Rating: 
Summary: Get some sense folks!
Review: I have been training and showing for over 40 years having started in the 60's. I'm all of 95lbs and have trained everything from toy breeds to Great Danes, well-bred puppies to older dogs from unknown backgrounds. A 50 lb dog can knock me down and anything bigger can drag me around. I still have all my Koehler books from when they were originally published.
Koehler's instructions for the "normal" situation worked then and work now. It is, and always has been a method of showing the dog what you want - on the retrieve work it takes close to 6 weeks before you throw the dumbbell more than 5 feet! It is a system of reward (praise - verbal and physical) and correction (collar or hands.) I always have my voice and hands - but this clicker/ treat stuff, well, if you don't have it that minute.... I rely on a service dog these days and would feel like a walking grocery store (treats) or a demented cricket (clickers) out in public.
The material in the book that sets all these uncomprehending people screaming is for the last ditch situation. I have had to choke a dog out with the collar. I had been talked into babysitting in my home a completely (unbeknowst to me)untrained, unruly, spoiled rotten, aggressive 115lb Siberian Husky. Without provocation, he attacked someone who came to the house (and I mean as in going to the air with mouth open and snarling.) When I grabbed the collar, stopped him in mid-air and yelled "no", he turned on me. 115 against 95 - not good odds - and he had sharper teeth. I hauled up on the chain slip collar and held his front end off the ground till he seemed to give - I couldn't have stopped him with all 4 feet on the ground. It took a HALF HOUR of lunge at me - choke him - release him - lunge at me until he finally conceeded enough that I could back away. I called the boarding kennel at a vet clinic which I used (and that I had once recommended to his owners) only to be informed that the dog had stayed with them and the owners had been told never to bring him back since he had bit or tried to bite everyone on the staff. (They agreed as a favor to me and for the sake of my Golden Retreiver to take him but stipulated that he would be kept muzzled with a muzzle that would let him eat and drink but not bite.) IF I HADN"T READ ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE IN KOEHLER"S BOOK YEARS BEFORE - I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GAIN CONTROL - AND THE CHOICE WAS MY PHYSICAL SAFETY OR DISCOMFORT, PROBABLY EXTREME DISCOMFORT BUT STILL ONLY TEMPORARY, TO THE DOG.
THAT IS THE SITUATION THAT KOEHLER'S LAST DITCH METHODS ARE TO BE USED IN. Or the dog that continues to destroy a few thousand $$$ of landscaping or who barks so much that a court is ready to order him destroyed or who continuely destroys the furniture or clothes. Those sections are the "When nothing else works" and if any trainer tries to tell you taht clickers and treats and psychoanaylsis of the dog will solve all problems, well, I have this bridge in Brooklyn.
I have worked with dogs so oblivious that they could care less about doing anything except what they want to do and nothing, not treats, clicks or anything else is going to sway them short of an abrupt physical correction (or as much as 95 lbs can give.) I have worked with dogs who were so soft, retiring and easygoing that a sharp word was sufficient. You pick and choose. His books are not cookbooks - "follow ever step or the cake will fail." They are a myriad of techniques to be used in various situations.
If all else has failed to work, what is better - the mild shock of a 6 volt wire or dead? No one with any sense is going to the use the ultimate, nastiest correction for either a small infraction of behavior or as the first step. (Interesting that none of these people seem to have any problem with electric fences or electric collars - same concept, same electric. What do they think the collars and fences are charged with - apple juice?) As to correcint with the collar, yes- some poeple abuse it and harm the dog but then there are people that giving them anything is like giving a monkey a set of razor blades.
Anyone who buys this book should also get the books on training for Open obedience and retrieveing and the book on Utility Obedience work. It all fits.
And oh yes, my 7 month old, 70 lb puppy is quite happily working at the Intermediate level of show obedience competition, has to been ging to the grocery store since he was 5 months old as a sevice dog in training and wiggles with pleasure when he knows it is time to practice or work. He has never needed more than the fulsome verbal and physical praise with the mild collar corrections as delineated by Koehler. I know other owners of the same breed who haven't gotten to this level of performance in 7 YEARS - forget 3 months.
If you want to always have to have treats in your pocket so your dog will obey or carry the clicker thing, and take at lest 10 times as long to get the same results - fine, buy something else.
