Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 71-75 of 189
 Wonderful Book September 19, 2005
Gadget Man (California)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a leader of the pack style book and it is excellent. It is informative and well writte. I also recommend the Kilcommon book Good Owner, Great Dog which uses a similar approach with distinct verbal commands as opposed to the universal "No" that this book recommends. Both are excellent.
some things i never thought of September 10, 2005
Tom Colbert (Mississippi,USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have had 4 dogs, but i learned some new things from this book, I have never thought of before. Its good.
Great book! September 9, 2005
S. Strom
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is loaded with detailed information necessary to successfully raise a puppy. From the first night you have your puppy away from its mother, to how to train him/her, to how to recognize aggression in a dog's stance, it is a great resource.
 The Art of Ruining a Puppy September 7, 2005
Lee Charles Kelley (New York City)
18 out of 49 found this review helpful
Given the harmful, almost insane nature of some of the Monks of New Skete's training advice ("How hard should you hit your dog? If she doesn't yelp in pain you haven't hit her hard enough." -- pg. 44, orig. ed. HOW TO BE YOUR DOG'S WORST ENEMY) it's hard to take anything they say on the subject of dog training seriously.
That said there is a modicum of sound and practical information in this book. Not enough to override the horror of putting your dog in the hands of those who would advise you to hit her until she yelps in pain. (If I had my way, it would be against the law to give such training "advice," and probably IS in some jurisdictions.)
Then there's the fact that the monks are way behind the times when it comes to understanding the nature of a dog's social instincts. HINT: There is no such thing as an alpha wolf, alpha dog, or pack leader. That is a complete myth, as has been proven by the top wolf experts in at least the last five years These researchers don't even like to use the word alpha anymore because "it falsely implies a hierarchical structure." (L. David Mech, et al, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2002).
And how do the monks reconcile the fact that "dominance displays are uncommon" among wild wolves (Mech, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 1999) with their belief that nearly everything a puppy does, in terms of its social behavior, is either dominance or submission? If a dog's social instincts are inherited from wild wolves and if, according to the real experts on the subject (like Mech), wild wolves almost never act dominant or submissive towards one another, where is all this dominant and submissive behavior coming from? Maybe from the way the monks treat the animals in their care?
I've been training dogs in New York City for fifteen years and I've only seen one instance of what could be called dominant behavior, and it was between two adult males, both unneutered. The owner of the dog that exhibited this behavior quickly stepped in, yelled at his dog, and smacked him really hard (though the dog didn't yelp in pain, so the man apparently didn't hit him hard enough). Yes, that got the dog to temporarily stop what he was doing, but in my estimation it's just that kind of mistreatment that caused this totally unnatural behavior to develop in the first place! Dogs who aren't mistreated never exhibit unnatural "dominant" behaviors. They just don't.
This is so sad to me because the real nature of the dog's social instincts is for cooperation, group harmony, and -- for lack of a better word -- love. How do the monks get this so wrong? Why don't they see this beautiful aspect of a dog's nature as being his primary social impulse?
I guess when you live in a monastery and you have a mindset that tells you it's okay to hit dogs until they yelp in pain because they understand it's your right as a nonexistent "alpha wolf," you're bound to be a little removed from reality.
If you have the slightest twinge of love or compassion for your puppy, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Very Good Advice September 6, 2005
K. Lee (Libby, Montana)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
this is a great book for anyone with a new puppy or anyone who wants to understand puppies and dogs better. We recently got a new German Shepherd puppy and I have found the advice to be very helpful.
I like the very holistic view that the monks take of dogs and find their training tips to be excellent. I think anyone who has a puppy- especailly a German shepher dbut really any breed would enjoy reading this book.
I first checked it out from the library but liked it so much I ordered my own copy.
|
