Stump the Chump

Stump A Chump Apr 27, 2011

I haven’t cared for too many horses over my years, but about ten years ago when carrying buckets of feed to my two horses, I noticed the following which brought me to an important understanding of Pavlov’s research. Guinness and Maggie would at first be milling excitedly in their paddock when they saw me emerging […]

Stump A Chump Dec 10, 2010

Why are there swings in playgrounds? Or in other words, what makes a good feeling feel good?

Stump A Chump Aug 24, 2010

What does the emotional battery, the phenomenon of neotony, and the dog’s affinity for cars all have in common? Every debate I have with learning theorists argue that the distinction I’m drawing between dogs and other animals, for example animals such as cats and deer, are irrelevant because these distinctions can be taken into account […]

Stump the Chump Jun 21, 2010

Thanks to Christine for suggesting this section! The following is an excerpt from her comment: “My first contribution is a scenario: A few years ago my family was out at camp. My sister brought her dog “Happy” a very nervous and high-strung beagle mix. The first thing she did was to bite Duncan in the […]

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.