Customer Reviews

Right Dog For You

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book desperately needs to be updated, as there are several breeds who need to be included, but aside from that, this is the most extensive and helpful book anyone could have in choosing the right dog for your personality and lifestyle. Unlike most personality matchup tests which ask very vague and general questions for which "yes" or "no" answers are not enough, Tortora's book leads you step by step through a very detailed personality questionnaire, narrowing the list of dogs as you go, to find the ideal match for your personality, lifestyle and activity level. Tortora also includes the negative information along with the positive. Too often, the information from breeders who love the breed is all positive and they typically omit the breed's mischief, destruction or temperamental propensities. Tortora's book was the most helpful in steering me away from breeds I'd always liked, but who wouldn't fit my personality. So many dogs end up in shelters because people don't do enough research on a breed prior to buying and they end up with a dog who clashes with their personality and/or lifestyle or whom they cannot control. If you're a non-assertive female who has always loved the Kuvasz, for example, Tortora's book might make you think twice about whether you can handle such a strong, dominant dog who is prone to take control over someone he considers submissive to him before you find yourself in the heartbreaking situation of giving him to a shelter. In my opinion, Tortora's book is the best on the market and it only falls short of 5 stars because it needs to be updated. I recommend using it in conjunction with Chris Walkowicz' "The Perfect Match: a Dog Buyer's Guide" to cover the breeds not included in Tortora's book. Hopefully, if more people research the breeds to find one that will be a more perfect soulmate than just going on curb appeal or popularity, then there will be fewer animals in shelters and pounds.

Tortora's book IS dated, but it is one of the most valuable sources of the breed-choosing books. He's not afraid to mention negative traits, which isn't always the case. (Look for out-of-print "D is for Dog" for some really candid descriptions). The long parts in the back about matching your own personality, family type and lifestyle is not just useful, it's fascinating.

Anyone who is serious about choosing a dog with as much forethought as they SHOULD, to make that match-from-heaven for 10-15 years, ought to read all the breed-choice books available. Some are contradictory regarding certain breeds. If one of those breeds appeals to you, try to find out why the contradictions. When you finally make a "short list", get to know some real dogs. And don't just think of behavioral traits, size and coat type. Look on the net at the OFA and other hereditary disease sites--the OFA lists breed incidence of hip dysplasia (range between breeds is from about 70% to 2%!). Cavalier King Charles Spaniels seemed to be temperamentally the ideal small dog, but more than half of them have congenital heart defects (and pups cost about $1200!).

If you want my soapbox opinion, here goes. Don't buy a breed that is so deformed it can't live a normal life. Dogs that can't breathe properly, have serious eye difficulties due to some exaggerated appearance thing (round pop-eyes or extremely droopy eyes, for example--or the "collie eye" problems of several herding breeds), or routinely have to be propagated by AI and Ceasarian sections have been taken too far by "fanciers". As a pet owner, you can encourage better dog breeding.

I am now buying my third copy of this book. I loan it out to any aquaintance thinking of getting a breed of dog they are not truly familiar with. If propsective owners went through this book, there would be much fewer animals ending up in rescue! Here are "The Right Dog for You"'s major advantages:

1) The book is honest about breeds, warts and all. Tortora is a man who has seen how different breeds go wrong, and it shows in his writing. Some reviewers don't like this somewhat negative slant, but I think it is absolutely vital when picking the right dog. Books that gush about how each breed is "wonderful in it's own way" aren't giving you the info you need to make an informed choice about what dog to spend the next decade of your life with.

2) The information is broken out in a consistent, analytical way that makes comparisons easy. I love those detailed temperment charts! Also, having indoor / outdoor activity levels listed is vital for making a good match between your lifestyle and a breed's habits.

3) Near the end of a book is a series of "quizzes" about your lifestyle and ideal dog, which result in a list of compatible breeds. If you've taken a Cosmo quiz, you can do this! It's strightforward, and gives you a specific set of breeds to look up in other sections of the book, or in other resources. I like the fact that this makes it harder to cheat, like you might in leading other books. "Gosh, that's a gorgeous dog! Hmmm ... vigorous exercise and assertive personality? .... Well, I guess that could be me!"

The book's major disadvantages:

1) Not intuitively laid out. The front and back halves of the book would be more useful if they were integrated together. Those quizzes belong at the beginning of the book, along with clear instructions.

2) Not very attractive. I'd hate to see someone pick up a book with poor information but prettier pictures, but it's likely to happen.

Once you pick a breed, by all means look to a breed book for more information and specific tips. But to know just what you are getting yourself into, read this book FIRST.

This book was one of the best I have seen on characterizing dog breeds. It rates the temperment, activity level, dominance and sociability of each breed on a scale from high to low, so that it is easy to compare different breeds with each other. It also gives you information about the downfalls and bad tendencies of each breed, which is usually not found in other books. I suggest to buy this book if you are unsure what type of dog to get, as it could prevent you from running into easily avoidable problems that are part of the breed's profile.

I found this book to be on target for almost every breed. Other books I've seen tend to dance around topics like reliably unprediactable, unsafe breeds that should not be in homes with kids. This book faces the facts about each breed, while accepting that different families want different things from their dogs and helping each family find what it wants. I recommend it to all my clients and just bought a copy for my office.

"The Right Dog for You" tries to do several things. It doesn't accomplish any one of them amazingly thoroughly, though its little charts of temperamental traits are more detailed than others I've seen. It probably needs to be restructured, re-edited, to live up to its potential.

This book's best trait is its detailed temperament charts. Tortora's rated each breed of dog in sixteen, count 'em, sixteen "Dimensions" of temperament. Wow. My first reaction was that the charts give a false sense of objectivity, but poring over them gives you a broader sense of a dog's character, definitely. I've spent much more time with those charts than with the rest of the book. Just seeing someone thinking in a careful way about different traits of temperament really gives you a way to approach the whole idea of deciding on a dog. It's a nice model to follow, even if you don't completely buy the specific ratings.

The text descriptions of individual breeds can be really pleasing -- Tortora is a behavioral problem-solver and he includes lots of offhand anecdotes -- but they're quite brief, and they aren't satisfying next to more complete sources. Most of them start with a terse description of the dog's appearance, which along with the line drawings still don't tell me much. The book doesn't mention some pretty basic stuff about behavior, either. For example: Greyhounds tend to chase first and think later because they're "sight hounds." People who own Greyhounds are full of cautions about that trait, and ways to work around it. This book doesn't mention it. The Greyhound is rated as needing lots of outdoor activity, I guess, but the "potential behavioral problems" mentioned don't include running into traffic at 40 mph when it sees a rabbit. Certain terriers' descriptions don't talk about digging when they really should, either. Then too, you really need to go to another source to learn that Basenjis can climb ANYTHING, which is a pretty important thing to know. (Tortora also makes another common Basenji mistake, assuming because they don't bark that they don't vocalize. Basenjis yodel, and scream, quite loudly sometimes.)

Getting past the breed listings, the latter half of the book is a series of rating exercises. You answer a series of questions about your social tendencies, say, and then the book provides you with a rating scale and you match yourself up with dogs. I like this idea, it's just great. It's not perfect here, though. This is the part of the book that suffers from being kind of poorly structured, at least for me.

For one thing, there are charts after each chunk of questions, but I don't find the charts easy to work with. It can be hard to find a particular breed on them. The whole section of the book isn't well-laid-out; it reads like a bunch of stops and starts all running together. If you open to a particular page you can't really tell where you are. A little white space and maybe some way to break up the text would help.

Even with a little layout help, though, I still can't see why things like the height and weight of each breed wouldn't be up with the breed descriptions, rather than described as a tallest-to-shortest range in a chart at the back of the book. It feels like the first half of the book was written separately from the second half, and they need to be edited together. I don't read references front-to-back, and the back of this one feels like it wants me to do that.

Speaking of the way I like to use a reference, the index to this book isn't great. Individual breeds aren't consistently in it -- all the terriers have just one reference to "terriers, breeds and functions of" -- and even when they are, the number of references is incomplete. It's not easy to find everything the author says about, say, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers.

This is a decent place to start in thinking about a dog. Just the model of breaking temperament down as carefully as this author has is a great tool. Once you're seriously considering any particular breed (or that mix at the pound), though, you're really going to want to see more substantial stuff about that type of dog -- from breeders, and owners, and other more complete sources of information. (Probably that would be true of any book like this. I'm not sure of any other, better choices. "Your Purebred Puppy, a Buyer's Guide" seems like another good possibility.)

Pros: An amazingly expert & scientific analysis of breed temperament. Cons: Addresses the 123 AKC breeds present at time of writing. (There are more now.)

The Bottom Line: Provides prospective dog owners with accurate breed depictions, enabling better matches. Also has incredibly detailed insight into breed temperaments that will interest all enthusiasts.

Recommended: Yes

Review: I've read most of the books of this kind in my city's bookstores and public library. This is head & shoulders above the others. The method of rating each of 123 breeds in 16 different categories of temperament is scientific and very accurate. There were only a couple of breed descriptions that differed from my own perception.

If you are looking for the breeds best suited to you, your family, and your lifestyle, this book is an invaluable tool. If more people researched their breed choice properly, there would be far fewer dogs at shelters. For dog's sake buy it.

If you are not looking for a new dog, but dogs are your hobby, you too, will find this book wonderfully informative and insightful. Do you know which breeds are the best with children? Which are most emotionally stable? Which have very high outdoor energy yet low indoor energy? Do you know how Border Terriers significantly differ from all other terriers? If these questions intrigue you, I strongly recommend this book.

If you are looking for the average inexpert dog book full of implausible personal opinions and anecdotes, this one is not for you. It is also not a heart-warming or visually appealing book, and so probably won't be enjoyed by children.

Jeff

This is outstanding approach to the problem of what dog should we look for. Attempting to match all the variables of the temperament of the dog and owner, the room available, time available, children, etc., this book does an great job of simplifying and communicating this material well.

Also, major focus on what one wants the dog for -- i.e. companion, watchdog, show, etc. and also its compatability with other dogs and pets. (important for neighbors and cat lovers)

We just downsized, going from Great Pyrnees to Shetland Sheepdog. Using this book, it was of great help in this selection. It was right on, as we now have two Shelties who fit into our life so well and coexist with our cat and neighbors.

I found this book at my local library (have a look before you buy it). The test section where you can match your personality and lifestyle with the right dog is really well done. But yes, the book is outdated, and once you narrowed your choice to a couple of breeds, the information on each breed is quite brief. (of course the book would need to be twice as voluminous to treat each breed as it should, including new one). Mr Tortora, if you read this, why not publishing a much needed revised version?

I am constantly amazed at the carelessness with which people select a family pet. I guess that's why the shelters are so full. This book is a must have for anybody considering getting a dog. The book is an older one, and some of the breed personality traits have changed over time. But at the very least, you will walk away from this book with the understanding that a dog cannot adjust its nature to suit your lifestyle. If you choose a Border Collie, she will herd (or use that extra energy to tear your sofa up). If you choose a beagle, he will howl (and run, and eat...). Don't want to vacuum often? DON'T get a golden! Sorry, but that's the way it is. We bred them this way, you know. And the dog's can't do anything about it. This book will give you the tools you need to make an intelligent choice. Good luck!
Recommended Companion, "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor