I finished reading "Congratulations! It's a Dog", D. Caroline Coile (2005).
It was an easy read, pretty short at 181 pages, and arranged into 12 neat chapters. I got the book as I was looking for training advise for my 6-month old Pug, wanting to start teaching her a few more tricks beyond Sit, Stay, Leave etc.
I guess the title and cover of the book should have given a clue that it was more for brand-new puppies, and as such I found the first six chapters (up until "Just Rewards") a bit irrelevant to me nowadays.
However when it hits the section on rewards & learning, "what makes your dog tick" I found I don't really care about the pros & cons of different Pay Schedules...
In the chapter where it does give information on 'tricks' for your dog it covers
- Attention! (eg. look at me!)
- Sit!
- Stay!
- Down! and Come!
but then goes onto talk about all the different types of collar available... ? !
The last three chapters: Parenting challenges, Fears & Phobias, and Dealing with aggression made me glad that Pepe doesn't have any of these issues to deal with, but again they were all covered so briefly that if you required help for any of these, well you'd be better getting a book specifically aimed at these areas.
Overall I would advise this for someone either just thinking about getting a dog, or someone in preparation to welcome a new addition to their home & family. At the back there is a list of Resources for further reading so maybe one of these titles will be more helpful !
Hello from Winnie
5 days ago