The two of you can look forward to a life of joy and companionship together.
Why did I get this book?
I got this book a good while ago because I wanted to learn more about positive training. It’s been sitting on my shelf for a while, half-read, but now in my hunt for good books to recommend to dog parents I picked it up again to finish.
What does this book do?
This book gives a thorough introduction to positive training. It also gives a good rundown of the potential fallouts with aversive training. What’s special about this book though, is that the author draws from her own experience with old fashioned training methods and shares her “come to Jesus” moment where she realized that she was hitting a wall with her training, hitting it hard and not seeing any way to scale the wall. It’s a heartwarming moment in the book and I think it can help reach a lot of people. Which is great.
On the more practical side, the book goes through the exercises of Pat Miller’s Peaceable Paws training program, one by one, so on top of the great educational stuff about training, you actually get a full training program in this book, including pre-printed “Doggy Day Planners” for you to take notes in as your training progresses. It also touches down briefly on behavior modification to solve things such as resource guarding, home alone issues, and light aggression, but if you have these issues, please do not rely on book material alone.
An honorable mention, I would like to point out before heading off to looking at what the book doesn’t do, is Appendix II, “Delicious Treats and Delightful Rewards” which not only focuses on treats but also environmental rewards. Something a lot of people either are not aware of or skip over because treats are easy, which is a shame. So absolute kudos for including this as an extra appendix in the book.
What does this book not do?
Oh my…. I would love to see this book in a third and updated edition. Overall, this book is good for pet parents as a training guide, but I would enjoy a version that didn’t lean quite as much on the den-animals myth and also used a wee bit more errorless approach in the training guides. The methods are positive, sure, absolutely, but it shows that the book has 15 years on it. Even though the book is a puppy guide, it is not something I would recommend as a solid resource on raising puppies specifically. So if you’re looking for a puppy training guide, I would suggest you go elsewhere, but for a brief guide on how to train your dog to function in daily life, this is certainly not a bad book.
Where do I get this book?
The book is available through most book stores, but also as an audiobook through Audible. It is the cheapest in the paperback edition, which will set you back approximately $12 + shipping.
