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FREE e-book "8 Things to Know About Veterinary Care"

November 20, 2007

As a kid, I was a pretty good student. My work as a writer also means I spend a lot of time learning new things. I thought maybe my study tactics might help others sort through the many ideas in Leslie McDevitt’s book. So, here it goes.

Step One – Read the book straight through. Not necessarily in one sitting, but read it from start to finish before trying any of the ideas.

Step Two – Read again slow, marking the passages that strike you as important over all or to your specific dog.

Step Three – Skim through your highlights, marking with sticky notes the big-picture ideas and the actual training exercises so that they serve as an outline of sorts and also so that you can find what you need fast.

Step Four – Make a training plan that makes sense for your dog.

For example, I thought the mat training and Look at That game made a lot of sense for Lilly, so I taught those first. And, we continue to work on them. Next we tackled the Relaxation Protocol as foundation work. Currently, we’re in our second 15-day cycle. But, for Lilly, I’ve also decided to train the sleepy eyes and lowered head as separate pieces since she’s not naturally getting them from the protocol. Next, we’re working on GOTCHA (collar grabs) and also some reorienting. For now, that feels like plenty. It’ll be quite some time before we’re ready for the exercises from the CU classes.

If it helps, here’s a rundown of some of the pages and topics I’ve flagged:

Page 51, premack
Page 66, massage and mind work
Page 73, I’m gonna get you
Page 76, reorienting
Page 91, leave it
Page 94, whiplash turn
Page 98, go to place (matwork)
Page 106, sleepy eyes
Page 122, look at that

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

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