Neil's DailyOM course - How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen

[neilsattin]

In another thread, Drea was wondering aloud about the difference between my DVD set (Natural Dog Training: The Fundamentals) and the new course that I've released in partnership with DailyOM.com - How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen. So I thought I'd create a little thread here to talk about the DailyOM course and how it's different from the DVD set - as well as to answer any questions that come up about the course.

Is it different?

Yes, the DailyOM course is different than the DVD set - which was a prerequisite of DailyOM even considering my course. My goal was to make something that would be complete in and of itself, but that would also complement the content of the DVDs (and vice versa)

What are some unique/special things about the DailyOM course?

Well, one thing that's quite different is where it starts. In the time since putting the DVDs together, I've explored several ways to help people overcome their own blocks to change, the obstacles within that can get in the way of making progress with their dogs. Over the past year I've been working on this very issue with Cloe Madanes of the Robbins-Madanes Center for Strategic Intervention, one of the world's top family therapists. The result has been the still-evolving "Inner Game of Dog Training" - which is all about what happens within you before you ever mix up a bag of kibble and hot dog (or steak chunks for you raw foodies). So "How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen" begins with the Inner Game - which is then woven into each of the other lessons of the course.

Also, the DailyOM course is focused on the overall relationship that you're creating with your dog as you do Natural Dog Training techniques. Each step of the way I not only talk about what to look for as you do the specific techniques, but I also illustrate the "big picture" of how what you're doing will be affecting your connection with your dog. The purpose is to continually place technique in a larger context - the most important context - which is "how will this strengthen my bond with my dog?" And "how do I know - what do I look for?"

The original working title of the course was "How to Become the Center of Your Dog's Emotional Universe". So as I put the course together, I made some decisions about what things led to that result specifically. While that is also certainly the goal of the DVD set, I think that the DVDs focus more on technique with the explicit goal of developing a 100% reliable turn-on-a-dime-no-matter-what-distractions-abound recall (if you were to work through DVD#2 one step at a time). I also meant the DVD set to be the kind of thing where you'd almost never need another DVD - because it had so many techniques in it.

The DailyOM course represents a completely new way to get to know the Natural Dog Training material.

The video content in the DailyOM course comes straight from the DVDs. What's different is the way that the content is presented. It's essentially as if the DVDs are saying "Here, let me teach you Natural Dog Training" - and then the DailyOM course says "Now let me teach it to you again, with an entirely different perspective." The two perspectives don't conflict with each other, but they represent an opportunity for you to get to know the material on a much deeper level. Maybe certain things will make more sense to you when they're presented in a different way? Maybe a technique on the DVD set will click into place once you've approached it from a new direction?

How is the course content delivered on DailyOM?

"How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen" is an 8-week long course, with one lesson each week (with enough content/exercises to keep you busy for the week - trust me). When you sign up for the course, the first lesson is "unlocked" for you - although you can see the titles (which are descriptive) of the other 7 lessons. Each week the next lesson in the sequence is unlocked and added to your available lessons.

There is also a discussion forum on DailyOM for questions/answers specific to the course. Some people are already using it, though it remains to be seen how active that will be.

Personally I like the "one lesson per week" format. I think it's helpful both in terms of structuring what you do (if nothing else it's a chance to revisit the material once each week), and also in keeping things broken up in manageable chunks that are relatively easy to absorb.

What about this whole "Pay what you want" thing?

Yes, I know it's an interesting business model, but you can literally choose what you want to pay for the DailyOM course. The minimum is $1, while the maximum is $100. I think that the idea is that you essentially decide what the course is worth to you, and then you pay that amount. My hope, of course, is that people choose to pay more than $1 (I certainly put way more than a dollar's worth of effort into creating the course!) - but, on the other hand, I'd rather have someone pay $1 and try the course than opt out because it was "too expensive".

I also like the model because if you already own the DVD set, it gives you some flexibility to decide what works for you financially. I certainly want you to have all of the information that you can possibly have (while still keeping it useful). And as long as I'm able to take care of my family, we're all happy campers.

Do you have any other questions?

If you do, feel free to use this thread to ask them, and I will do my best to answer.

We're currently in the Top 10 of all the courses on DailyOM! To those of you who have already signed up - THANK YOU! I'm really excited about this course, and I look forward to hearing from you as you have a chance to experience each of the lessons that I put together.

So...what are you waiting for? Head on over to DailyOM to check out How to Speak So Your Dog Will Listen!