Thread: Koehler method - OMG- Success!!! A Quick Brag

Well done!!

Yes I am also an advocate of Koehler's method of attentiveness training and use it a lot with my clients.

Great to see you are having success with this method.

I changed the title of your message for SEO puroposes. I hope you don't mind..

That is great, might have to look at the book myself.

Mark- You can change my titles any time you see fit... I am still learning the ropes and finer points of posting

I bought the Koehler book from Amazon (after seeing it here in the books page) and have been immersed now for a couple of weeks. It is VERY readable and even quite humorous... or maybe I am warped. I have only book 1 at this stage as my immediate intentions are only to "do" basic obedience training with my guy then see where to after that. I still think there is only so much you should do by yourself from a book...

I admit have used a slightly watered down version of his training, and there are some things I feel I may be unable to do... I have yet to electrify a live chicken-on-a-stake, nor am I keen to belt the living hell out of the dog. That said, my main tool is a low, throaty growl which is fabulous and gets his attention pronto. And I have a perpetually hoarse voice!

More than anything, learning not to anthromorphise (sp??) and see the dog for what he actually is (a dog, duh!!) has been eye opening and I think has made my training better, faster and focussed.

I am also lucky to have a damn good dog, and I take no credit for that- his breeder did a bloody good job before I got him.

The books are fairly old..from memory written around the 1970's. There is some in them that I do not 'totally' agree with, due to being a little outdated now in my opinion. But in regards to attentiveness training, you can't go wrong with that method to get your dog to focus.

I have also over the years modified this type of training to be more inline with my own methods. I feel you have to becareful not to take his methods too literally, as they come across a little harsh for many dogs.. You need to make your own judgements on the amount of correction, etc you need for your particular dog. But his philosophy on dogs is in my opinion spot on.

It's good that you are having success and more importantly making decisions that best suit you and your particular dog, and not just following a book blindly.

Koehler has his critics. But I feel this is because they don't read deeply enough into his books, to get a better understanding of his methods.

Keep us updated on your progress