The book I like the most is 'Good Dog 101' by Jean Donaldson... It seems to cut through all the crap... 'cuse my language...

Oh I got it wrong (as per usual!!!) The actual TITLE of this book is The Gentle Way to Teach your Dog Good manners, and it's just that this black dog on the front cover has a big red frisbee in his mouth saying "The Loved Dog"!!! What am I like!

Anyways, almost finished, and have to say, this is definitely MY style of training, it's all so much fun and easy to understand WHY you are doing this, that and t'other. She compares our puppies to an alien being who cannot understand anything, so hand signals are much easier to understand, and short words, not "good boy" but just the "good" and you have to give the dog TIME to work it out for itself, because if they have to work it out for themselves, then you stand a far better chance of them remembering what you want from them.

She also mentions about the 5 pitches of voice which you would use, and some people find it hard to find their "silly" voice, or their "excited" voice or their "won the lottery voice" or even their "level 8 voice" which could one day save your dog's life, and I have no problem with any of the pitches she mentions and in fact I use them all the time. I also like the way she mentions that your normal everyday voice is going to get far more attention that maybe a raised one or even a short shout, which I have tended to do myself so I will be changing that, and saying my commands in just a normal voice and see if that works better. You dog is capable of learning over 150 english words apparently, and it's easy to teach them (apparently! ), so that will be fun too. Basically, her theory is, you have to make everything fun, make it a game, get inside their heads, and understand why they do the things they do, or not as is the case, and that is so very true!

Oh I'm really loving this book, and June, yes, put it on your Birthday wish list, unless of course we can recycle my one around the whole of Dogsey!

Helena, it will be my 100th birthday before I get it if I wait for the recycling round to get to me Anyway it sounds like the sort of book that I would dip into, once I had read it in full, for advice on specific things. Funny about the hand signals, Lona is very responsive indeed to these, Cariad (being a complete airhead) can be when she feels like it

Lol! No June, we're all speed readers on Dogsey aren't we, we HAVE to be!!!!

You would love it, especially about the wolves, but I skipped that bit when she was out in the desert somewhere with them. She's also a believer in the feed ourselves first bit which I don't buy into quite honestly, I feed mine either before or after whichever suits ME, coz that's how I am with them and never had a problem either, but the rest of her theories are definitely on my own wave length and once she explains to you WHY you have to do it her way, it stands to reason from the dog's point of view, plus she is vehemently against any form of cure tactics (i.e. the e-collar etc. etc. etc), even raised voices is not her style!

Deff going on My List. OH is buying me an MOT and Service!!!
he keeps saying, but don't you want jewellery or something well.. a little more girly....No I say, MOT and Service is fine by me

A girl of my own heart JUne, I got a socket set for Christmas and a dremmel!!!

Not heard of the book Helen, as I tend to prefer UK authors for some reason.

Three books which are a must for me are John Cree's "Understanding the German Shepherd" and "Training the German Shepherd" and also John Fisher's "Dogwise". I am sure many people will think the latter book a little out of date now, but I think it makes a whole lot of sense

Thanks Kirsty, I've read quite a few pertaining to training gsd's, but quite honestly, it's all so "samey" and based on training methods per se, whereas this book is something different, I really like the way she makes us understand the why's and wherefore's and makes the training a lot more fun and understandable. There is no "sit" or "down" as such, it's all very different and in fact trains US as owners rather than our dogs! See if you can find a snippet of it somewhere online now that I've given you the correct title and see what you think!

If you like that book H you might well like Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier. It is a similar sort of book. Just a warning though there is a bit on losing a dog that will probably make you cry.

me first, me first...you said

It's funny you mention voice pitches because I have that with Chris....I say "Talk to her/him in a nice high voice" he says "Yea and aren't I going to look a right numpty walking around on the field going.....Here Poppy in a high voice...and anyway, how am I to get a high voice like that?" I say "That's easily sorted "

Elaine xxx