This was recently posted on another list by someone who advocates it for training horses and dogs. I'd appreciate any comments after your review.

It is posted here along with the contact information of the original author.


Regards,

Lou Castle, Los Angeles, CA
Uncllou@aol.com
For training articles go to http://www.loucastle.com
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The Easy Hand was developed in the early 50's to break horses to saddle. Till this point in history the only method recognized was that method that had come down through the years of blindfolding the horse, blanket and saddle, a wrangler mounted in a round coral, the blindfold was taken off and the horse went insane trying to dismount the rider.

This resulted in a few unpleasant things happening. Riders were crippled or killed. the same want of many horses. The horses that were so high strung that could not be broken by rider after rider were shot as of no value to man.

Two brothers in 52 had an idea of how to save these horses. They built a stall so small that the horse's body touched both sides. The horse was placed into this stall.

Experimenting with feeding, socializing, exercising, human association, they discovered that the horse became very friendly and obedient when a human took it out of the stall and led it around the barn yard, speaking to it in soft and loving voice. During these periods of tranquility the human hung on the neck, pulled the tail, placed a blanket on the horses back . A saddle was added later but not cinched. The horse was returned to the restrictive stall any time it showed objection to ANYTHING THE HUMAN WISHED TO DO WHILE OUT IN THE YARD>.The human's voice became loud shouting the word NO=NO=NO.

When the horse responded to human desires it was fed carrots, oats, apples and the human showed him great affection brushing his coat and saying in a soft voice OK-OK-OK and as the horse responded to training it was at times allowed to run free in a pasture. Remember that this is one of the "Can't Be Broke" horses.

To make a long story short, eventually the horse allowed a man to gain the saddle and there was NO BUCKING AT ALL. The horse responded at once to OK-OK-OK and NO-NO-NO This method was than referred to as ,"The Easy Hand" and dog trainers believed it could be used to train dogs that are difficult to train or break bad conduct in dogs. They were successful. MORE TOMORROW You will need a SILENT DOG WHISTLE- And A loud POLICE WHISTLE, but NOT an ecollar.

If you can agree to a basic set of rules for training dogs we all can start on the same page..If not don't even try this method.

1- NEVER strike the dog for any reason.

2- Never raise your hand to the dog giving him the impression you are about to strike him.

3- Never use any training aid that will bring pain or any extraordinary discomfort to the dog. (Choke, Chain, Prong, "E"collars)

4- Never deny the dog food or water as a means of punishment or training.

You will need to obtain the following items: A second cage other than the cage the dog is used to be put into. The cage should be only large enough for the dog to turn with GREAT difficulty from back to front. Cover this cage with a blanket leaving only the front to allow light and air to enter. Water is available in the cage at all times.

A silent dog whistle A loud Police whistle A leather muzzle, loose fitting. A leash modified to a length of only one foot. One pound of beef liver, fry it hard, cut it into one inch square pieces. Refrigerate for only training use.

Starting a PUP:

Two commands are the very first to be taught-- OK-OK-OK---- as the command indicating your approval..the repetition three times will differentiate it from the word being spoken in any other context other than training. NO-NO-NO the command indicating your disapproval.

Proceed as you would with any puppy training using only praise and reward as the motivating factor. The reward is to be one piece of the calves liver for each advance,

Should the pup resist the task using praise and reward training place him in the restrictive cage SHOUTING the disapproval. Before you walk away blow the police whistle..Walk away leaving him ALONE for no less than one hour.

DO NOT INDICATE either approval or disapproval when removing him from the cage. Just open it and walk away.

A Caution--- Should you not be present to witness the infraction of the dog; EXAMPLE- You return to find the dog has pooped in the kitchen. Caging will be of NO VALUE because the dog will have NO IDEA why he is being caged. You must only cage at once immediately after the failure of the pup to follow orders==He is to know WHY he is going into the DARK CAGE.

Once the pup learns that if he fails to obey you he will be placed in the DARK CAGE and his actions have made you angry with him, he will soon obey you. When he does as he is told to do, THAN you use the OK-OK-OK. Blow the silent whistle, praise, petting, hugs and liver..(MAKE A BIG FUSS) THE LIVER IS ONLY TO BE USED during TRAINING. For ALL other reward times use something else.

Now why the whistles: As the pup grows he will at times be away from your immediate grasp. He will by this time associate the sound of the whistles with approval or disapproval. He will immediately know the sound of the police whistle means he is doing something you don't want him to do. The silent will tell him you APPROVE of what he is doing. If he don't respond get him into the dark cage at once for an hour. don't forget NO-NO-NO and blow the whistle. Sometimes real bad cases will require two to three hours to get his attention..

This is the basic "EASY HAND" and is adaptable to the training of hard to train grown dogs as well as breaking grown dogs of bad habits, Barking, Chewing, Fence fighting are examples.

"THE EASY HAND" Training with NO TRAUMA to the animal being trained.

