5 comments about Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know.

1. Dull, dry, boring. How can someone take a wonderful subject like dogs and make it the most boring dissertation ever?!



2. Interesting introduction to the science of dog behavior, interspersed with sweet anecdotes about the author's own dog. Incredibly well written to boot. To the people complaining about the need for more science, I think you are criticizing the book for not being something that it is not actually trying to be. The author is clearly knowledgeable in her field, and does provide a hefty dose of science, but her audience is the average dog-owner, who is not a scientist. I found the book totally fascinating. And it provided me with a good foundation for further reading into dog behavior -- which I am inspired to do by this book!



3. I learned things about a dog that I never even thought about. Very interesting.



4. Reads like a text book for vet school. Found it mostly boring with a few kernels of knowledge I needed to know.



5. I don't think this book was intended to be a scientific paper on dog intellect or dog training. It was for the many dog lovers that want to know a little more about how their dogs think. It was the first book I have read and immediately started to read again when finished. And, the cover was so appropriate! My dogs already appreciate my training.

5 comments about Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog . . . and Your Life.

1. My dog is a australian cattle dog mix and is very excitable but thanks to cesar's book on being the pack leader my dog and me have been doing better.
   And thanks for the advice on being calm.



2. The techniques he uses are easy to use and work quickly. I even use them on our cats, and they work for them, too! There is peace in our home, the animals our happier, and so are we.



3. Pros:
   Cesar is very articulate, charismatic & good looking on the photo :-)
   
   Cons: He does not give tools for dog owners to deal with problems on their own. Also when I watched his show I've noticed that he behaves like a bully with dogs that he "trains". Neither dogs nor people respond well to such "training"
   
   If you want to learn real helpful and humaine way of dog training watch "It's me or the dog" on Animal Planet with Victoria Stilwell.



4. The book came in great condition however, it took a few additional days to get to me.



5. i find cesar very easy to listen to the only thing i had hoped there was more info on how to become calm assertive the audio book is funny informative and relaxing to listen to while i am driving.

5 comments about Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.

1. I found the book boring to read, could not get past the first chapter on dogs. I disagree with her concepts on pack leadership in dogs, and totally disagree with her opinions of Ceasar, dog whisper. I am ditching this book. Very disappointing.



2. Dr. Grandin's book "Animals Make Us Human" was a disappointment to this animal rights/vegan. I can only justify the reason for its apparent popularity, in part, to the underlying supposition being similar to Mr. John Mackey's (CEO of Whole Foods) Humane Meat premise. One that is predicated on an attempt to give readers some "guilt relief" in their consumption of animal flesh and secretions and minimizes the responsibility to really consider the consequences of their actions on animals, the environment and health.
   
   Grandin's work (paid for by the meat industry) involves reforming the quality of life of food animals and their horrific living conditions - in what is commonly known as Factory Farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's), and slaughterhouses. This kind of reformation is impossible due to the numbers of animals slaughtered - in the US alone, annually totaling 10 billion and rising. The USDA has proven it impossible to produce uncontaminated and/or safe meat (i.e. Westland/Hallmark's 143 million pound beef recall in 2008) due to these massive numbers. The tracking of sick animals and the required inspections needed to stop production is humanly impossible. Reform? There are not enough people on our planet.
   
   Grandin assures the reader as well, that treating the billions of factory farmed animals kindly, starting with training the "hands on" slaughterhouse and factory farm workers to stop beating, kicking, slamming, electrically prodding, neck wringing, hanging, throwing in the trash - and everyday barbaric cruelty on assembly lines, will make these animals lives better prior to slaughter. She also suggests that removing fear from the animals destined to die by making the metal shoots and crates more tolerable and less fearsome will assist in a better life for them, before they are brutally killed.
   
   One of the main difficulties with her idea of training slaughterhouse and factory farm workers to be kinder is that employee turnover in slaughterhouses in the US each year approaches 100%.... nobody stays on to kill animals for long - and that alone should send a strong message that what Grandin is selling, nobody should be buying. Slaughtering animals is a gruesome job and continually proven to be emotionally and psychologically damaging.
   
   Grandin goes on to state that in her reformed slaughterhouses, cows walk quietly to their death and gladly take the stun gun to die for us humans. After all, we bred them, raised them, paid for their food - the least they can do is die for us.
   
   Considering the childlike nature of animals, I've pondered what a human child would feel if presented with this outcome.
   
