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The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding ... Between Humans and Domestic Dogs by [Jean Donaldson]

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Jean Donaldson

The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding ... Between Humans and Domestic Dogs Kindle Edition

by Jean Donaldson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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The Culture Clash is special. Written in Jean's inimitably informal yet precise lecture style, the book races along on par with a good thriller. The Culture Clash depicts dogs as they really are - stripped of their Hollywood fluff, with their lovable 'can I eat it, chew it, urinate on it, what's in it for me' philosophy. Jean's tremendous affection for dogs shines through at all times, as does her keen insight into the dog's mind. Relentlessly, she champions the dog's point of view, always showing concern for their education and well being. Without a doubt, Jean's book is the hottest doggy item on the market.
Generations of dogs have been labeled training-lemons for requiring actual motivation when all along they were perfectly normal. Numerous other completely and utterly normal dogs have been branded as canine misfits simply because they grew up to act like dogs. Barking, chewing, sniffing, licking, jumping up and occasionally, (just like people), having arguments, is as normal and natural for dogs as wagging tails and burying bones. However, all dogs need to be taught how to modify their normal and natural behaviors to adjust to human culture. Sadly, all to often, when the dog's way of life conflicts with human rules and standards, many dogs are discarded and summarily put to death.
That's quite the Culture Clash.

Print length

259 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The Academy for Dog Trainers
Publication date

October 1, 2012
File size

1372 KB
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Product details

ASIN : B00A2XQ17Q
Publisher : The Academy for Dog Trainers; 2nd edition (October 1, 2012)
Publication date : October 1, 2012
Language : English
File size : 1372 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Not Enabled
Print length : 259 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #198,076 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #149 in Dog Training (Kindle Store)
- #250 in Crafts, Hobbies & Home (Kindle Store)
- #549 in Dog Training (Books)

Customer Reviews:
459 ratings

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5 star		74%
4 star		13%
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Steph

The audio narration of this book is maddening.

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2018

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Jean Donaldson knows her stuff and as a professional dog trainer I hold this book in high regards. I own both a physical copy of the book and an audio version. The audio narration of this book is so atrocious it is almost distracting. The narrator uses unnatural, almost robotic voice inflictions that do not match the flow of the writing. I find myself thinking about what could possibly have made the narrator choose to put emphasis on certain words and not others instead of paying attention to what is actually being said.

Save your money and read the physical version of the book.

35 people found this helpful

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Sarah

A flawed book that nonetheless conveys an important message that most dog owners need to hear

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2020

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This book is one that many cite as completely changing their view of dogs, and for a good reason. Donaldson points out the way we attribute human motives like spite and "to get back at me" and human morality ("he KNOWS it's WRONG") to dogs, as well as the ways we mistreat them due to these misconceptions, in a clear and straightforward way that helps the reader to think of things from the dog's perspective and understand why they behave as they do. While this is not my favorite dog book for several other reasons, this is something that most pet owners need to hear.
Three complaints I've seen in comments: the author's tone is "arrogant" and " patronizing, " her claims "aren't backed up by facts," and she uses " big words." 1 . I just don't see that. She is blunt. Boohoo. We are all adults here right? Surely we don't need information sugar coated for us. 2. While I am disappointed by the lack of a reference page at the end, pretty much everything she said is common knowledge to anyone in the psychology field. Pick up any intro to psych book and you will see. And 3. If you paid attention in school I really don't think you'll have a problem, but if not, well, that's what dictionaries are for.
Like I said, the average dog owner really needs to hear this message in a clear and straightforward way. And that is where the value of this book lies.
However, there are, IMO, some problems.
On one page, Donaldson says that we tend to have an easier time justifying mistreatment of animals if we think they aren't very smart. On another, she says that the reason we have an easier time justifying mistreatment of dogs is because we think they ARE smart. The way she sometimes contradicts herself is a little confusing. On a related note, the author basically says dogs aren't very smart and encourages us to think of them as "lemon brains" in an attempt convince the reader to abandon the idea that dogs are capable of having morals, "knowing" things are "right" and "wrong," and doing things like plotting revenge or thinking up some grand scheme to dominate us. I get that she is trying to make a point, but I think this is just too big of an oversimplification. I think we can appreciate dogs as the intelligent and emotional creatures they are (and that research has shown them to be) while at the same time understanding that they don't think the way we think and they don't have the capacity to understand our morality or make plans to "get back at us" for leaving them alone when we go to work. It seems like this book makes dogs out to be less intelligent and complex than they really are to get a point across, and that just feels dishonest to me. I think most people are capable of understanding a more nuanced explanation.
Another thing I disliked is that the actual training recommendations are heavy on extinction and negative punishment. While the techniques recommended are certainly far more humane than most training books, There are lots of skilled trainers these days who can show you how to do it better and without the need for nearly as much of those things. Some passages read a lot like NILIF to me, which, again, not the worst but there are better ways.
Like most popular training books, this one doesn't teach you anything beyond Skinner and Pavlov as far as behavior and learning theory, but that's kind of outside the scope of the book anyway.
Over all, I give this book 4 stars because I agree that a lot of pet owners need to lose the fantasy ideas about dogs that our culture teaches us, and this book does a good job of explaining why those ideas are wrong and how they impact our relationship with our dogs. Despite its flaws, there are definitely some pearls of wisdom here.

6 people found this helpful

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stressalert

Own a dog? Get this book!

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2015

Verified Purchase

Definitely the BEST book for dog training!! Much better than "Don"t Shoot the Dog" which I found dull reading. The name, Culture Clash is seriously a poor title choice. I only bought this book because of reader reviews. ! This book is literally a PAGE-TURNER!! I can't believe that I have been sabotaging my own dogs. Dogs don't think like humans...Why does a house-trained dog continue to go potty in the house when the owner leaves? Why do some dogs shake during thunderstorms and how to overcome it? ...read the book and get the OMG moments like I did!! I promise, you too will enthusiastically give Culture Clash 5 stars! This book is like inviting the dog trainer from class to come home with you and expand the lessons you've learned in class! You and your dog will be happy!

33 people found this helpful

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Gigi

There ought to be a law that dog owners must read this first

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2019

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This is my dog training bible. Jean Donaldson is succinct in her writing style. You get a big bang for your buck in this rather small sized book. But there's nothing small about the great enrichment this book will give dogs and their owners. As a dog trainer myself, this is the first book I recommend to people. There are lots of good books but this one lays the most important foundation I think, in that it opens up the door to more learning. It enables dog owner/trainers to understand why they're using a particular method, why it works or doesn't work. People have failed dogs in many ways. Certain TV trainers, (one well known one in particular comes to mind) who use intimidation and force, mistakenly believing that pack theory holds justification for this mistreatment have caused a lot of harm. That nonsense has confused such a great movement toward training using behavioral science and gentle, humane methods that work when implemented correctly. I can not recommend this book more highly to learn how dogs think, how we think about dogs and why we need to modify our own behavior to connect with dogs better.

Culture Clash also offers specifics in training important skills. I have worked with so many under socialized dogs that if people would just read this book they'd get it why this is so vastly imperative to get on it before puppies are 12-16 weeks of age. You'll learn how prevention of unwanted behaviors can negate all kinds of training difficulties that happen when dogs are allowed to practice these behaviors. It will show you how and what to do instead of punishing, which has lots of pit falls or side effects.

I've heard that some people are put off by Jean's disdainful sounding judgment of people in general in how they are mistaken in their understanding and treatment of dogs. Don't let that put you off. It didn't put me off because she's RIGHT. If that offends you, let it go and keep reading. You will not be one of those people by the time you reach the end of the first chapter and you'll glean a good deal of education by the time you reach the end. Happy reading.

4 people found this helpful

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SallyT

A good message but could be delivered better

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2020

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If you are an English competitive obedience trainer you might quickly get rubbed up the wrong way with this book. She appears to have a big downer on competitive obedience training methods based on her American experience and she tars everybody with the same brush. Apparently we all pinch ears! I don't even know how pinching an ear would work as a training tool yet alone have ever heard of it and certainly never seen any of my fellow trainers use such techniques. We also apparently make heavy use of check (choke) chains well, maybe they do in the states but in the UK that largely disappeared 20 years ago. She makes you feel like you are being accused of mistreating your companion even if you haven't done any of the things she mentions. I'm not perfect and certainly there are things I have done, like losing my cool at times, that I know were wrong but I this book basically implies that none of us deserve our pets. All that aside and the first few chapters are really very negative and disparaging. I really felt that I didn't want to read any further but it does improve. The message she is trying to get across is an important one and if you can allow yourself to read this book without taking any of it too personally there is a lot of very useful information in it.

2 people found this helpful

Bryn Griffith

Clear, direct, no soft pedalling, challenging and a tad irreverent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2013

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This book was published some time ago and science has now provided greater insights into the needs of our beloved companions. However, I believe the core of this book still holds true.

