Tag Archives: Bob Bailey

If you want to polish those dog training skills

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Terry Ryan, the most excellent professional dog training who I collaborated with on Outwitting Dogs, has asked me to help spread the word that she’s got openings in a couple of the courses she teaches.

She writes that there are a few openings in her two-day survey courses in June.

She’s also got openings in August in a couple of courses she teaches with Bob Bailey. These are the famous “chicken training” courses that Bob ran with his late wife for years. Terry’s got some background on them on her website here.

Bob’s the person who introduced me to Terry as well :-)

[tags] dog training, Bob Bailey, chicken training [/tags]

Brits want to zap shock collars

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The UK Kennel Club is calling for a ban on shock collars for dogs.

In the U.S., some believe shock collars a necessity for training certain behaviors, such as behaviors that are to be executed at a distance.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Just consider Bob Bailey, who with his late wife, Marian Breland Bailey, showed that even non-domesticated animals can be trained to execute an astonishing array of behaviors without the use of aversives. In a recent Star-Telegram interview Bailey explains the basis of his training approach: “All you have to do is learn what it likes, what it takes for the animal to say, ‘Aha. I will do more of this.'”

He continues:

“The dog is not a little person. The dog will do what will pay off. What your challenge is as a pet owner is to break the training up into small pieces and make it worthwhile for them to play your games.”

Shock collars are a step backward. I agree they don’t belong in Britain, and I don’t think they belong in the U.S., either.