   Leo Tolstoy wrote of a visit to a slaughterhouse in 1909 in his essay titled "The First Step" and among his numerous objections, stated it was "horribly revolting." Linda McCartney declared, "If slaughterhouses had glass windows, everyone would be vegetarian".
   
   Slaughterhouses are not kind, loving places, nor will they ever be. Killing is not a kindly act. It is violent and some experts even claim murderous - in taking a life that fights with everything it has to live. Therefore, Grandin's claim that cows walk quietly and calmly to their death is simply not accurate. There are dozens of recorded cases of cows escaping slaughterhouses in terror and fear due to the smells and screams from the unlucky bovines who couldn't flee. Miles of film footage have also proven the horrors cattle and all other food animals endure in slaughterhouses. See: [...]. This is just one example of many.
   
   Grandin's claim that being autistic somehow gives her deeper `insight' into animals than the average person seems questionable. For instance, from the Journal of Autism: "Difficulties in the cognitive processing of emotions--including difficulties identifying and describing feelings--are assumed to be an integral part of autism." (1).
   
   Since animals are known to be feeling, emotional creatures, very similar to humans as scientists have proven - I have trouble understanding how someone who has difficulty in expressing, showing and identifying emotions and feelings could actually have a better connection to animals. Why wouldn't a person with normally developed emotions have the possibility of a deeper relationship, being more closely matched to those elements displayed by animals?
   
   Grandin's outlook is sadly insulting to anyone who truly loves animals, and who shows that love daily by doing the least harm possible, including not forcing them to die for us. (Grandin still eats animals).
   
   I am deeply saddened by this book and it's author. These types of books hinder the ultimate move towards a more peaceful world without violence.
   
   More insightful books on this topic are: The Face on Your Plate, by Jeffrey Masson; "The Inner World of Farm Animals", by Amy Hatkoff or Diet for a New America, by John Robbins.



3. The author of this book, Temple Grandin, feels a special kinship to animals. She is autistic and from a young age was able to understand more clearly than most people what it is that animals are thinking and the sorts of things that make them uneasy. She has channeled this understanding into a career improving animal welfare, especially in slaughterhouses and zoos.
   
   I found much of this book fascinating. I've never spent much time around livestock animals, but the things the author pointed out about their behavior made sense to me from my limited observations. I loved the section about zoos, and all of the information about the ways it is possible to improve animal welfare, even when animals are living in very unnatural conditions.
   
   I appreciate that this author is able to be an activist for animal welfare without admonishing people to become vegetarian or vegan as the only solutions to give animals better lives. As this is an unrealistic solution, I don't feel it helps in the same way that this author is able to help.
   
   I did find the writing in this book to be rather simplistic, which made it a less enjoyable experience than it could have been, but the information contained was able to hold my interest.



4. This book was purchased as a gift for an animal-lover on my Christmas list. I am told by the recipient that it is a wonderful book.... I can hardly wait to borrow it!!!



5. I admit to not having read this book. But I did see the HBO movie about the author, Temple Grandin. By the time I realized her claim to fame was inventing "humane" slaughter houses, I had already invested over an hour of viewing time. It's a shame her talents were wasted on what she feels is a humane way to slaughter animals. How can you have humane and slaughter in the same sentence? I agree with other reviewers that I remain unconvinced that these animals are calm to the very end.

5 comments about 101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog.

1. Wish I had the opportunity to look at the book before putting it on my wish list. Most of the tricks are classified as advanced and expert. Also a large number of the tricks are geared toward large dogs. I don't see my miniature schnauzer oppening the fridge to get me a drink from the top shelf. I don't see more than 6-10 possible tricks here for us (other than the agility stuff my dog already does).



2. I bought this book along with the AKC junior tire jump (strongly recommend against the tire jump), and I am so glad I did. My boyfriend and I love training my 1 year old terrier mix new tricks! Before getting this book he already knew sit, stay, come, roll over, down, crawl, paw with both hands, sit pretty (we use "pose" as the command), walk on his hind legs, spin around and jump over our extended legs.
   
   The pictures in this book that go along with the instructions are very helpful and completely relevant to the steps. Each page has a different trick, all with a name, step by step instructions, the command word you should use, step by step pictures and the part that I was most excited to see was the troubleshooting section! Clearly you are going to run into some problems when teaching some tricks and this book covers the main issues. EX: tidy up the toys: what to do if your dog plays with them instead and what to do if your dog gets confused and starts taking them out of the box. Each trick also has prerequisites listed, which help makes training much easier! At the end of the book all the tricks are labeled by skill level.
   
   I got this book about a week ago and my dog is already almost a master at play dead!
   I originally bought this book in the hopes of getting the rest of my family to train our dog. Now I'd rather just do it all myself. The book is so easy to follow and even the most difficult tricks don't seem like they'll be too much trouble with this very helpful guide!
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who is willing to build a good bond with their dog and teach them a lot of amazing and interesting tricks! It really is the perfect dog training book! Any one can train their dog with this book! As long as you practice each trick over and over again, your dog can learn anything with the right attitude! My goal is to some day train my dog to do all the tricks in this book!



3. I have had this book for a year. My dog has learned about 1/2 of the tricks in the book. We have had a blast learning together and increasing our bond. A perfect choice for anyone who wants to do more with their dog!



4. I bought this book three years ago and started using it right away along with some other training books. By far this is the best book of them all, which is why after all this time I decided to come back and right this review.
   
   Many of the tricks in this books I'll never used since my dog is a house pet, but of those I did decide to teach him it's perfect. With days I had my dog doing all of the tricks it took me weeks to do before hand. I especially like the step by step method used to help the training teach the dog the commands.
   
   If you up in the air about which book to get '101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog' gets my vote.



5. I'm giving this book as a gift to my daughter who has a lab but I had to try a few with my pointer. Very good directions and good results!!

5 comments about Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems.

1. I have read this book a couple times. Not only has it helped me manage my dogs but also my everyday life. Having calm assertive energy helps with all aspects of life not just with dogs. I'm now reading "Be the Pack Leader" and plan to buy other books when I'm done with this one. Good job and thanks Cesar, I'm much more balanced now after takeing your advise.



2. All I have to say is that there's a lot of "new age" people out there (formerly called hippies or tree-huggers) that are afraid or "feel sorry" about providing their dogs with the proper discipline they crave and require. Those are the people that leave negative reviews here.
   
   Trust me, I have read EVERY dog book available and I can tell you from the bottom of my heart: THIS IS THE BEST APPROACH. THIS IS THE BEST METHOD. THIS IS HOW NATURE WORKS.
   
   I used this book with my dog since he was a puppy. Now EVERYONE tells me how great, smart, RESPECTFUL and well behaved my dog is.
   
   I had to put the other books from other authors outside in the recycle bin. I could have sold them online but I don't wanna spread their poison and ignorance.
   
   Save money. Get this book. You're set for life.



3. The book I thought gave some good information. If people are looking for the one way that works they won't find it in this book. You won't find it in any book. Thus the reason you see some people give the advice 1 star and some 5 stars. To gain a good understanding of the dog world and dog training one will need to read and use advice from multiple books. But overall I think the book does a good job of discussing many topics.



4. The book came in great condition and was received in a very short time. thank you.



5. Even though my friend and I do not own a dog, we watch "Dog Whisperer" on TV. When my friend's daughter adopted a 9 month old basset hound, we purchased "Cesar's Way" for her in hopes it would help solve the wetting and chewing problems.

5 comments about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

1. Since there have been hundreds of reviews already, I won't bother recapping the plot here.
   
   The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is certainly an original work, and while Haddon does a convincing job of channeling the voice of an autistic 15 year-old, I eventually found that voice fairly monotonous. Over time, I think the book, with its visual diagrams, will be seen as more clever than great. The ending seems a bit pat, but still adequate. The book, at just over 200 pages, ended just before its quirks became tiresome.
   
   I'm not sure if what I liked about this book was more style or gimmick; future entries by Haddon will answer that question I suppose.
   
   If there's an audio version, you should probably avoid it--the narrative voice in this work is extremely flat, and the diagrams are key to making that narrative voice convincing.
   
   On the whole, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time is a good book, but I think it's probably far more clever than it is great. Worth a read, but perhaps not the spectacular praise.



2. Really well done involving story. Suitable for any age group. Anyone who deals with autistic/Aspergers or other perception "disorders" would find this interesting and valuable.



3. this book is one of my favorite books of all time. it is a must read that is almost impossible to put down. i love it, the characters are awe-inspiring and the writing material is great!



4. This novel is unlike any I have read before. It is told in first person from the point of view of an autistic teen. He lives in a town in England and confines himself to a strict routine. Until one night he finds a dog that has just been killed. He loves reading Shirlock Holmes and decides to write a murder mystery novel about "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
   
   The novel is meant to be written by Christopher (our main character) as he searches for clues to the mystery. He loves prime numbers so the chapters are each assigned one. About half of the chapters are descriptions of his surroundings or past memories that don't move the plot forward and sometimes happen right in the thick of things but are very interesting. Short novel, but surprisingly moving.



5. It was just a bit slow and a bit to easy of a read for me. I found it hard to relate to the characters as it was a bit extreme. I also found it to be very unrealistic and I don't think that the author put too much thought into how this kids life would REALLY be like or what he would ACTUALLY be thinking. Not a book of my taste.

5 comments about How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond.

1. This book, like his television show, is very informative and helpful. Even if you've owned dogs in the past, such as myself, this book will help you train your dog the right way so you avoid any unwanted behaviors in the future. Not only a must have for first time dog owners, but those previous dog owners as well. Cesar truly is a dog whisperer. Fantastic book.



2. This is a good book to read. I've watched his show and tried to remember what he says, but for me it is hard to remember it a month or two from the time I watched it. There are some things that he writes in the book that I've never heard him talk about in a few shows. I've got a German Shepherd puppy and I'm totaly understanding what we are doing wrong with him and why he is doing what he is doing. We know now how to fix what we've created by fixing the energy we omit to him. LOL!!!



3. Dissapointing. I was hoping for practical, step-by-step training techniques by a dog expert. In my opinion, Cesar Millan has become so absolutely self-entralled that everything in the book eventually came back to him, whether it be his training center or products. I'm back to find a better training book.



4. Cesar Millan's non-aggresive ways to dog training work very well for me. I have his other books in addition to this and I use them daily. Very Helpful!



5. Was a good book for understanding why a puppy reacts the way they do, but some of the training, etc, only works in a perfect world like California or a nice sunny warm place, not in sub zero, blowing snow. Not pleasant to take a puppy for a nice walk when it's miserable outside. Felt that some of the training is not completely practical for everyone, unless a professional or a dedicated dog breeder, even though most of us wish that we had the time to do so.
   
   Definitely though, a good guide.

5 comments about Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

1. I dont know what's so special about this book, but my 8 year old just loves it. So I'll just go with his opinion



2. I gave the Diary of Wimpy Kid "Dogs Days. the Last Straw. and another wimpy kids book to her and she just loved them. So the buy was well worth it,



3. my daughter loved the book. she has the others. she's hoping for the next one.



4. this was a gift to a friends daughter, she has all the other books and she just loved it, she loves to read and this is just another book in her little library that will have many times of being read.



5. This book is a hit with my 14 year old middle schooler who happens to have Down Syndrome. It is written in an appealing and non-threatening diary format with lots of illustrations. (Rare at this reading level!) I'm glad I got all three books in the series.

5 comments about What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures.

1. What the Dog Saw is what critics have been calling Gladwell's books for years 'a collection of New Yorker articles' and every authors dream: Becoming famous enough to publish old work in a collection that perhaps wouldn't haven't have made best-sellerdom otherwise.
   
   Not to criticise this book. It is an excellent collection of insightful articles ranging from medical diagnosis to job interview techniques. There is no real correhence to the articles, this book is merely a collection of non-fiction articles, so if you are looking for a central thesis look to Gladwell's earlier works.
   
   The articles of female reproductive health and mammography are actually frightening, and the pieces on criminal profiling, and plagerism are absolute must reads. I recommend reading over several sittings as after a while the articles start to blend, and all have a similar Gladwell style to them (particularly the way he describes individuals).
   
   
   What the Dog Saw is required reading for anyone who likes to see a little deeper into the world and likes confront issues in original ways. In a piece of homelessness Gladwell brings up an interesting philosophical argument around providing the destitue with resources the rest of us have to work for (effectively saying the priority is either solving the problem, or following an abstract morality of deserving) which I would be interesting in hearing more about from Gladwell.
   
   Can't wait for the next one.



