Dog training and behavior

I’ve been reading a wonderful book recently by Temple Grandin.  Dr. Grandin has been around for years and has written hundreds of scholarly documents on animal behavior and it seems, quite a number on training.  She comes to animal behavior from an unusual direction in that she’s autistic and perceives animal behavior differently than most people.  She has the ability, without training, to see what is bothering animals and can alter their environment to help them adjust better.

For a dog trainer, "Animals in Translation" her latest book, is a treasure trove of ideas and different interpretations.  So many dog trainers develop a small bag of tricks that work with 80% of dogs and just don’t have any way to deal with the remaining 20% that don’t respond.  I would like to think that I approach things differently but I still run across behaviors sometimes that are utterly baffling.  Dr. Grandin gives her theories about how animals "see" the world around them and how they formulate their responses to it based on that.  It’s a fascinating read, and anyone serious about their dogs and dog training in general should take a look.

To sum things up, we can’t really train a dog if we don’t try to understand what is going on in with it.  Dr. Grandin gives all of us dog trainers a few new tools and a new perspective to deal with difficult behavior issues as well as pets in general.