Paws n Motion - Recommened Reading

As the title suggests, the information in this book centers around the concept of pack structure and leadership. This book is extremely relevant for all dog owners-owners of large and small dogs, dogs who are fearful, anxious, aggressive, and dominant. Like "Latchkey Dog," this book draws a distinction between obedience training--using operant and classical conditioning to increase control over the dog, and pack/dog psychology--interacting with dogs using body language and boundaries in a way that is naturally meaningful to them. Strong leadership is the key whether you have a domineering dog or an overly nervous/submissive dog. For the dominant dog, the human needs to step up their game otherwise they'll wake up one day and realize their dog is controlling them with his intimidating behavior. For the nervous dog, a strong leader alleviates his anxiety because the dog is confident in the knowledge that his leader will protect him, handle any challenge, and instruct him as necessary.

The book suggests leadership exercises to curtail dominance and reassure insecure dogs, including the correct way to walk with your dog, controlling the dog's movement, and proper feeding. There are also step-by-step behavior exercises for retraining a food-aggressive dog, introducing two dogs to one another (on leash), and training the all-important recall.

This book is a great supplement to an obedience training program. While it doesn't give adequate detail for the reader to go out and start an obedience training program, most of the exercises can be implemented by the owner in their home in their daily interactions with their dog(s). As the authors state, "Performing our leadership exercises will help change Bobo's opinion of you, readjust his opinion of himself, and generally create a more natural dynamic between you. Obedience training will give you additional tools with which to control Bobo, thereby helping to increase your leadership status even more. Think of leadership in terms of proper tone and attitude and of obedience as mechanics and content. Each complements the other. Excellent obedience will not be possible, however, without the existence of excellent leadership." (p. 130).

All that said, there were two pieces of advice in the book I would caution against:

1) Disregard the nutritional/diet information given in Chapter 6. While well-intentioned it's outdated. We've learned a lot about the pet food industry in the past 14 years, enough to know that even a high quality all-kibble diet is not probably enough to sustain your dog's health for his lifetime. And the statement that dogs don't need variety in their diet we now know to simply be untrue. Check out Ann Martin's "Food Pets Die For" to get a more accurate picture of your pet's nutritional needs as well as the pet food industry.

2) I disagree with the suggestion they make at the end of the book to seek out an obedience class as a way to initially teach your dog basic obedience. Obedience class is a great place for you and your dog to socialize and provide distractions to proof your dog's obedience proficiency, but you absolutely will not learn basic obedience in a 1-hour class once a week. You'll be doing the bulk of the work at home without the instructor/trainer present and you'll be lucky to get a few minutes of his/her time during class to ask questions or get feedback. I'd suggest following the leadership recommendations in this book, and when you're ready for obedience, get some private one-on-one instruction in your home. It costs more but you really get a much better value for your money.