In an ideal world, pet owners would train their dogs in the following order, depending on the pet’s problem, available resources, and geographical availability:
• Find a qualified, dog-friendly training professional to coach you in person
• Find a trainer to work with you via Skype if none are available in your area
• Watch training videos online
• Purchase training books and/or read articles
• Seek advice from anyone you know who has ever had a dog, or watch reality shows about dog training
It’s obviously best to work with a trainer in person, and this should be mandatory if your pup has potentially severe or dangerous behavior problems. But many dedicated pet owners can learn to teach basic manners and even some very advanced tricks by watching training videos or reading books.
This week I want to recommend Tawzer Dog Videos, which is probably the world’s best source for quality training instruction and seminar DVDs. Its site features many of the industry’s well-established trainers alongside up-and-comers like Grisha Stewart and Emily Larlham. I’ve sent many pet owners to the Tawzer site when they’ve asked me about finding resources on teaching new skills, but I admit that purchasing DVDs can quickly get expensive.
Fortunately, Tawzer recently introduced a Netflix-like home delivery subscription service for its training DVDs. This gives you the chance to learn from Grisha, Emily, Steve White, Kathy Sdao, Ken Ramirez, Patricia McConnell, Terry Ryan, and other leaders in the behavior and training field from the comfort of your home. The site lists all the pricing options and policies.
Advantages:
• Variety: You’ll find DVDs on tricks, basic manners, adolescent dog training, training for competition sports, puppy raising, and behavior modification.
• Price: The basic plan (one disc at a time) costs about $10 a month.
• Quality: The folks at Tawzer put a lot of time and effort into finding seminars that promote modern, dog-friendly training techniques.
• CEUs: Pay attention, fellow pet pros! If you don’t have the time or money to attend a variety of seminars, you can now get credit for renewal of professional certifications through viewing Tawzer’s videos.
Disadvantages
• Tawzer doesn’t yet offer a streaming service, but I hope the company is working on that so people like me can watch these DVDs directly without waiting for the mail.
Unlike Netflix, which has multiple shipping stations nationwide, Tawzer is a small, family-owned company based in the Pacific Northwest — so I have some concerns about shipping and delivery times to the East Coast. I admit I haven’t subscribed to the DVD delivery program yet (mostly because I just spent a ton of money on Tawzer videos for my professional library and have yet to watch them all), but hopefully this won’t be an issue. I really want to check out Sandi Pensinger’s new Treibball DVDs and of course, Emily Larlham of Kikopup’s great tricks seminar!
• Patience! Many of the seminars comprise four to eight DVDs, so you may want to upgrade from the one-DVD-a-month plan if you want to watch an entire seminar without waiting.
Have any of you subscribed already? I’m interested in hearing feedback about the service, particularly from East coast subscribers regarding wait time on DVD shipments.
Until next week, happy training!
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