The DVD arrived on Tuesday and it was still in shrinkwrap. The person who I bought it from must have received it as a gift or bought and no longer had any use for it. I dunno.
Anyway, I looked at first disk early Thursday morning. Neil seems like a nice mild-mannered fellow. Not an alpha type. So maybe that's why he was attracted to NDT. And maybe there's hope, because I'm not an alpha type either. Though I get the impression the LCK is an alpha type (NTTAWWT of course).
I had told Sue that I ordered a new dog training video and she said that's good because sometimes it's hard to picture what to do just by reading the book. And sure enough, I think she's right. The demonstration of how to push comes across much clearer when you see how it's done. And Neil's demonstration of prey vs. predator movement would be hard to convey by reading from a book.
Anyway, I tried some pushing Thursday morning. Kimo doesn't really push though. As soon as his chest touches the hand without the food, he tends to stop. Even when I have his favorite treat, chicken jerky. Other times, he comes then stops to sit before reaching the hand, because that's what I've trained him to do. To sit before I give him the food. Maybe that's why LCK doesn't like NILIF?
In the afternoon, he was barking and I had him come for food. I'm trying to get the hang of pushing. And I was moving my hand away and backing up as he came for the food. That seemed to work. Also I was touching the side of his chest, though not really pushing, as he took the food.
It might have been my imagination, but he seemed to be barking a little less intensely. Until the UPS truck came at least.
He was barking at the fence. And it was harder to get him to come. But after the truck drove off he was in a somewhat excited state. And I started to get him to chase me which led to him running back and forth for a while.
After that he seemed calm and lay down on the grass.
Well, we'll see how this goes.
[Thursday, 9/3, posted 9/4]
***
Well, weeks later, I have pretty much given up on pushing with Kimo as I seemed to make little progress in the first several attempts. However, what I do is present him with little strips of chicken jerky and let him pull it out of my hand. I figure that's sort of tug of war, but more like for real. If that's why dogs tug. He doesn't really tug much with toys either.
Anyway, I'm now slowly making my way through Behan's book [bought used on ebay, the original edition, I assume it's the same as later editions]. It's written much more clearly than I anticipated. Apparently his wife helped him in the clarity part as it is much less obscure (am I using the right word?) than his blog posts. Trying to keep an open mind since it is not a widely-accepted theory. Then again, he has experience with lots of dogs. And if it works, it works. [9/27 a.m.]
[6/12/10] As I continue to slowly go through the book, I'm struggling. Kevin uses unfamiliar terms, terms that he just made up to explain what he's thinking. I guess I kind of understand what he's trying to say, but my problem is trying to understand exactly what every word in his sentences mean. Plus Kevin is a terrible writer, using his unfamiliar terminology and really long run-on sentences (and more thoughts in parentheses in an apparent attempt to clarify what he just said). It would help if Kevin used an editor (provided the editor is not also from outer space).
I think once I get past the chapters on theory (of which I think is questionable -- but that doesn't really matter) and get to the actual training, it should get clearer.
***
Here's a review of Neil's DVD and Neil's response to the review. The reviewers seem pretty-informed and are of the positive school (which seems to be the accepted approach these days). Oops, actually it's Kevin's response, not Neil's. The comments following the review are interesting with input from Kevin, LCK, and Trisha (apparently the big four, along with Neil, of the NDT universe). [9/27am]
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[6/12/10 via naturaldog on twitter] That Mutt blog (Lindsay Stordahl - who seems like a very nice person by the way she writes) relates her experiences on using pushing with her dog, Ace. She's having better success with Ace than I am with Kimo. The idea of taking the dog's breakfast with you on the morning walk sounds interesting. Maybe I might try that. Or maybe just remember to bring the treats cause Kimo's really not that attracted to his regular kibble.
Kimo went wild again when he saw Miki and Shammy coming down the street. If I could get him to push (or play tug) [instead of just holding him] when that occurs, I can see where that would have been helpful.
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