This book is an excellent popular science book about the current scientific knowledge about dogs: their evolution, first connection to humans, domestication process, brainpower, sense of smell and more. A later chapter even tackles the intense debate about dog pedigrees and their respective problems. Bradshaw also discusses how dogs would evolve to accompany humans in our modern society, and how we, as a society, needs to understand it better in order to keep enjoying each others' company.
The main thesis is that the wolf pack structure that is commonly used to understand and train dogs is inaccurate (to say the least), and consequently, many popular training techniques (e.g. Cesar Milan) should be reconsidered. Bradshaw provides a comprehensive explanation of wild wolfs behavior, and dogs (parallel) evolution from it. Basically, dogs do not behave like wild wolves, but are domesticated animals originated in wolves. And Bradshaw claims that this difference is a big one with respect to their behavior.
For instance, Bradshaw says that wolf packs as they were formed in captivity are not a good representation of wolf packs in their natural environment (that are based on family ties), and there are behaviors that were created by members of the pack as a way to deal with the problematic pack that was forced upon them. For example, a wolf that does not get along with the pack might leave it in the wild, but in captivity it has to use behavioral defensive mechanisms. These behavior schemes were used to explain the behavior of members in a pack (e.g. rigid hierarchical structure), even though they are not a true reflection of wolf like behavior.
However, the book's subtitle "How the new science of dog behavior can make you a better friend to your pet" is misleading as there are not enough connections of how these insights can and should be used when training or simply interacting with dogs as pets. There is a page or two with information about dealing with separation anxiety, but most other topics are not grounded at a practical level. For example, while "dog aggression" is probably the most important of the behavioral problems, in the book it is dealt with in 2 pages that are hidden in the end of the "Does your dog love you?" chapter. I'm sure most readers would want some information or insight that connects the author's interesting thesis (that is that aggression is not a domination issue) with ways to deal with that problem. This is not provided. At most we have words of caution that old-style trainers simply suppress the aggression problem for the short term, but not solve it. However, Bradshaw does not suggest other ways to solve this and similar problems.
For me the book was interesting and enlightening, having been raised with books and TV shows that focus on the wolf pack structure, Bradshaw put fourth a very strong anti-thesis for that idea (especially in the first couple of chapters). Readers who are looking for more hands-on information about training dogs should look at other books.
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rewards based training and avoiding things like 'alpha dog' and 'dominance aggression' and instead dealing with ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2016
An outstanding and clear explanation of the history and relevance or lack of, in relating dog behavior to wolf or wolf packs as well as their roles past and present and issues with their nurture, breeding and training. However, if you have read 'In Defence of Dogs', know that it is the same book under a different title. Still, either book will certainly shed light on why today's behaviorists and trainers are moving quickly towards positive, rewards based training and avoiding things like 'alpha dog' and 'dominance aggression' and instead dealing with stress and fear issues and socialization.
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2016
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...mal ein anderer Blickwinkel!
Reviewed in Germany on September 8, 2014
