Has anyone any views on Michel Hasbrouck?

[Mel]

Tali has been biting a bit too hard with his adult teeth. So much so he has left some rather keen bruises on my arms and hands which make me look battered! Anyhow through the APBC I rang several behaviourist just to ask is my getting up and walking away was correct. Needless to say all but one wanted me to book an appointment. However the one person who did offer advice kindly spent almost 40 minutes giving me some good advice. Certainly I think this person was considerate because I explained I had trained two pups before and I had mum in the house with dementia.

She gave me some great advice about training to love the hands and arms and was encouraged I was giving it a 3 month turn around. The commands and technique being used can also be applied to the wall biting.

Because of this I also though I would get a book on dog behaviour as my old Ian Dunbar book is hidden away in the depths of the spare room. So after much time in the bookshop I came away with Jan Fennel's Practical Dog Listener and Gentle Dog Training by Michel Hasbrouck. Now I know about Fennel but the book was reduced due to cover damage and if I don't read for myself I can't understand what is wrong with her technique. She does have some useful advice on why a dog may be behaving in a certain way. The Michel Hasbrouck book, however is really calming to read. I can't seem to find anything about him here, anyone got any comment on him?

We are getting somwhere with the biting of my hands but not with the wall yet. The wall biting is attention seeking because he only does it if I am on the phone speaking or forumming. He looks at you and sidles up to the wall and starts gnawing it. Currently when using the "leave" command he will snarl, bark and get uptight if I ask him to leave. But there is a little improvement. The hand biting is much better at this point.

Sorry I've waffled, I can only see the previous four lines on this phone so forget what I was saying a bit 

[Jane S]

Michel Hasbrouck is French and this seems to be his website: http://dogmasters.com/english/page.php?id=43&titre=Home  Hard to say what his methods are from the little I had time to read (it's not a great website ) He doesn't appear to be a fan of Cesar Milan so I suppose that's a point in his favour

[JennyBee]

Just had a quick look at the site - wasn't too impressed with this in the 'dog trainer advice' section:

we have a 10 weeks old border collie puppy. it is a male, most of the time very good and eager to please, he gets in very hyper moods and we have a really hard time calming him down, he doesn't bite but he nips and sometimes does hurt a little, is there some way to get him to listen to authority or is he simply too young to expect that.

answer : He is not too young at all. When he nips you, take his nose between both hands, and briefly but strongly tighten your grip. Half a second. Be very unpleasant. This way, you teach him to control himself, to refrain his biting mood, acting like his litter mates : when he bites them, they bite him. Excepted you do not actually bite of course! Do not let days pass by without a clear counteraction, or else you will soon face a difficult dog.

Not sure this would be something I would do with any dog, let alone a young pup . He also mentions pack theory quite a bit . With one shy dog who is having trouble walking on lead, he says 'it looks like your puppy is trying to get the leadership. You must lead the pack'

And then this at one point:

Cockers can become very dangerous.

On the plus side he does say no shouting/hitting whenever anyone mentions that they have done so!

[Mel]

Oh that's rather disheartening. 

From what I've read thus far he seems quite kind. As I don't hit and have only ever raised my voice at time of complete danger, i.e. just as a dog is about to chomp a live wire, I had hoped he may have been good. Oh what a shame. Some of the things his book mentions like trying to praise at all times not just when following a command rather than have to correct bad behaviour. I have always believed in saying thank you as well as it's something we humans say and I find dogs pick up on this.

Oh well, I'll look on the suggested list and give a few of those a try

[Karma]

Never heard of him, but from what others have said here, I guess it's another where you can take the bits you like and ignore the heavier handed aspects....