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[Puppy Problems? No Problem! (Book and DVD)] [Author: Aloff, Brenda] [February, 2012]
This book goes beyond any of the other puppy books out there and brings you Brenda's 20 years of experience working with problem dogs as a professional pet behavior consultant. This gives Brenda a unique view of what owners should have done to prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Training your dog should be a shared and fun experience that enhances the relationship you have with your dog. This book will lead you through each "problem" and in an easy to understand step-by-step program will show you how to make big differences in your dog's behavior.
- GenresDogs
Paperback
First published September 26, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 29, 2015
No puppy yet but I'm studying up and this appears to be an excellent training reference book and it even comes with a DVD. I love Aloff's humor throughout this book and her thorough explanations detailing her training techniques. Also, contains photos which are very helpful. I can't wait now to try these out on the new pup!
April 5, 2022
I'm not going to go over the whole book in detail, but I do just want to point out one thing that the author kept repeating that particularly irked me: Comforting a frightened dog reinforces fear. She repeatedly refers to this as literally the worst thing that you can do for an anxious dog.
It's particularly annoying because on multiple occasions, she talks about how you need the dog to stop responding from the "hind brain" and instead respond from the "front brain" so that they can make better decisions. Yet, the author doesn't make the connection that when a dog is in that "hind brain" mode (and that is indeed what anxiety is), they cannot learn.
It has been backed up by studies that animals which are in a very stressed state don't learn. They may learn about things to avoid if it's a traumatic event, but you're not going to get the kind of operant learning that the author assumes when a dog is panicking. It's interesting too because when it comes to aggression, the author is quite explicit that once a dog reaches a certain point of over-arousal, your only option is simply to manage it until you can get the dog into a state where they are cognitively able to learn. Yet when it comes to similarly intense anxiety, the author assumes that dogs are still cognitively able to learn. They are not.
If you have a panicking dog, you are not going to reinforce fear behavior by comforting your dog. If dogs are seeking comfort from you (I have a dog with a severe noise phobia who does this), they are doing so not because they want to be reinforced for being afraid, but because they want you to help them feel less afraid. They are looking to you for comfort. Being terrified and panicking is not an inherently rewarding state for a dog to be in. You cannot reward an emotional state that extremely aversive. What is rewarding to them is anything that EASES their fear.
You cannot make a dog's fear more intense by comforting them when they are looking to you for comfort. If the dog learns anything, it is that when they are afraid, they can come to you and you will help them to feel LESS afraid. A dog that comes to you when they're scared doesn't come to you so you will reward them for being scared; they come to you because you are where they feel most secure when they are terrified. Trust me, it can be extremely annoying, but it is what you want if what you want is to have a good relationship with your dog and a dog that trusts you.
As for the rest of the book, there are some good parts, but I found there to be too much repetition. There wasn't much that I haven't seen presented better in other books. I also didn't feel like the stories about the author's dogs or clients' dogs really added anything and found myself skipping them. The book as a whole didn't feel terribly focused or as organized as it could have been.
It's particularly annoying because on multiple occasions, she talks about how you need the dog to stop responding from the "hind brain" and instead respond from the "front brain" so that they can make better decisions. Yet, the author doesn't make the connection that when a dog is in that "hind brain" mode (and that is indeed what anxiety is), they cannot learn.
It has been backed up by studies that animals which are in a very stressed state don't learn. They may learn about things to avoid if it's a traumatic event, but you're not going to get the kind of operant learning that the author assumes when a dog is panicking. It's interesting too because when it comes to aggression, the author is quite explicit that once a dog reaches a certain point of over-arousal, your only option is simply to manage it until you can get the dog into a state where they are cognitively able to learn. Yet when it comes to similarly intense anxiety, the author assumes that dogs are still cognitively able to learn. They are not.
If you have a panicking dog, you are not going to reinforce fear behavior by comforting your dog. If dogs are seeking comfort from you (I have a dog with a severe noise phobia who does this), they are doing so not because they want to be reinforced for being afraid, but because they want you to help them feel less afraid. They are looking to you for comfort. Being terrified and panicking is not an inherently rewarding state for a dog to be in. You cannot reward an emotional state that extremely aversive. What is rewarding to them is anything that EASES their fear.
You cannot make a dog's fear more intense by comforting them when they are looking to you for comfort. If the dog learns anything, it is that when they are afraid, they can come to you and you will help them to feel LESS afraid. A dog that comes to you when they're scared doesn't come to you so you will reward them for being scared; they come to you because you are where they feel most secure when they are terrified. Trust me, it can be extremely annoying, but it is what you want if what you want is to have a good relationship with your dog and a dog that trusts you.
As for the rest of the book, there are some good parts, but I found there to be too much repetition. There wasn't much that I haven't seen presented better in other books. I also didn't feel like the stories about the author's dogs or clients' dogs really added anything and found myself skipping them. The book as a whole didn't feel terribly focused or as organized as it could have been.
November 3, 2012
Excellent advice on training your puppy or retraining your older rescue dog that someone else has taught bad habits. It comes with a DVD which helps you see in action what you can do to make your puppy a pleasant member of the family.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews