Dog Tricks for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: It, It, ....... Takes Your Breath Away! Now That's 5-star!
Review: An amazing book to keep you on your feet for tricks and fun-filled bewilderment! I am in the process of becoming a dog trainer myself, and find this book to have great hints, tips, and useful fun tricks to teach your dog and other peoples' dogs! Sarah Hodgson did it again! It also got me into a new technique of training which is very useful called "clicker training". Take this book home, and you won't regret it! You might even get into the chapters that include dog sports for you and your doggy, I know I did, ;)

Rating:
Summary: Dog Tricks for Dummies
Review: Dog Tricks for Dummies has good detail for the tricks that it has, but I think that more tricks should be explored. Most of the tricks that are in the book are very basic, though there are a few more complicated ones. If this is the first time that you have raised a puppy I would recommend reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dog Tricks for Dummies
Review: I have read through several dog training books all to be disappointed at the lack of a "trick" training section. I have my 2 month old Aussie in obedience classes in hopes to have her compete in Agility and Obedience shows however they are not teaching any fun tricks, just-sit,stay,down,etc. I am very glad that I purchased this book because it covers everything lacking from class and the dog training books I have.It teaches you tricks to teach your dog that I didn't even know were posible. It covers opening and closing doors, putting away toys, jumping through hoops,counting and much more. You won't be disappointed with this book.

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: I'm teaching my dog some of the tricks from this book. The book helps you understand how dogs learn and develops the tricks quicker than I thought my dog was willing to learn. The only disagreement I have is the author uses a clicker, but nothing in the book says you really have to have one

Rating:
Summary: Easy and Effective Training Techniques
Review: In the past I've stayed away from any book whose title made such a negative statement about its reader's intellegence, but when I went searching for information beyond the basic "sit, stay, down, heel . . " commands this was the only one of the shelf. It was actually worth the embarassment of walking through the store with a big yellow and black volumn that seemed to scream, "the woman carrying this is an idiot." Looking back, anyone watching me juggling the book, my squirmy chihuahua puppy, Jesse (obviously in bad need of SOME kind of training), my purse, and a bag full of doggie paraphernalia wasn't thinking I was the smartest person in the store.

The first lesson I learned after buying this book, was to do my shopping online! Beyond that, this book clearly and concisely explains the steps to teaching an amazing array of tricks, many that are fun and clever, but also others that are extemely practical.

The method the author uses (breaking complex tricks into a series of smaller, easy-to-teach skills) is both effective and fun. She also is very frank and kind in explaining that not all dogs are good at all tricks. Her discussion on breeds and their natural abilities helped me identify the tricks my little guy would most likely learn and excell at.

Right now we're learning the 7 basic commands and, at 4 months, my puppy is already getting compliments on his intellegence and good manners. Jesse and I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, bad editor!
Review: Sarah Hodgson does a great job of giving step-by-step instructions for training tricks, something that is harder to do than it looks! Everything in here is dog friendly and fun. I taught my dogs several of these tricks, and we made up a few new ones based on what we'd learned.

I wish that there was more content to the book, though. Perhaps 75% of it is filler. There are whole chapters on feeding, medical care and basics like sit, down and stay. Certainly, all of these topics are important, but they have only tangential relevance to trick training.

There are several other filler chapters about dog sports. Why fill 50-odd pages with brief overviews of skijoring, carting and flyball? Each of these sports has more than a few good books that readers can refer to if they're interested. Being a Border Collie owner in Texas, I have no use for info on the Iditarod!

I would much rather have a smaller volume filled with stuff that I want to read. All of this filler dilutes the book, and makes it harder to pick out the valuable info.