Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 46-50 of 189
 This is great, but... January 10, 2007
A. Thoreen (Seattle, WA)
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
You really can't read this if you do not HAVE a dog which you are actively training. It's more of a manual than a informative book.
 A Must-Read for Anyone Getting a Dog January 9, 2007
Lisa McCoy (Seattle, WA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is simply a fantastic book and should be required reading for anyone who is considering getting a dog -- even if you've owned dogs before. I read this book prior to getting a new English Springer Spaniel puppy (my second ESS) and am so glad I read it ahead of time. It gave me a lot to think about and questions to ask myself -- not only about what I wanted from the dog, but also what I plan to bring to the relationship. From the first few weeks of a puppy's life until it is adopted, this book provides an in-depth, thoughtful look at critical aspects of a pup's development and how we, as the pack leaders, can bring out and nuture the best in our dogs. I will be reading How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend next.
 Limited Scope -- Disappointing December 1, 2006
Margaret P. (Boulder, CO USA)
20 out of 27 found this review helpful
This book came highly recommended, as being very popular with vets and puppy owners. It has a lot of information on training a puppy to come, sit, lay down, heel, etc. There is also interesting information about dog psychology. Most of the advice in this book depends upon someone being home with the puppy all day long, everyday.
We got a new puppy three weeks ago. Knowing little about dogs and nearly nothing about puppy care, we purchased this book as our primary source for puppy raising advice. I'm very disappointed. Some of the early puppy training games are fun and seem to work fine. Some of "how to speak puppy" advice seems to work. The "how to pick a puppy" appendix (a couple pages only) worked great. But most of our puppy raising questions are not answered.
Numerous topics of extreme interest to new dog owners are simply not addressed. There is no advice on problem behavior, how to teach your puppy good manners, and such. What if your dog barks too much -- from what I've read the most common reason for someone to give up a dog? The authors don't say, just "puppies bark". How to tell when puppy is house trained fully? Nope. How to get puppy to tell you when they need to go out? Nothing. What about jumping on furniture? Go fish. How should I house train if I can't be there for puppy every 1.5 hours all day long? Nothing. How do I train my puppy to calmly accept being alone for brief periods? Apparently, you don't. What toys are good for dogs? No opinion given. What is a simple game that kids can safelty play with my dog? Nope, they apparently haven't heard of playing with dogs.
Additionally, some of the advice simply does not work. Their durring meal advice is to force the puppy to lay quietly, by putting a foot on the leash close to the collar. All this accomplishes is a franticly squirming dog. How is that helpful? I'd like to have our puppy lay quietly during meals, but this book will never help accomplish this. Their companion advice on meals is that having a whole lot of other dogs laying quietly during meals demonstrating the desired behaivor helps. Well, that is useless to me!
Overall, a very disappointing book that claims a lot and delivers little.
Art of Raising a Puppy November 13, 2006
Sharlene Kenyon
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a great book for learning about dog training. I bought this copy for a friend.
Great Book November 4, 2006
Sara E. Detombe (Port Byron, IL)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book for anyone who is a first time owner of a puppy. The author give great insight into the mind of a dog. There are great tips to properly motivate a dog to behave and understand what makes him/her act the way they do.
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