Sandy in OK said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

And Ian Dunbar has a good
set of booklets too.

Those booklets are good - no fluff in them. I lend them to
clients often.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Apr 8, 12:05*pm, Susan wrote:
My experience thus far is the best trainers refuse to produce books and
DVDs because books and DVDs are inferior to qualified in-person
training. *However, that leaves those of us who don't have trainers
available in our area with nothing to go on but what IS being published.
************************************************* ***********

Not true. I've read a number of books from great trainers. However, I
absolutely agree that in-person training is better!


It's *hard* to produce good training materials for novices. *You are
speaking to a huge and diverse group you know little about, who all have
different dogs with different needs, who all come in with different
misconceptions about the process, through which they are going to filter
everything you say, while trying to reach different training goals.
************************************************** ************************************

True. Also lots of JQP are looking for the quick fix. They want to
take shortcuts.

If there's someone better out there producing affordable materials of
better quality for people who don't have access to trainers, I want to
know about it! *However, I'm yet to see any such thing.

Do any of you out there know of quality training materials *FOR NOVICES*
that I haven't seen? *I'd love to know about them.

--Susan

I think I mentioned in your other thread, The Power of Positive Dog
Training by Pat Miller

Trick training books are often good. When people teach tricks they
tend to relax and have fun and they don't realize they really are
teaching some good stuff besides tricks (like obeying their owner).
Melinda mentioned Dogwise.com, go there and look at the training
books. Choose books or videos and type in training, a lot of books/
DVDs come up that are good. Lots of great videos (don't know if they
are closed captioned though.)

I've heard When Pigs Fly is a good book (haven't looked at it myself
though).

And if you're outside of Chicago I'm betting there are trainers out
there! They may charge more to come out for privates or a person might
have to drive, but they're out there.

Lauralyn
Raw fed agility dogs
Shylo, Cheyenne, Lakota, Apache

On Apr 8, 2:31*pm, Susan wrote:

There are trainers further out, but for most people, an hour and a half
drive each way just isn't practical. *This is why I'm hoping the dobe
breeder we know decides to offer classes. *She's only about a half-hour
out of town, which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things.

--Susan

Sometimes you can get these trainers to come to you. You could try
setting up a weekend seminar (it's only two days, but better then
nothing) or see if you can enough people together to do a class.

Lauralyn
Raw fed agility dogs
Shylo, Cheyenne, Lakota, Apache

Susan wrote:
My experience thus far is the best trainers refuse to produce books and
DVDs because books and DVDs are inferior to qualified in-person
training. However, that leaves those of us who don't have trainers
available in our area with nothing to go on but what IS being published.

Some here say it is unwise to get anything from Sullivan and Milan. I
don't think they are perfect, both do some things with which I disagree.
However, both push good basic points that inexperienced dog owners *need*
to learn: exercise, consistency, avoiding mindless repetition, not
allowing aggression to escalate, and so on.

It's *hard* to produce good training materials for novices. You are
speaking to a huge and diverse group you know little about, who all have
different dogs with different needs, who all come in with different
misconceptions about the process, through which they are going to filter
everything you say, while trying to reach different training goals.

If there's someone better out there producing affordable materials of
better quality for people who don't have access to trainers, I want to
know about it! However, I'm yet to see any such thing.

Do any of you out there know of quality training materials *FOR NOVICES*
that I haven't seen? I'd love to know about them.

--Susan

Dr Patricia McConnell has a few books that
are excellent for the beginner.

Training the Family Dog is one I used to
recommend quite a bit.

LL wrote:
On Apr 8, 2:31 pm, Susan wrote:

There are trainers further out, but for most people, an hour and a half
drive each way just isn't practical. This is why I'm hoping the dobe
breeder we know decides to offer classes. She's only about a half-hour
out of town, which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things.

--Susan

Sometimes you can get these trainers to come to you. You could try
setting up a weekend seminar (it's only two days, but better then
nothing) or see if you can enough people together to do a class.

I did that. Several people got toether in an
underserved neighborhood in Manhattan and
hired me to run a class. They each took turns
picking me up, so that only one would have to
travel each week.

worked so well, they put another one together
forme to teach an intermediate class.

On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:15:09 -0700, LL wrote:
snip
Sometimes you can get these trainers to come to you. You could try
setting up a weekend seminar (it's only two days, but better then
nothing) or see if you can enough people together to do a class.


That's a great idea! I shall see whether I can drum up enough interest.

--Susan