It used to be there weren’t -that- many dog training books. But now with the magic of the internet and being able to better market dog training books to training enthusiasts, there are -so- many dog books and many of them are focused on very specific topics or activities. I feel like this book was pretty new and I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet. It was a little scary to find out it was published in 2007!
The author wrote this book to help owners with “impossible dogs” learn to train them with methods that would get success where more typical/training methods may not work. There is a huge emphasis on clicker training, offering behaviors, using preferred behaviors (sniffing, digging, etc) to reinforce other behaviors.
Griffin at the Ohio State Fair 2012 for “Meet the Breeds”. There were no flying pigs, but he did see a pig present for “youth companion animal projects day.”
While reading it, it felt more of a manual for training -any- dog, not just dogs labeled as more difficult breeds. However, owners of those dogs sometimes do struggle with training and believe breed stereotypes about personalities, trainability, and intelligence. And sometimes they’re less sold on positive reinforcement training (“It won’t work with THIS kind of dog!”) and this book might help sell the concept to these owners.
The book has three main sections, it starts with some basic training and shaping exercises. Then there’s some parts on training basic behaviors (walking, come when called, sit, down, staying). And a small problem solving section in the back.
The training is straightforward and the writing is very conversational. The author politely and calmly disputes the common complaints or objections to exercises, training choices, and other specifics. The explanations are simple and to the point, but will satisfy many of the readers who are unsure.
This is definitely a book that is going to be more relevant to some types of people and certain learning styles. I can already think of one client I will be recommending it to this week. It’s pretty small and a fast read (lots of photos, spaces between paragraphs, writing style).
1 Comment
Raegan · October 29, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Pigs Fly is my go-to text for explaining shaping. It has, by far, the clearest explanation of what it is, why it works, and how you do it.
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