Understanding Your Dog for Dummies

By Stanley Coren

Book Overview

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of getting a dog or nervous about caring for the one you've already brought home, now you can relax. Understanding Your Dog for Dummies helps you recognize not only why your dog behaves the way she does, but in a way that enables you to parlay that into a well-behaved companion who listens (and sits, and speaks, and comes, etc.).

Whether your pooch is a mixed breed or purebred, she has a distinct identity that makes her unique. The first step in understanding your dog is to respect the honorable task she was originally bred for and to identify how these inbred impulses influence her personality and behavior. In essence, you need to speak her language if you expect her to learn to understand yours.

Understanding Your Dog for Dummies gives you everything you need to learn to understand your pooch's unique dialect of "Doglish"--and shows you how to take on the role as pack leader to give your dog the cues, guidance, and consistency she needs to shape and develop good behaviors. Inside you'll discover how to:

Read your dog's body language Communicate with your dog Interpret your dog's breed-specific traits Correct dog-behavior-gone-bad Counter anxiety-based behavior Understand and resolve aggressive behavior And so much more

Think of this book as Doglish 101--a prerequisite for every human member of your dog's family. Now, let the training begin

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471768731
• ISBN13: 9780471768739
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

understanding your dog for dummies

very useful for understanding my dog. I find ethology incredibly interesting, and it's so fun to learn what my dog's reactions to the world is, and how they differ from my own. I feel it's made me a better guardian.

Incredibly helpful tool

This book is a very useful tool for owners in terms of helping them understand a dog's mind. The book is incredibly detailed and extensively describes the stages in a dog's psychological development. It also has sections on handling problems as well as training. The best thing about this book is it gives concrete step by step instructions on training and commands that are easy to understand and follow. It also has an extensive section on interpreting body language and barks. I've read Cesar Milan's books and I find them useless because they're too abstract. They're more a testimonial to his skills than useful information for the average owner. This book is much more informative and helpful.

Valuable Addition to Dog Literature

Having much appreciated other dog books by Stanley Coren, PhD--and having a new dog myself now--I had hopes this book would be worthwhile when I ordered it. I just finished reading it last night, and it is very, very good. One thing that impresses me in the book is that the reader isn't just told what to do to handle the dog, but is also told why that is what to do. Another thing I like is the authors recognized that all dog owners do not want the same details in lifestyle with their dogs, and presented various options on safe ways to handle things. The "for Dummies" series includes some duds and some amazing books that are full of extremely valuable details. This is one of the most valuable. Whether you are a new dog owner or an experienced one, you are sure to encounter something new to you and helpful in this book. The book also does a good job of telling owners when to get in-person, professional help with their dogs. This is vital. There are times when help simply cannot be communicated for the specific problem via the Internet or the telephone. And dogs are here and now beings. Sometimes the expert has to see the situation in person to diagnose the problem. My young Standard Poodle named Worthy will surely benefit from this book. And so will I.