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97 reviews for:
How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond
Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
3.56 AVERAGE
97 reviews for:
How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond
Cesar Millan, Melissa Jo Peltier
3.56 AVERAGE
A great resource for bringing a puppy into your family and training it correctly. I really enjoy Cesar Millan's approach, and have already experienced success with many of his tips regarding crate training and communicating using their "nose-eyes-ears" -- in that order. Our puppy is much more receptive to eye contact and body language than verbal cues. I would definitely read more by Cesar Millan on raising dogs.
informative
slow-paced
This book makes me want to get a puppy so badly. Like, so so badly. I'm hoping to move into a pet-friendly apartment next year and maybe get a dog that I can take on hikes with me.
Cesar Milan's love for dogs is obvious and infectious. My favorite part about his books and tv show in general is that his skill and confidence makes me feel confident, as well. There are definitely a lot of tips in this book, although most of his advice boils down more to overall mantras and less to step-by-step guides. Example: Cesar would say, "Always have calm-assertive energy," rather than "First, have your dog sit." So, if you are looking for a lot more specific instruction on certain tasks, this really isn't the book for you. This is more of a general guidebook on how to be a pack leader and how to stop basic problems that arise with puppies/adolescent dogs.
My issue with this book is that I think Cesar overestimates how well the dog will respond to someone's "energy" who hasn't had a ton of experience being "in tune" with animal behavior.
For example, when a dog has an item that he should not have and does not want to give it back to his owner, the owner should look at the dog authoritatively, "get in his space," look at the object, be firm and calm, and wait for the dog to give it back. That's great advice, but I don't think my dog would really "get" that from me. It may work the first time for The Dog Whisperer, but I would probably need a lot of experience before something as simple as that would completely solve the problem. His advice is similarly one-dimensional on other topics such as barking and aggression. I feel like sometimes energy (or, rather, my energy) wouldn't be effective enough and I need more advice than just that.
But overall, I think Cesar Milan has a fairly unique and wonderful strategy when it comes to molding well-behaved, balanced dogs. I can't wait to get a puppy soon and try out some of these tactics so I can have a wonderful hiking buddy.
Cesar Milan's love for dogs is obvious and infectious. My favorite part about his books and tv show in general is that his skill and confidence makes me feel confident, as well. There are definitely a lot of tips in this book, although most of his advice boils down more to overall mantras and less to step-by-step guides. Example: Cesar would say, "Always have calm-assertive energy," rather than "First, have your dog sit." So, if you are looking for a lot more specific instruction on certain tasks, this really isn't the book for you. This is more of a general guidebook on how to be a pack leader and how to stop basic problems that arise with puppies/adolescent dogs.
My issue with this book is that I think Cesar overestimates how well the dog will respond to someone's "energy" who hasn't had a ton of experience being "in tune" with animal behavior.
For example, when a dog has an item that he should not have and does not want to give it back to his owner, the owner should look at the dog authoritatively, "get in his space," look at the object, be firm and calm, and wait for the dog to give it back. That's great advice, but I don't think my dog would really "get" that from me. It may work the first time for The Dog Whisperer, but I would probably need a lot of experience before something as simple as that would completely solve the problem. His advice is similarly one-dimensional on other topics such as barking and aggression. I feel like sometimes energy (or, rather, my energy) wouldn't be effective enough and I need more advice than just that.
But overall, I think Cesar Milan has a fairly unique and wonderful strategy when it comes to molding well-behaved, balanced dogs. I can't wait to get a puppy soon and try out some of these tactics so I can have a wonderful hiking buddy.
I read this book plus half of Cesar's Rules with a crazed puppy squirming in my lap, and I can't say I recommend it. Cesar doles out a lot of the same practical advice as other dog trainers, but the "science" he offers up is pretty much fantasy. Plus, he puts a lot of pressure on dog owners to always be "calm and assertive," and since I am NOT a calm person, this advice really freaked me out (unnecessarily as it turns out). But at least this book a) was available immediately from the library in digital form and b) helped me pretend I had some control over the puppy-situation.
fast-paced
Super clear and full of great tips on human-dog relationships. I can't wait to apply what I learned with my future pup!
I am a totally newbie to dogs and not at all a dog person. But part of the deal my husband and I made with our latest move was that he could get a dog. So I went to this book with no experience, looking to get my head around what it looks like to raise a week behaved dog. (Nothing annoys non-dog people like me more than an ill-behaved dog whose owners excuse its behavior. That and unleashed dogs in an on-leash area.) This book gave me some ideas on how this whole dog thing works. Other things I will ignore (ie the rant about expensive, small brand, organic food being better, which is total nonsense to a chemist). I am not really qualified to say whether these techniques work or not. I suppose we'll see soon, as our puppy comes home July 20.
Read this 3 years ago when we got our pitbull, re-read it again now that we took in a stray puppy. I had forgotten how much of the books were stories about his own dogs, which bored me overall reading again, but still there was some good tips in there and things I had forgotten from years ago that I need to change with the puppy.