Hello from a suburb of Atlanta

[Alec]

Hello, my name is Alec and I have a 16 month old "Old Southern White" or American Bulldog that we (my wife and I) adopted at 7 months old. I have used various traditional techniques (beginner obedience class and online reading) but wanted a dog with a more reliable down and recall. The information I read on the internet made me curious as it seems more in tune with the dog, and quite frankly more intelligent. We have been applying NDT techniques for almost 5 weeks and my dog has begun showing some changes. Her obedience is better (still a long way to go) but she also seems to be more confident, and just yesterday I was able to redirect a small amount of fear! As I mentioned, I only began this to help her with the down and recall but as we have progressed I am more hopeful to help her with her hyper friendliness to new dogs and people, and fear (certain noises primarily).

[neilsattin]

Thanks for introducing yourself! Did you catch me on the CBS morning show here in Atlanta this morning? If you didn't that's fine - it was EARLY. I'm enjoying the rain here - at least it's still warm. Maine has descended into the 60s. We won't see 70 again until next June, probably. Glad to hear that you're seeing some good initial results.

[Alec]

I DVRed the show this morning so that I could skip to your appearance, and I think you did well. I wish they could have let you have some more time along with some outdoor work (I seen 2 spots - was there more at the end of the show?) to show the pushing technique, etc. I was kind of disappointed because to the casual viewer they may have thought you just fed and massaged the dog when there is so much you could do for the dog. That dog has a ton of fear which will probably take a lot of time to work through (everyone wants to see results now, especially on TV). Nonetheless it gets NDT out there, and hopefully it will lead some people to read the blog and check out the DVD's.

The rain is pretty brutal this week. It's usually clear, warm, and humid. If you're around for much longer, and have some free time, let me know and I would be glad to show you around.

[neilsattin]

Hey Alec,

The two two-minute spots - that was essentially it. I agree that it would have been nicer to show more - or to have had an opportunity to work with Jennifer's dog outside the studio. My hope was simply to come across well - well-enough to drive some people to find out some more about Natural Dog Training. Time (and webstats) will let me know if that worked or not. You might have picked up on the fact that a TV studio isn't really the best place to work with a dog - particularly one that's as skittish/tense/high anxiety as Sadie is. Ah, c'est la vie. At least she enjoyed the hot dog bits!

My wife and children just got stuck out somewhere in Little Five Points during the latest barrage of rainfall. yikes!

I appreciate your offer - probably will have to take a "rain"check if that's ok. We have a family wedding here this weekend, so lots of events to attend, and not much free time. Thanks though!