Customer Reviews

Second-Hand Dog: How to Turn Yours into a First-Rate Pet (Howell Reference Books)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Years ago a friend gave me my second Great Pyrenees. It was an unfortunate scene as the owner was moving out of the area to a place she could not take the dog with her. For two days, the dog would not come in the house, and if you've ever tried to move a 130 lb. Pyr who doesn't want to move, you'll do what I did: try every form of bribery, then all that failing, tie her up secure on the back porch.

On the third day, another dog lover gave me this book. It helped me understand how to progress with this wonderful dog who had just been abandoned by her family. This book really worked. Had the dog for over ten years, one of the best relationships with a dog I've had.

Recently some friends got a Large Poodle from a pound and had been going through pain with helping the dog adjust. Gave them this book, and it plus a trainer have did the trick. This book is the thing for these situations.

I hate to be contrary, but this is primarily a book about training your dog, not about re-homing a dog. I give the book 4 stars for training suggestions, but only 2 for talking about specific issues for a rescued/adopted pet.

I am disappointed because I'm considering getting a rescued dog and I'd like to know what to expect and how to deal with the specific problems that are unique to second hand dogs.

Some things I wanted to know: What are typical health problems that come with a rescued dog? How do I deal with a dog that is fearful/anxious/depressed? How do I correct my dog without triggering a surprise negative response? How do I get my dog to accept affection? How do we make the dog feel comfortable and safe in his new home?

This book will certainly come in handy for training, but I need some answers about what it takes to rehome and relove a rescued dog first. I'll need to go elsewhere.

I do rescue work, and like this book so much I buy it in bulk and give a copy with each dog I place. It's straightforward, no-nonsense and highly readable. If you're adopting an adult dog, this is the one book you must have. It'll save you and your dog a lot of grief!

This book contains some good basic information for the person who is completely clueless about dogs. It is also cheap, which is nice. However, Benjamin gives some advice that can be downright dangerous, particularly with adopted dogs whose degree of socialization one is not yet sure of when she declares that a hug is a great reward for good behavior. This may be true for humans, but for in the dog world, it is an agressive move and can be misinterpreted with disasterous consequences. There are some generalizations about dogs that can be enlightening, but if you're looking for specific information about how to train your shelter dog, you won't find it here.

This book was so disappointing! I bought it after we got an adult dog from a shelter who had some serious behavior problems. But this book was completely useless!

It isn't about rescued or adopted dogs or how to help them. It is a VERY basic training guide [and I do mean *very* basic]. It is only 93 pages long and at least 30% of those pages are just hand drawn cartoons or stark black and white photos that are irrelevant to the text. I read the whole thing in less than 1 hour [an hour that I wasted unfortunately :( ].

There was *nothing* specifically about training or working with second hand dogs and the special problems/challenges and rewards you face.

The training advice is pretty bad too. First, it is very basic. Second, it is very negative and punative - most "modern" trainers would not advocate or approve of her methods. Third, some of the advice is just plain dangerous. [For example, her advice on how to deal with a dog who is growling is actually contra-indicated by every other resource I've read - her advice will actually teach the dog to *bite* first instead of giving the warning growl. Many of the techniques she recommends would be especially inappropriate for a rescue/shelter dog who faces special challenges in getting past aggression and/or fear because of their history.

Do yourself a favor and skip this book - there are many better books on both dog behavior and dog training. This book is a waste of your time.

This book is dangerous and filled very bad, dangerous advice. It was written in 1998, so giving the benefit of the doubt, perhaps our thinking about homing a rescue dog has evolved, but this book is extremely outdated. It recommends using the dog's crate as a place for punishment -which we all know is wrong. It further recommends "pops" with the leash to jerk your dog into obedience and "staring down" a dog into submission -again, outdated, inappropriate concepts. It is a very high level, superficial, quick read riddled with inappropriate advice that certainly does not speak to how one goes about brining a new, most likely scared, rescue dog into your home.

A straight-forward and quick read about training your dog with great pictures that will help a preteen (8-12) and older children and adults understand what needs to be done. I agree that it lacks the information about rescue or rehomed dogs.A better source for a rehomed/rescue dog is Second Start: Creative Rehoming by Jacqeline O'Neil.

I am buying this book after lending out my original copy to new dog owners so many times that I finally lost it. This is a very clear, concise dog training book. It's one of the best you can get, especially if you don't have the patience to read an entire long book. I love Carol Lea Benjamin's other training books also (How to Survive Your Dog's Adolescence is amazing), but this one is great, too, and a little more of a quick read.

I'm sorry, I was really disappointed with this book, disappointed enough to write my first amazon.com review. The intention is great and as an owner of 3 rescue dogs I support the movement entirely. However, I felt the book was a fast overview of dog ownership, touching on training, care and personal stories, but none of those areas were handled in enough detail. I think this is particularly dangerous with the training section, which seems out-dated and emphasized correcting the dog more so than creating a scenario where the dog will succeed.

This is a great topic and an easy read, but I personally wish that the author would have done a detailed compilation of rescue stories.

I agree with a lot of the comments already stated. I also am buying it in bulk to hand out with every rescue dog I place. I found it agrees with my methods of training and is so easy to read that the adoptive families might actually bother to do so -- hopefully someone in the car will read it on the way home with their new dog. It does lack specific help with serious problems that many rescue dogs may have. But hopefully, those problems have been addressed and worked through by the rescue group prior to placement. And the person who did that training will further advise the new owners on the care and special needs of that particular dog. This is a great general book. And priced so that everyone can own a copy!