Dog Training Information: Where Do YOU Get It?

Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

I’m curious. Besides this blog, where do YOU get your dog training information? Do you…

Take classes
Have private lessons
Learn a lot yourself from teaching dog training
Do training with friends
Use books,ebooks, and/or DVDs
Go to workshops like ClickerExpo or the annual APDT gathering
Have other favorite dog training spots on the internet, be they forums, blogs, or sites
Your own past experience
Or what?

When I redid the look of the blog this spring, I turned on comments, so it should be easy to make one. Even if you come across this query some time after I’ve made it, I’ll be interested in your answers.

(The comments form asks for your name, email, and website if you have one. Nothing at all is done with your email address, don’t worry. I don’t even care if you give a fake one. If you have a dog website or blog, do be sure to give it, and instead of putting your actual name e.g. John Doe, it’s fine with me if you want to put what your website is about, eg Agility Training or Dog Ecoproducts as that will give you a keyword link to your site. Technically, I don’t actually know if comments are nofollow or not on this WordPress 2.5 blog, but every link can help. Links to sites that are just trying to sell dog ebooks without any really original dog-oriented content on the site will not be accepted.)

One reason I’m asking is that as a former librarian, I do LOVE to tell you about new books, DVDs, etc. But do many people care?

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Liz Menear

Hi,

I have taken group classes, done a few private lessons, purchased books and I find forums very helpful, and last but not least, past experiences.
Charlotte Thuemmel

I have purchased several of the books you recommended, but most of my advice (except for food and nutrition) comes from a class in dog obedience that I’m taking. I also ask one of my friends that has dogs. I also like your information, but have found that my reflexes are not good enough to use the clicker. (Or maybe I’m just not willing to put in the time.) I did learn some from a library book I took out years ago. We have had dogs, but live on a farm, and have not trained them much except to come when called, except for our current dog.
Julie

I get the basis of my info through Animal Behavior College. I am pretty happy with most of the curriculum. This is the only dog training site/forum/blog that I go to. I appreciate it when you bring books to my attention. I might not buy all of them, only a select few, but if I don’t know they exist I can’t buy them – right?

I have read a few books here and there like Don’t Shoot the Dog and The Other End of the Leash. But not much else as they seem to be geared towards typical pet owners who want to train their own dog. Any advice on what to read next?

I plan on teaching private and group classes soon. Agility classes are in the mix as well. I have yet to find a blog you wrote that didn’t help me in my quest to become a dog trainer. Every bit of information helps. Thank you.
Rosana Hart

Oop– I accidentally deleted one comment someone made. Sorry!

Julie, I think books aimed at pet dog owners can give you training ideas, as you can observe what is being taught and how. Also, there’s a book (also available as an ebook) which I describe on my main website that is about teaching dog training classes:

http://training-dogs.com/dog-obedience.html

is my review of it.

Rosana
http://pet-product-reviews.blogspot.com Barry

As I was growing up my family never used any training techniques. The dogs we had were always well-behaved, but they were really untrained. In the last year, my family got a Jack Russell. She has been quite a handful. I had to learn how to work with a dog.

I have tried a few things to train my dog.
1)Training course at the local PetSmart. My dog was barking and too aggressive with the other dogs. So, no real success.

2) I bought a book at the local B&N. It was good for some of the basics. However, my dog was still very aggressive and she barked at everything.

3) I stumbled across an online training course while trying to find a training solution. It has helped with the barking and aggressiveness. http://www.thedogtrainingexpert.com

Barry
Rosana Hart

Readers, I almost didn’t approve Barry’s comment above, because chances are very high (maybe 100%) that he is another webmaster trying to get links to his site. But I clicked through and at least right now the site he mentions is promoting a rather simple but nicely done set of online videos by a trainer named Dove Cresswell. I don’t mind linking to them. Here is my review of the same videos:

http://training-dogs.com/dog-training-videos/dove-cresswell.html