Field Training

Being a Bloodhounder, I will not address the training needed for air scent dogs. That is your Job. My dogs are born with the ability to scent discriminate and the instinct to follow one specific human scent trail to it's end.

We do have some things in common. Crittering,// runaway dogs (IF we drop the 30 foot leash the BH is GONE he will not wait for you), If he is on Scent Trail even the police whistle can no stop him.// aggression to another dog, ECT.

The muzzle is used in the field as the replacement for the Dark Cage.PUT IT ON AT ONCE

The short leash is applied at the same time and the dog held close and ignored for about ten minutes. The more time you can restrain the better it will work

Every other aspect of the method is applied The No-No-NO/ the police whistle, letting the dog know that what he has JUST DONE is wrong. After the restraint time, the muzzle is removed, the dog returned to work with no comment or reaction from you.

When the dog makes a find or is doing very well NOW USE THE OK-OK-OK- the silent whistle-the reward.

The End

RICK
The HUNTERS of The LOST HUNTER:
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I'm a newb, but the big thing that I think that has the potential to be really bad in this method is this section:


Now why the whistles: As the pup grows he will at times be away from your immediate grasp. He will by this time associate the sound of the whistles with approval or disapproval. He will immediately know the sound of the police whistle means he is doing something you don't want him to do. The silent will tell him you APPROVE of what he is doing. If he don't respond get him into the dark cage at once for an hour. don't forget NO-NO-NO and blow the whistle. Sometimes real bad cases will require two to three hours to get his attention..
If your dog takes off, and you blow the whistle in disapproval, when or rather IF the dog comes to you you're going to throw him in a dark cage as punishment...? Or are you going to reward him?

It sounds interesting, but as other things in life, just because it works in one situation doesn't mean it will work out great in another.

 Quote:

As the pup grows he will at times be away from your immediate grasp.

Why? He shouldn't be allowed off-leash until he knows and obeys all his commands, especially "Come".

I didn't finish the whole thing, I couldn't see how in 1952 they came up with this better way, when most horse people were thru with the bronc bustin days of the late 1800's for quite a while. I can see how people will love the idea of not having to physically punish thier dog. I deal with this in classes all the time. However the whistle thing......what the, ok I can't curse here. Can we get them for fraud?? How about mental cruelty?? I feel that I have been damaged forever.

Lou, Jeff is correct although I dont know the date - but I can tell you that this guys post is foolish. It indicates someone who is no more than a complete novice on horse training and on dog training.

Like dog training - horse training has come light years in the past 30 to 40 years. There are trainers out there (Ray Hunt - John Lyons- Pat Perelli - Clinton Anderson – Buck Brenneman etc etc) who have been showing people how to train horses in a better way for years. You can call it gentle braking or whatever you want. I choose to call it good horse training. The methods these men use work with the genetic instincts of the horse. They don’t need carrots and food. Food is not a reward for horse.

With that said horses are prey animals and dogs are predators. They are not trained in the same way. In fact you train a dog in completely different way than a horse.

In many areas the reward for a horse is to simply "leave it alone" and do nothing more to it. I am not going into horse training on this board - there are plenty of very good horse boards out there. If you want to know where they are private message Cindy - she monitors most of the good ones.

My advise to anyone reading this thread is to totally disregard the concepts of the guy in Lou’s post. He is just another bizarre nut bag trying to reinvent the wheel.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

i had to go back and re-read lou's post twice.i couldn't believe lou would fall for this bunk, and he didn't.lol just jt.

Having been an observer (and a minor bit player) of the discussion Mr. Castle mentioned, I'll say two things,
1. Mr. Castle did ask the guy permission to post on other boards and informed the gentleman he'd post his contact information along with the unedited information. Which he did.

Secondly, Lou, I can't believe you posted that with a straight face. Ok sorry I only really had one comment. Now Lou, please explain how to teach the woman that wore the electronic collar during the demonstration that was so elequently put to us. LOL. sorry can't help myself.

In all seriousness, I swear my respect for some of you grows greatly, how you can run a business and still put up with some of the idots you must have to deal with, or defend yourselves against, is beyond me.

DFrost

So when I crate my dog and turn off the light at night am I punishing him?

Only if your dog is afraid of the dark. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Lou,As Ed said , horse training has come a long way..from just "Breaking a colt"...in short.Not the same words but the same "sense". A horse is a fight or flight individual..as they are prey.That is all they know.A dog is quite the opposite.The training measures with a horse..is based on trust..as the basis..in good hands.There are so many people out there leading people on with there tactics..to sell..Should I sell a book to teach..how it is possible to get a "rank" horse because of handling..to lay down..without restraint..NO Way!!!I have done this many times.The term "Gentle Hand"...is knowing the individual both psychologically and genetically. "Gentle Hand"..stems from those that were readers of animals.It is a gift.Predominently based upon on Horse reading. I would hope that you would recognize the difference between a horse and a GSD...in training.