Customer Reviews:
 What everyone should be taught in kindergarten January 7, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is by far the most useful compilation of general dog-knowledge I have read. It is especially valuable if you have a new puppy, but also a MUST for those of us with older dogs who have 'problems' that need to be resolved, including chewing, dog-dog aggression, dog-human aggression, fear, barking, urinating, etc. IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, you should absolutely read what Donaldson says about how dogs view small people staring into their eyes, clinging to their necks, and patting them. Considering the thousands of children injured by dogs every year, training children to behave around dogs, and vice-versa, should be common place. Another interesting read that goes MUCH deeper into canine-primate relations is The Other End of the Leash (McConnell).
This is not a cookbook for dog training (though there are several puppy-lessons to give you an idea of how to go about that). It should be viewed as a foundational, Dogs 101 class. The stuff you should know BEFORE you look down into those happily mischievous puppy eyes and say "BAD DOG!"
I bought this book because it was highly recommended by professional behaviorists in dealing with aggression. I was so impressed with it, I have since, in four months, loaned it to 3 friends, and am waiting to get it back so I can quick-read it again. Interestingly enough, while I thought it easy to read and completely fascinating, the first friend found it too dry to finish. :-D Give it a try: if you stick with it, you WILL find out SOMETHING that will change how you relate to your dog.
Easy to read and understand January 4, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book was recommended to me by several members on the two animal rescue groups I volunteer with. I loved the conversational approach that the author takes and the examples she gives. She has made a complex subject easy to understand and with a writing style that keeps the reader actively engaged. Bravo!
 Good, clear and highly recommended October 5, 2006
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I found this book very helpful. It is clear and thorough and a very good resource for owners and trainers. It is also easily accessible, despite covering some fairly technical material. In terms of the content, Culture Clash is first rate.
It suffers from problems in other areas, however.
I agree with other reviewers who found this book to be distractingly disorganized. The chapters are loosely put together, and the lack of an index makes finding specific references difficult. My own copy has several post-it notes sticking out of it: a testament to the book's utility and lack of organization.
Another weakness of this book is Donaldson's tone, which is kind of cranky at times. She takes issue with other schools of thought in dog-training, and not only lets the reader know she disagrees with them, but also lets the reader know how stupid they are. The dog-training world is famous for rabid arguments, so I take her comments with a big salt-lick, but the book suffers from them.
This book would have greatly benefitted from a good editor. But still, the information it offers more than compensates for it's shortcomings. I have re-read sections of it many times, and still find it helpful.
Easy read, thorough October 4, 2006
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
A huge amount of dog books are a slog to read, preachy and unhelpful. This book on the other hand, gives a simple over view of modern training techniques interspersed with humour. As an experienced dog handler I appreciated some of the basic reminders about our dogs being..just dogs... and I think for a new dog owner it is essential reading. Some areas do become quite technical and I recommend those not into the `dog behaviour' thing to skim those sections and quickly move on. Overall though, the number one book in this area now with practical advice balanced against dog insight.
Preachy, but good September 25, 2006
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
The teacher of my puppy's obedience class recommended this book to me. After I got through the first half, I found that I really liked it. The first half is ridiculously preachy, especially if you already believe in using positive reinforcement in training. The second half, while still peppered with diatribes against owners who use training collars, random moments of near-anthropomorphic descriptions of dog behavior (a bit much from a book that begins by explaining how ridiculous it is to anthropomorphize your dog), and other attempts to make the reader feel guilty, is also filled with exercises that are extremely valuable.
If it weren't for these excellent exercises, the book would be worthless. At times, it reads more like an overgrown master's thesis than a book for the general public. Perhaps a master's thesis dumbed down and extended for the general public is a better descriptor. Donaldson's diction bounces all over the place. She often begins a sentence with a keyword taken from behavioral psychology and ends with a coloquial expression. This mixed diction is a massive stylistic fault, making understanding the author's meaning somewhat difficult from time to time.
The book's organization is present but not in any truly engaging manner. The chapters seem a bit like lectures written into book form. Its lack of an index makes note taking, highlighting, etc. an absolute must. I am surprised that the second edition does not include an index, this seems like the sort of thing you would actually think to do when you go back to improve a text for its second edition.
As I said before, this is a good book. It has its problems, but when it's on it's dead on. In spite of all of its stylistic and structural problems, it's still better written than some of the other books that people have recommended to me. The exercises are incredibly useful and generally easy to understand. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a handy book to help you understand obedience training in terms of the way dogs learn (and also recommend that you find a good trainer, have him or her recommend other titles to you and start classes as quickly as possible). Donaldson's explanation of how to teach your dog how to play fetch works. My dog wasn't really getting it, but Donaldson's book gave me the tools I needed to get my dog to understand what I was wanting from him.
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