For example,

1. Dogs do not aim to dominate. They are motivated not by power but by how to get fed, affection, play, sex etc.
2. Aversive training (i.e. punishment for wrong behaviour) is cruel and often counter productive in the long term 3. Dogs are animals and therefore inherently unpredictable. This is something owners must always be aware of
4. The first 3-5 months of a puppy's life are critical to its well-being.
5. Dogs are amoral. There is no such thing as right and wrong, so don't expect them to understand that certain anti-social behaviours (in our eyes) are understandable in dog-world. A dog needs to be motivated away from such behaviours. Methods to achieve this are explained.
6. Dogs are social. Being alone for a dog is unnatural.

I liked this book's style. The reader is assumed to be intelligent and there is no dumbing down of terminology. You are told things only once, and left in no doubt about where the responsibility lies for the welfare of your dog, and other dogs and humans it comes into contact with; YOU.

I found this a useful and entertaining reminder about how to raise my dogs. Treat them with love and respect, but remember they are not humans and see the world in an entirely different way.

13 people found this helpful

Essential for dog owners

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2010

Verified Purchase

Donaldson's book was a revelation - something I can warmly recommend to any dog owner, who feels even a bit of affection towards their four legged companion, and who would like to keep them well behaved and integrated into society.

To put this into perspective, our dog has previously attended a dominance paradigm based training school, which definitely got results - HOWEVER - the results were short term only (one would not have lasting improvements in behaviour in spite of following all the rules, not unless one went back for some 'rough treatment' by the trainers regularly) and required punishment type training. What had me nervous from the start of that approach was the assertion that the dog's tail needs to be down, not up. Be that as it may, a proficient 'dominance theorist' dogtrainer will likely bring about an obedient and relatively well adjusted dog, however as an amateur this approach is both relatively difficult, as well as stressful on the animal - no matter that the dog always went through narrow spaces last, ate last and we adhered to every single aspect of dominance based theory, behaviour did not improve, it just slid further back into the pre-training mode.

Donaldson takes the opposing view of analysing a dog's learning process and then working with the results of behavioral science in direct / operant conditioning, using primarily reinforcement for behaviour shaping.

While we previously managed to get reliable responses to simple (and useless) commands such as sit and stay using the dominance approach, we only managed to get the more complex stuff such as reliable object retrieval and recall with an approach based on the techniques described in this book. It shows you how doing what naturally feels right (i.e. not treating the dog roughly to educate it) can produce results, without falling into the antropomorphic trap of treating dogs like other humans and attributing human emotions (revenge, obstinacy, guilt) to them.

On top of that the book is very well written, with the right dose of humour, easily readable and full of very practical advice on specific games to play and approaches to use to reinforce a certain wanted behaviour. I can recommend it very warmly, in my opinion this is definitely one of the must have books for dog owners and in a totally different quality league from something marketing (look at me) oriented such as Milan's Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems , where I struggled to find anything but the most basic advice on dog training and behaviour (but there is plenty on the childhood of Milan).

9 people found this helpful

Rachel

The Joy of the Dog

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

An interesting and exciting book about dog psychology and the art of training using no punishment whatsoever. Moving away from false ideas gained from studying wolves and emphasizing what works here and now in dog learning rather than any conflicting theories, this book should be every dog-lovers starting point. Your dog is not constantly trying to dominate you and your dog does not understand most of what you think they do. Read this and really start to work creatively on training your favorite beast.

5 people found this helpful

Canis bonus

The book that made me want to become a dog trainer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2011

Verified Purchase

the Culture Clash is the book that has had the strongest influence on my dog career. It opened my eyes to science-based and humane dog training.

Jean clearly masters the subjects she covers (e.g. learning theory, etc.), and makes it a breeze for the masses to understand them. Her writing is at once funny, unpretentious and engaging. Once you pick it up, you will not be able to put it down.

The culture clash will make you look at your dog, and why he behaves in a certain way, from a completely new perspective. It gives you not only specific tips, but a new way of thinking which you can use for all your interactions with your dog.

The Culture Clash is now a classic in dog training literature, and deservedly so.

After I finished it, it spoke to me so profoundly that I started dreaming up a plan to become a dog trainer. 2 years down the line, I have achieved that goal, and, although I have since then read hundreds of books on the subject, the Culture Clash remains heads and shoulders above the rest.

6 people found this helpful

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