Beyond Obedience : Training with Awareness for You & Your Dog

Rating:
Summary: A new, holistic approach to dog training.
Review: "Beyond Obedience" truly takes the reader beyond basic training methods. Ms. Frost introduces a new way of thinking about our dogs, their needs, and their intelligence, then guides us, through examples and exercises, to a higher understanding of canine psychology and personality. Only after helping us to gain that understanding does she tie this new-found knowledge in with "traditional" training methods, then teaches us how to apply both in the most effective way.

Filled with stories from her years of experience, the book sometimes leaves you smiling at canine antics, sometimes teary-eyed at inevitable failures. Yet, in the end, readers willing to work through the exercises to "connect" with their pets will come away with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of their canine companions, and training sessions are bound to become a pleasure for both handler and dog. Using even just a few of the methods, I personally achieved much greater success in training a very difficult puppy.

Rating:
Summary: A new, holistic approach to dog training.
Review: "Beyond Obedience" truly takes the reader beyond basic training methods. Ms. Frost introduces a new way of thinking about our dogs, their needs, and their intelligence, then guides us, through examples and exercises, to a higher understanding of canine psychology and personality. Only after helping us to gain that understanding does she tie this new-found knowledge in with "traditional" training methods, then teaches us how to apply both in the most effective way.

Filled with stories from her years of experience, the book sometimes leaves you smiling at canine antics, sometimes teary-eyed at inevitable failures. Yet, in the end, readers willing to work through the exercises to "connect" with their pets will come away with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of their canine companions, and training sessions are bound to become a pleasure for both handler and dog. Using even just a few of the methods, I personally achieved much greater success in training a very difficult puppy.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent suggestions on training and communicating
Review: April Frost is an animal communicator who comes from a place of deep love and respect for animals. She relates to each as an individual, and works with each by communicating and explaining - as well as using the clear and consistent behavioral approaches common to animal trainers. She advises people to explore what is right in their unique relationship with their animal companions, taking into account their own personality and that of their animal.

Frost has excellent suggestions and discussion on basics of training for the habits that will enable dogs and people to get along comfortably together.

In addition to offering training to people and animals, Frost has dedicated much of her life to helping animals in need. She describes a remarkable rescue of 13 malnourished dogs out of larger pack that had run wild all of its life in a pen, never having known a positive relationship with humans. The dogs were wounded physically and scarred emotionally. Her approaches in healing them are an inspiration to animal lovers.

Frost brings us great wisdom in this book, suggesting many ways in which we can learn to appreciate and care for the animals we choose or who choose us as companions in this great adventure we call life. Dogs are very much in the present, and can help us find our own sense of the now that opens into spiritual awareness.

Talking to your animal mentally, explaining the messages you want to convey, is very potent in training them to understand ways of behaving that will help the two of you get along well. Establishing intuitive and psychic communications with animals also provides another avenue for opening into spiritual dimensions.


Rating:
Summary: Not a book for training but a nice story of a good person
Review: Don't buy this book to train your dog- it's a story of April Frost, a wonderful, sensitive, gifted person whose appraoch is unique to her skills. DDEFINITELY NOT A BOOK FOR someone who wants to teach their dog in 12 easy steps.

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Summary: Co-author Rondi Lightmark shares some thoughts
Review: I am Rondi Lightmark, the co-author of BEYOND OBEDIENCE: Training with Awareness for You and Your Dog written with April Frost. I welcome the opportunity to say something about this unique book which after only three months is already in its second printing. Before I carry on, let me share a few reviews:

USA TODAY, September 18, 1998: "A most compelling guide. Through a holistic, respectful and nonviolent approach, Frost teaches how to intensify relationships between humans and dogs -- with better results for each. Readers will want to sit and stay for this one.

NEW AGE JOURNAL, December 1998: Recommended for holiday giving."An animal behaviorist illustrates how the training process can be a gratifying experience for both the owner and the dog."

