The Complete Idiot's Guide to German Shepherd Dogs [Paperback]

D. Caroline Ph.D. Coile (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Alpha Books (1999)
• ISBN-10: 1582450471
• ISBN-13: 978-1582450476
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,432,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

D. Caroline Coile, Ph.D. has written 34 books and hundreds of magazine and scientific articles about dogs. She writes the monthly Breeder's Notebook column for Dog World magazine and the bi-monthly Nutrition column for the AKC Gazette. Her dog writing awards include the Dog Writer's Association of America Maxwell Award (eight times), the AKC Canine Health Foundation Award (twice), the Eukanuba Canine Health Award (twice), and the DWAA Denlinger Award. Her best-known book is Barron's Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds. She has also written two children's books about dogs.

Caroline holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Florida State University, with research interests in canine behavior, senses, genetics and neuropsychology. She has taught college classes in psychology, behavioral genetics, animal senses, and animal learning, among others. She has served as a canine consultant to the FAA and has served on the AKC Canine Health Foundation President's Council. She has appeared on television and radio shows, including NPR's Talk of the Nation and Australia's Breakfast Radio. She has been quoted in Newsweek magazine and USA Today.

On a practical level, Caroline has lived with dogs all of her life, and has competed in dog events since 1975. She is the only person to have owned Best in Show, Best in Field, High in Trial (obedience), and High in Trial (agility) salukis, and they were all owner-handled. Her dogs have included nationally ranked #1 show and #1 obedience salukis, and top-10 lure-coursing, agility, rally and racing salukis.

www.carolinecoile.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Book; lacking health informaiton though, October 1, 2000

By 

Georgina "tville" (san francisco, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to German Shepherd Dogs (Paperback)

I dunno what the other guy is talking about; 'not breed specific'. This book explains why to get a dog of European bloodlines vs American and how to read the mysterious SV papers from the USA (United Schutzhund Assoc). The section on picking a pup is helpful though again not very indepth but better than nothing; there should have been more about the differences of puppies anod how your puppy greets you initially and how to interpret the puppy appitude test. Also I think a breakdown of the colour in GSDs would be helpful.

The health section was actually what I thought was the weakest part of the book: no mention of the dreaded epilepsy, other than in the first aid section, and having lost a GSD to idiopathic epilepsy I am sensitive to that issue (she does give a one liner to it showing up in certain lines). Also did not really mention the diet to CHD relationship either, putting ALOT of weight on genetics and that is a polygenetic disease where overfeeding and type of food matters.

A great history of von Stephanitz and his goals of the breed in an easy freindly style. This is helpful to see why the Europeans breed one way and the Americans another.

Overall a good intro but don't let this be your only puppy book even if it's your own GSD book. I'd recommend The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey for overall puppy training as a supplement.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Last!, October 22, 2000

By 

Barby Murray (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to German Shepherd Dogs (Paperback)

Unless you consider yourself an expert (and really are one), and you're going to get only one book - or your first book - on GSDs, get this one.

This is the best dog book I have ever read, and I've read plenty.

I don't mind considering myself an idiot.

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good general dog information, not breed specific., August 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to German Shepherd Dogs (Paperback)

This book provides good, general information about selecting and caring for any dog. The problem is, the information, while helpful, does not give any real insight about the specific breed. The only breed specific information (and in my opinion, the saving grace of this book) is found in the Chapter dealing with health problems commonly found in GSDs. With the exception of that Chapter, this book could easily be retitled "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dogs".