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146 of 148 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed reaction, January 13, 2004
This review is from: How to be the Leader of the Pack...And have Your Dog Love You For It. (Paperback)
I've read several different dog training and behavior books, and Patricia McConnell is one of the best... and one of the funniest. Everything in this pamphlet is good advice, and good things to be reminded of. We have a problem in our household with different "standards" for our dog, so I will leave this book around the house hoping my DH reads it. It is short, so he might, and if he tries some of the suggestions it would solve many problems. Pushy begging, refusals to give back stolen objects, you get the idea -- involving the dog and DH. So yes, this book is an excellent resource for new dog owners or dog owners that are having problems. It is a short read, so it is good for experienced owners to look at to. I earmarked a few passages to remind myself to work on those things with the dog myself. However, this is not The Other End of the Leash. There isn't anything new or deeply in depth in this pamphlet, and having read other of McConnell's writing, I was hoping it would have some new insights. So I was a little disappointed. But the trainer's assistant in me is delighted that there is a brief and clear pamphlet with a lot of good advice in it that I could hand to a student and expect them to read it, understand it, and learn gentle things they can do to improve their relationship with their dog from it. McConnell clearly wrote this because she found that many of her human clients (she is a behavioral consultant and trainer) needed this information, and wouldn't it be nice if she could hand them a pamphlet so they could easily remember what she explained to them. And yes, the information in this pamphlet could certainly help reduce the number of dogs visiting the behaviorist or the humane society. So, brava on that score.
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57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT, January 4, 2004
This review is from: How to be the Leader of the Pack...And have Your Dog Love You For It. (Paperback)
Patricia is an excellent animal behaviorist and I recommend all her books. This one is the best one yet.
Trisha is not a dog trainer--she is an animal behaviorist, this is what makes all the difference! Think of an animal behaviorist as a "root-cause" analyzer of behavior. Training only helps to train the pet to do a certain action but it does not get at the root cause of the response or behavior (like inadvertantly rewarding the behavior, you would be amazed at how many of us do this).
One of my dogs has had dog training with Dogs Best Friend and they have the kindest and most dog-friendly ways of teaching!! Patricia's dog training classes teaches us that 99.9% of dog training consists of training the human, not the dog. Patricia teachs us how although we may be animals, the messages we send to our best friends are much different. For example, we may smile at our dog or attempt to hug it, but in dog language that is an act of aggression! In this book she tries to teach us how to behave more like dogs, and less like people (however crazy that sounds). One thing I remember from Dogs Best Friend training was a trainer whom had a family pet as a child who only responded to "sit, sit, sit, sit." It would not answer to just the command "sit." Patricia teaches us the value of the 1-word command, and the usage of positive, rewards-based training. This book is more than just a training book it provides valuable insight into the way dogs think. You will be amazed at how much your pet can learn when you start speaking their language! This book teaches us to think about how we are behaving in front of our dogs, and how important it is to "Be the leader of the pack, A benevolent leader," as she would say.
Any dog lover is at a loss without this book. For more on Trisha, those of you whom can tune in to Wisconsin Public Radio, Saturdays Trisha hosts a program called "Calling all Pets" which answers pet related problems. I do believe you can view past shows on WPR's website.
Best of luck in the care of your dog, and remember--your behavior can mean the difference between having a good pet and having a great pet!
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102 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Cliff Notes of Puppy 101, February 12, 2003
This review is from: How to be the Leader of the Pack...And have Your Dog Love You For It. (Paperback)
I guess I should have paid more attention to the number of pages contained in this book. When I received it, I was glad I'd paid so little for it. Unfortunately I didn't learn anything new about my 'pack' from this book having been through various courses of beginning and advanced training with both my dogs. That said, this is a great book for kids as it is short and to the point and I don't think it's too complicated. Same goes for an adult who is getting their first dog, or not necessarily their 'first' dog, but the first one they get once they leave their parents house. The recommendations in this book are all tried and true and have worked for me and it's a very good start to getting your dog to know who the big dog is at your house.
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