Dogperfect: The User-Friendly Guide to a Well-Behaved Dog

This is one of the best dog-training books I've read. I've had my Border Collie for 2 1/2 years and I've read several books, online articles, and even spoke with two different dog behaviorists and still managed to learn several things from Ms. Hodgson's book. Scold the cookies, not the dog - what a great idea. Your dog gets the idea that the cookies are a bad thing & he should just leave them alone lest he be associated with them. He doesn't want you to think HE is bad, too! Love it. Thank you, Ms. Hodgson - I'm happy to recommend your book to everyone I know who needs some advice on living with their canine companions.

I bought this book years ago, back in 1995, in it's first edition. Back then, I had a Siberian Husky who was more than difficult to train. I read the book and followed Sarah's advice on how to train my hard-headed and over-active pupil. It worked! Not only did it work, but it worked very well! The techniques in this book only took about 15-30 minutes of my time each day. In the end, I was able to effectively train my dog, especially house train, in no time! I borrowed out the book and I never saw it again! I was overjoyed to see Sarah has released a second edition. I am getting a new puppy next month, and this is my book. I even found the first edition and bought that one as well! Thanks Sarah.

Years ago when I worked in the grooming department of a pet store, we sold cases of the first edition of this book to customers who would ask us why their dogs "misbehaved." I thought that book was the best book ever written for dog owners. The second edition is much better.The author speaks simply and with the compassion and knowledge that comes from her years of experience with dogs and their people. This book enables people to communicate effectively with the dogs in the household, so there is mutual understanding, and "training" becomes second nature.It is useful, informative, easily referenced, and very readable. Even if you think you know dogs, you will learn from this book, and enjoy the reading. It is not overwhelming for beginners, either.If you have a dog, buy this book, and then be prepared to have to buy 4 more copies because you keep "lending" it to friends and family.

This book seems to be an excellent book for training your dog -- big or small. The author takes you from trying to understand your dog, to simple things you should need to train your dog, the first basic commands, moving on to harder things. At the end the author also outlines a variety of items to discipline your dog if your dog has problems of barking, chewing etc.Not only is the book detailed, but set up in a way that you can easily read. Lists are very helpful in this book. The book also has interesting antecdotes about the author's experience with dogs which are separated out so that people who don't want to read them don't have to read them. The content is good to help because it doesn't limit your options to one way of correcting your dog, but gives other ideas for those of us who are only a little creative. The book even talks about what games are good to play and has given me a few ideas for games for me and my dog.My only problem with the book is the plug for a specially designed leash that the author sells. It does sound like a good leash for a dog that is kept inside most of the time. My dog is mostly outside and so the training with the special leash doesn't look that practical to me. I think the best part of the book is the constant encouragement to the dog owners. The author tells us that training a dog depends on our attitude and does everything possible to keep our attitude to be helpful for training our dogs. One of the better dog-training books I have found.

I highly recommend this book for those who need a guide for basic dog training. I found some very helpful tips that have really worked well with my puppy. I bought several books on training, but this one is by far the best.