When I started the Natural Dog Training blog, there was hardly any information on-line about how to use Natural Dog Training with your dog.  So starting this blog was a bit of an experiment for me – would you even be interested?  How effective could a “blog” be at teaching you a completely new way of working with your dog?  I’ve received excellent feedback and questions from you, which has guided the content – and the subsequent e-mails describing changes that you’ve experienced with your dogs has been really rewarding for me.

But my written descriptions, as thorough as I try to make them, are simply words on the screen.  I’ve been REALLY excited to hear from people as they start working with the Natural Dog Training DVDs, because I had a feeling that video instruction would be leaps-and-bounds ahead of the written instruction for getting results fast.  And for not only experiencing a change in your dog, but also experiencing the internal change, within you, that comes from adopting a completely new perspective on “how our dogs work”.

So, meet Cliff and Anne.  If you read the press release about the “official arrival” of the Natural Dog Training DVDs, you saw a brief quote from them.  Their dog, Lenny, apparently has a tendency to snatch things – and to react aggressively when they try to get them back.  He’s also “food aggressive”.  Cliff and Anne had pre-ordered the DVDs, and in a cool twist of fate we were all attending the same wedding in Vermont a few weeks back – just after I had received my shipment of DVDs from the presses.  And I happened to have a few copies in the car with me, to show off to – well – anyone who cared.  So though it was totally unplanned, I was able to hand-deliver the first copy of the DVD set to leave my hands.

So a week later, here’s the e-mail I receive (with some pics to follow).  It illustrates perfectly the transition between “old way/new way of responding”:

Hi Neil,

…

As I was preparing dinner for friends tonight, Lenny started getting restless. He was kind of resting when the garbage men came. After he “chastised” them, I noticed that he was up on the dining room table, just looking for trouble. The table was clean, but I took the placemats, just in case.

I decided to let him outside, so I invited him to go, but as we passed through the kitchen, he made a beeline for a big pile of cut vegetables that I had foolishly left unguarded on the counter.  Faced with a potential loss of a good portion of dinner (to say nothing of all that chopping), I swung the placemats in my hand around to “block” him. In the process, I winged him on the nose. He got off the counter, and didn’t growl or anything. He just gave me this “look”.

Suddenly, “epiphany”! I think if he could speak he would have said
“*Please* take my energy!” I immediately ran him outside. First we had a dog-wins game of tug. Then, I invited him to jump up on me. He did so with gusto– biting my ears, licking my face, etc.– and he is normally very reserved. Afterwards, he laid down and fell asleep. For the last 2 hours, he has been calm, obedient, and mostly, asleep.

I’m not the world’s most mystical guy, but I definitely felt an emotional connection (if not a physical one) as he (*ahem*) gave me his energy.

The point (finally) is that you may want to indicate that the feeding/ pushing techniques, and subsequent energy discharge, may be useful outside of training or dinnertime.

Best,C.

And a few days later:

I know Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Lenny seems to be undergoing steady improvement— at least he likes to hang out with me, waits patiently until I’m done with whatever, is more generally relaxed (also asleep), doesn’t snatch as much and gives it up easier when he does, and SO forth. If he gets antsy, I grab a handful of chow and push 2-3 times and brief tug. He can still be a rascal, but, as said, much improved. I was ready for months of work and didn’t think it’d happen so quickly. Well, we’ll see when winter rolls around and there are no squirrels/rabbits/chipmunks to stalk and chase and we’re cooped up inside for longer stretches.

And one final illustration of how it all can work (this is a couple weeks later):

Today I picked Lenny up from his kennel vacation. They said he did very well, played with other dogs and is welcome back any time (!)

We ran some errands, and just as we got home, all heck broke loose.
Mainly, my IT guy came over, and I put L in the yard rather than have IT go through “the routine”. L fell asleep in the sun, but got excited when IT left, mail came, etc. I finally had time to play with him in the yard. I grabbed his tug toy, and as soon as we got outside BAM! We played for a few energetic minutes, I rubbed his chest while he zoned out, and then he followed me inside and fell asleep– where he is still 2 hours later. Talk about that release of energy. . .

YES!

And some photos (photography by Cliff Abrams) – you can click on them to see a larger version:

I really look forward to hearing more as you work with the Natural Dog Training DVDs.  It’s fun, and you will see a difference – both in your dog, and in yourself.  So please do drop me a line to let me know how it’s going!

True believers – the moment you’ve all been waiting for is here!  Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals is hot off the presses and available here in the Natural Dog Blog store.  We’ve been getting some great feedback from the folks who pre-ordered their copies – and I can’t wait to hear what YOU think too.  Yup, I’m excited.

