The Advantages of Teaching Yourself

by: Gloria Walker

Many people will first look into what classes are available when they're interested in learning a new skill, and taking a course does have some advantages. For instance, with a course there is always an instructor to help one learn. Also, some skills can only be taught in groups, like most sports and many kinds of dances.

Still, putting together one's own study plans seems to offer the greater advantage in most cases. For starters, a person who teaches himself can learn at his own pace. He can study when and where it's most convenient, rather than being bound by a set class schedule. There also aren't the costs of getting to the school. Also, there might not be a course in the skill being offered near his home. There might be a class in French or Spanish at the local continuing education school, but there usually won't be for a course in a more unusual language like Swedish or Finnish.

Cooking classes are a good example of how self-learning is often the better option. At an adult education center, classes will be offered in a certain type of cooking, like baking Christmas cookies or in preparing thirty-minute recipes, and the course will cost about fifty dollars. One will be shown how to prepare about half a dozen recipes, and will have to write down each and every ingredient and step, hoping not to miss anything. Meanwhile, at the bookstore the same fifty dollars could buy a couple of good cookbooks which will be filled with recipes, and sometimes, there will be step-by-step pictures showing the preparation. It's simpler to buy cookbooks and to go through them at home.

Computer skills are another area in which self-study is a much better option than taking a class. Much of the computer software today practically tells the user how to operate the program, and there are extensive software manuals that one can refer to when something isn't clear. Learning how to use a new software program can be an interesting challenge on one's own. However, anybody who has ever sat in a computer course knows how tedious it can be to have to follow an instructor go through each little detail. It's similar with mathematics, which is often regarded as being tough, boring, or simply unpleasant. Teaching oneself mathematics from a book is like solving puzzles with numbers, and it's easier to remember the steps. Although I'm certain that there are many good math teachers out there, I'm also convinced that having somebody stand in the front of a classroom going through each step of an algebra or trigonomerty problem is the worst way to learn mathematics.

It's worth considering the wide variety of learning materials which exist for self-study. Along with the huge variety of books that have been printed, there are also CDs to hear how a foreign language is spoken, and software offers an extension of self-study. There is software to teach people how to play musical instruments, to practice math problems, to practice the vocabulary and grammar of a foreign language, and the list goes on. Self-study materials are usually much cheaper than classes, also. Whichever skill might interest you, it's always worth looking into what kind of self-study materials are available.

The author lives in Munich and speaks English, German, and French. She's planning on starting a self-guided study to learn Swedish soon.

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German Wirehaired Pointer History, Grooming, Health Issues and Temperament

by: Scott Lipe

Description: The German Wirehaired Pointer is a well balanced dog standing 22-26 inches in height and weighing 60-70 lbs. They should have long, thin legs leading up to a well proportioned body. They have a long neck and a rather square head. Their faces should be brown with oval eyes, and rounded ears that hang close to the head. Their coat colouring should be either liver and white, with ticking, or roan and spotted, they can also be solid liver, whichever marking though their head should be liver, with or without a white blaze, and their ears should be liver. The coat is this breeds most distinctive feature, they have an undercoat that should be thin in the summer and profuse in the winter, and their outer coat is harsh and wiry making them weather resistant and almost waterproof. History: Originating around 150 years ago in Germany, the German Wirehaired Pointer was developed to be a versatile hunter capable of working anywhere from mountains to forests and open plains. Its ancestry has never been completely agreed on but it is thought that the Wirehaired Griffon, Pudelpointer, Stichelhaar, and Deutsch-Kurzhaar were the main breeds used. They are used for many things such as hunting water fowl, searching for game, and as a gun dog, tracking wounded animals and even non hunting things such as guard dogs. On top of all this though they were also designed to make a great companion and pet.

Temperament: The German Wirehaired Pointer is a loyal family companion who is affectionate and intelligent. They are very active dogs, though, and so need plenty of exercise without which they can become bored and hard to manage. They should be socialised from a young age or they can become aloof with strangers, they also need an owner who the dog knows is in command. You should never be aggressive or violent towards a dog, however if they think they are in charge they can become dominant. Due to the level of loyalty they have to their family, they can sometimes become jealous of other pets, however because they are such intelligent dogs training them shouldn't be difficult even if they're having a stubborn 5 minutes.

