Neil Sattin

I thought I had written about Neil before here, but I guess not really.

Anyway, like Lee Charles Kelley, he's a follower of Kevin Behan's Natural Dog Training. Which makes him unusual since pretty much everybody else is of the alpha school or positive school (or a mix).

He has a website/blog and facebook page. Here's his profile from facebook.

My journey to the method started with my dog Nola, who had a brief history of corporal punishment from her previous owners that left her rather skittish around other humans (except me, for some reason). She pretty much wanted to kill about 4 out of 5 dogs we encountered, and she had a tendency to run off into the woods as well, leaving me to wonder if I’d ever see her again.

I attacked the problem with all of the fortitude and perseverance that a college graduate could muster. Stacks of books, tips from other dog owners, advice from trainers, and hours of time spent together. I quickly moved from my Monks-of-New-Skete approach, but no matter what I tried, I could not help her with her anxiety, or her seeming desire to hurt other dogs. At one point I had a correspondence with a well-regarded dog trainer and he thought that the solution to Nola’s aggression issues was to have her euthanized. Well, yeah, I guess that would work!

Sometime during Nola’s sixth year I decided to foster another dog, Buddy. It was back to Google for me, to try and find some solution to the problem. That was how I stumbled upon Kevin Behan’s website. Everything I read on his site made sense, not just in terms of how he explained dog behavior, but also in the way that his ideas just resonated with me on some core level. What he described was a way of tapping into a dog’s deepest instincts and seeing the world through their eyes (or, more accurately, feeling the world through their heart). Rather than looking for ways to suppress a dog’s natural energy, he spoke of channeling it into obedience behaviors. The first time I saw Nola flip from being aggressive to play bows, I knew that I had stumbled onto something amazing. I wanted to find out more. Now, years (and an apprenticeship with Kevin) later, and having witnessed many other dogs similarly affected, I can say without hesitation that Kevin’s work is truly important in the canine community.

[now I see this mostly came from his blog post, how I became a dog trainer below]

* * *

Well, I've seen Cesar and Victoria. And while I've made some progress I think, Kimo still gets wild, he still attacks, and I still get bitten (and I've been been working on him for nearly three years now). What do I have to lose?

I think I'm going to get Behan's book. I think I'll get a used one on ebay. Slightly cheaper than from Amazon. As far as I know that book hasn't changed since first being published in 1992, so I'll go for that one since it's the cheapest.

And I see Neil's DVD cheap on ebay. Well cheaper than the $65 list anyway. [Hint: it ain't there now, because I ordered it.]

Neil also has a blog at this website though it hasn't been updated frequently after the inital burst.

Like LCK's blog (or almost every blog for that matter), it doesn't have a table contents for easy lookup, so I think I'll start putting the contents here (as I read the posts).

What is this blog about?
How to play tug of war with your dog
How I became a dog trainer and people trainer
How to be calm, assertive, and relaxed -- be the moose!
How to Turn a Negative Mindset into a Positive Mindset through Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Action

OK, I'm wrong again.

Here's the listing of his blog posts.

And a neat guide to training incorporating some of those posts.

* * *

Hey that's cool. A comment from Neil himself. This is even more of an honor than when LCK send me a haiku after I added him on twitter.

I don't know why the item doesn't show up on eBay now either. Since I ordered the DVD, maybe I should now order Kevin's book. Though I'm kind of leery because I've have had a hard time deciphering Kevin's terminology on some of his recent articles. Maybe Neil can translate.

* * *

I was wondering how Neil found my blog. So I did googled Neil Sattin site:blogspot.com and found my post as the second result. The first result is an interview with Neil at Barking Buddha Doga. And I also see LCK's blog mentioning Neil several times.

* * *

[4/2/10] I see (via Twitter) that Kevin Behan has a new book coming out and that Neil recorded an 80 minute interview with Kevin.

Very interesting interview. Especially liked his anecdotes. It turned kind of metaphysical with some unfamiliar words, so was difficult for me to grasp much of it (kind of like his book). Hate to say it, but I think Kevin would come across as kind of a nutcase to the general populous, since his theory is so far out of the mainstream. Neil mentioned that the publisher of his new book is also the publisher of Deepak Chopra. So I guess that would make Kevin the Deepak Chopra of dogs.

I don't really get Deepak either. For example, "When your consciousness becomes fully grounded in that unity that transcends the conventional notions of good and bad, right and wrong, then you will find the absolute security you are seeking." WTH does that mean?? Actually I guess it somehow relates, since the premise is that dogs don't really have a concept of good or evil. Somehow...

Sheesh. All I'm trying to do is get Kimo to behave (or more accurately not misbehave).

*** [10/21/18]

saw this article about NDT via twitter.  It's very readable since it's not written by Behan 8)