Customer Reviews

PETiquette: Solving Behavior Problems in Your Multi-Pet Household

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(Note: Review below sent to author's website, posted with permission)

This is one dang fine book!! It's comprehensive, full of more than useful information, and a ''must'' for suckers like me who can't pass up a needy critter. It's written so that anyone can understand it, and it's clear in its message. You have written THE book for people who love animals and see them as family members. Thank you for what will be (for me) a useful tool in helping Sparky, Poky, Molly, Shadow, Bachi, and Pepper co-exist. You're good at what you do!!

A fan,

Humphrey Fish

This book was a Godsend. I found it the day before I finally, overwhelmed, had scheduled to put my 11 yr old cat to sleep after trying many strategies (vet check, diff litters, boxes, odor removers, special food, etc.,etc.) The book led me to a website about a special cat litter called Cat Attract, which to my shock, has saved our cat and our happy home! The book also had other suggestions which I employed as well, probably contributing to this success. Very clear and practical, tips I had not read in other sources.

As a certified professional dog trainer (CPT) with a multi-pet household (two dogs and two cats), I read and reviewed this book from a professional's perspective rather than just as a casual enthusiast, so forgive this review if it seems rather critical. First, as a book that seems to be marketed towards addressing behavior problems (and I've read MANY such books), it had an abnormally high prevalence of product recommendations. The reason became clear when I read the author bio. at the end, indicating that Amy Shojai is a consultant to the pet products industry. This wouldn't be noteworthy, except that there were times in which product recommendations seemed to be made to the exclusion of solid training advice as was the case in the separation anxiety section. Some of the most basic advice: not making a big emotional scene during homecomings and departures, and using obedience training to build confidence so the dog can cope with being alone, are completely unmentioned. There are a full seven pages in the first chapter of the book devoted to product recommendations. Thereafter, product recommendations are commonly offered as "solutions" for problem behavior whereas conventional training wisdom says that you actually have to work with the dog to modify behavior and improve communication. I started to question if the author truly understood the concept of addressing and fixing problem behavior versus managing it around page 87 when she says in reference to Bach Flower remedies, "Behavior modification and training methods won't work until the pet gets his feelings under control." She goes on to prescribe a regimen of Bach Flower remedies, implying that by simply giving the essences the pet's behavior will change, and only after that should you attempt any actual behavior modification. I can't disagree more. My belief as a trainer is quite to the contrary. The obedience training is what helps a pet get control of his feelings by teaching self control and responsiveness and calming anxiety by increasing communication between owner and dog.

Finally, a caution: this book is highly biased towards all-positive training methods. While all trainers have their opinions, the view presented here is extremely narrow, to the exclusion of many potential real (safe, humane) solutions for owners that might be in a desperate situation, considering giving up a pet or forsaking their own sanity. Take her slam on e-collar training, for example (p. 92). To date, there have been no credible scientific studies that have shown that remote training collars (aka e-collars or "shock collars") create behavior problems in dogs, when the training is done in a responsible, humane manner. Many of the studies that have purported to show that e-collars are cruel have been significantly flawed, and it just takes knowing one well-adjusted, well-behaved e-collar trained dog to realize that the tool can be highly effective, fair, safe, and humane when used properly. The author includes a vague reference to an e-collar "review" indicating that categorically, "...all the dogs took longer to train and that the training collars changed their play behavior." We don't know if "all the dogs" are two dogs or 200. We don't know to what review she's referring, when or who published it. We also don't know why or how the play behavior changed--perhaps the play behavior actually improved?! E-collars can be incredibly effective at helping owners maintain control in a multi-pet household because you have direct control over the pet wearing the collar even at a distance. You don't need to yell or physically intervene, once the dog understands the concept of the e-collar (how to turn it off by responding appropriately), you simply press a button to interrupt his behavior, maybe it's rough-housing or barking, and direct him to something else. While the author's pet product consulting services may not extend to the remote e-collar sector, I don't think it's appropriate to categorically dismiss or discourage a training approach or tool that is completely humane and safe when used correctly. That was the non-objective part of the review. Onto the pros and more objective cons of the book.

The Pros:
I thought that the cat information was pretty good, especially since there's very little information available in general about cat training, behavior problems, and especially cat/cat introductions.