Health Issues: Although usually a healthy dog, the German Wirehaired Pointer is prone to a few illnesses and diseases these can include ear infections, hip dysplasia, genetic eye disease, bloat and skin cancer. Their average life expectancy is between 12 and 14 years. Another condition they can suffer from is bladder control disease; this is an exceptionally rare illness that can cause unfortunate accidents. They can also get Lymposarcoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes, and hemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels of the spleen, right atrium and the liver.

Grooming: The German Wirehaired Pointer should be brushed 2-3 times a week, to be kept looking their best, and they should also be hand stripped occasionally when it is needed. They are an average shedder and should only be bathed when needed; their coat should have a rough texture so over bathing them could soften their fur. It's also important to regularly clean their ears, and check their paws for any debris they may have picked up.

Living Conditions: Due to the fact that they are such energetic dogs, they are not suited to apartment life and are defiantly not suited to being kept in a kennel. They would do best with an active family who have a big garden so that they can run around and keep themselves amused.

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Schutzhund Dog Training-Training Your Dog to Be Incredible

by: Mike Sorian

Schutzhund dog training is the highest rung of the dog training ladder, and requires working with your dog using much more advanced techniques than mere obedience training. It takes a very special dog to start with if you would like to get involved with Schutzhund dog training. Schutzhund training started out in Germany over a 100 years ago, in order to test a dog's ability to serve as a police dog. Schutzhund is actually the German word for protection dog. Today's Schutzhund competitions include tracking and obedience trials along with the protection trial.

For most of the history of the Schutzhund training the dogs have been German shepherd dogs, but these days there are some other breeds that receive the Schutzhund training lessons. The dogs need to be athletic, intelligent and courageous to qualify for this difficult training. In order to qualify as a possible candidate for the Schutzhund training the dog need to have the following characteristics

* Your dog must enjoy working very much.
* Your dog must be able to display courage.
* Your dog must be able to learn training quickly
* The dog must develop a very strong relationship with his handler.
* Your dog must have a natural strong protective instinct.
* Your dog needs to have plenty of perseverance.

The Schutzhund dog trials are based on three different tests: tracking, obedience and protection. There are 3 levels of Schutzhund training, Schutzhund I, Schutzhund II, and Schutzhund III, with each level more demanding the the previous one. These Schutzhund III dogs are the best trained dogs in the world.

Tracking: A decoy lay out a trail of dropped items-and your dog's tracking ability, his stamina and his mental sharpness will all be tested in this trial. While performing the tracking trial the handler puts his his dog on a 33 foot leash and follows him around the course. Your dog must find the dropped items and mark where they are, usually by lying down and putting his front legs around the item. Your dog's tracking training must be fine tuned to do well on the challenging course. The dogs are graded on a 100 point system based on how well the performed the course.

Obedience: After tracking, the next trial is for obedience, and the obedience trials are help in an open field. Each dog works in a pair with another dog-one dog will wait on the side of the field while the other dog performs the obedience trial with the handler. At the completion of one dog's trial, the dogs then switch positions. The actual exercises are varied and to do well your dog is required to have total focus. Among the exercises are heeling amidst crowds of people, and even while shots are fired from a gun, and male dogs must stay focused within the scent of a female dog in heat. There are many other exercises including a variety of jumps, climbing, retrieving, etc. The judges will score your dog depending on his enthusiasm on his abilities to perform the trial's exercises.

Protection: During the protection trial there will be a real challenge to your dog's courage and as to whether he can protect himself and you from danger. A decoy will be hiding somewhere on the course behind a blind. Your dog is commanded to search the blinds on the course until he locates the decoy and announces the decoy's presence by barking. Your dog should be trained to guard the decoy until you have a chance to arrive. This is where the police work side of the Schutzhund training is put to use. the handler now comes up to the decoy, and will search him prior to escorting him to where the judge is waiting. During the search or while being escorted the decoy will try some escapes.During the escape attempt your dog must be able to stop the escape by biting and holding onto the decoy's padded sleeve. When the decoy stops his struggling, your dog must know to release the sleeve as soon as you command him to stop. The dogs are judged depending on their courage, enthusiasm as how well they can control their aggression.

