Quote: angela burrell

So no one knows what his method is? Seen his DVD's?

He seems to sell a prong collar and long line set of some sort as well. I wonder if his training is all force/correction based.

From their website:
"The Command Collar™ is a training aide which emulates a mother dog’s natural corrective process, allowing for the incorporation of discipline into the training program."

Translation - the "yank and crack" style of dog training.

"Very quickly you will find your dog following your lead simply because you have the ability to reinforce your communication should he choose to disobey;"

Translation - you have the dog on a prong collar and correct him constantly.

Don Sullivan: “As long as you follow and apply my techniques as instructed, you will see a major change in your dog within a short period of time."

Translation - you dog wil be flat and afraid to move in fear of a sudden prong correction.




And the very fact that this guy would even think that training for this is a good idea shows what a rank beginner he is regarding dog training:

"Sharing Bones: The key considerations for creating harmony between all the dogs in your home, to the point of them even happily sharing a big bone together."

Sorry, that's just *STUPID*!!

If you look at his 'Command Collar" you'll see that it is basically a prong but made of cheap plastic. There are concaves on the outside of the links which I assume has the oposite shape on the inside. No points, just gentle bumps. I guess ya gotta really crank on it to get their attention. Wonder how well it would hold up to a really high drive dog?

Howard

yup, i knew you were kidding ( i caught the little "blushing" emoticon)

what makes me shudder is people reading that then thinking about stuff the dog did wrong last week and correcting the heck out of the dog for it now. I can just see someone hauling fido over to the pair of shoes he chewed last week and getting a correction for it when he doesn't even know what the heck is going on.
Heck, I dont' remember some of my screw ups from last week, never mind someone trying to correct me on the now...lol

I realize dogs are very very intelligent creatures, but I just don't think that it would be fair to correct the dog unless you caught it in the act.
I honestly believe they won't get the connection if its not timed properly

I do remember watching his show he had a few times, and from what I remember his methods are totally force/correction based.
I don't recall much positive re-enforcement.

Thanks for the explanation Will.. it's kind of what I thought it might be, but wasn't sure.

I am ashamed to say I have a dog that I had compulsion trained. (paid a lot of money, too). He was a fairly hard, independent dog and not really food or toy motivated. I didn't fully realize at the time what compulsion/force training really was. It was awful. The dog basically shut down. Oh, he was well behaved... for a stuffed animal. Luckily I realized the error of my ways and he is much better now, but he does not take a correction well (can't say I blame him really).

I do feel really badly for the poor Lab I quoted about earlier. She's probably afraid to do anything anymore.

I really didn't like how the people in the testimonials kept saying the dog was "totally turned around" and "completely different". To me that is like getting married and being unhappy with your spouse, and wanting them to be somebody completely different. I feel like those owners wanted dogs with no personalities. It made me sad.

i happened to catch one of his infomercials a couple of weeks ago and thought "what a bunch of garbage". of course, i'm suspicious of infomercials in gerneral--unless i'm getting not one, not two, but THREE of an item for $19.99, plus a couple of other goodies

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Alyssa Myracle

Read his "myths" page.

One of my favorites, about training with food:

In a dog’s world, the dog that relinquishes his food to another is always the submissive one. By giving your dog food from your hand you are teaching him that you are his subordinate! from http://www.dogfather.tv/aboutdon.php

How does he feed his dogs? With a slingshot?


OK, kidding aside, I'm guessing he has no marker training in his bag of tricks.

(And yes, as I mentioned on another thread, he is the one with the plastic prong collar: the "command collar.")

It's been a while since I saw the infomercial... based on what I'm reading and seeing now, there isn't anything positive-based in his system at all. I did remember seeing the submissive body language of the dogs.

I also remember the long lines of different lengths, giving one the ability to yank a correction from progressively greater distances!

DON'T condem long lines...they are a valuable item in the 'tool box' & have a place in proper training, as thay afford the ability to contol your dog from a distance or be able to step on the line (while the dog is 'free' ) if needed to keep the dog under control. I use them in puppy raising & dogs learning to be reliable 'off leash' thru the training process to a reliable recall.

Not talking about them necessarily being attached to prong collars, although they have a place in their conbined use in proofing & other venues of higher dog training.

And I'm NOT talking about yank & crank correction training here at all. I rely on a broad base of marker training in all my dogs training. Much more fun for both the dogs & myself.

It's not the tool ....it's in who's hands the tool is being used & how it is being used that is the issue in all training.

DON'T condem long lines...they are a valuable item in the 'tool box' & have a place in proper training, as thay afford the ability to contol your dog from a distance or be able to step on the line (while the dog is 'free' ) if needed to keep the dog under control. I use them in puppy raising & dogs learning to be reliable 'off leash' thru the training process to a reliable recall.

Not talking about them necessarily being attached to prong collars, although they have a place in their conbined use in proofing & other venues of higher dog training.

And I'm NOT talking about yank & crank correction training here at all. I rely on a broad base of marker training in all my dogs training. Much more fun for both the dogs & myself.

It's not the tool ....it's in who's hands the tool is being used & how it is being used that is the issue in all training.

Anne;

I wasn't condemning them. I use them extensively in my own training, and sometimes with the prong.
I was making sport of the fact that DS acts like it is some trade secret of his, when a lot of old-school trainers have been doing the same thing for years.
One key difference is that I don't have to buy three different lengths... I just hold mine in different spots!!!