Book Review: The Practical Dog Listener; Jan Fennell

Yesterday, I reviewed Jan Fennell's The Dog Listener today is the turn of the follow-up book, The Practical Dog Listener "The 30-Day Path to a Lifelong Understanding of Your Dog".

ISBN: 0-00-714570-5
Price: £10.99
Pages: 185

Unlike the previous offering from Jan, this book is far more informative and laid out in a much more organised and structured manner.

One thing I have learned about Jan Fennell's methods is that there are generally two reactions from people:

1. Her methods require too much ignoring the dog and so must be cruel.

2. She's too soft and wouldn't recognise dog discipline if it bit her on the nose.

Let me start by saying I'm a big fan of her methods. They're sensible, they're logical, and more importantly, they do work. Of the latter, I am convinced as I've used them, and continue to do so. No, there is nothing outstandingly new in the book that hasn't been said elsewhere, but show me the book which does give brand new, never before seen insight and revolutionary methods. You just can't when it comes to dogs and their behaviour. We've all lived with them far too long for there to be anything new and ground-breaking in every book published.

The book is ideally designed for those who are just about to purchase a new dog, or have quite literally just purchased it and now want to give it the best start in life, in order to end up with a well naturally trained adult dog.

As the name suggests, the book is really divided into sections, constituting days in your new dogs ownership. It describes some of the most common pit-falls of new dog ownership, such as giving too much affection to the oh-so-cuddly new puppy, as soon as it lands its paws on the doormat. More importantly, it tells you why this is such a bad idea.

One thing I will stress about this book is that if you are the type of owner who believes your dog should be just like your child, follow you about everywhere, get all the attention it wants, when it wants it, you will absolutely hate this book and its author.

The basic premise behind the book (and indeed the methods of the author in general) is that of pack hierarchy, and how your dog should be shown that its place is at the bottom, not at the top.

I read this book a few weeks after I'd obtainedour GSD but even then, it is still relevant. As stated above, ideally, you would purchase it at the same time or before your dog, but it is still very much relevant for longer-term ownerships too. One thing I have learned with Blondi, and previous dogs is that it's never too late to change a dog's behaviour.

The book is divided as follows:

Part One - A Reintroduction to Dog Listening
Discusses the things you will need for your new dog, such as sleeping quarters, feeding utensils, etc. This is a very short part of the book, as to many it should be quite obvious.

Part Two - New Horrizons: Settling a Dog in Its Environment
An extremely valuable part of the book (perhaps the most valuable in my view) of how to get your dog accustomed to its new surroundings, the first seperation and so forth. Steps learned here will prove so valuable for other parts of the plan.

Part Three - Why There's No Place Like Home
Here some "rules" are established over such things as who responds to a knock on the door, you or the dog? Why should it be you and what should you do with the dog when you go to the door. It then leads on to basic training on the leash, etc.

Part Four - Home and Away
This section deals primarily with ealking your dog away from home, ephasising again, the importance of the pack mentality. A lot of focus here is placed on owners who have more than one dog.

Part Five - Off the Leash
As the name suggests, this section is designed to help you walk your dog successfully off the leash and what to do when your dog chases that tasty squirrel across the field. Again, there is a lean towards to those who own more than one dog, but it's not vital to learn her methods.

Part Six - The Counter-Revolutionaries (Leadership Challenges)
Again, as the subtitle suggests, this deals with what to do when your dog is determined that it wants to be pack-leader at all costs.

Part Seven - Keep an Open Mind
To me this was a redundant chapter. It was essentially going over the previous chapters and emphasising the importance of sticking with it.

If I could levy one negative comment at the book, it would be the same as the original Dog Listener book. There is far too much page space taken with self-praising from the author. It can get infuriating listening to her telling us how good she was with dog A or dog B and how greatful the owners were. The annoying thing about it is, that you just feel she doesn't have enough confidence in her methods to let them stand for themselves. Or that she gets so much criticism (and I know that she does) that she feels she has to defend her methods at every opportunity.

That aside, it is an invaluable book for anyone who doesn't see ignoring their dog as an act of cruelty but rather as a peaceful and natural means to a wonderful end.

I believe she sums that constant accusation up very well for herself when she argues what can possibly be cruel about ignoring a dog for a few minutes at a time, and ending up with a dog who can have all the love in the world, in a controlled and relaxed manner. You just can't argue with that logic.

Another argument I often see levied against the author is the notion of "gesture eating"; that being eating something before you feed your dog. I've seen it described as many things from critics; from a pointless exercise, to unfair cruelty. All I can say is that I use if with my dog now, and I used it with my GSD/Rottie cross years ago, and it works. Or at least as best I can say it works. We can never say whether the dogs would have turned out equally as well without it as they did with it, but I see no harm or cruelty in it whatsoever, and for me at least, it just works.

Well worth a purchase, if for no other reason than you will gain insight into why dogs do the sometimes whacky things that they do.

I think one could also put a good case for saying that owners of multiple dogs may get a little more from this book than that of single dog owners. However, do not, for a second, let that put you off.

I've just returned from Pond Farm where I took the 2 day foundation course in canine communication.

After I'd recovered from being such a jibbering idiot at meeting such a great lady, I loved every minute of it.