There may be a Schutzhund dog training club in your area where you can watch a competition or join up. However, there is not an abundance of Schutzhund clubs in the U.S., but the sport is growing in popularity. It takes more than one person to properly do the Schutzhund training, so you'll need to have someone who can help you. Having someone to help you train your dog and teach you some tips about Schutzhund training is the main reason it is great to join a Schutzhund club if you are interested in this type of training for your dog. If you find that there are no nearby clubs, try learning more about Schutzhund training with a good DVD or video on the subject and see how amazing these dogs are.

As a lifetime dog owner and lover of many dogs, I have learn a lot about training and caring for my dogs. I have written many helpful articles for you on dog obedience training and solving your dog's behavior problems. To read more, please visit http://www.BehaveDoggy.com. Please click here to read my full review of the best dog training program http://www.behavedoggy.com/secrets-to-dog-training-review/.

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Intelligence Increase Through Image Streaming

by: Franz Rasch

Can you increase your personal IQ by as much as 20 points by the use of image streaming (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_streaming)? This seems to be a proven claim by now.

You might have seen them yourself: there are thousands of web-sites and books peddling all kinds of methods for self-improvement and personal growth. We know because we've read perhaps not most of them but at least one typical specimen of each category, a (re)search quest that started over fourty years ago.

But let's get back to the basics: what does (physiologically) constitute intelligence?

There's but one thing that sets a more intelligent brain apart from one a little less so, its internal "wiring":

1. the amount of connections (synapses) that relate brain cells with each other and equally important

2. the strength of these pathways

3. and how they relate with each other.

The way brain cells can interact with each other is virtually unlimited, that is to say, trying to calculate all possible combinations leaves us with a figure that's many times higher than even the amount of atoms in the whole universe.

Then there's also the speed with which new connections are formed, but research seems to suggest, that both human "subspecies", those who are forming new connections rather quickly and the "neurologically slow" both have their mutually exclusive advantages in survival which is why both sets of genes are still transmitted down through the generations. We'll discuss this topic in a forthcoming article.

Now, if the three points shown above by and large constitute the physiological basis for intelligence as it seems to be measured by standard tests, then we must only find out how these connections between cells (neurons) are increased? Well, as everyone knows, this process is simply called learning. The interesting thing is though, that learning can as much happen by interacting physically (including smelling, listening and seeing!) with your environment as well as interacting with a virtual world, like in thinking, meditation, contemplation etc.

This virtual world is for your brain cells every bit as real as the outside world, and the reason is easy to understand: that "outside" world does not exist for your brain - it is transmitted to your nerve cells via electrical impulses and it makes no real difference where these impulses are generated.

So when you vividly remember something you are training those pathways as much as if you experienced the scene physically that is now a memory! You can only exercise a limited amount physically per day without completely exhausting yourself but you can relive as many memories as you wish per day and you can create new experiences in your brain by ... well, being creative! Since your subconscious mind does handle about ten million times more data over time than your conscious mind does, the most powerful method of creating an extra load of traffic on your neural pathways is to let your subconscious take over. That pretty much describes what image streaming is all about: associate freely and let flow and come forth everything that your subconscious produces. Since most of your memories are visual images, even if you are not consciously aware of it, this requires to let images flow freely, or, in other words, image streaming. And if you practice steadily and repeatedly you will eventually increase your IQ considerably as you beat new paths and create new paths (associations) between hitherto less or unconnected areas of your knowledge. And that, in essence, is intelligence.

Here are some resources that prove the point or shed more light on the subject:

Image-Streaming - Learn it here now—your most powerful mode of thinking and perceiving, by Win Wenger, Ph.D. http://www.winwenger.com/imstream.htm

Two GUARANTEED Ways to Profoundly Improve Your Intelligence, by Win Wenger http://www.winwenger.com/ebooks/guaran4.htm

Image Streaming - A Technique Review http://futureimperative.blogspot.com/2005/03/image-streaming-technique-review-al.html

It doesn't matter, if it's really 20 IQ points or less, the main point is: no matter where you start from, if you practice only a few times you will notice a much richer stream of visul imagery that helps you find creative solutions and helps to keep your brain fit - which is even a good way to stave off dementia, Alzheimer's disease etc.

On http://www.fsa-ev.de you can find more articles on learning techniques and strategies or intelligence training in both English and German.