If you have an average dog or puppy, buy the book and follow Koehler for the normal training. If you have a "if-this-behavior-doesn't-end-the-dog-will-have-to-be-destroyed" sistuation, buy and read the book, talk to your vet, find an animal behvioral specialist (and I don't mean the dog trainer down the street - ask your vet) and develop a plan for trying to correct the problem through gradualy escalating methods of correction - and remember, Koehler put those extreme measures in theere as the last choice.
Rating:
Summary: Koehler's method works for me.
Review: A dog trainer for many years, I have used Koehler's books to guide me. Some say his methods are cruel, but I've been to too many obedience classes where I saw blood drawn from prong collars, good puppies turned into fear-biters because of unfair corrections, dogs that absolutely cannot be let off the leash, the list goes on. Koehler taught me to first teach the dog what I want and make sure he's learned it before a fair correction can be made. Sure, I have to SHOW the dog what "sit" means: how on earth is he going to learn it otherwise? Maybe Koehler doesn't deal with "learning theory" but I have put CD's on two bullmastiffs, a breed not represented well in the obedience ring: one got her CD in 4 trials, the next one in 3 trials with scores of 190 and above. I do like it when my Ruby-dog beats out those Goldens and Shelties! I'm sticking with Koehler. I only wish I could have met the man before he died.
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Summary: "abusive" method saves dog's life - several times.
Review: first off, if you take anything out of context you can twist it around to voice your opinion. the so-called "abusive" tactics previously pointed out were for extreme situations of aggressive and dangerous dogs. do you really think a snapping and biting animal is going to be adequately trained by cooing and puppycookies? get a grip.
if you want to know what this method DOES achieve, try a very neurotic and hyperactive irish setter disoriented and half-doped on tranquilizers after being stationed on a plane in a cage next to a baby panther on an overseas flight - said irish setter gets loose on the flightlines of LAX, no one can catch her because she's scared witless by airplanes and people chasing her. the only thing that worked? her Koehler obedience training and commands that reminded her and brought her to safety.
and, as a previous reviewer said, READ the BOOK. TWICE. Koehler was already armed with the credentials, logical explanations, and educational tools to discredit those who want to cry abuse.
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Summary: People: It's not one size fits all. Kohler has it's place.
Review: Have you ever met two people with the same personality? Just like people, no two dogs are the same. I've heard all the arguments. "People who use clicker training don't understand dogs." "Clicker trainers are too soft." "Kohler trainers are abusive and their methods are out of date." Please-Dogs are not little robots or computers. There are some dogs who should have positive reinforcement and some who need negative reinforcement. I've helped many people train their dogs and both reward training and Kohler have their place.At this moment I am training an abused rescue dog that I'm training with positive (clicker) methods. Over the past year I have turned him from a dog that was afraid of EVERYTHING to a dream dog--I didn't have to use Kohler on him nor would I dream of using Kohler on him. I'm also training a PSYCHO Jack Russell Terrier who was attacking his owners and everybody else in sight. He was a pet store dog who was taken from momma before he learned proper pack behavior (strike 1) and he's on his second home at 5 months of age (strike 2). I was the last resort before the owners sent him to the big dirt nap. Before I arrived in the scene he was getting lots of love and phrase and it made him worse. He's now getting Kohler and it's working very well. There was no way to use positive reinforcement on him. First, when I met him there was no good behavior to reinforce. Second he needed to stop biting people RIGHT NOW! Not whenever he felt like eating a liver cookie rather than a hand or leg. He's now very loving with his owners, no longer biting and 98% better on chewing and making great progress on obedience. The owners father and his vet both asked him this week if he got rid of his other dog and got a new one--and this is after 3 weeks of Kohler. Once this little delinquent is straightened out and fully on the right track we'll TRY introducing some positive reinforcement, but he'll always be monitored for backsliding. Don't believe that junk about "OOOOHHHH all dogs just want to please you." Just like kids--some work hard to please you and are on the dean's list. Some others just want to please themselves and are in the VP's office for stripping cars and having guns at school. Kohler works well on the delinquent dogs.
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Summary: The REAL World
Review: I have had and owned dogs all my life and have read a ton of dog training books from the time I turned 12, I am now 42. I have lived with all of my dogs until their deaths (between 12-16 years old). I have an original copy of "The Kohler Method of Dog Training" and have used it for 15 years to EDUCATE my retrievers, pointers and my closest companion Sabene, a standard poodle. I have checked out books by new "dog trainers" to see if in all these years anybody has improved on the techniques. They haven't.
I hear the cries of those that say they love their dog and these methods are cruel. Those cries are drowned out by the sounds of cries of dogs locked in kennels and crates because they are "unruly" and "nothing I do works." The worst is the dogs surrendered to shelters because they don't fit in with that family picture the owner had in their dreams.
The sad truth about most dog owners is their dogs rule. It is proved time and again when I take Sabene to the vet, beach or flea market. We have experienced numerous problems with unEDUCATED dogs that were on leashes. The worst was with a german shepard that was dragging his owner behind him on the leash at the flea market. The dog made a b-line for Sabene and wasn't slowing down. Using Kohler's method for left turn corrections I put Sabene on stay and stepped in front of her hitting the german shepard in the nose with my leg and redirecting his path away from my well behaved dog. His owner was mad and I simply stated that if her dog had been her car she would be getting the ticket and insurance increase and that she was just as responsible for the control of her dog.
Kohler's book is easy for the first time trainer and it is EFFECTIVE. The only thing I've added to my training routine is when I have a puppy I start teaching the "sit", "down", "out" and "come" as soon as they come to live with us. I don't use the "stay" command until I start the Kohler training.
Don't CHEAT your dog out of a proper EDUCATION by pleading with him/her to do as you want. Don't BRIBE him/her with treats. You may not have one when you need it the most. EDUCATE them with the Kohler method and you will forever have a fun, faithful and well behaved companion.
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Summary: THIS METHOD WORKS
Review: I have read the book and gone through the class several times with different dogs. first was a teacup poodle and I had heard he was"rough" on dogs and almost didn't go to class. It would have been the biggest mistake I have ever made. he acually yelled at me for a harsh correction I made.I trained a Doberman that was a holy mess and he won first place at graduation. Also a Rott. that wanted to fight every dog he saw. When his training was over he wouldn't even look at another big dog much less fight. My 4 year old grandson could do anything with him. I have trained too many dogs over the years to mention them all but I now have 2 Pit Bull pups who when old enough will get the same training and believe me they will be the best behaved dogs in town.I trained under Bill and his son Dick in the 70's and hardly think they have changed their methods. I surely hope not as it would be a shame to not give a problem dog a chance to use it's head and live a happy life instead of being put to sleep because their owner couldn't see past their nose. Of course you wouldn't use this on a child. He is a dog trainer. If you don't want to use this book,then don't,but you will be cheating your dog and yourself out of a life time of happiness together.
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Summary: Koehler Method Works Where Modern Methods Fail
Review: I have used the Koehler Method of Dog Training for over 20 yrs. I've used it on terriers, gsd's, dobies, beagles, hounds, & misc. wild energetic dogs, shy and fearful dogs. My dogs are strays, shelter dogs, & free-to-good home dogs. Each dog has a past that I can never really know about. They don't come to me puppies with clean slates. EVERY DOG learned to be good canine citizens under the Koehler Method. Not one of my dogs has EVER been surrendered back to a shelter because "I couldn't train him to not to jump, bite, pull, growl, etc." I don't have to make excuses for any of my dogs like those who insist "Fluffy will sit for me at home but not around distractions" or claim, "this breed can't be trained like other breeds because they are so independent." None of my dogs runs off, get hit by cars, chases or kills other animals. I credit Mr. Koehler for the success of my dog family. Today in America millions of dogs are killed each year in shelters because their owners "tried" all the P.C., lovely dovey, have a treat, I'm your best friend methods to train their dogs. In these methods the dogs are isolated for years in crates, the furniture and cats are doused in bitter apple to save them from being chewed on, and treats are dispensed like coins into a slot machine everytime Fluffy encounters another dog or heaven forbid--a uniform wearing delivery person. When these modern, humane methods don't fix the problem, Fluffy may be drugged into submission. Finally, when none of the modern P.C. expert advice works, Fluffy makes that weepy ride to the shelter and the owner is assured they did everything they could but "some dogs just can't be saved." Mr. Koehler knew that for dogs to live in our world, they would have to conform to our rules or they would die. That is how it was in 1950 and it is even more so in 2004. Communities have grown even less tolerant of the family dog due to so many tragic or annoying situations caused by dogs. If you read the book and follow the steps as written for basic obedience, the dog LEARNS, it is not forced or beaten to comply. The training exercises are clear and concise. Easy to follow for anyone. If the method is followed as written, the corrections everyone rages about are never even necessary. They are there to deal with severe behavior problems. Some people need a way to deal with severe behavior problems. The average dog does not require these corrections. Folks, think about it. In 2004 our world has more professional dog trainers, training books, t.v. celebrity dog trainers, videos, and training gadgets and gizmoes than ever before to help people raise a dog and yet millions of dogs are killed each year due to SIMPLE behavior problems. Not for the big stuff like mauling children, but for house soiling, chewing