Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 31-35 of 50
 Preachy, but good September 25, 2006
D. Emanuel (Chicago, IL United States)
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.
 Extremely Overrated September 17, 2006
J. Nelson (Healdsburg, CA)
20 out of 34 found this review helpful
Although this book was recommended to me by a professional I must say that I was terribly disappointed. Out of the entire book the only part I actually did agree with was that in general a lot of us treat dogs as humans when they really should be treated like the animals that they are.
With that in mind, Donaldson believes dogs to be quite stupid and not capable of working for anything other than food. I have had and trained dogs for years and have never had to result to such pandering. Dog's are extremely intelligent and can be taught anything without giving a treat every few seconds. (She even suggests using cut up hot dogs to 'motivate' your dog. Those hot dogs with all the perservatives and additives are going to do more damage to the dog than whatever the behavior is worth.)
She focuses an inordinate amount of time to teaching a dog to fetch saying that this one move will solve most other problems. I can't disagree more. The things that works best for dogs is exercise and strong leadership. Besides, some breeds are generally not interested in playing fetch but rather doing the activites for which is bred in the first place.
Also, Donaldson tries to refute Pack Theory, which takes into account the fact that dogs evolved from wolves and hence have a strict social hierarchy, by showing her own ignorance on the subject. In her view she only sees dominance as being cruel and punishing your dog into submission. When in reality it alleviates the need for punishing since your dog will do what you say because he knows that you are the boss.
Throughout the book she contradicts herself constantly on her own points. This shows me that she does not have a great deal of self examination of her own information and that it isn't worth much.
I believe that her book does very little to help people with dogs that have any issues whatsoever.
I recommend Cesar Milan's book and his approach. I have used several of his techniques with no damage to my dog, as Donaldson would have you believe, and I got the results that I wanted.
Do not buy Culture Clash as it is really only good for being recycled.
 Wade through the muck to find the good info... August 16, 2006
Mom Unexpected (Wisconsin)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have to agree with the other negative reviews of this book that criticize the tone and disorganization. Donaldson's hypocritical diatribes against any sort of training that does not agree with her's is distracting and unprofessional. Additionally her militant "positive-only" philosophy is just as much based on outdated theories as dominance theory is.
I'm always wary of experts who spend more time criticizing than providing info to back up their claims.
That having been said, there is a lot of good information in this book...especially for someone who is about to get a new dog. I especially appreciated the information she provided about dog bites and animal behavior. Too often people adopt cute puppies, and expect them to miraculously be social, friendly furry little humans. When they become unruly adolescents, they are surrendered or euthanized.
 excellent June 25, 2006
jane austen
1 out of 9 found this review helpful
this book clearly summarizes simple methods of teaching dogs and clarifies some of the major differences between how they learn and how we learn.
Extraordinary April 11, 2006
Alex H (Baltimore, MD)
6 out of 16 found this review helpful
Having plodded through dog book after dog book in attempt to get a handle on my dog (third dog, but the first that didn't seem to self train) I was near the give up point. Tried classes and though he could heel like a champ in the training center, was still floundering at all else. Advice from the class instructor was hopeless - not even internally consistent, let alone sane or helpful. Tried home training. Rather like an attempted exorcism, but without the crosses and such. The theory "unifying" the ministrations smacked of humours and trephaning.
The entire dog training profession seemed like various sects of voodoo. My wife was lent Culture Clash by a co-worker. Oh my. Rationality. Science. In dog training. My only puzzle is how this wacky, superstitious profession produced Ms. Donaldson.
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