Anyone who thinks her methods are cruel or that she doesn't know what she's doing should go and meet her dogs.

I'm hooked

I'm envious. I have every intention of going to one as soon as practical. Did you learn a lot of things that are better seen in action, as opposed to reading from the books?

Like you, I think what she accomplishes is simply stunning at times, though I'd love to see it first-hand too.

When you see her footage of wolves everything falls into place. Jan provided me with so many answers (without knowing the questions!) that I couldn't wait to get home and start 'talking' to my dogs.

p.s. the puppies are gorgeous!!

I am concerned that a lot of what Jan says is the same as what John Fisher and many trainers and behaviourists used to talk about in the 1980's, - but now things have moved on and many are concerned that Jan is taking dog knowledge backwards over a decade. John and others did a U turn pretty much and now modern trainers and behaviourists realise that much wolf pack talk was based around captive wolves and flawed science studies. Wild wolves behave totally differently and for example "alpha" does not always eat first, sometimes the pups do.

Dogs are not wolves, it's like saying we are like Chimps - we ar like them yes, but we don't in other ways act like them or behave like them (The Other End of the Leash by Pat McConnell PhD is a great read about primates (us) and dogs and shows why we hug them etc).

I was also very sad after reading about a BC in a paper, the dog was basically going up the wall after being bought by a man who worked all day. Jan's advice published in the paper was to ignore the dog for asking for attention - now, in that situation was that kind or good advice?

I am thinking a resounding no. Carol Price who is a BC behaviourist wrote in after and gave her advice which was much more sensible about giving the dog work to do, games, long walks and interactive toys plus teaching if I remember a settle time.

I don't dislike Jan Fennell as a person, but feel her views and methods can be a big problem in some situations and for some dogs and owners. Ive read her first book and found it great as an autobiography but would never use it as a training model

I was also not happy to discover she asked for a very large amount of money for giving advice, I believe it was around £300 if I am correct.

Sorry to disagree, hope I have done it politely

I agree.
I think too much emphasis is put on the whole dog/pack/leadership thing...it does have it's place, yes, but I have to admit I'm not a Jan Fennell fan. Sorry, I know plenty of people are.

Very polite

That is valid if you feel that all training methods in the 80s must have been wrong. I personally don't. There are cases in all walks of life where borrowing from the past is not only helpful, but often times, essential.

I think far too much emphasis is placed on Jan's reference to the "wolf pack" and I have to say that she brings alot of that onto herself. That aside, to try and argue that there can be no similarities between the modern dog and the modern wolf, is, to me at least, as bad as saying they are the same.

A recent documentary I watched about the Sawtooth wolves in Ohio, for example, showed that there is a very clear and concise order at eating time, with the alpha-pair having first refusal, and yes, becoming very aggressive to any pack member which tried to break the order. They have to in order to ensure that they, with the best genes, remain in good health, in order to maintain pack stability.

Without the full context, I wouldn't like to say. On the face of it, it does perhaps sound like poor advice, but again, without the full context, who am I to second-guess?

I think the same can be said of any training methodology. This is precisely why we need people like Jan Fennell and others to bring fresh persective and different thinking to the arena. The more methods that a dog owner can utilise to get a desired result, the better, surely?

Plus travel expenses. £360.00 in my case. A fraction of the cost that it might be to get your dog fixed up after it's involved in a road traffic accident, through having no training/advice at all.

If there is one thing I have learned with dogs is that dog trainers and dog training methods will always be a contentious issue, full of divided views. Not only in the professional field but also in the more private and domestic field.

I am sure many might consider my own methods (very much based around Jan's methods) to be harsh or somehow leaving the dog starved of attention. I invite anyone to come visit my dog to see that she is happy and contented in the knowledge that she knows her position in the family unit, and knows that she can have all the play and attention in the world by following just a few simple rules.

I am of the mind that, regardless of the methodology you choose, so long as it is humane and produces results, then it is a valid method. The more strings there are to a bow, the greater the chance of hitting the target.

Being brutally honest, I tire of the snobbery and ego that sometimes exists in the dog training and behaviour arena. I think it does the profession an injustice, as well as leaving many owners confused and hesitant.

Thanks, I hate coming across in a bad way

I didn't realise you have had her out to help you.

Most methods around for training in the UK in the 1980's were based around Barbara Woodhouse, lots of choke chain use and so on. I used these methods myself at that time. When John Fisher came, he tried hard to change the attitude of having to physically dominate the dog, which was excellent I have 4 of his books and know 3 people who have worked with him in the past who are all people I respect. However, he himself did a U turn on his thoughts, and said re. pack theory "it all means diddly squat to your dog".

Everything re. dogs is a theory in the sense that we aren't dogs so everything has to be. But for someone who was a strong supporter of pack theory etc to change his mind, something had to be pretty strong and that was evidence from scientific sources, namely the Coppingers and Mech who disproved much of what had gone before.

John did a few tests with his students and discovered that pack theory would work but not because dogs thought of us as alpha, but because they knew what was expected of them and had a routine

Some of the dogs became withdrawn and depressed esp. the sensitive breeds. This appeared to be because the owners ignore the dog too much or just didnt give their dog enough attention which dogs do need - just not on constant demand...