Dog training is one of the biggest responsibilities we have as dog owners. Without it, we risk; harm to the dog, harm to other people, and harm to their property.
It’s not always easy, nor is it always fun.
Especially when your dog behaves perfectly during training but becomes completely unpredictable in difficult situations like with children, other dogs, or in the car.
Over the years, science has discoverd a lot about how dogs learn and new training methods are being introduced. One of the main focal points is to use less force and fear to achieve obedience. This has a two main benefits:
- It’s more fun for dog and owners
- Your dog will still follow your commands without you having to always exude power and dominance.
Brain Training for Dogs is a course and book based on these new discoveries, we really wanted to find out what it was and how it works. In this review we are going tot cover these and other questions about it.
What Is Brain Training For Dogs?
Brain Training for Dogs is an ebook and online training program that aims to develop the dogs brain to increase focus and ability to understand commands.
It’s based on the premise that a dog is not intentionally disobedient but too distracted to follow commands.
After signing up, you receive a PDF for the main book, the bonus book, and access to the member section of the website. This is where you can find all the videos.
The book starts with an introduction into force-free training methods. Every exercise is based on these principles. This section really opened our eyes to how we have been trying to train before.
After the theory come the practical exercises. There are 21 different “brain training” games that you can teach your dog. We found it really easy to play these games. Each is described in-depth and illustrated with a video.
Who is the author?
The book and course are designed by Adrienne Faricelli. Born in Italy, she became a certified dog trainer in 1995. After moving to the US, she got certified here too in 2004.
Adrienne has always been a strong advocate for friendlier training methods. She has been writing for Hubpages, Daily Pub, Nest Pets, Paw Nation, Ehow, USA Today, and Everydog Magazine.
Now she has condensed all her expertise into Brain Training For dogs.
Principles Behind Force-Free Dog Training
Dogs were mainly trained using negative reinforcement and punishment to teach them that misbehaving would have harsh repercussions. Many of those practices have been abandoned today as being considered unnecessary and inhumane.
From the 1980s research suggested that positive reinforcement and force-free dog training achieve better results without the cruelty.
But until this day. many professional and amateur trainers are still using dominance, fear, and pain as their main method. And that has got to change.
How Does it Work? – Brain Training for Dogs Structure
The book starts with an introductory Obedience lesson which you really should learn and go over with your dog. It teaches basic commands like sit and lie down which will be necessary for the brain games in the rest of the book.
After that come the lessons which are have a definite structure to them.
- There’s an introduction that tells you the objective of the lesson and the supplies you’ll need to do it.
- Next is a “How to Train” section that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to train your dog on that particular behavior.
- After that is a troubleshooting section that deals with any issues you could have.
- Several ways to increase the challenge.
- An exam so you can know you have mastered this game and it’s time to move on.
Example lessons 1 + 2
The first two lessons on the book are titled “Target” and “Look into my Eyes”.
The target lesson teaches your dog how to touch target objects with his nose or paw and how to reward him when he’s done it correctly.
The second teaches your dog how to look into your eyes because this will help him learn to focus and follow directions.
Advanced Lessons
These lessons let your dog learn more valuable skills that create greater bonding between you two and will ultimately improve his thinking skills and agility. Activities like leg weaving, name discrimination, the tidy up game – now doesn’t that sound fun? – and playing the piano all increase your dog’s cognitive skills and positively affects his quality of life.
Bonus: Behavior Training for Dogs
In this brain training for dogs review I will also mention the bonus book that Adrienne provides to help you deal with issues in your dog’s behavior. Behavior training for dogs helps you address bad habits that your dog may be exhibiting by targeting the most common ones.
For example, the book explains how whining is an instinctive behavior that dogs do to get attention. Ignoring them when they do it lets them learn that it is a bad behavior and they won’t get what they desire by doing so.
Another behavior Adrienne talks about is barking at nothing. Of course, we think that it’s nothing but there could be a number of factors that cause your dog to bark more than you’d like and she gives suggestions on how to address the different causes of barking.
Free game with PDF
If you want to take Brain Training for a spin, try the free Airplane game. All you need is this PDF, and the video below. Your dog will be surprised today!
BRAIN TRAINING FOR DOGS CONCLUSION
This is a truly effective program and a steal at its price compared to the hundreds of dollars that you might pay to have a dog trainer teach your dog valuable skills. It’s an easy understandable product designed to train your dog and developed by someone who’s a professional in the field.
Not only does it build your bonds but also increases your dog’s thinking abilities. The only potential problem is the fact that the included videos have some sound issues. Adrienne can be heard in them but the sound is a bit interrupted because of the wind or distance. However this is a minor setback against all the good that the program can do.
Pros
- Only force free training
- Great results while still completely dog-friendly
- Dozens of videos to support the book
- Great bonus book, basically doubles the content
Cons
- Some videos suffer from bad sound recording
- Not complete enough as a standalone training resource