Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 27
 IF YOU REALLY LOVE YOUR DOG, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!!! May 17, 2005
Maria Paris (Florida, USA)
4 out of 12 found this review helpful
What a terrible approach! Don't loose your money and your patience with this book.
I think it's pretty sad, coming from a certified expert on dog behavior...
 Why Treat a Good Dog Bad? April 19, 2004
E. Rey (TX USA)
42 out of 59 found this review helpful
I bought this book hoping that I would love it and get lots of practical advice, but honestly I was disappointed. My husband and I have two beautiful beagles, who have been our children for about 18 months now. We are working on conceiving and thought that we should get our dogs prepared for the baby. To begin with my dogs don't really have any major behavior problems. They have no separation anxiety, sleep the whole night through, play well with my nephews, and are completely housebroken. Some of the advice in this book just seems plain mean. The author recommends that you show your dog control by fixing up his bowl of dog food and making a big production of it. Then place the bowl on the counter top just out of the reach of your dog while you sit at the table and eat your dinner. I don't understand the point of this, other than to confuse my dogs. My dogs know when I'm going to feed them because I always feed them at the same time of day and ask them "Do you want some food?". Why would I want to change this practice when they are already trained to eat at a certain time? Another bit of advice was to not let the dog out of the front door in front of you. The author suggests slamming the door in front of the dog's face before he can exit. My husband tried this one with our male dog first. Yes, the dog was confused like the author suggested, but did not react the way that the book said that he would. Instead he ran away from the door and hopped up on my lap and looked at me as if to say, "Daddy is being mean to me". Yes, my dogs have some behaviors that are supposedly bad such as jumping up on people when they get really excited and charging out of the front when they have their leashes on, but somehow I don't think that all of the advice has to be followed in order to have obedient dogs. I don't feel the need to break my dogs in order to make them behave. We already use the water squirt bottle in order to get them to quit "bad" behaviors and reward them with treats for "good" behaviors. The book presents the retraining of your dog as a 12-step program. I will use the steps that specifically pertain to the issues that I would like to address with my dogs, however, I will not be using all 12 steps. I suggest skimming this book at the bookstore before you buy it to see if it is worth it to you. I wish I knew that I would disagree with some of the methods before I got the book.
 Great Advice; Succinct, to the point, and sensible November 21, 2003
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book helped me sooo much. My dog was my first baby and when I found out I was pregnant I was both overjoyed and anxious. I worried that my dog wouldn't accept the baby. Thank God I found this book. It addressed every one of my concerns and offered effective and practical solutions. Now I have a baby and a dog and we're one big happy family. This book helped me and I'm sure it will help you as well.
Every Dog Should Read This July 13, 2003
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
If dogs could read they'd want to read this. They'd see that everything that's in here is a sure fire way not to get the boot from their home when the little one comes.They'd know the few simple things we want from them and they'd know that we know they know. Know what I mean? Anyway, since your dog can't read and you can you should run out quick and fetch this book. It could, in a dramatic case, keep your dog from getting rehomed once your child arrives, and in a less dramatic case, teach him everything he needs to know to make his relationship both with you and your child like the one depicted on the cover of this book. Go get it boy (girl)!
A Great Addition to a little discussed topic July 13, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book after reading about it in various places and seeing the author on a local television program and it has transformed my life with my dog. Initially I purchased the book to help me prepare my dog for the arrival of my baby, and it helped me with this enormously. What I didn't expect was how much this book would help me transform my overall relationship with my dog in the most positive way. The bond I have with him now is closer than ever and the bond he is developing with my new baby is beautiful to see. The book is well written and is loaded with photos, illustrations and sidebars. It is heavily cross referenced and easy to use. And while the author uses a sense of humor to drive home his points, he does not distract the reader with excess verbiage, being straight and to the point in everything he says. All in all, a great book for building a solid relationship with your dog, whether there's a baby on the way or not. I wish I could give it six stars!
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