Beyond Basic Dog Training

The author parts company with most other dog trainers when she says that a dog obeys not because the dog wishes to please its master. Rather, she says, the dog obeys only when the dog finds that obeying is in its best interest. Additionally, the author emphasizes that the best way to train a dog is to train it so it UNDERSTANDS the commands. To make sure the dog understands, the handler is taught to "proof" each exercise. Instead of being taught patterns that may fail when distractions are present, the "thinking" dog will perform, because the dog KNOWS what it is supposed to do.

Finally, Diane L. Bauman's record of achievement as a dog trainer must be highlighted. Among other awards, her Golden Retriever, Charo, retired from dog obedience competitions with six perfect scores of 200, and is a three-time Gaines Superdog winner.


Old-fashioned, correction-based methods.   December 4, 1998
Elizabeth TeSelle (eteselle@geocities.com) (Nashville, TN)
14 out of 26 found this review helpful

Bauman's book is very old-fashioned. Her method involves setting the dog up to fail and then punishing him for doing so, rather than setting him up to succeed and reinforcing the desired behavior. Once, methods like Bauman's were all we had -- "correction" was accepted as the only way to train a dog. But there are SO many better, more positive, more reliable, and more fun (for you and the dog) ways of training now. I see no reason why anyone would stick with this stuff when there's a better way. Not recommended.


A Dog Owner's Bible   August 27, 1998
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

Diane Bauman is not only a great dog communicator, but also a great human communicator. I do obedience work with my Rottweiler, Mattie, and most of the obedience books on the market are difficult to understand and implement. Diane speaks directly to handlers of all ages and degrees of experience, in language that everyone can understand and examples that apply to almost every problem faced by trainers. I also enjoyed the photographs illustrating certain techniques. This book caters to dogs of all sizes and shapes. I was impressed with Diane's simplistic approaches and found that there definately is a big difference in having your dog understand what he/she is doing as opposed to just performing because of the enticement of bait. After implementing the strategies and techniques in the book, I found that the main reason for Mattie's non-performance was because I was giving her the wrong signals. I found that we worked wonderfully as a team once I got things straight. I think that this book should be every dog owner's bible, because so many dogs end up in the pound because we don't know how to talk to them. If only every dog owner would take the time to read through and implement the simple steps outlined in Diane's book, our dog pounds would be empty and what a wonderful thought that would be. Mattie and I are on our way to getting an obedience title and we wouldn't be if not for Diane's great insight. I was amazed at how quickly Mattie's performance changed. It doesn't take long, because if you love your dog they can't do enough to gain your praises.