It’s been ten months now since we started talking about “making a video” (it started out as an e-book, remember?).  Ten months!  It’ll be nice to sleep at night again.  Just ask my family.

I look forward to sharing with you some of the “a-ha!” moments that are being e-mailed in.  For now, though, I’ll let you read the “official” press release, as it hit the BusinessWire this morning at 9AM.

New Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals DVD set develops obedience; creates deeper emotional bond

First and only instructional DVDs to teach proven techniques of Natural Dog Training

PORTLAND, Me. – July 21, 2009 – Expert dog trainer and creator of Natural Dog Blog (www.naturaldogblog.com) Neil Sattin today released Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals, a new two-DVD set that teaches the basics of Natural Dog Training. The first and only DVDs to teach Natural Dog Training, the two-disc set is an ideal way for the average dog to learn basic and advanced obedience at home, without a professional trainer, and gain the benefits of a deeper emotional connection with their human. The DVDs cover introductory techniques as well as address more challenging situations like dog aggression, anxiety, fearfulness, and hyperactivity.

Skills covered in Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals include:

• Sit, down, stay; how to achieve an insta-down when the dog is energized or in danger
• A recall (“come!”) that works even when the dog is extremely interested in something else
• How and why to “be the moose” in the dog’s life
• Play-training such as tug-of-war and “fetch-tug,” and why the dog should always win
• Getting the dog to relax and be attracted to their owner even at increasing levels of energy and stimulation

“Natural Dog Training taps into our dogs’ deepest instincts and lets us see the world through their eyes, or, more accurately, feel the world through their hearts,” said Sattin.

“These DVDs show any dog owner how to honor the true inner workings of their dog’s nature in the process of training, which makes it easy to channel your dog’s energy into the behaviors that you want.”

Natural Dog Training was established in the 1980s by Kevin Behan (http://naturaldogtraining.com) based on the philosophy of using a dog’s emotional interaction with the world, in particular their prey drive, to elicit obedience and solve problems like aggression and hyperactivity. Behan, Sattin and other proponents of Natural Dog Training strive to make the human the most attractive object in the dog’s emotional universe, by answering a dog’s most important question: ”what do I do with my energy?”

“Neil’s special attention to the true nature of dogs can help any owner connect with their dog,” said Behan. “I am tremendously pleased that these Natural Dog Training DVDs are available on the market so that all dog lovers can finally benefit from these techniques and use them today with their own pets in their own backyards.”

“Neil Sattin speaks with quiet authority as he masterfully illustrates the fundamentals of this remarkable new training system,” said bestselling author and Psychology Today columnist Lee Charles Kelley (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/my-puppy-my-self). “You can see, right in front of your eyes, how these techniques gradually change a dog’s energy from distracted, anxious, or ‘disobedient’ to a kind of calm yet playful gravitation toward his owner.”

Cliff Abrams, Anne von Stuelpnagel, and their dog Lenny from Cos Cob, Conn. had an opportunity to preview Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals. “I’m not the world’s most mystical guy, but I definitely felt an emotional connection if not a physical one as Lenny ‘gave’ me his energy, so to speak. He is very enthusiastic about the training, and I can’t wait to take him outside to practice fetch-tug again. He has been calmer, more focused, more patient and just more fun to be around.”

Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals is available at www.naturaldogblog.com and Amazon.com. The two-disc set sells for $65. For an online preview “trailer” please see http://www.naturaldogblog.com/media.

About Neil Sattin

Neil Sattin is one of the nation’s leading experts in Natural Dog Training. He writes the Natural Dog Training Blog (www.naturaldogblog.com), the web’s most comprehensive resource on the art and science of Natural Dog Training, visited by thousands of dog lovers per month who use the technique personally and professionally. Natural Dog Training uses a dog’s emotional awareness of the world and their prey drive to develop a deeper emotional connection between dogs and their human companions, teach obedience, and solve problems like dog aggression, anxiety, fearfulness, and hyperactivity. Sattin began studying Natural Dog Training after being told by a prominent trainer that his beloved rescue dog Nola should be euthanized because of her aggression, and after embarking on a career of private training and group workshops, and designing and producing an ultra-long, ultra-durable, high-visibility training lead, he produced the Natural Dog Training series of DVDs to help dog owners learn the techniques at home, without a professional. For more information please see www.naturaldogblog.com.

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Editor’s Note: For clips or b-roll from Natural Dog Training:The Fundamentals, or for a review copy, please contact Gary Smith, Evolotus PR, gary@evolotuspr.com, or (818) 783-0569.