Customer Reviews

The Howell Book of Dogs: The Definitive Reference to 300 Breeds and Varieties

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's wonderful to see such a complete and well illustrated full color book on dog breeds . In addition to the normally included Labradors and Yorkies, this book covers some of the rarest breeds like Thai Ridgbacks, Silken Windhounds, and the Chart Polski. Very impressive!

The photos in this book for the most part to depict the average breed of each dog. The book does include several mixed breeds and designer breeds. The captions of the breed's general characteristics are highly inaccurate. Example the Greyhound is described as easy to train but difficult to motivate. As a professional trainer my experience has been that dogs who are difficult to motivate are not easy to train. The activity levels on several breeds are inaccurate, ie. the Havanese. Average life span on most breeds is incorrect.

Liz Palika's new book really gives you the best of her years of experience as a dog trainer and writer. Her up-close-and personal experience with so many breeds translates into an informative and interesting book. The photography and layout are beautiful, and many rare and non-AKC breeds are discussed. Even designer dogs- purposely mixed breeds- get a nod. You'll spend hours enjoying this book.

Good illustrations overall, I like that its not all about the AKC. Not as a complete as I thought it would be ( got it as a gift for my dog trainer husband ) For example shar pei's and dutch shephard's are not included

The pictures and articles are entertaining, and the care and behavioral information on each breed is invaluable to anyone working with dogs or looking for a pet.

I really enjoy this book. Out of the five dog breed books I own, it is one of my favorites. This is so for a number of reasons. First of all, the book has a very nice selection of dogs. Not many breed books hold information about over 300 dogs and do it well to boot. Yes, there is typically only one (at most two) pages of info, but, as far as I have researched, the information is correct and fair. The pictures are nice (I have to be honest in saying they could have been a little better, but they are not bad at all) and the book is well written. Palika covers a lot of topics before getting into the dog breeds; such as care of dogs, and how to be realistic in your choice of pet. She also covers sensitive material like laws that ban (unfairly) certain breeds from certain cities or even countries. She goes into why these laws happen and, more importantly, why they are wrong. I will say that she did not cover a particular dog that I was looking for (the Skye Terrier) but, since she covers so many others and does it well, I gave her five stars anyway. If you love dogs, and love to read about them, this book will delight you.

I bought this book as it includes some of the more rare breeds - including a photo of my dogs father, an Alapha Blueblood Bulldog...it did include more than the standard AKC breeds which I appreciate. If it had included more in-depth information on each breed, I would have liked it even more.

This is a beautiful and informative book. I love the articles and pictures, especially the rare dogs. I would give it as a gift to a real dog lover.

A very comprehensive book on a wide variety of dog breeds. The author did an excellent job capturing some of the very important aspects of each breed rather than painting each with a general broad stroke. Essential reference for anyone considering a new breed of dog for themselves.

After taking a look at it- especially the breeds list- this is definately NOT a 'definitive' dog book. It doesn't even include Hellenic Hounds, Kintanami Dogs, Kooikerhondjies, Shikokus etc. It doesn't seem worth it to waste your money on such a lousy book. These are some suggestions that seem like they'd be excellent, although they are more expensive:

-Atlas to Dog Breeds of the World, by Dominique de Vito
-The New Encyclopedia of the Dog, by Bruce Fogle

The latter is less complete than the former, but still seems like a good reference. The first one is the complete non-illustrated dog book I have ever found. By my observations, and comparings with the two suggestions, this book deserves a one star rating.

Dog Breed Kid