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 enlarge | Author: Karen Pryor
Publisher: Ringpress Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: $11.69
Buy New: $9.20
You Save: $2.49 (21%)
New (9) Used (3) from $9.00
Rating:  112 reviews
Sales Rank: 9194
Media: Paperback
Edition: 3rd
Pages: 220
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 1860542387
Dewey Decimal Number: 636
EAN: 9781860542381
ASIN: 1860542387
Publication Date: March 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 112
 Recommend it to everyone. May 5, 2008
Scott B. Lindstrom (Yakima, WA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read the reviews on this book. The 1-star reviews all seem to come from either dog training companies who view it as competition, scientologists who reject the whole field of psychology, angry individuals who didn't read the product description, or individuals whose worldview is threatened by the idea that our behavior is influenced by external stimuli.
"Don't Shoot the Dog" is the NAME of the book. It's not a dog training book. It's written for HUMANS. It's a book about the simple principles of operant conditioning which influence behavior. Pryor never makes any claims which are not strongly scientifically supported. She provides simple practical instruction for utilizing science to shape behavior. I recommend this book to so many people, I cannot count them. I do NOT recommend self-help books, as a rule. THIS however is solid science with solid evidence behind it being presented in an open, honest, and incredibly helpful way.
If you want warm-fuzzy yet ultimately hollow language to make you believe you have a spiritual connection with your pets or that you really are accomplishing your goals for change by repeating them in your head fifty times a day while wearing knee-high socks, go for one of the fifty million "self-help" books out there.
If you want actual scientifically supported methods for creating actual change, this book is for you.
My Dog is Really Smart Now February 22, 2008
Vincent Harris (Trenton, MO USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
After reading this book, I used the methods described to teach a very stubborn dog to sit, lay down and rollover in one afternoon. Easy to read, great examples, and applicable to human beings!
Theory and practice of animal behavioral training December 12, 2007
A. Sander (Ohio)
Many books show you methods of training and "how to" train an animal to do something. This book explains why those methods work, common pitfalls when training animals, and real world examples of training. Pryor created an invaluable resource for training animals from theory to practice in all animals.
 Don't shoot the Dog December 2, 2007
Jean Freeman (Regina, Saskatchewan Canada)
Just what I was looking for! Not only helpful for dog owners but also for anyone interested in personal interactions with family, co-workers or friends in general!
One of the most beneficial books you could ever read November 28, 2007
Andrew Barrett (UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I first read this book a couple of years ago and since then have recommended it to anyone who would listen. I've also bought four copies and given them as gifts.
I decided recently that I should reread it to reinforce the ideas and to see if it was as good as I remembered. It is.
When I first read this book I can remember being literally horrified at the methods I had been using to try to modify other peoples' behaviour (family, girlfriend, colleagues, etc.). Any time you attempt to change the behaviour of any person or animal you are - whether you realise it or not - attempting to train them.
It turns out that the methods most people use (usually unconsciously or because they do not know better) are both ineffective and unpleasant - especially punishment. It is rare in life that you can change to a different method of doing something vitally important that is both much more pleasant for all of those involved and produces better results. This book demonstrates one of these happy occasions.
All of our attempts to change the behaviour of other creatures can be broken down into three categories: punishment, negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement. Punishment is an aversive applied after the event (such as grounding your kids or putting a criminal in jail). Negative reinforcement is an aversive (punisher) applied when an unwanted behaviour is occurring which is then stopped when the unwanted behaviour stops (such as the use of a choke chain on a dog). Positive reinforcement involves rewarding desired behaviour (for example using praise or food).
Karen Pryor's methods originate with the findings of American psychologist B F Skinner and her work as a dolphin trainer. Dolphins are unusual creatures in that it is not really possible to train them using the traditional methods of negative reinforcement or punishment. Dolphin trainers thus had no choice except to explore what was possible using only positive reinforcement, particularly using the powerful tool of a conditioned reinforcer - something that the training subject associates with a reward, such as a clicker or whistle.
(The advantage of a conditioned reinforcer is that it becomes possible to show the subject precisely what it was you liked because you can indicate without any delay. A lot of training problems are simply due to problems in communication. For example, when you yell at your dog for jumping into the lake and it comes over to you and you then tell it off forcefully, how does the dog know that you are telling it off for jumping in the lake rather than coming over to you when you call? And should you be surprised when you find your dog won't come reliably when you call for it?)
Dolphins were (are?) considered different to other animals in their level of intelligence, playfulness, curiosity and friendliness to humans. I found it absolutely fascinating that Pryor has found that when other animals - dogs, horses, bears and even fish - are trained only using positive reinforcement they show the same characteristics as dolphins. Even more interesting is Pryor's finding that if even a small amount of negative training (all of which involve use of a punisher) is mixed in you lose all or virtually all of the benefits. And what good sense this makes: how could a dog that is regularly throttled with a chain by its 'beloved' owner have the same level of trust, curiosity and freedom from fear as one that was only praised when it did something that was desired? This has extremely important ramifications for our conduct in our daily lives.
One of the principal benefits of Pryor's book is that she teaches us that it is often helpful to make an effort to see the situation from the other side. This sounds trite but is actually the opposite: a simple but very powerful tool. Often problems originate from a communication problem and/or because we find we are actually not rewarding or punishing the behaviour we think we are (as my dog example above shows).
I have found Pryor's methods immensely liberating. Previously I always felt that is was somehow my 'duty' to try to correct unwanted behaviour (whether is was something my girlfriend did, service I was unhappy about at a restaurant, or whatever). Thus I either ended up with an unpleasant situation (when is remonstrating with people pleasant?) or felt that I had given up because I was weak. Now I understand that one can and should just wait for behaviour one wants and deliberately reward it. This is the difference between a life filled with negativity and the total opposite. And the results are also better! What a marvellous gift Karen Pryor has given us.
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