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I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words

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A pet owner doesn't just teach basics like beg and bark, but also such unlikely canine commands such as Shine my shoe! Kiss a goose! and Clean the zoo!

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

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504 people want to read

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5 stars
667 (48%)
4 stars
374 (27%)
3 stars
253 (18%)
2 stars
47 (3%)
1 star
23 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
Profile Image for Mariah Roze.
1,057 reviews1,055 followers
May 17, 2018
I read this book to my students. It was a cute story that rhymed.
Profile Image for Gary.
1,021 reviews257 followers
July 12, 2017
A delight for any young child, this wonderful book is filled with bright and cheerful illustrations , as well as fun rhyming.
It is full of life and action in only 29 pages.
It teaches small children, the meaning of words, as they are taught to the dog.
Finally it teaches the meaning of procrastination, as the owner of the dog, with all his big dreams for his pet, on the last page says:
�I think I�ll start next year�
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,367 reviews282 followers
October 5, 2024
A boy plans to teach his dog 100 words, starting with some basic commands but ending up with some pretty outlandish stunts.

I'm not a fan of the rhyming, the silliness, or the ending, but my daughter liked all the doggy pictures when she was three. (And, hey, she still likes doggy pictures two decades later!)
10 reviews
April 23, 2009
I don't know why, but this book has been one of my favorites since before i can remember. All I know is that my dad would read this to me, and I would laugh so hard. To this day I still giggle when I reread this book.
Profile Image for Alicia Singleton.
50 reviews2 followers
December 9, 2014
This book is about an owner that teaches his dog different words while also teaching him commands. Some of the words the owner teaches the dog are what you would expect a dog to do such as catch, bark, beg, walk and run, but some of the words are extreme, such as “scratch you head” and “blow your nose.” This book is a good tool to expand children’s vocabulary. In the book it refers to different objects, some objects that children may not know, so this book can help them learn new words. Another way that this book can be helpful is it can teach a young dog owner new tricks to teach their dogs. It also teaches the reader how to count to one hundred. The highlighted words in the book help the reader count the words easier. The illustrations are fun and colorful which would make it more appealing to young children.

Frith, M. K., & Eastman, P. D. (1973). I'll teach my dog 100 words. New York: Beginner Books.
Profile Image for Stephanie Watson.
106 reviews2 followers
March 30, 2013
This is a cute book! This book highlights 100 words that children can point out that a dog may be able to do. I enjoyed reading this book.
Profile Image for Kaylynn Johnsen.
1,268 reviews11 followers
May 14, 2020
This is a cute story about teaching a dog 100 words and the actions that go along with it.
Author 1 book9 followers
October 17, 2017
Poetic primer.

It's one of those books published by Random House which piggybacks on the popularity of Dr. Seuss by being called a "Cat in the Hat Presents" book, without actually being written by Seuss. It's also illustrated by P.D. Eastman, the illustrator and writer of "Are You My Mother?", another classic children's book. It's not quite repetitive, but it's pedantic. It's almost patronizing. It's basically a primer with a tenuous thread of a story running through it, with words like "walk" and "run" and "day" and "night" and opposites and colors. It's clearly trying to teach the child these words, but as I've stated in other reviews, you don't have to teach children words individually. They will pick them up in context. That's how childhood language acquisition works. You CAN teach them words specifically, but you don't need to.

It's in more complete sentences than "See Jane. See Jane run. Run, Jane, run," or something like that, and it's got this silly conceit about all the people in the town being fascinated with a semi-intelligent dog. He doesn't talk; he's not a talking dog, but he identifies commands and colors, like "Comb your hair," and "Beat a drum." The meter is usually pretty solid, but occasionally a bit shaky. Like, "The first six words I'll teach my pup/Are 'dig a hole' and 'fill it up.'/I'll teach him 'walk' and 'run' and then/'Catch a ball,' now that makes ten./And Mr. Smith, who lives next door/Will say, 'That's great! Can you teach him more?'" Where you have to combine two syllables in to one somewhere in the last sentence, or put the stress somewhere non-intuitive. Maybe I obsess over these kinds of things, but it makes it hard to read this without stumbling over it, and not in a good way like "Fox in Socks."

Again, it's silly, fairly well-written, but nothing amazing. It's okay. It's kind of an average children's book, although the vast amount of mediocre ones out there make that not as high a compliment as it sounds. I guess it's a 6/10 where the vast majority of the ones I read are maybe 3/10 at best in quality. There's no real message here, I don't think it's actually claiming that dogs can be taught words like this. The narrator merely claims that he will do that in the future. And at the end he says, "I think I'll start next year," either as he realizes it's a difficult undertaking, or revealing that the narrator is just bragging. It's just a list of words. It's a rhyming list of words, so maybe that's a little bit entertaining. But there's nothing to it. There's no story. The rhyming is the only thing that could possibly keep your attention in this. It's decent rhyming, and decent meter, so what it's trying to do it does well, but in my opinion it's not trying to do enough, and comes off as disappointing.

For more children's book reviews, see my website at http://www.drttmk.com.
Profile Image for David Sarkies.
1,933 reviews382 followers
June 28, 2015
A lesson in vocabulary
18 November 2013

This story, structured in beautiful meter and excellent rhyme, is about how we set ourselves huge goals, and imagine huge success, only to put it off because we prefer to sit under a tree and pass our days catching the rays from the sun. The protagonist in this book (known only as 'I') is a man who has great hopes for his dog because he wants to teach his dog 100 words, but not only teach him those words but to also teach him how to do these things.

It seems that the first thing he wants to teach the dog is to do what we call 'busy work' which is work that has no appreciable outcome other than to keep people busy – such as digging a hole and then filling it in again. However he also wants to teach his dog very complex things, such as painting a road, cleaning a zoo, and giving a moose a clean with a mop. It seems that the protagonist believes that his dog is a very intelligent dog (but since he never actually does it we don't know how intelligent this dog really is: we can only speculate).

If he does succeed (and there is no evidence that he will, because he is only speculating) then he imagines that he will become the talk of the town because he has such an amazing dog that can spray paint chairs, perform marvellous feats of acrobatics, and clean a moose with a mop. As such he imagines fame, glory, and a public holiday dedicated to his dog.

However, despite all of these grand plans, in the end it seems that it is simply too hard, and the sun too nice, that it is better to go outside, lie down under a tree, and go to sleep.
73 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2013
This is a cute book about a guy that wants to teach his dog 100 words so that everyone will be impressed. He goes throughout the story talking about all of the things he wants to teach his dog and how everyone will react. I think that children will love to read this merely for entertainment purposes, but a teacher can definitely use this to have students identify opposites shown within the story.
Profile Image for Rachel.
891 reviews14 followers
May 23, 2020
This would be a difficult read for beginning readers as it introduces lots of new words with very little repetition. However, the real star of this book is Eastman's illustrations, depicting an exhausted dog who is becoming fed up with his owner's increased word tasks. If I was the beginning reader attempting to learn all these words, I would be, too. Two stars for a beginning reader title, but I would rate this slightly higher if you're simply looking for an enjoyable read (3 stars).
Profile Image for Rosa Cline.
3,328 reviews44 followers
August 6, 2017
Nice beginner reader book as it introduces various words along with the picture so the child can look at the picture and see the item then the word, thus reading it. Helping their self esteem. OR like I did, I read it out loud to my adult special needs son and he loved it. He smiled and giggled throughout to see the various things "my dog" could do. Fun book. BTW it's another timeless story that is still just as fun as it was 40 years ago when I read it as a little girl.
33 reviews
Read
November 4, 2016
The boy in the book wants to teach his dog 100 words. He start off very simple commands that a dog would hear. By the end he is saying how many he has taught and then decides that he is going to quit and start next year. This could be used to discuss with students what it means to take on different tasks and knowing when something is too much to do.
703 reviews
September 8, 2019
What fun rhyming and colorful pictures for children to follow - teaching a dog 100 words! But how many times do we say "I'll do this," or "I'll do that!" It just ain't going to get done in one lifetime! We won't be able to teach a dog 100 words, but we might be able to teach a little human that many words!
Profile Image for Christy Roberts.
1,513 reviews49 followers
June 7, 2019
I couldn't really get this book to be that great. My cousin liked it but I just didn't. I couldn't see a dog brushing a bear or roller skating. Guess you have to be a kid to find the cuteness in this. The dog itself was cute and the few things did that were possible was what got 3 stars.
Profile Image for Maria Morrison.
490 reviews27 followers
May 17, 2017
A cute way to teach colours, concepts and body parts to children.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
491 reviews6 followers
October 11, 2018
My son liked this book because the dog was able to do tricks and entertain many people.
Profile Image for Sean Harding.
5,767 reviews33 followers
November 30, 2018
Dr Seuss styled book to teach the young reader 100 words without them realising they are learning it, very clever approach and entertaining as well.
Profile Image for Jaime.
1,550 reviews2 followers
July 5, 2019
I read this book to promote a vocabulary for my two younger children. It was a fun read,
Profile Image for Katie R..
34 reviews
October 10, 2019
I read this book when I was in preschool and when I was in kindergarten. This book helped me to read and it was a good bonding time with my dad.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews

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