YOGA JOURNAL, December 1998: Recommended on holiday book list: "Animal behaviorist April Frost, aiming "to contribute something to people and animals that will empower both the fulfill their highest potential," has devised a training system based on "the development of love, mutual respect, and communication" between humans and canines. She's able to pull it off because she understands the two equally well. since she can't get your dog to think like you, she shows you how to think like your dog. that would be enough to make her book interesting; but then she adds spirited discussions of the chakras in humans and dogs, how our "energy fields" affect communication between the species, and the "heart connection" between humans and their pets. And just when you think she's getting too "woo-woo," she provides extensive, step-by-step exercises to make her ideas tangible and put them into practice."

BEYOND OBEDIENCE: Training with Awareness for You and Your Dog is the book for the dog lover who believes that it is time to change our relationship to the animal world from domination to communication and mutual respect. Says Frost: "Dogs, in many people's minds, are here purely to serve our needs. Actually, this role for dogs is perfectly wonderful and nothing to feel guilty about, because they are very happy giving us their unconditional loyalty and love. However, when this gift is taken for granted, which it has been for thousands of years, then the animals suffer. Our language reveals a psychology of domination: we "own" "pets," we are their "masters," we "command" them to "obey," and "discipline" when they don't. We have to find a new language that supports a more enlightened point of view and aids communication. My animals are my teachers, companions and friends. I own the responsibility for my animals, but I don't own my animals. This is why I no longer call myself an animal trainer; it's too one-sided a term. My goal is to open the lines of communication and understanding between species; both have to do this learning together. So, I like to call myself a "animal communication facilitator." Old-style dog training was mostly about physically forcing an animal to do something, rather than working with its mind and soul. It was a tough, insensitive method that made no allowances for differences, not in temperament, not in personality, not even in sizes between animals.What you did with a Great Dane, you also did with a Chihuahua. Even before I developed Training with Awareness, I saw how this method was hard on dogs who did not fit the norm, especially very sensitive breeds. It also was a difficult technique for people to use who were not assertive or strict disciplinarians. Old-style methods did not take either human or animal psychology into account, for it was taken for granted that humans considered themselves superior to animals. The definition of owning a dog was limited to caring for its needs, making use of its instinctive talents, and enjoying its company. All of the expectations tended in one direction. Although animal behaviorism is a growing field, with the result that it is more acceptable to speak of animals having emotions and a psychology, it is still perfectly possible today, and very common, for many people to use the old, limiting definitions of the relationship."

Frost's beliefs come from a powerful, life-changing experience: For over twenty years, she had a significant reputation as a professional show handler of dogs and horses, having won ribbons all up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest. She had established a career as a trainer, groomer and breeder of dogs and horses. She had maintained a close relationship with animals, but the door between her consciousness and theirs had remained shut. Nevertheless, her Hearthside Animal Center was filled with a happy mix of dogs, horses, cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and assorted other species. And, its existence was threatened by the fact that Frost had Lyme disease and could hardly move, let alone carry on with her work. Then, a woman appeared on her doorstep and challenged her to alter her perceptions. "Why don't you ask the animals for help?" she said. "If you believe that animals have souls -- and Frost said that she did -- "Then , here you are, surrounded by loving beings who are waiting to help you, and you aren't even listening to them. I don't mean just these animals here, I mean the collective consciousness of all animals. You have an incredible connection with their world already. April, all you have to do is ask." Frost says that this timely conversation allowed her to let go of her defenses and limited ideas about how the world worked and become innocent again, willing to trust, experience, and learn. The floodgates opened. She realized that she had always interacted with animals on an intuitive level without being able to define what it was that she did. She turned from conventional drugs to meditation, holistic medicine and prayer and regained her health. She reconnected with her Native American heritage -- her grandfather was a full blood Abenaki -- and she began to feel what it was like to live in companionship with the natural world, allowing her "life to unfold, supported by the universal love and universal consciousness that links the cosmos and all creatures in it together as one. As her perceptions changed, she began to see that there was a big difference between assuming that animals are lesser beings who need help and protection, versus accepting them as beings with a different consciousness whose choices and reasons for living on the earth deserve our respect. This had a dramatic effect on her work with all animals, and particularly dogs. She began to incorporate a spiritual dimension in her training courses, teaching people how to work with their own body energy and access their psychic gifts in order to create a deep and dramatically rewarding new relationship with their dogs. Satisfied clients spread the word and her classes filled up. People soon began to see that Frost's teachings not only gave them a much more harmonious relationship with their dog, but with life in general. It became apparent that practicing respect and unconditional love with another being of a different species could become a spiritual path of self-development. Many people already know a dog is a good guru! But Frost is the first to create a systematic approach that truly facilitates a healing practice -- via your relationship with your dog -- with all living beings on the earth

