puppy mind

The Nature of Fear Jan 26, 2014

Aggression and the Nature of Fear Since in my view all expressions of anti-social aggression are manifestations of fear, it would prove fruitful to take a closer look at the nature of fear. Fear is the collapse of a state of attraction. And because a dog doesn’t discriminate between physical and emotional equilibrium, all forms […]

Elaboration Through Physical Memory Dec 07, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/goose-german-shepherd_n_4386472.html The takeaway sentence in this article is that the goose “stood up for herself.” This means that she reflected the shepherd’s emotional charge back at him, and this resistance is what triggered the dog’s physical memories of flow, i.e. its puppy mind. Then through a process of elaboration wherein both individuals generate traits on […]

Soft Puppy Mouth Sep 11, 2011

In this sequence of play we can see the sable GSD exhibit a soft mouth, which is evidence that his puppy mind is beginning to run the show. This means he is becoming equipped under a high rate of change to find new focal points for his Drive energy, so that he can shift what […]

Books about Natural Dog Training by Kevin Behan

In Your Dog Is Your Mirror, dog trainer Kevin Behan proposes a radical new model for understanding canine behavior: a dog’s behavior and emotion, indeed its very cognition, are driven by our emotion. The dog doesn’t respond to what the owner thinks, says, or does; it responds to what the owner feels. And in this way, dogs can actually put people back in touch with their own emotions. Behan demonstrates that dogs and humans are connected more profoundly than has ever been imagined — by heart — and that this approach to dog cognition can help us understand many of dogs’ most inscrutable behaviors. This groundbreaking, provocative book opens the door to a whole new understanding between species, and perhaps a whole new understanding of ourselves.
  Natural Dog Training is about how dogs see the world and what this means in regards to training. The first part of this book presents a new theory for the social behavior of canines, featuring the drive to hunt, not the pack instincts, as seminal to canine behavior. The second part reinterprets how dogs actually learn. The third section presents exercises and handling techniques to put this theory into practice with a puppy. The final section sets forth a training program with a special emphasis on coming when called.