Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 161-164 of 164 | | « PREV 1 ... | | |
 Funny, happy, sad, enligtening! July 29, 2002
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you have a dog, you need to get this book. McConnell points out so clearly why (many times) it's not poor innocent us, suffering through with a nutso dog... in fact, it's the stuff WE DO that's making the dog nutso. I have three dogs and am so glad I read this book. Wow. Well-written. Happy in some places; sad in others. Very enlightening. I learned a lot from it- about me, and about my dogs.
Essential Training Tool! July 2, 2002
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
This book is dog language defined. Examples of facial expressions that preceed behaviors and the smallest physical cues that you can give your dog to stop or encourage a behavior have the reader engaged from chapter to chapter. The author makes it clear that observation is key to understanding your dog.
Excellent, excellent book June 22, 2002
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
This book really rocks! I am familiar with Trisha McConnell from her TV show, so I got the book as soon as I saw it. I've never read anything like it. The subtitle--"Why we do what we do around dogs" really sums up what the book is about. McConnell compares dogs to wolves, and humans to chimps, and uses that perspective to explain a LOT. McConnell is a great writer, fun, and the stories she tells about her experiences with both dogs and humans are incredible--insightful and moving. Her understandings about the underlying science of human-animal relationships are also awesome. As you can tell, I really love this book.
This is 'The' authoritative source for canine behavior June 11, 2002
293 out of 298 found this review helpful
Owning an embarrassing number of dog training/behavior books and having kept Border Collies for a long time, I feel qualified to say that if you only bought one book on canine behavior, this would be it. Dr. McConnell provides a clear and lucid explanation of why dogs behave and respond as they do -- all the while being careful to make note of the ambiguities and idiosyncratic nature of both canine and human behavior. There are no 'magic formulas' here. But there are many guidelines and explanations of why some things tend to work, while others tend not to. The strength of this book is that it provides an understanding of why dogs respond, allowing the reader to refine his/her behaviors to better communicate with dogs. This focus on human behavior and how dogs interpret it provides unusual insight into effective interaction and training. Extensive experience and academic preparation in animal behavior and communication have provided McConnell with an exceptional understanding of how much of what we do in interacting with dogs is actually counter-productive because dogs see the world quite differently than primates do. Changing some of my behaviors after reading this book, I could almost see my three Border Collies thinking, "Well, about time you figured that out."
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