2. This book is a collection of essays that Gladwell wrote over a period of time in the 'New Yorker' magazine. They deal with subjects ranging from hair color and ketchups to CIA intelligence and JFK Jr's tragic accident.
   I have read Gladwell's other books and liked 'Outliers' more than 'Tipping Point' and 'Blink'. The zeal of investigating hidden things in seemingly straight forward phenomena, which was the driving spirit behind 'Outliers', is also evident in many of the essays here. This is what makes Gladwell investigate 'boring' subjects like ketchups and hair color and slicing machines and still come out with interesting stuff to say about them.
   I didn't find all the essays interesting. However, the following essays were great to read and made me want to keep reading Gladwell in future:
   In the 'Blow Up', he investigates the 1986 Challenger disaster and who is to blame for it. The answer is 'no one'. He says that we have constructed a world in which the potential for high-tech catastrophe is embedded in the fabric of day-to-day life and so we might as well accept without hypocrisy that a NASA spacecraft will go down in flames again.
   In the 'Art of Failure', he makes the fascinating distinction between choking and panicking. Choking happens under stress and we revert to the 'expilicit learning' sequence in our actions, For example, Jana Novotna in her famous Wimbledon loss to Graf, choked at the point of victory and started hitting her volleys like a beginner. Choking is loss of instinct. On the other hand, JFK Jr, on that fateful night panicked when he 'lost' the horizon. Panic is loss of instinct and you stop thinking. Under panic, John Jr, instead of reviewing the instruments, got fixated on 'where are the lights of Martha's Vineyard?'. Had he choked instead of panicking, he would have reverted to explicit learning and followed his early learning instructions and it would have saved them all.
   In the 'Talent Myth' he investigates and concludes that 'smart people are overrated' and shows it by analyzing McKinsey and Enron. I think this essay is elaborated in 'Outliers' with the theory that 'success is often 10000 hours of practice' rather than innate smartness.
   There are other equally brilliant essays on why it is cheaper to 'gift' an apartment to pan handlers instead of leaving them on the street, on whether mammography has any effective use at all and that Enron actually disclosed all their problems to everyone in their reports but that hardly any Wall street analyst read and extracted those crucial data and advised the public, something they are paid heavily to do.
   All in all, the book is a good read and Gladwell's admirers won't be disappointed. I am one of them.



3. GREAT BOOK! Blink, Tipping Point & this book are three of my all time favorites!



4. Typical Gladwell--takes what you think you know and turns it inside-out so you can see the moving parts you didn't know where there. For those of us who only read his books it's a chance to see his "other" work.



5. Malcolm Gladwell has a formula: take a bit of common wisdom, something most people accept without question, and pick each assumption apart until you find that that bit of wisdom isn't really supported by facts. Sure, it's a formula -- but it also tends to be pretty entertaining. "What the Dog Saw" is a collection of wisdom-inverting essays written by Gladwell for various magazines spanning a period of about 10 years or so. The range of topics is pleasantly diverse, from questions such as: "are professional FBI profilers any better than parlor psychics at identifying criminals?" to "are pit bulls really more dangerous than other dog breeds?". Gladwell reaches conclusions that you may not always agree with, but he certainly provides you with food for thought, citing plenty of reasonably credible sources along the way. I think of him as the man who paved the way for people like Dubner and Levitt who stretched his formula to near absurdity in "Freakonomics." Gladwell exercises more restraint.
   
   There's always one problem with any collection of essays: the format tends to become monotonous if you insist on reading straight through. I had to put this book down several times and move on to others to relive the repetition, but I found that when I finally did return, the material and style was once again attention-grabbing. Probably a perfect book for airline travel.

5 comments about The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel.

1. Interesting book. The narrator is the family dog. He tells the story of the single man, meeting the girlfriend who becomes wife, the birth of the child, and all of the family events afterward. The story really focuses on the family events. The wife becomes ill. The dog wants to be of help. The title refers to the husband's race car driving. There are lots of philosophical racing/life metaphors that I liked. Sometimes the dog narrator is a bit affected. However, I was surprised at how fluid it mostly was. I didn't think too much about it for large parts of the text. It was a loving perspective.



2. I loved the concept of the book, the dog telling the story. It is well written, great visuals, amazing emotion inthe entire story. A quick read, even with stops to sniffle adn cry and blow my nose...but there is a happy ending. I hope they make a movie out of this one!



3. Let's get one thing straight from the get-go: I have absolutely no interest in auto racing. And I was enthralled with this book. I'll admit I love dogs, but I don't think you'd have to be a dog lover to enjoy this book. It's fresh, imaginative, and well-written. Looking for a good novel? You just found it.



4. This book is really about the art of being successful in a very difficult situation and who better to interpret the nuances, restraint and subtlety required than man's best friend to whom the subtlest move or expression speaks volumes. I resisted this book--as in why would I want to read a book about car racing told by a dog--but then I understood why both the setting and the narrator mattered. I loved it and recommend it often. Although the main character pursues Formula One racing, it's what else he does and how he does it that matters. His ability in that field translates beautifully into the rest of his life as he handles a horrible situation with incredible grace. This is a story about humility and determination and love told in an unexpected way and it's well worth the read. Highly recommended.



5. this book is leaps and bounds better! on the short list of my new favs...a must read for dog and book lovers. i dont even like racing but enzo made me care....awesome read!