BEYOND OBEDIENCE is a comprehensive training manual, and more. It includes many inspiring stories from Frost's extensive involvement with animal rescue, as well as a general overview of the use of holistic medicine in the care of your dog. Writing this book had a profound effect on my life. Whether you have a dog in your life or not, reading this book will do the same for you!

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Summary: An important book
Review: I have taken my dog to two obedience classes and could not train him. One method was too violent, the other food based method I felt was insulting to my dog. I was disappointed since I did a lot of research to find good trainers. Something was definitly missing.

What was missing I found in April Frost's book.

She spends the first part of her book establishing credibility with the reader. We get to read stories, poignant and well written, giving us a feel of the author's relationship with dogs and how she solves various dog problems. Her stories develop a deeper understanding of dogs in a powerful, non-sentimental way.

Then she presents a basic method for training, totally non-confusing (I am easily confused with instructions). What made all the difference to me was her focus on attitude while training. Her stories and her instructions made me feel like a completely different person in relation to my dog, and consequently my vibrant trickster smartypants pup is now listening to me with a new, respectful ear.

April Frost doesn't just tell readers how to relate to dogs in a better way, she shows us. Through her many stories (total page turners) she also shows how alternative medicine actually does work. I feed my dog a natural home made diet, but then things like flower essences and homeopathy seemed a bit far out. I've been shown, through convincing examples, that non-conventional methods do work.

I loved this book. It's about obedience, sure, but it's about so much more. It's a must read, even if your dog is happy and obedient. Like the title says, it's Beyond Obedience.

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Summary: Understanding your dog
Review: This book provides an excellent option to conventional dog training. April Frost shares her tremendous wisdom in this wonderful book that is a must read for those of us who want to build a different relationship with the dogs in our lives other than that offered by traditional obedience training. Frost offers guideance on how to build a strong and lasting relationship with our companions that is based on mutual respect, love, and understanding.

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Summary: A potentially life changing book
Review: This is the most amazing book about animals that I have ever read. I have quite an extensive canine library, including many books on dog training. No other book has given me such true insight into the human- dog relationship. While many of the author's ideas may be new to readers, or not resonate with them, you can't help but be touched by her great love for dogs. The stories in this book are amazing, and will often leave you in tears. I think the main thing I got from this book was the idea that dogs are teachers, as well as companions and friends, and they have a great capacity for love and deep communication with their humans. Her training techniques,while not that technically different from those ofother trainers, are always geared toward reminding the owner to respect and appreciate the dog they're working with. This book provided me with great insights into my past relationships with dogs, and gives me great hope and excitement for future ones. I can't wait to bring home my new puppy and put Beyond Obedience into practice.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding your dog
Review: This was a remarkable book. I had to go out a buy a copy for reference. I keep going back to it. April Frost helped me help rescued dogs using her gentle, holistic methods. I learned so many new things from her and her stories of behavior modification with loving patience made me use my brain instead of harshness with dogs. There are no other books out there like this. I've looked. Read it and you won't regret it.