Bart Bellon's Contact Method of training? - Page 1

Anyone know of the Bart Bellon Contact Method for dog training, or have links to info published in English?  There is an interview in this issue of Schutzhund USA with a successful German  trainer named Jogi Zank and he mentions training with another gentleman named Bart Bellon (It is mentioned that Bart is big into Ring Sport) and I'm interested in learning more about the training philosophy.

Thanks for any help or information,

-Calvin

Hello Calvin,

Here you have the link to bart bellon's website:

www.bcbb.be

Regards,

Vandersmissen Gert

www.vandebiezenhoeve.com

I have never heard of the "contact method" but Bart Bellon is a two time Belgian ring national champion so that says enough on it's own.

Hi Calvin,

I have had the chance to attend several of Jogi's and Bart's seminars here in Germany. They gave an insight into their work at the "Jetzt geht's los!" show of the newly founded RSV2000 club in Cologne on May 17th. Unfortunately, on the RSV2000 website there is only a german version of the press report on this event: http://www.sv-2000.de/de/131/17.05.2008__-_Koeln.html

Their training method is based on a 4-step principle:1. show the dog what he is supposed to do, 2. motivate the dog to do it, 3. make the dog do it even if he doesn't want to, and 4. (Bart calls it the design phase reserved for the real pro) make it look like the dog is happy to do it. And it works!!! And it's a lot of fun as well. Jogi has a homepage as well, http://www.teamsport-jogi.de/ but it's in German only.

Reagrds

Sabine

If you look at the upper right corner of Bellon's website, there's a button for the English version. Under his training method he says:

"To achieve stimulus control (dog is always obeying the command), we need between 4000 and 6000 repetitions. (This is the reason why most dogs never learn to do the exercise, due to lack on repetitions)"
 

WTF???? That's about the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Most GSD's would die of boredom if they were asked to repeat something that many times! That's what I love about this breed...they learn so darn quick!  As a matter of fact, I'd heard one of the reasons service organizations were phasing out GSD's as guide dogs for the disabled was because they got bored easily with repetitive tasks!

Ah, well, maybe I shouldn't judge it until I know more about it, but that sure strikes me as strange!

I am definitely missing somethng on the Bellon site. Maybe it doesn't display properly with FireFox? I don't see a thing about his training method, neither in Dutch, nor in English, nor can I find the thing about the 4,000 repetitions. Argh!

This involves sophisticated, correct, effective, and humane e-collar training.

My only problem is that Bart and Jogi are part of the Innotek team. Frankly, I'm not a fan of Innotek. I much prefer top-of-the-line e-collars from Dogtra (followed by Tri-tronics).

While e--collars are not supposed to be used in Germany, most of the successful trainers there use them (same as in the USA and Canada). Often, when German trainers come to the USA, they tend to stock up on e-collars. When a well known SV judge was judging at my former club a few years ago, the judge's gift was a very expensive Dogtra e-collar--which delighted the judge.

At USA Nationals, there are usually e-collars included in the raffle. You will find a link to Tri-tronics as a sponsor on the USA homepage: http://germanshepherddog.com/

HOW DO YOU DO HUMANE E COLLER TRAINING SHOCKING WITH ELECTRICITY IS NOT HUMANE IS THIS HOW YOU TRAINE YOUR KIDDS WHEN THEY DO NOT DO WHAT YOU ASK THEM TO.THIS IS QUITE FUNNY TO ME.WE SURE ARE VERY GOOD JUSTIFYING TERRIBLE METODS FOR EARNING TITLES FOR YOUR OWN EGO AND THAT IS ABOUT IT.JUST THOUGHT I MENTION THAT.HAVE A NICE ONE.

Why is an e-collar "stimulation" (shock) less humane than a jerk on a leash? Both can be used effectively, both can be abused.

Christine

blackthornkennel.com

There's nothing ridiculous or crazy to me about the repetitions at all. Of course GSDs learn fast, most dogs do, but there is a huge difference between the dog learning what you want and understanding that they MUST do it every time you ask.  Sounds like the same method I use, except I use a training collar as opposed to an e-collar. Nothing new about it, dog trainers have used repetition for years. What makes it so humane is through the repetitions, the handler knows the dog understands the excercise 110%- that way the correction is equally fair. Too many trainers and handlers are too quick with correction before the dog truly understands what is expected, which then ruins the working relationship between dog and handler.

Held, that was an ignorant statement, you are obviously completely uneducated in the correct application of compulsion. And for the record, I use capital punishment on my kids too, and I get as many compliments on how well behaved they are as I do my dogs. That's the problem with the world today, no one has the backbone to punish their children or their dogs, that's why they are all out of control!

Christine: