Customer Reviews

Dog Problems (Howell Reference Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is misnamed. Its supposed to be for professionals, yet it contains exactly the same overly-general advice in all of her pet-owner books. At one point, in the discussion on aggression, she states that if the dog is really out of hand the reader should seek the help of the professional! Duh!

I've enjoyed and learned from Ms Benjamin's books over the years, but found nothing new in this one - its all recycled material. And way too vague to be truly useful to the advanced trainer, much less the professional.

This is an excellent book for people who have mild or moderate dog problems. It is well written with a sense of humor, and with insight into the behavior of dogs. It is a book by a professional trainer, not for professional trainers.

Carol Lea Benjamin does not advocate punishment. In fact, she advises to NEVER hit your dog. Appropriately correcting a dog is not a punishment any more than appropriately correcting a child when they run into a street is a punishment. In addition to describing how to properly correct your dog, she points out human behaviors that inadvertantly encourage dog problems, when and how to use praise to encourage positive behavior, how to redirect behavior, and that sometimes, we can eliminate a bad behavior just by removing the trigger.

Punishment, punishment everywhere. I recommend that you skip Carol Lea's books -- she way overemphasizes the outdated dominance model.

All of these behaviors are natural dog behaviors. We're asking them to live in a very unnatural environment with what are, to them, very unnatural rules. Skip this book and choose ones that treat dogs as dogs, not as furry humans trying to take over your world that must be dominated at all cost.

I'd pick Jean Donaldson's books or Terry Ryan's Toolbox for the Problem Dog before this kind of book any day.

There are better ways to train dogs and other animals that do not advocate "stringing the dog up" by the neck when it misbehaves. When I read this in what is a widely acclaimed book, I removed it from my recommended reading list. This jerk and puke method of training is outdated and ineffective. Operant conditioning is the way to go for long-lasting results that does not cause your dog to fear you. For dogs with an aggression problem, do NOT use Benjamin's methods or you will likely get bit!

The writing style is great-- easy to read, fun, and shining with the author's love for dogs. In general, the advice is sound too, but in several places the recommended "punishments" are harsh, violent, or simply bad training. Read and use this book by all means, but have a look at Karen Pryor's _Don't Shoot the Dog!_ to get a better handle on effective training techniques.

If you have a aggressive dog who is over 10 pounds and need some seriouse help or advice, I would advise purchasing another book, this trainers advice for everything was grab the dog by the collar and shake it while saying NO NO NO. I have read better books..

I was intrigued by the title of this book, since I come into contact with all sorts of dogs regularly and am often asked advice about issues like possession guarding, dog-on-dog aggression, etc. However, the advice in this book is by no means anything I would ever pass on. Most issues are dealt with by correcting the dog harshly, shaking him, dragging him by the leash, and similar awful methods. The author's 'cure' for a dog that growls and snaps from under the bed is to daftly drag him out by the lead, and if he happens to bang his head on the way out, so much the better! She advises owners of dogs with fear aggression towards strangers to severly reprimand the dog with voice and leash corrections every time he becomes agitated around another person. This is a ridiculous way to 'help' your dog and will most likely only make the aversion worse. I noticed that Ms. Benjamin has also written a book that claims to use positive training methods, but unless her philosophy has changed from one book to the other, I would not recommend any of her material to anyone else. There are plenty of truly humane training guides out there, don't waste your money on this.

This was a well-written book aimed more at the novice dog-owner or someone who's experiencing a problem they've not experienced before. The book is written with a good sense of humor; for example, her final comment about ticks. She also recognizes that there are some "problems" that can not be solved, they are just part of being a dog, while other problems that people say are just part of being a dog can be solved. I enjoyed the book and have started trying her method on my German Shepherd, who back-talks as bad as any teenager when told to do something.

Good book with useful advice on many behavioral problems. Does not involve clicker training, however neither does solving behavioral issues. Good operant conditioning methods and teaching the dog to make decisions about its behavior based on the consequences they produce. Good read for anyone who wants results when dog training.

The author is my favorite. She makes training fun and you build a good rapport with your dog. She helps you to understand training from the dogs point of view. You should never set your dog or your child up to fail. Use positive teaching methods to bring up both.

Her instructions are clear and easy to follow. Undoing a behavior is more difficult than avoiding the behavior in the first place so when your pup is young buy her book called "Mother Knows Best". I have used her Dog Problems book on dogs that others have "Thrown Away" and had good luck changing the behavior. Dogs want to please their owner so you just have to find the key to open up their little brains. Dogs can teach us many things also, and patience is the one thing that comes to my mind.I tell young people that there should be a law that you must SUCCESSFULLY
train a dog before being allowed to have children. Dogs are much easier to cope with and they never require braces or steal the family car.