furniture, pulling, jumping, barking, growling. If the modern ways are as effective as claimed, should the death toll continue to rise at this rate? In 2004, only spay & neutering should be reducing the dog population. Again, Koehler is very clear, dogs that are not taught to conform to the ways of the human world will be destroyed. He created a method to address that and spare dog lives. A method to train the dog easily and quickly. Those of us that use it have dogs that live full, active, interesting lives. They go to parks, to beaches, to work, on vacations. Veterinarians give us discounts because they can actually examine our dogs, give them vaccinations and dear I say, pet them! I have had over 15 dogs in my adult life and all were trained using the Koehler Method. They have lived past the ages of 12 yrs and some up to 16 yrs. My dogs were strays, shelter dogs or unwanted, unruly family pets and not the ideal brand new, 8 week old, temperment tested, from the best breeder in the world puppies trainers recommend we start with. Many of those poor pups end up in shelters too when they don't respond to modern training methods. No, some of my dogs can be traced back to puppymills. Mr. Koehler WAS the best dog trainer in the world. His method is for all dogs born in to the real world. If you are having problems with your dog, don't give up, get The Koehler Method of Dog Training by William R. Koehler. Thank you Mr. Koehler for giving me a wonderful life with my dogs and for all the dogs you have saved with your method.
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Summary: It worked for me and a variety of dogs
Review: I met the younger Bill Koehler in the '60s, when I attended several of his dog training classes in the San Bernardino area; the classes were based on this book. Several of my dogs won the "best in class" trophy at these sessions, which included not only my Labs and Shepherds, but Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and other working and lap breeds. The students ranged from 10 year old girls to elderly ladies and gentlemen. Those who applied the Koehler instructions diligently were rewarded with having a remarkably gentle, calm, happy, attentive, and responsive dog companion who could be trusted to behave in situations where lesser-trained dogs would drive anyone nuts.
There were always a few students of the "doggy want a cookie?" type of misguided individuals who did not know and refused to learn any of the relevant aspects of dog pack psychology. (Bill often pointed out that the greatest difficulty was in training the owners, rather than in training the dogs themselves.) They also balked at actually reading the Koehler instructions and applying them consistently; Bill would generally "excuse" those losers from the classes politely but firmly. For reasons you can divine for yourself, they were generally females who I wouldn't trust to train a five year old child, let alone a powerful 100lb carnivore capable of inflicting serious injury on other animals or humans. You may also notice that almost all of the "cookie" trainers/authors are females; make of that what you will.
Since those days, I have used Koehler's methods to train a half-dozen dogs. Both the dogs and I have been very, very happy with the results. I love my dogs dearly, and they are all full members of my family. And they return that love in full.
If you're the type who can't manage to keep your wrist straight, go out and buy a box of cookies and try to bribe your dog into doing as you wish. Take him for his "walkies", if you so desire.
But don't ever let your cookie bag run empty.
Rating: 
Summary: Never got it
Review: I ordered this book and never recieved it although my CC was charged for it so if any one can tell me what it says I would appreciate it.
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Summary: This is the only way to train!!!
Review: I'm currently training my new Chesapeake Bay Retriever with this method. I have a pregnant wife and two kids 5 and 2. I needed to make sure this dog was going to be obedient because it will be growing into 120Lbs of pure Chessy. It is amazing how simple it is. The dog responds immediately! I read some other rapid training methods and they all are very abusive. With this method you do not have to go out of your way to correct the dog it is simply part of your natural body movement. Just the other day I began reading another book specifically for retrievers (Water Dog, I don't know what I was thinking) and I was interested in the down command and in that book you force the dog down by stepping on the leash. I tried this before I read Koehler's Method of training the down command (I was getting impatient). The dog freaked out. He did not like it one bit. But when I read Koehler's way it was kind and gentle. I felt terrible that I tried to force my poor pup to do this before I knew what I was doing. This is my first dog and the first time I have had to train anything. This method works. You just need to read the book and then re-read the book so you understand the entire process. Also you need to be patient. This process is not quick, it takes many weeks and a lot dedication but it is definitely worth the effort. One other consequence of this training is that I have lost about ten pounds because of all the walking I'm doing now! I really love this book. I was very nervous about getting a big dog but this training has put me at ease. And if your looking for a great Breed the Chessy is the best dog in the world.
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