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Rating: 
Summary: Very Entertaining/Informative -- but my dogs say no way!!
Review: O'Farrell has put together some helpful advice surrounded by interesting tales and great pictures. He provides wonderful insight into the man/dog relationship, but sometimes loses sight of the fact that it's now quite as simple as he makes it sound.No doubt that this a far more interesting read than most "dog" books, but don't expect it to be the ultimate training guide... By the way, if anyone knows how to train two strong willed GSDs...
Rating:
Summary: Very Entertaining/Informative -- but my dogs say no way!!
Review: O'Farrell has put together some helpful advice surrounded by interesting tales and great pictures. He provides wonderful insight into the man/dog relationship, but sometimes loses sight of the fact that it's now quite as simple as he makes it sound. No doubt that this a far more interesting read than most "dog" books, but don't expect it to be the ultimate training guide... By the way, if anyone knows how to train two strong willed GSDs...
Rating: 
Summary: I am the author
Review: Philosophy Dog was meant to be a solution to the ever increasing problem of ugly dog training books. So many of them are either so cute and sweet that diabetics can't risk handling them, or so scientific and boring that it is abandoned during chapter two and is sentenced to the shelf for a life term. On one point there is no arguement: PD is the most beautiful dog training book ever printed. The contributing photographers make up a virtual who's who of world class artists. But they are not only the biggest and most famous names in the world, they are also dog lovers, and this really shows in their work. They are to be congratulated for donating their remarkable talents to this book.
The publisher is also a household name in the fancy pants art world. Rizzoli/Universe specializes in art, photography, architecture, coffe table books and high end collectables. They used the highest quality materials in producing this book, even though the subject matter is generally considered less than worthy. Not to me of course. And not to the dog loving photographers. And not to you who are interested enough to read this review. A combination art book and training book is a unique idea that my publisher was able to appreciate because of the involvment of the many famous photographers.
It may be true that PD is not the most detailed training manuel. It is not a scientific paper. I like to think of it as the lazy man's guide to creating a good relationship with a dog. It is a book about how to lead "dogs", even though we all know that dogs are individuals and require a personal approach. I prefer to have my dog training clients use a clicker for teaching commands and tricks, but even in this case the pet owner is going to need leadership skills with the their dog. Since many people have difficulty committing to the clicker, I decided to write a book about leadership so everyone could benefit from, and enjoy it.
Everyone who has seen my book has loved it. All of us can use a little push towards becoming better leaders especially if that effort will also enhance our lives in other ways. Buy my book. I guarantee you will be not be dissapointed. Enjoy, Breon O'Farrell
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't see the point
Review: The photos ARE really pretty (I liked them a lot), but as far as training goes, there was really no point in buying this book. I was actually surprised to see listed here on this page that the author himself doesn't even use these methods to teach his own clients. I'm not surprised he doesn't use them (they are vague and can be pretty destructive to the dog/owner relationship if not truly understood properly), I guess I'm just startled to see that he admitted it. I am not by any means a novice dog owner, nor am I a first time trainer (my own dogs having achieved decent levels in obedience competitions), but the training advice in the book barely even made sense. If you want a nice book with pretty pictures, get this book. If you want a book with decent training advice or a comprehensive discussion on the nature of dogs and how they learn I would suggest another. There really isn't even much here about the philosophy of dogs (or dog learning theory) that hasn't been at least partially debunked within the last two decades, I'm sorry to say.
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