Description
Price: $21.03
(as of Feb 28, 2025 12:14:39 UTC – Details)
Please note that this is the out of date version of the BAT book. This technique has been thoroughly updated with BAT 2.0 and Grisha recommends reading BAT 2.0 instead of this book. Look for the blue book cover.
Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) was developed by author Grisha Stewart to rehabilitate and prevent dog reactivity. BAT looks at the function of growling, lunging, or fleeing and helps dogs learn socially acceptable behaviors that serve that same function. In a nutshell, BAT builds confidence by giving dogs a chance to learn to control their environment through peaceful means. That makes BAT very empowering to your dog or puppy, in a good way. It s also empowering for you, as you learn how to understand your dog and help him learn to safely get along with people, dogs, and other triggers.
You will learn:
How to encourage or shape a replacement behavior that provides your dog the same functional reward as reactivity.
Why it is important to keep your dog calm in the presence of a trigger while teaching him to make good choices.
Step-by-step instructions needed to stage BAT 1.0 set-ups to work with your dog in a controlled environment.
Practical ways to keep your dog from being pushed into a reactive state in and around your home and on walks.
How to use BAT 1.0 preventively for puppy socialization.
Publisher : Dogwise Pub; 1.2.2012 edition (September 1, 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 212 pages
ISBN-10 : 1617810509
ISBN-13 : 978-1617810503
Item Weight : 1.04 pounds
Dimensions : 7 x 0.75 x 10 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book provides useful information and guidance on how to train dogs. They appreciate the clear writing style and illustrations that help with understanding. The book explains the basic approach of Behavior Alignment Training (BAT) and its effectiveness in replacing reactivity with self-control. However, some readers feel the content is repetitive and tedious.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
LeNore A. Ralston –
Great Technique That is Working Well for my Fear Reactive Dog!
My very sweet youngest Lab (who is now two and a half years old) suddenly became fear reactive at the end of last year. For a few months I worked on my own using another technique that helped her, but I wasn’t getting the results I wanted. And I refuse to use other “corrective” techniques like prong or shock collars on any of my dogs. Last spring I began to work with a behaviorist who uses BAT and the technique has been very, very helpful for my girl. We use BAT in combination other techniques, primarily the counter-conditioning “Look At That” (LAT). However, BAT is especially helpful for my dog because she is particularly prone to being reactive to “surprises”. In these situations, LAT doesn’t work well, but BAT is perfect. Admittedly, at first it was very challenging to notice the sometimes subtle nuances in calming behavior so it was helpful to work with the behaviorist so one of us could watch her. However, after a while this became very second-nature to me and to my dog. And it has taught me to be much more attentive to my dog’s behavior. She actually now knows the cue “BAT”, so if I see her getting aroused and she hasn’t made the choice to calm and redirect herself, I can cue her with “Where’s your BAT?” and she will immediately offer sniffing, turning away, shaking it off, or yawning (her four favorites). She has made great progress and we will continue to work with BAT. It has really helped her to de-stress and focus, particularly in agility, where she can be surprised by dogs in high energy situations. I highly recommend BAT to anyone who is dealing with reactivity. It is a very frustrating, and sometimes heartbreaking, issue to deal with, but I found great relief through the use of this technique . . . and so has my dog!
Mike –
Best book for dogs with fear-based aggression!!
I got this book, along with several others, to help with my fear-aggressive and reactive dog. While many of the other books were helpful, I wasn’t really making that much progress with her until I read this book, and the changes were AMAZING!The methods in this book are extremely easy to follow, and are accompanied by photos and drawings to help the reader visualize exactly what they are supposed to do, and what to look for in your dog as far as body language goes. It works by rewarding the appropriate responses from your dog by allowing them to get away from the object/person/animal they are reacting to. It’s great because it actually re-shapes the way the dog thinks, so they end up adopting this method all on their own, after a deal of repetition. Using this method alone my dog stopped chasing and barking at bicycles completely, and her reactivity towards people has gotten so much better. When we see people coming towards us on walks now, she will break her fixation on them and ask me to turn around so that we can walk away- I don’t know of any other training method that teaches a dog to do that!!Of course, it’s always great to have lots of different methods in your arsenal, so I do recommend several different training books (Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt, Click to Calm by Emma Parsons, Fired Up Frantic and Freaked Out by Laura VanArendonk Baugh are all great) but if you have an aggressive or reactive dog this should be the VERY FIRST book you buy, because it’s absolutely invaluable!
Anon –
Great book.
