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Turning Fierce Dogs Friendly: Using Constructional Aggression Treatment to Rehabilitate Aggressive and Reactive Dogs
Learn how to harness the power of worthwhile reinforcement to build safe, friendly behaviors in aggressive dogs. The positive training based, Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT), as described in Turning Fierce Dogs Friendly, has proven successful for many pet owners and trainers around the world. As a functional approach to changing aggressive behavior, it offers a humane alternative to desensitization, counter conditioning, and distraction procedures. CAT typically produces long-lasting results in far less time than any positive treatment available, without the undesirable side-effects that are common with punishment procedures. The ultimate outcome is a once-aggressive dog that is now friendly. Inside Turning Fierce Dogs Step-by-step instructions for performing CAT with aggressive dogs Understand the normal behaviors of all dogs, of specific breeds, and of your own individual dog How to be awake and aware of your dog’s behavior and your own Discover your dog’s worthwhile reinforcement for safe, friendly behaviors Advice for developing good observation skills and staying on task The issues that can make or break successful aggression consistency, safety, and follow-through Equipment, handling procedures, and preventing opportunities to practice undesirable behavior When to call a professional
224 pages, Paperback
Published January 30, 2018
31 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 31, 2018
A really good, effective and interesting concept however 1/2 of the book was waffle, 1/4 of the book were anecdotes and only 1/4 of it was useful.
July 17, 2025
Irresponsible, dangerous, uninformative, and assumes we're all idiots
The parts of this book that are good:
one exercise, written in a side panel that shows how you can use removing a trigger as a reward for reactive dogs.
a bunch of stuff that has been said in so many other books, such as we train humans, not dogs.
Here's the stuff that sucks.
Most of the book does not include helpful training exercises that illustrate her method, which is probably an adequate training method. Most of the book is her explaining why other methods are terrible. Unfortunately, when she describes other methods, she uses language that is incredibly ignorant. I'm up for hearing a method won't work, but not if the research came off of Reddit.
The information presented on corrective collars and e collars is outdated and dangerous. Now, perhaps, she did not mean to lump in e collars, with shock collars, but if that's so, she left out a fairly popular training method. And if she's going to say that a human put an e collar on and zapped themselves that they lost control of their bladder and couldn't walk, that's absolutely ridiculous. Agree or disagree with e collars, if you read any training book, they will spend a full chapter telling you how to measure a correction, starting from a correction that the dogs don't feel, and ending with a correction that they barely feel. It’s usually indicated with a slight ear twitch or a riffle of the skin. It's supposed to feel like someone tapping you on the shoulder and saying, "Hey."
In order to prove how terrible "shock collars" are, she shows a picture of a sad terrier and says, "See?"
This book is presented as a scientific accumulation of knowledge that has been updated through a couple of generations of knowledge. So tell us about the method. Support your arguments.
This book made me so angry that I almost started a podcast. If you see anyone reading this book, please tell them that if they care about their dogs, they should not believe the weird (almost political) fear mongering information here.
I know there's a war between positive reinforcement and alpha trainers, but I wanted to learn about different methods. Because I love my dogs. I want them to be safe, content, and welcome everywhere. I don't want a book that gives me no information and tries to scare me off other methods.
The parts of this book that are good:
one exercise, written in a side panel that shows how you can use removing a trigger as a reward for reactive dogs.
a bunch of stuff that has been said in so many other books, such as we train humans, not dogs.
Here's the stuff that sucks.
Most of the book does not include helpful training exercises that illustrate her method, which is probably an adequate training method. Most of the book is her explaining why other methods are terrible. Unfortunately, when she describes other methods, she uses language that is incredibly ignorant. I'm up for hearing a method won't work, but not if the research came off of Reddit.
The information presented on corrective collars and e collars is outdated and dangerous. Now, perhaps, she did not mean to lump in e collars, with shock collars, but if that's so, she left out a fairly popular training method. And if she's going to say that a human put an e collar on and zapped themselves that they lost control of their bladder and couldn't walk, that's absolutely ridiculous. Agree or disagree with e collars, if you read any training book, they will spend a full chapter telling you how to measure a correction, starting from a correction that the dogs don't feel, and ending with a correction that they barely feel. It’s usually indicated with a slight ear twitch or a riffle of the skin. It's supposed to feel like someone tapping you on the shoulder and saying, "Hey."
In order to prove how terrible "shock collars" are, she shows a picture of a sad terrier and says, "See?"
This book is presented as a scientific accumulation of knowledge that has been updated through a couple of generations of knowledge. So tell us about the method. Support your arguments.
This book made me so angry that I almost started a podcast. If you see anyone reading this book, please tell them that if they care about their dogs, they should not believe the weird (almost political) fear mongering information here.
I know there's a war between positive reinforcement and alpha trainers, but I wanted to learn about different methods. Because I love my dogs. I want them to be safe, content, and welcome everywhere. I don't want a book that gives me no information and tries to scare me off other methods.
January 5, 2018
Turning Fierce Dogs Friendly by author Kellie Snider is very timely and needed for animal lovers who care about rescue dogs. She is not writing exclusively about rescues, but that is the reason I felt drawn to read this book. It is possible the techniques explained in this book will help save the lives of some troubled dogs from euthanasia. The author describes the very real decisions facing animal services when presented with a dog who has the capability of causing harm.
The author teaches and uses the CAT or Constructional Aggression Treatment. I appreciate the caring and patience of this author and offering her advice to those of us who would want to help with rescues. If this is your interest, or if you have an aggressive dog, then please get this book and read it through to the end.
A personal notation, this book helped me with the grief I have felt when one of my rescues could not be saved. If love, care, and obedience training could have helped my Sadie, then she would still be with me. But as a rescue from a horribly abused situation, she was too broken to allow herself to trust fully and be retrained. It was heartbreaking.
I am so glad this book is available for dog lovers and those who want to make a difference.
The author teaches and uses the CAT or Constructional Aggression Treatment. I appreciate the caring and patience of this author and offering her advice to those of us who would want to help with rescues. If this is your interest, or if you have an aggressive dog, then please get this book and read it through to the end.
A personal notation, this book helped me with the grief I have felt when one of my rescues could not be saved. If love, care, and obedience training could have helped my Sadie, then she would still be with me. But as a rescue from a horribly abused situation, she was too broken to allow herself to trust fully and be retrained. It was heartbreaking.
I am so glad this book is available for dog lovers and those who want to make a difference.
January 7, 2021
This book reads like an extended blog post, lots of filler, which is unfortunate. I also felt that it speaks from a place of privilege, which is frustrating for readers who aren't in the same position as the author (for example, many, many people don't have the luxury of a big yard), and puts the reader at an immediate disadvantage.
Additionally, I just don't agree with the content. I don't think this method should be recommended for reactive dogs (which is what I read it for). I can't speak for aggressive dogs, but for reactive dogs, I can say for sure that all this training tactic would do is scare my dog more and make his behavior worse. It's not effective or fair. If you're learning how to handle your reactive dog, I don't recommend this book. You'll have an even bigger problem on your hands, and your dog's mental health will suffer even more. I'd recommend Scaredy Dog by Ali Brown, The Midnight Dog Walkers by Annie Phenix, and look up the Recovering Rover Program with Jenna Romano (dog_liaison on Instagram). That will get you started in the right direction.
Additionally, I just don't agree with the content. I don't think this method should be recommended for reactive dogs (which is what I read it for). I can't speak for aggressive dogs, but for reactive dogs, I can say for sure that all this training tactic would do is scare my dog more and make his behavior worse. It's not effective or fair. If you're learning how to handle your reactive dog, I don't recommend this book. You'll have an even bigger problem on your hands, and your dog's mental health will suffer even more. I'd recommend Scaredy Dog by Ali Brown, The Midnight Dog Walkers by Annie Phenix, and look up the Recovering Rover Program with Jenna Romano (dog_liaison on Instagram). That will get you started in the right direction.
April 8, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this book and I think it is a must-read for everyone living and/or working with aggressive dogs.
This book is all about force-free training methods and the author explains why it's never a good idea to use punishment while training. However, at some points she didn't sound firm enough in speaking up against using abusive training tools.
I hope many dog owners with aggressive dogs will read this book to better understand their dogs and their reasons for being aggressive and then use humane methods to train.
This book is all about force-free training methods and the author explains why it's never a good idea to use punishment while training. However, at some points she didn't sound firm enough in speaking up against using abusive training tools.
I hope many dog owners with aggressive dogs will read this book to better understand their dogs and their reasons for being aggressive and then use humane methods to train.
April 19, 2018
There's a lot of great information provided in this book. I like that the author was very detailed, especially about why punishment is not a good idea. I wish the section with the actual CAT procedure was longer with more case studies but overall I found the book to be a good resource.
February 9, 2018
This is a must read for all those amazing dog owners that take in troubled dogs....
And remember there is no such thing as bad dogs only BAD OWNERS!
And remember there is no such thing as bad dogs only BAD OWNERS!
May 14, 2019
Snarky and sarcastic. Difficult to look pass the judgement that the author clearly harbours.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews