As you guys have probably picked up by now, I’m obsessed with reading dog training books. And I have a brand new one to share with you today!
Decoding Your Dog, which came out a couple weeks ago, was compiled by experts from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, edited by Dr. Debra Horwitz and Dr. John Ciribassi, with Steve Dale. The book’s tagline: “The Ultimate Experts Explain Common Dog Behaviors and Reveal How to Prevent or Change Unwanted Ones.” Sounds good to me!
Early in the book, the authors wrote:
Because of our physical limitations, people will never be able to ‘speak dog’ and dogs will never be able to speak our verbal language. Therefore, we need to develop a language to help us communicate effectively with our dogs. That language is called training.
Each of the book’s 14 chapters covers a specific topic (aging, for example) in depth with the goal of helping dog people develop that common language.
I was super interested in the chapter called “Aggression Unleashed: Do Dogs Mean to be Mean?” Because Lucas is so reactive, I’m sensitive about the “aggressive” label. We know what he’s really like, irrespective of his triggers, so I always bristled when people called him “aggressive.” I wanted to know what the ACVB said about this type of behavior.
The chapter starts with a discussion about why dogs can become aggressive. In a section called “Facts, Not Fiction” they outline some of the most common misunderstandings about aggression (Should I punish aggression to nip it in the bud?) and combine studies conducted by veterinary behaviorists with super practical advice. Plus, they explain all the different types of aggression and causes from the dog’s perspective – explaining why they do what they do – with the goal of instructing the reader how to work with their dog in a way that protects and strengthens the human-canine bond.
In the aggression chapter, I loved this line:
Remember, aggression is not a training problem but rather a problem of how the dog perceives what is happening to her and how she responds to that perception.
It circled back around to that idea of a common language, and it provided realistic, science-based, practical strategies for working with an aggressive dog.
Overall, I’m enjoying Decoding Your Dog, and I’ve gotten a ton of super useful information. What I particularly liked about this book was that every piece of advice was backed up with scientific evidence.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a dog, but I think it’s particularly important for those of us who promote positive reinforcement. Throughout the text, the authors tackle all the myths associated with outdated training theories and explain – citing scientific evidence – why a positive approach is the most effective. I love having additional, research-based information at my fingertips to promote positive training!
Have you read this yet? Are there any problem behaviors you’re interested in solving with your pup? Leave them in the comments, and I can share some insights from the text!
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post through the BlogPaws Pet Blogger Network. I was given a free book and compensation; however, I only share information that I think would be valuable to you guys!
I am looking forward to reading this book! I have it on hold at the library right now. Great points on dog reactivity; I enjoyed reading your summary!
I bet you’ll love it, Abby. I took away a ton of actionable tips, and I loved that it was all science-based yet perfectly readable!
I think I need to get this book! In the last few weeks Hershey has developed the worrisome habit of lunging and barking at one or more of the cats. It always happens when she is on her couch. And often when I’m not in the room. But on time I was sitting on the opposite couch, the cats were starting to get cozy on top of me and Hershey came off her couch barking, was practically on top of me, and sent the cats scattering. I’ve reprimanded her, but I’m at a loss to how to train her out of it since I don’t know what triggers it.
Hmmm… Guarding her resource (you)? I think you’d get a lot out of this book. It’s full of useful, practical tips. I came away with pages of notes that I now need to turn into plans!
Yeah, and maybe the couch as well. I wonder if using that couch more so it wasn’t just a dog couch might cure that?
I’m always interested in learning more about fear-aggression in dogs since my own dog, Charlie, has this problem. She was properly socialized from a very young age but since being attacked by unleashed dogs three times while out on walks in our neighborhood, she’s become very aggressive toward most other dogs. There are very few dogs that I can trust her with and I’m always watching her behavior for cues that she’s uncomfortable. It’s a really frustrating behavior to deal with! Looking forward to checking out this book to see if I can learn any new techniques to helping Charlie become social again (if ever).
Poor Charlie. And, yes, it’s a super frustrating behavior to deal with. It can be really embarrassing and flat-out annoying! I got some great ideas from this book that I’m going to implement with Lucas, and a ton more ideas for working on impulse control with Cooper. Let me know if you decide to pick it up – I’d love to know your thoughts!
So is there anything in there about developing a good recall on an off-leash dog? 😉
A walking friend of mine inherited her mom’s JRT, this dog would lose his stuff when he saw other dogs. I literally watched her pick him up one day while he kicked and screamed as only a JRT can. I told her I thought he was afraid of other dogs because her mother was in her 70’s when she rescued him and never socialized him.
Long story short, she’s been working with a trainer (I didn’t ask which kind) and the dog and Delilah came upon each other this past weekend in the woods and they both stood stock still and sniffed, but there was no aggression.
My friend said, he was afraid. Which I think is where most dog aggression comes from. But then, I’m no expert.
I do think I might like this book.
Yes! I think so much of that aggression does stem from fear, and I’m thrilled to hear that your friend has experienced so much success!
There is quite a bit about working on recall. My personal struggle with that is that I’m never as interesting as the thing that’s keeping them from coming back to me! But the book does have a bunch of great tips on building up a solid recall that I definitely need to work on!
Thanks for your review of this book Maggie. I write mainly about grooming but it would be interesting to have a read and see if there are any tips in there for helping owners with dogs who don’t enjoy being groomed.
There is a whole section on that!! My sister’s dog is horrible about having his nails trimmed, so I flipped to that section in the book and we’ve worked out a training plan for him. Groomers would probably need to rely on the owners to do a lot of the work, but there are some excellent skills and suggestions that I think would help anyone working with a pup who dislikes grooming!
I’d love to read more about positive reinforcement training. It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a puppy that I think some of the things we used to do either don’t work, or there might be better ways. Plus issues can arise with the older dogs too. I don’t have a lot of time to read, but it sounds like one of those books where you could pick and choose the parts you wanted to read?
That is exactly what I did, Jan. For me, I wasn’t interested in the housetraining chapter, so I skipped it altogether! I’ve kind of been flipping around – each chapter is a stand-alone essay sort of, written by a veterinary behaviorist who’s researched that specific topic. You’d probably get a lot of great puppy ideas from the beginning of the book, which is entirely focused on starting a new puppy off on the right “paw.”
I’m reading it but have, like 14 minutes a day to read right now so haven’t gotten as far as you. Still, I think it’s very well-written and will be a great resource for years to come. My only hope is that the people who really need to read it will do so. (The ones who prefer personality to science.)
I’m tempted to hit the aggression chapter out of order by don’t want to miss any valuable information that might be provided first. (i.e. – not sure if one chapter builds on the next, etc…)