Natural Dog Training - Neil Sattin

Has anyone tried 'Natural Dog Training' methods?

I stumbled across this site belonging to someone called Neil Sattin. I haven't read it throughly yet, but I am interested. What he says goes against a lot of conventional thinking, but I can see that his approach might well work better with my Beagle pup.

Basically, he says forget the alpha dog or pack leader stuff. Your dog will want to be with you and listen to you much more if instead you become the prey!

One of the unconventional things that he recommends is playing tug of war regularly and letting the dog win every time.

He explains all his theories here:

http://www.naturaldogblog.com/learn-...-dog-training/

What do people think? We're first time dog owners. Our Beagle pup is a little genious when it comes to learning obedience, but as she's getting older our control over her is getting less reliable - her instinct to follow scents and hunt is just too strong. Having got to know her funny ways we can't help but feel that these methods would work well with her. We're thinking of switching to some of Neil Sattin's methods but thought we'd see what the experts had to say first.

just been have a quick look & i like it! (so far!!)

I let my dogs win tuggy all the time btw!!!!

he uses a prong collar at times, . which is a no-no for me, even with his "guidelines", but some good ideas apart from that! i like how he writes too!

I had a Working Trials trainer who trained with play - he taught retrieve like that (with a tuggy play as a reward) so I don`t think it`s that `new`.

Have not read through most of it yet, but most of what I have read is not new thinking, just plain old common sence..havent seen the bit about the prong yet (hate them) not do I agree with letting a dog win the tuggi everytime, we need to be able to "take things off" our dogs when needed...allowing to "win" all the time will not achieve this.

Will read more when I get time.....

Thanks for posting it.

letting the dog win all the time will give some dogs SO much confidence! i wrote a post yesterday about a foolproof way to get anything off any dog, with no stress at all & no commands!!! i will try to find it & link it to here!

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=56647&page=3

post 28

everyones homework for tonight is to test it!!!!

I`m going to try this tonight Mish.......will report back.

Hmmm, read a few articles and most of it is just reciting whats already been said by other trainers (eg how to relax your dog i've heard from Cesar Millan).

I dont like the tug of war idea. As a pointer, and one who will soon be starting gundog training, I want Flynn to give things up easily and not start a tug game with them. If he were to retrieve real game, having a battle to wrestle the pheasant from his mouth wouldnt be a good idea!

As a result I dont tend to favour such games with him (although he adores them and will not give up of his own accord). I do agree that dogs need to bite and chew so this is why they get some raw food and also toys they are able to chew without destroying.

Thanks everyone!

The bit that appeals to me (given that I've got a breed of dog with a strong prey instinct) is that instead of trying to control your dog (which most people say is near to impossible with a beagle) you simply work with her natural instincts. By becoming the prey, instead of switching off and ignoring you when she's excited or hot on a scent, she actually is very attracted to you and becomes MORE responsive.

I've tended to be mostly influenced by the Dog Whisperer, as is the lady that teaches in our Obedience Classes. Whilst beanie is clever and learns commands quickly the novelty of doing as she's told wears of just as quickly - especially when there's a play fight to be had or a nice squirrel to track! Ceasar Milan touched upon this idea that if a dog had a strong instinct you had to let him do the thing it enjoyed (in our dog's case, tracking). But this takes things a stage further and suggests building the entire interaction with your dog to work on the basis that you are the best possible prey a dog could ever hope for....better than any squirrel, rabbit or bird. Which is very different from Ceasar Milan's idea where you become pack leader. A beagle isn't bred to respond to a pack leader. It's bred to respond to prey.

Of course, whilst the theory sounds wonderful it might not work. But I think given that there have been no dire warnings from anyone we'll give it a good try.