Customer Reviews

Teach Your Dog to Behave

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

 

 

In general, this book is okay I guess. But there are dangers lurking in this book that you can't notice at first... Bash tries to "help people help themselves"... but that's not always the best idea. Basically, everything about training a dog you can find in a good training manual. Most of the "good" ones even cover problems you may encounter and solutions to those problems. But when it comes to serious problems, it is best to find a professional trainer. No, not a professional trainer's book... I mean an actual person.

Positives for this book:
· Alphabetical order of problems
· "scenarios" for each problem, followed by a diagnosis and treatment
· covers most problems you could ever have with your dog

Negatives:
· Dibra is very into "correcting" dogs who growl/show any form of aggression, without much regard to the REASON they are growling/acting aggressive. This is not a good idea, and without assessing each individual case I would not recommend making this generalization. See a professional behaviorist if you encounter these problems.
· He tries to solve some pretty stupid "problems" for instance: dogs rolling in foul-smelling things, being aloof, or "singing" with high-pitched noises. Guess what, it's instinctive and dogs do it. You get over it, or you don't own a dog.
· The format is annoying when you turn to something and it says "see: ___ " which it does all the time.

Every dog is different, and to me, this book overlooks that in many ways. Not to mention that I have a serious problem with this self proclaimed "trainer to the stars" who recommends throwing gravel and water balloons at dogs who chase bicycles. And the "knee treatment" for dogs who jump? That method is very outdated and not very useful for those with dogs under 50 lbs!!! Who kicks their dogs these days anyway? Not any good trainer I know of!
Or how about Dibra's approach to food-guarding behavior? With your dog eating on a leash, "have a family member approach. If the dog growls or acts aggressive in any way, snap the leash and shout "NO!" Repeat this over and over day after day..." I broke my first dog of food guarding simply by hand feeding her (which is much gentler and easier). I would NEVER recommend leash-correcting a resource guarding dog when there are much simpler ways to "fix" the problem!

In my opinion, Dibra sets dogs up for failure, not success. He uses "setups" to catch a dog doing something bad, and then correct it, instead of setting them up to do good and rewarding. I think that a very educated dog owner can use this book for reference, or to help them make informed training decisions, but for the most part I did not find it helpful.

As a professional dog trainer I am frequently asked which books I reccomend. This is one of them! It is a very good book for solving problem behaviors. It is set up like a dictionary with the behaviors listed in alphetical order. It is a good companion to a good training book. Do a search of Amazon for "monks of new skete", to see what training books I am talking about. Good Luck!

Bash Dibra's "Teach Your Dog to Behave" covers all the problems a dog owner encounters -- and tells how to solve them! The dictionary format makes finding the answers easy as a-b-c! Dibra's newest book belongs in every dog-owner's library.

This book is in a great format- It's alphabetical! That means no annoying index to look through! There are tons of good tips to make your dog behave.

When you look something up, you'll come across a senario of what could possibly be happening with you and your dog. Then it tells you what is going on and then a treatment. The format reminds me of the Home Remedy books for pains and such.