One of the things that this book stresses a lot, is that dogs need some sort of a “job.” They are left alone all day with too much energy, and when we get home we expect them to behave perfectly. The book helped me realize that my dog’s behavior isn’t just annoying… he DOES accept the cat as a pack member, but he wants some sort of purpose so much, that he fixes his attention on her and basically wants to guard and monitor her because he has no other outlet for his energy. I believe that with regular exercise and training that works WITH his guarding instincts instead of against them, he will be a much healthier and happy dog.

Another thing that I thought was particularly important, was the reason basic obedience is so important. It’s not about making your dog do tricks just to show off… it’s important to have some form of communication that you can both understand. I imagine how hard it would be to live in a foreign country, not knowing their ethics or beliefs, and only understanding one word. That’s the life of so many dogs out there. The communication between owner and dog are so blurry that the dog is lost and behaving in his own natural way, not the way that you want.

This book is full of a lot of stories of different dogs, and I was sad to find that there wasn’t a single dog in the book that resembled my dog enough for me to use the same feedback, but it was interesting to read. There are a lot of stories about the different dogs the auther had worked with. I was interested enough to read the book almost nonstop.

This is a good book if you want to arm yourself with general knowledge and a better understanding of WHY things need to happen the way they do for a dog to be happy. This is NOT a training guide though. Think of it as more of an insightful novel than a training guide, and you won’t be dissappointed.
Rating: 4 / 5