Neil Sattin interviews Sang Koh about Natural Dog Training

[neilsattin]

Hello everyone!

Did you listen to the interview with Sang Koh here on Naturaldogblog? Have some thoughts or questions to share? Here's where you can do it!

[rudy]

That was so cool! Nice to hear your voice Sang.

Thanks for the reminder to give Lou the freedom to just be. He is so darn cute sometimes I forget...

Where are you now with your pup? Is she fear and rage free?

[donnieo]

Great interview! While I do enjoy and recognize the importance of the theorizing that often goes on in the NDT community, at the end of the day often all I want to know is, "when my dog does ______, what do I do?".

I think that if NDT is going to gain popularity with the average dog owner they first need to be presented with practical solutions to everyday problems. I think that once people see that our techniques work, they will become more open to the idea of an energy theory of behaviour.

What stood out for me in the interview was the attention diet. This is a big challenge in my household because while my wife is becoming more accepting of the techniques, she still gives her dog lots of attention and hugs and whatnot. I can see the stress that it places on Yoshi, but I'm not sure how to express this concern to my wife in a way that won't make her feel like I'm accusing her of being a bad dog owner.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by donnieo

Great interview! While I do enjoy and recognize the importance of the theorizing that often goes on in the NDT community, at the end of the day often all I want to know is, "when my dog does ______, what do I do?".

I totally agree with you, I did find with NDT there is little everyday life with your dog stuff and heaps of theory, not sure I truly follow all the theory even now but I'm working on it.

I'd love to see a booklet to go out with Neils DVD that lists day to day stuff even if it's like a list of do's and don't. If folks just spent a month doing the exercises and following the 'rules' they'd see the change in their dog then want to learn more.

I gave up the first time on NDT because I did pushing for 4 days didn't see anything so gave up (yeah I was after the quick fix) but had I known then about no attention, quiet inside, all the play/tug and win I might have seen some results but it takes time to get it all together in one package.

Like when you learn to fly you do 15-20 hours hands on to get the 'feel' of what your learning before you get into the theory of why this input gives this result.

I still feel everyone from Kevin, Neil, Lee and Sang do do a wonderful job getting the word out there as best they can and I'm truly grateful for every minute they spend discussing NDT.

[Sang]

Originally Posted by rudy

That was so cool! Nice to hear your voice Sang.

Thanks for the reminder to give Lou the freedom to just be. He is so darn cute sometimes I forget...

Where are you now with your pup? Is she fear and rage free?

Thanks! I've never been great at interviews. I'm more of a writer than a talker.

Roxy is SO much better than she used to be. Her big hurdle is still new people, but she constantly improves in that area. Her dog aggression is almost non existent. I say "almost", because honestly, I haven't worked her much around strange dogs at all. But then on the rare occasions when I've been out with her where we've encountered new dogs, she's been totally cool. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Most trainers or behaviorists would tell you that you have to constantly introduce your dog to new dogs to socialize them. And if you're a dominance trainer, then you need to correct them when they get aggressive, or reward them and make it a positive experience for them if you're a positive trainer. I haven't done either. I haven't even taken her out to meet new dogs at all. I've just worked with her outside by herself, doing pushing, bitework, settle, speak, etc....and ignoring her in the house, and when we've encountered dogs, she hasn't reacted to them.

A little anecdotal story. This happened a while back, but I was outside with Roxy working with her because a friend of ours was coming to our house. So I was doing all the normal stuff, when our friend pulled into the driveway. When she opened the car door, her dog Nacho, a Min Pin jumped out and ran straight up to Roxy. Nacho is a HIGH energy little guy, as most Min Pins are, and he ran right at her, then bumped into her chest and kept bumping into her. Keep in mind that in the past, the mere sight of a dog 50 yards away would have sent Roxy into a fit. As Nacho was bumping into her, she just stood there looking at him and sniffing him.

When the dog feels grounded, it's all good.