Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)McMains is a dog lover, first and foremost. He takes great pains to emphasize that dogs are friends and comrades, not employees or slaves, and should be treated with the respect and love they deserve. In the heat of training, many people (even many trainers) seem to forget that the reason they originally got a dog was not to do a straight sit or a snappy recall, but rather to fill out their world with a new friend. I don't know a friend in existence who would tolerate what some trainers advocate in the name of "training."
His method is not compulsion-free, but it is centered around the dog VOLUNTEERING behaviors, rather that being yanked/forced into them repeatedly. He discusses how to use the dog's natural compulsions/drives to encourage the behaviors the team is shooting for, as well as ways of solidifying those responses under REALISTIC distraction conditions.
The most telling point about the book's organization is that it doesn't adhere slavishly to the standard AKC Novice routines, but rather focuses on skills and attitudes that the non-competitor will find most necessary/useful around the home, which is where all dogs, competitor or not, spend most of their time. Make no mistake, a McMains-trained dog will reach its full competitive potential, but McMains' focus is where it should be, on the 99.9% of the dog's life spent outside the ring.
In a world where millions of dogs are put to sleep in shelters each year, primarily for "temperament problems" (which can be interpreted as the owner crying "I don't know how to deal with this dog!"), a book with this much compassion and intelligent information on how to understand and relate to your own dog is invaluable. The problem is not that there are too many dogs in this country, it's that there are too many OUT OF CONTROL dogs in this country.
If McMains has his way, that won't be the case forever.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Dog Logic: Companion Obedience, Rapport-Based Training (Howell Reference Books)
To train your dog effectively, you must establish more than authority and obedience. You must train the dog to want to please you. You must establish rapport. It is upon this basis that the excellent training regimen given in Dog Logic: Companion Obedience is developed. Understanding your dog's natural behavior and responses to the world he lives in is the key to achieving the training results you want. That key is provided in this book and will result for you in a responsive, obedient dog that accepts your leadership and happily lives by your rules. This is mutual respect that works! The exercises in Dog Logic are for the companion dog and, if you like, the obedience trial dog. They guide you gradually and expertly through the whole series of training objectives, and your ultimate reward is a dog you can always be proud of. Week by week and level by level, you will see your dog gaining poise, polish and the admiration of all who meet him. You and your dog will become a living example of what it means to be a smoothly functioning dog/human partnership. These training methods are tested, proven and reliable and can make a world of important difference for you and your dog.A Howell Dog Book of Distinction
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