BAT does wonders. Nothing more to say about this. Also look up the LAT game (look at that) for reactive dog. This is a way of introducing your dog to options that allow him to feel in control but rewarded for choosing to self soothe instead of insisting he rush in and check something out, scare it away, or run away in fear. I would say it could be about 30% in length there is a lot of un-needed repetition.I haven’t done very many formal setups with my dog. I use it on walks when I’m aware of an impromptu setup is coming. It is very best to do formal set ups though and give dog lots of experience in different contexts. It’s all about experience. Something in the stimuli relates to previous experiences and the dog just hasn’t taken to time to think about. Instead of slowing down to listen and get information it just reacts to the way things feel. Sudden changes in environment, people carrying strange shaped objects, noisy objects, they all mean something emotionally to the dog. Mostly though its anxiety over not knowing. Unsure is this a preditor, prey, reward.BAT shows them they can get what they want (To get away, or to gather information about the change/new object) without rushing away or running towards it. It offers them choices that they never thought to do in cortisol induced states of mind.
Sharon Burgos –
Interesting, but of limited use
If you have a dog who is actually aggressive and/or overly frightened by other dogs AND you have the time and resources to set up LOTS of “situations” utilizing other people and other people’s friendly dogs, then you’ll get a lot out of this book. If you do not have lots of friends who own friendly dogs who are willing to meet you in all types of places at all times of day for several weeks or months, then you will not be able to use about 75% of this book. I’m sure the method is effective, BUT, it does require the ability to do lots of “set ups” with other people/dogs. For me, my dog is not aggressive or fearful, he is extremely overeager – what she calls a “frustrated greeter” in this book. There is really only one section in the whole book dealing with this behavior, so if that’s what you’ve got, too, you may not find it worthwhile. I enjoyed reading it and learning her philosophy and her methods, so I liked it, but I did not love it.
Amazon Customer –
Lots of good information
Cliente Amazon –
Un gran libro para un guÃa canino, para mà de las mejores autoras. Lo malo que está en ingles y requiere más tiempo y atención para leerlo, pero por el resto bien todo.
Kirsten Back –
I have a people reactive rescue dog, whose finer body language signals have been ignored so that he had to get very explicit with humans so that they understand him. So far I have done a lot of desensitizing with him already. With that I only got so far. Now I am working with a trainer to go the last mile using BAT. So far we haven’t done a lot of sessions but, I must say that the stress level for the dog is very low, so that he is generally comfortable with what is going on. I have also learned to watch my dog’s body language in a lot more detail and to read his finer signals. He is now relearning that humans do pay attention to his finer and more appropriate body language. He is even enjoying the training as he is gaining more confidence. We still have a way to go, but I believe that we will get there in the end. One side effect is the trust that is developing between you and your dog – your dog will trust you to manage his exposure to his triggers and know that you will keep him safe and below threshold so that he does not need to show inappropriate behaviour – and you learn to trust your dog to make better choices more frequently.The book also helps you to plan your walks better so that you do not walk into trigger situations. This does affect your daily walks as you need to be more careful,but the walks are more enjoyable because you do not run into negative situations. So less stress for you and your dog.The book is very well written and a good guide for owners as well as trainers. All in all – a great book and a must for all those who want to work with their reactive dogs.Thank you Grisha!
Alys C* –
Hélas non traduit, si vous lisez un peu l’anglais tout de même n’hésitez pas et lisez ce livre car il vous aidera tout en douceur pour votre chien.Dire qu’on entend encore dans certains clubs canins les conseils “musclés” pour éduquer un chiot ou un chien…. Effarant lorsqu’on a lu des livres d’éducation positive.Un livre à avoir dans sa bibliothèque
Pacharan –
This book aims to help dog owners and trainers cope with fearful or reactive behaviour by allowing the dog to find an alternative, non-threatening behaviour that brings about the same result i.e. avoidance of the scary situation. By allowing the dogs to sense that they are communicating positively with their handlers and able to have some control over scenarios that spook them, the dog actually starts to lose its fear and gain in confidence.I bought this book because I have a staffie cross rescue who suddenly started to react by unprovoked growling and lunging at any dog in our street, and sometimes just to sudden movement (people, cars etc). The problem seemed to stem from her experience of other dogs (on leads or in gardens) regularly barking at her. While she used to just give a little growl or whine back in response, she now growled first. Also she would not display this behaviour in front of our regular dog walker/trainer so he could not easily evaluate what she was up to.After reading this book, I do several things differently. I use a soft harness instead of a neck collar. I walk different routes regularly to avoid always going past flashpoint areas, keeping a careful eye out for approaching dogs. I explain to other dog owners what I am doing. I haven’t yet found a reliable replacement behaviour (my dog can go from calm to over threshold in about a nanosecond), but using the Let’s Go! command, I am able to walk my dog away from other dogs, or past them in a wide parallel path. My dog is now much less reactive and more responsive to my directions and I have got some very positive comments from other dog owners. I hope to see even better results as I continue with using advice in this book.The book is packed with lots of commonsense advice about how to deal with barking/aggression/fear in the home and outside. The emphasis is on safety for people and dogs and on very positive, kind training methods. There is a lot of detailed training instruction and a section for trainers delving deeper into behaviour study.