I stand corrected!

I did misspell Koehler. And while he did advocate forceful corrections
for destructive and vicious behavior, he also recommended praising and
petting the dog when he was doing well, on the grounds that if you
only pay attention to the dog when he is being bad, and are totally
silent and ignore him when he is doing what you want, he will
misbehave just to get some attention. (Kind of like kids that way).
His obedience method for training the dog emphasizes gentleness,
praise, and patient repetition, and NOT going on to teach the next
lesson until the dog is consistently responding the first time to the
current command being learned. He also recommended consistency, to
avoid confusing the dog. (Again, like raising a kid.)

Dr. Fox, a famous veterinarian, once wrote that if all you want is
something alive for a pet, get a GOLDFISH, dogs need a LOT more than
just a healthy diet and clean water to be a happy and pleasant pet.
They need our understanding, and lots of our time.

Maybe Bill Koehler's book is old, but so are lots of other worthwhile
books, not everything becomes useless with age.

<GOLLEEE RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:07311e77-43a2-42ba-84d8-c60495594f1b@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
>I did misspell Koehler. And while he did advocate forceful corrections
> for destructive and vicious behavior,


Barking when left alone is not "destructive and vicious behaviour". And
beating any living thing with a belt until it's "convinced it's going to
die" isn't "forceful correction", nor is it "training" - it's abuse.

Same for holding a dog's head under water to "cure" it of digging holes.

>Maybe Bill Koehler's book is old, but so are lots of other worthwhile
>books, not everything becomes useless with age

Nobody said his book was "useless". What was said is that it's outdated,
better methods are available for basic training, and that some of his
recommend "methods" for problem behaviours were, and are, criminally
abusive.