Rating: 
Summary: Abrupt writing style, but training strategies are right on!
Review: The training strategies proposed in this controversial book are RIGHT ON! The most straightforward, effective, and HUMANE dog training book I have ever read. However, I had a bit of trouble with the abrupt and often insulting style in which Ms. Donaldson writes. It is obvious that she feels strongly about her views regarding dog care and training, but insulting others is not always the best way to get your point across. Also, I don't completely buy her theory that all shy/timid/slow-to-warm-up-to-strangers dogs are a product of poor socialization. I do believe that different breeds and invidual dogs have different temperaments and personalities. But, Ms. Donaldson would probably just call me an old-fashioned moron. Overall, this book is a humane and intelligent resource for dog trainers, new and old, but it is not for overly sensitive souls. You will most likely read something about yourself and your beliefs that is hard to swallow!
Rating: 
Summary: It 's all chew toys
Review: Although this book was not well published - a few typos, unattractive type treatment -, it was filled with very good background information for any dog owner. She starts with an attack on the "Lassie" image of dogs, claiming that unreal expectations lead to bad training methods. She discusses how dogs learn in a very funny, down to earth manner and includes good information such as the proper rules to make tug of war a great game for your dog. But if you are looking for how to train sit, down, heel you will want to look at another book in addition to this one. This book gives the background philosophy needed to be a good trainer, but not the mechanics of training. Also if you are not a dedicated dog owner, expect to be scolded by this book! After reading about the importance of socialization, I felt so guilty that I took the puppy to a highly populated lake for a walk on a very very cold night. Puppy loved it, but I froze.
Rating: 
Summary: was not happy with Culture Clash
Review: I was so excited to get this book and after calling all of the local book stores and finding out they were all out, I had to order it and wait 2 long weeks to recieve it!! The book finally came and I was sooo happy..tearing through the box it was mailed in...I got comfy on my chair and read it....chapter by chapter..I was so excited in the first 10 minutes,then...uggg...I was so disapointed....The writing was all disorganized..I was totally lost..and there was no index!!!! I put the book down and am planning on selling it in my yard sale next month.
Rating:
Summary: It 's all chew toys
Review: Although this book was not well published - a few typos, unattractive type treatment -, it was filled with very good background information for any dog owner. She starts with an attack on the "Lassie" image of dogs, claiming that unreal expectations lead to bad training methods. She discusses how dogs learn in a very funny, down to earth manner and includes good information such as the proper rules to make tug of war a great game for your dog. But if you are looking for how to train sit, down, heel you will want to look at another book in addition to this one. This book gives the background philosophy needed to be a good trainer, but not the mechanics of training. Also if you are not a dedicated dog owner, expect to be scolded by this book! After reading about the importance of socialization, I felt so guilty that I took the puppy to a highly populated lake for a walk on a very very cold night. Puppy loved it, but I froze.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new...
Review: The back cover of this book sports a recommendation saying that the book is "literally overflowing with information that's so new it virtually redefines the state of the art in dog training." Alas, I've been unable to find this information anywhere in the book. In much of the book Donaldson quite correctly points out techniques used by many, perhaps the majority, of dog owners that are bound to make life sour for the dog and the owner, such as punishing a dog for an offense comitted hours ago or yanking him around forever on a choker. That the people doing this are wrong and Donaldson is right is proven thousands of times every day by people who can't train their dog. Yet nothing about this is new. If Donaldson had consulted dog training literature even from the nineteenth century, she would have found the same observations. (E.g., Carl Tabel's very punishment-oriented classic makes this point very clear.) These things were known long before Skinner ever got to abuse his first rat. Donaldson's strong aversion against punishment is entirely acceptable, yet the way she condemns everyone who uses corrections in her moralistic tone is not. Donaldson admits that corrections, if and only if adminstered correctly, can increase the reliability of a command, and she also admits that one can reasonable argue that a command that could save the dog's live might be "installed by all means necessary." She could have added that the increased reliability can lead to increased freedom for the dog, and thus enhance his quality of life. What is more, at the end of the book, when she finally gives practical training advice, Donaldson falls into using "active corrections" all the time. Her innocent insistence about halters and anti-pull harnesses that "I honestly don't know how it works. Perhaps there's some aversive being applied." is ridiculous. These things might indeed be better for many dog owners than choke collars, but the reason is, and Donaldson herself correctly states, that in order to deliver a convincing correction with a choker you need to apply a serious yank. Like so many other advocates of "positive-reinforcement only" training, Donaldson does not practice what she preaches. I have seen people who clearly abuse corrections, people who arguably overuse them, and people who arguably underuse them, but I never have seen anyone living with a dog who did not apply some form of coercion or punishment at times. Finally, Donaldson needs a better editor. Her constant use of nouns as verb modifiers and techniques of emphasis "soooooo" make me "distress vocalize."
Rating:
Summary: Dogs just want to have fun!
Review: This is the best first book for any new dog owner. It helps one understand the mind of a dog. Once the basics of "dogology" are down, the owner can move on to training the new pet. Donaldson teaches us her philosophy behind training -- that using reward instead of punishment yields a well-trained dog, as well as a warm relationship between pet and owner. A win-win situation! What's not to like?
Rating:
Summary: This is the quintessential book on dog training. Period.
Review: There's vitually no book I have not read when it comes to training your dog or getting into your dog's head. And this is the best, it has no rivals.
But it should be pointed out that this book is fairly geared towards those who compete w/ their dogs, this is not a book for those owning their first dog and are requiring the knowledge of the basics. If you are not up on the 'lingo' of dog competition or do not have a thorough grounding in 'Dog Psychology 101' you'll probably find yourself lost.
However, that being said, I refer to this book again and again as it brought me light years ahead in the way I train my dogs. I compete in both Conformation and Obedience and I use every bit of what I learned in both fields.
The only real complaint I have is that 'The Culture Clash' spoiled me tremendously. Every book I have read since has been a tremendous let-down.
Bottom line? If you want to get inside the canine mind, this is the book to buy.
Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener!
Review: This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to know where we've come in the field of dog training. Jean Donaldson, who is currently the Director of Behavior and Training at the San Francisco SPCA, tells it like it is. Dog training for so many years has been held hostage by people who wanted to hurt dogs and call it dog training. Jean will bust those myths and more. This book can really open the eyes of anyone "crossing over" from traditional methods. Her ascerbic, take-no-prisoners approach is directed not at the individual owner, but toward the cruelties inflicted on dogs in the name of dog training for many years. Methods that include hitting, hanging, drowning, and using a "jumping bat" (riding crop, but "sturdier") are still being promoted out there, and Jean's rage is wholly appropriate. As a professional dog trainer running a very large training program based at a shelter, I recommend it to anyone wishing to get an excellent perspective on what it's like to be a dog in our culture.
Rating:
Summary: Skinnerian Mistakes Revisited on Dogs
Review: Looking past the horrific editing and unprofessional packaging, I found this an interesting read, even though the author manages to undermine many of her more interesting insights by overstating her case. Most of her problems stem from her compliance to Skinnerian behaviorism, one whose theoeretical and practical inadequacies were revealed decades ago (logical behaviorism and functionalism were the results). More sophisticated understandings of conditioning and of behavior would play more than simple lip service to what genetics brings to the table. Things like temperament, hardness, drive are not imaginings of medieval torture enthusiasts, but real features of dogs. There is a reason why champions are most likely bred by champions and why it is unlikely that Golden Retriever, for all its operant conditioning, will never be titled at a Schutzhund 3 level. The box is NOT empty; dogs are not black boxes that you produce from scratch. Genetics are base lines on which conditioning takes place, and, like in human athletics, in large part determine our future performance. To believe otherwise (like Ms Donaldson) is to invite catastrophe. For instance, working dogs need more guidance and, at times correction. If you do not give it to them, then life as you know it will change radically. Despite all this I found Donaldson's comments on socialization noteworthy (most especially for those dogs who will not be involved in any Schutzenhund training).
Rating:
Summary: The Very Best of the Best
Review: Jean Donaldson's The Culture Clash is by far and away the very best of the best of Dog Training and Behavior books. Her clarity and succinctness surpass all others, and her content and writing style put The Culture Clash in a class by itself to which all others will be measured. Don't let the negative reviews steer you wrong; other opinions are always welcome and valued, but truly, there is a remarkable forest beyond their lone and sheltered trees. Way to go, Jean!!!!!
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