site in case you're interested in checking it out http://www.synalia.com/

RE: the ME videos...no, these aren't the free videos available thru Leerburg, but the DVDs he and Leerburg have developed. Again, his stuff isn't all that different from other marker training approaches, but I like his system and am learning from them. It's very nice to see someone who focuses on the protection sports use so much positive training.

I'm with you...I love learning about training and get a lot out of books.
leih merigian
Vrijheid's H'Geyser
Zodiac vom Younghaus (over the bridge)
Central VA (near Charlottesville)
It's never too late to have a happy childhood...
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k9katet
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Posts: 443
Joined: Wed Jun 30, 2010 8:04 pm
Tell us about yourself: We current own 1 Dutch Shepherd - ThunderHawk's Child of Lilith "Mazikeen"
And we have loved and lost 3 - Vrijheid's Amie "Vada", Vrijheid's Hafwen "Letty" and Sather's High On Life "Narcotic".
We train/compete in mondioring and agility.
Location: Minnesota
Contact:

Re: Training Books

Post by k9katet »

I recognize the name Kayce Cover. I think she was on DogRead a few months ago.

We've had Mike Ellis out here for seminars. Although it's been a few years. His might have been the first seminar that I worked Vada in. He's very good at explaining things and breaking things down into small steps. There is a group in WI that brings him out occasionally and also Ed and Cindy (Leerburg). We've had Ivan out too but not for a long time and it seems he's not doing seminars anymore.
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Black Mal
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Tell us about yourself: I live with my first Dutchie/Black Mal which was chosen after much debate which breed would be my first working dog. I love this dog! I love protection sports!

I used to be a zoo keeper and bird trainer. Dogs are so much more willing! I like training to compete and training for training's sake. I am a huge fan of working dogs- especially the people who train them with motivation and less pressure.
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Training Books

Post by Black Mal »

I love Michael Ellis, huge fan. I also love "Don't Shoot the Dog" my training bible by Karen Pryor. Temple Grandin is an interesting read- any of her books. How about anyone's favorite dog behavior book? Always looking for more reading!
Kat

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Re: Training Books

Post by GSDNanny »

Nice to see others so interested in training books. Years ago, I got hooked on bidding on a wide spectrum of dog training and behavior books thru E-Bay. I now have a very large library and not all have I read yet. :yernuts: My favorite are on behavior. I too have read K. Pryor's "Dont shoot the Dog" but it has been a while. Some of Kohler's training books, even some dog trick books. Smoak's agility and utility training books. Several on aggressive dog behavior training.

Of late though, since I am deep into the herding, there are two super books available, "Stockdog Saavy" by Jeanne-Joy Hartnagle Taylor and also "Herding Dogs: Progressive Training" by Vergil Holland. Slow reading as they are very specific as to training.

I have been very interested in the Syn Alia concept but havent had time to purchase/read the material. Also, I have seen a documentary movie on Temple Grandhin and would like to buy some of her books. Do they apply to livestock because that would be applicable to my herding? Can someone elaborate further on them?


Denise Gatlin

Denise Gatlin & Zip, Shooter & the K9 crew

Livin' in the deep south - Louisiana
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Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:29 pm
Tell us about yourself: I live with my first Dutchie/Black Mal which was chosen after much debate which breed would be my first working dog. I love this dog! I love protection sports!

I used to be a zoo keeper and bird trainer. Dogs are so much more willing! I like training to compete and training for training's sake. I am a huge fan of working dogs- especially the people who train them with motivation and less pressure.
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Training Books

Post by Black Mal »

Denise-

Oh you would love Temple Grandin she revolutionized the cattle industry. The movie is good because it is an incredible story but her books are good. In "Animals Make us Human" she breaks down Dogs, Cats, Poultry, Cows, Horses....etc by chapter. So read what interests you but I basically couldn't put the book down. You know like most books there are some parts I love and jive with and some that have me scratching my head. She knows hoof-stock more than dogs I believe so it should most deff help you out- interesting it never would have occurred to me to study the live-stock the dog would be herding but it makes such good sense! I'm curious of your opinion if you ever get the book- it's an easy read and deals with behavior and stress management not tech. training.

Kat
Kat

Diablo Black Mal
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Phelonie Goffin's Cockatoo
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Posts: 615
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 4:13 pm
Tell us about yourself: Dogs are my life, what can I say. GSDs primarily for nearly 50 years til bringing in my first DutchShep about 4 years ago. GSD rescue for 9 yrs, nearly 200 thru my home, rehabbed, adopted out. Been involved in AKC ob, herding, tracking, agility; Schutzhund-DVG; scent detection (HR-water)&narcotics, some patrol work. Mostly herding training at present on my little farm.

Re: Training Books

Post by GSDNanny »

Kat, well you just gave me the title to my next book purchase! Yes, there is so much to reading 'stock' for herding. People dont realize the many variables involved in herding. Different stock in different venues and locations react different and 'read' their predators (the dog) different due to their associations. As a trainer, I too have to know how to read the stock and my dog, the reactions of both at the same time so how to give the proper command. To me it is like an artful dance, if you will. Each movement is determined by another. Now sometimes that dance can end up a disaster tho!! Too many left feet and some slipper sheep poo, and well.... you get the picture! Thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely get the book and see how it applies. I have been to quite a few AKC and ASCA type herding trials and a few clinics but this Saturday, I will be attending my first ranch stockdog trial. These are the ultimate working herding dogs as they will be working cattle. I am very excited about watching. Plus afterward, I get to train with my own dogs on both the sheep and calves!

Thanx again,

Denise Gatlin

Denise Gatlin & Zip, Shooter & the K9 crew

Livin' in the deep south - Louisiana
Black Mal
Just Whelped
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:29 pm
Tell us about yourself: I live with my first Dutchie/Black Mal which was chosen after much debate which breed would be my first working dog. I love this dog! I love protection sports!

I used to be a zoo keeper and bird trainer. Dogs are so much more willing! I like training to compete and training for training's sake. I am a huge fan of working dogs- especially the people who train them with motivation and less pressure.
Location: Bay Area, CA

Re: Training Books

Post by Black Mal »

Denise-
Well have fun and let me know what you think of the read!

Kat
Kat

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Tell us about yourself: My name is Guus and I am 32 years. Right now I'm eight years active in dog sports. I have a dutch Shepherd of almost 3 years. I am now in full training for his first certificate.
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Re: Training Books

Post by K9Demi »

The book form Dick Staal is also a good book for training tips.
Look at his website http://www.dickstaal.com
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