I liked her rule of thumb at the beginning of the book: no more pets than number of bedrooms in your home. The rule can be fudged if you have a large backyard space or a lot of vertical space for cats. I thought this was a sound guideline. Perhaps a second rule of thumb regarding number of hours spent at home should also be added, i.e., no more pets than twice the number of hours you spend at home on a typical weekday evening. Meaning if you get home from work at 4PM and are in bed by 10PM, you should have no more than three pets. Space is one thing, but time to spend with your crew is another important consideration.

The Cons
Regardless of training method preference, I struggle with any book that gives bad or dangerous advice, and I found a couple of instances of that in this book.

1) On page 38, as part of the product recommendations, the author suggests using a laser pointer to play with cats OR dogs. I have to strongly disagree on this point with dogs. For many dogs, the laser pointer (or a flashlight beam) can trigger obsessive compulsive tendencies. Some breeds are more prone to this (e.g. bull terriers) and it can become severe and debilitating. One explanation is that it's actually a small behavioral "seizure." Once the tendency is awakened, the dog may start to seek out reflections or shadows in order to engage in the behavior even without a laser light. It's not worth risking your dog will have this type of acute behavioral reaction and it's very hard to fix once the OCD behavior begins. Do not user laser light pointers to play with dogs.

2) On page 94, she recommends crating dogs together in the same crate if they are small enough. The recommendation is in the context of traveling in the car. I can't disagree more, especially if traveling creates a lot of stress for one or both dogs, which might cause them to act out of character. If they're confined together and one of them gets over-anxious or over-excited, an aggressive response could result. If the dogs are caged together, the other dog has no way to escape and must fight. The one exception might be a young litter of puppies or kittens traveling together. The other danger is the potential of the dogs knocking into each other and injuring one another if the car stops or turns quickly.

3) Her sole recommendation to follow pet food recommendations and feed "life stage appropriate" food demonstrates a lack of research on the subject. There are numerous books out there devoted to the topic of pet food regulation and safety (seek those out for a thorough discussion on the topic). Whatever your position on pet food, the biggest concern for pet food consumers is to find a safe, quality product and to feed the right amount, not necessarily to feed for life stages. In fact, many of the highest end premium foods don't even offer life stage products because all their products are so good that they will fulfill the nutritional needs of the animal at any age. Life stage feeding has largely been "de-bunked" as a clever marketing gimmick to improve product visibility and consumer loyalty and it's primarily the big box brands that peddle the lowest quality foods (Purina, Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba etc.) that engage in this strategy. If you're going to devote a paragraph to the topic of nutrition and no more, at least give the best single nugget of information you can.

4) On page 146 she suggests using a chow hound to help motivate your other dogs to eat faster, "To canines, eating is a communal event, and healthy competition can prompt Rex to clean his plate if he knows others gobble leftovers." This is bad advice. If a dog eats too quickly, he could develop gastrointestinal discomfort like gas, or conditions called bloat and/or torsion (usually requiring emergency surgical intervention to fix), in addition to behavior problems that could develop such as resource guarding. A responsible owner does not subject her animals to feeding contests, but takes charge of the situation and removes the dogs or sends them from the room after they're done so remaining animals can finish their meal without harassment. Pick up the food after 15 to 20 minutes, when all animals have had sufficient time to finish without being forced to consume their food at an uncomfortable rate.

5) On page 150 the author recommends allowing dogs to consume rawhide chews without supervision as a potential solution to boredom (another product recommendation in lieu of actual behavior modification). Again, dangerous advice: a rawhide can be a choking hazard or create a blockage as it expands when it's exposed to the moisture of the dog's stomach or intestines. IF you give your dogs rawhides, only do so under supervision so you can intervene if the dog begins to choke or tries to swallow a large or jagged piece.

There were other somewhat inane or outdated pieces of advice in this book that I took issue with, namely the over-arching idea of identifying and consistently "backing up" the "alpha" dog in your pack rather than reinforcing good behavior regardless of which dog it is, but I won't go into detail here as that could also be considered to be "differences of opinion." I will mention two glaring omissions on the topic of multiple pet households: littermate syndrome and hoarding or animal collecting. More than aggression, I've seen issues of littermate syndrome wherein a dog is hyper-focused on their canine companion to the exclusion of the human family members, and to the extent that the dogs can't even be separated because they are so co-dependent. Finally, due to the recent increasing awareness of the I think even a brief section on the topic of animal hoarding would have been a responsible inclusion. Perhaps some information about the difference between being a responsible multiple animal enthusiast and a hoarder, and what resources are available to help.

Sarah Smith, CPT
www.pawsnmotion.com