Customer Reviews

Treats, Play, Love: Make Dog Training Fun for You and Your Best Friend

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some twenty years Burnham wrote one of my favorite training books, *Playtraining Your Dog* -- purportedly as a rebuttal to the mordant severity of Koehler, et al. *Treats, Play, Love* is something of a sequel to *Playtraining,* something of an updating -- and equally superb. When my copy arrived from, I sort riffled the pages as I walked from the mailbox into the house, and all of a sudden, I realized I was sitting at the table, still wearing my jacket and scarf, and reading the damn thing. It's that good. This would be an excellent book to give someone who wants to get started in dog sports. There are whole sections worth quoting.

Dogs in the wild spend a majority of their day figuring out how to find food, Patricia Burnham points out. Thus, if a certain behavior produces food, a dog will naturally and happily do it again. If you produce food in response to playing what he thinks is game, he will think you are the greatest thing on earth and pay attention to you despite all sorts of distractions. Aversion training ("If you heel, I won't jerk on this choker collar") may have it's place, but not with my new puppy. It has the potential of creating a dog that does not enjoy working and learning with you.

I have trained dogs with correction in the past, but with a new puppy, I thought I'd at least read some of these "positive training" books. I am a complete convert! "The Power of Positive Training" has some great points as well and some step-by-step instruction. Instead of a clicker, I praise the dog and get the same response.

"Treats, Play, Love" is full of decades of experience, logical explanations for how different training methods work or not, and an historical prospective on training. Burnham also acknowledges when some forms of aversion training are appropriate and for which dogs it works. Pat Miller, in "The Power of Positive Training" seems more morally opposed to punishing dogs. I prefer someone who discussed all options.

If you have a dog, whether you are training for show or just to be a nice pet, whether you've trained a dog before or not, READ THIS BOOK.

I have read dozens of dog training/behavior books. This books adds insights the others didn't. The history of positive and demand/punishment training was interesting. I also thought her discussion about a dog's challenge to the owner was also needed and helpful. The book is about the power of positive training, but with a full understanding of demand/punishment training. I highly recommend it.

I was excited to read this book! All the other reviews are pretty good. But, I really couldn't stand it. First of all, the author seems to have her majority of dog training experience working with greyhounds, which I don't have. The photos in this book (black and white, some looking pretty outdated) are about 95%+ of greyhounds. Anyone with a greyhound might find this book helpful. She adds a lot of personal stories about her dogs, some of which contain useful information, and some of which added nothing and could have been left out. I feel that this book is geared more towards breeders and people who want to show their dogs. The author also seemed to use a lot of generalizations which I didn't like. I have a pit mix, and the only thing about pit bulls in this book is in the aggression section and she basically bashed pit bull owners and the dogs themselves, which I did not care for (Not that I feel she should have included a ton about pit bulls, but the rude comments added nothing and could have been left out). All in all, there were a few good tips in the book, but I regret buying it (even at the used paperback price) and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but greyhound owners.

Patricia Gail Burnham loves dogs and KNOWS how to train them in a loving fashion. Her first book, "Playtraining Your Dog", was excellent, and this book adds new methods from her experiences. Her methods work!!

There is good info in here but it is overshadowed by the author's ego. Once again, as another reviewer stated, it's all about her greyhounds. And while we're at it, can we please find a training book that shows small dogs of different breeds that aren't necessarily the sharpest pencils in the box? A book that doesn't list the author's own dogs' championship titles not only throughout the book but in an appendix in the back of the book!?! A book that is written by an author who hasn't broken their arm patting themselves on the back? As a professional trainer, I can appreciate all that this author has accomplished in her life. But if you're going to write a book on dog training for the general public, please leave out the bragging. Most people don't know what all the letters and numbers after a dog's name means anyway. Nobody really cares. Write an autobiography if you have the need to toot your own horn and then publish it as such. The basic dog owner wants their dog to have good manners and understand and obey basic commands.

If you can get through the author's personal yada-yada-yada prevalent throughout, this book describes things well. There are better books out there that just describe the how-to's. And those books list the author's credentials on the intro pages which, in my opinion, is the only place that information belongs.

So when I took home my puppy, the second day I was working on some of these things. I have had her for a month an a half and she knows the following words: sit, come, stay, down, drop it and leave it.
It was a mixture of the book and PetSmart training--which I had heard great reviews on and almost everyone I knew trained their dog there----and the trainer was doing the majority of the things in the book. I am no where through the book, but its a start.
I can't get my GSD to heel worth a lick, but what the trainer at PetSmart showed me was much easier. My trainer at PetSmart doesn't really tell you to praise the dog while you give them a treat, basically says to give a treat everytime and as the dog learns to start giving treats less and less and as long as you give the dog a treat every once in awhile, then the dog is likely to continue repeating the action. I found that the more I praise her when I do it, the faster she gets it. It helps that she gets extra excited when she hears my sqeeky you did good voice as opposed to my "AHHHHH" you are bad voice---and boy does she know the difference.
For a person who just wants a well behaved dog that lets you do anything to them----and know how to get your dog to learn without pain, this is an excellent book.

In this book, the author covers training of all dogs. However, she owns and trains greyhounds and gives wonderful descriptions and side stories of their personalities and learning styles. I love the part where she says to teach them English and then tell them what to do. It's fun, an easy to read format, and very informative. If you own a greyhound or are thinking of adopting one, you must read this book.

This book is great. I have two Chi's and need all the help I can get! The book is informative and definitely useable in everyday life.

understanding the behavior from the dog perspective is helpful in understanding how to treat problematic behavior