A Review
 of
      Secrets To Dog Training
by Daniel Stevens

  I have had one or more dogs for most of my adult life. I have obedience trained my own dogs and have taught dog training. I have read Secrets To Dog Training from cover to cover and found it to be one of the most comprehensive guides on owning a dog that's available. It is truly a dog owner's guide, not just a dog training manual.

It starts out by discussing the responsibilities of dog ownership, goes into puppy and dog selection, nutrition, budgeting for a dog, choosing a vet and selecting a professional dog trainer, if you really need one.

One of the fundamentals about dog training that most dog owners don't know is not only how to communicate properly with your dog, but more importantly, how your dog communicates with you. Secrets To Dog Training delves into dog's senses, dog's body language, the communication between dogs and humans, and some of the wolf instincts the most dogs still retain.

For those who are more interested in solving their dog's bad behavior problems than teaching obedience training (although they go hand-in-hand), the book describes various methods of solving a list of the most common behavioral problems such as aggression, barking, destructive behavior, jumping up on people, and even some traveling problems that people who like to travel, have with their dogs.

Before it gets into training your dog to obey specific commands, it gives you the pros and cons of the various training methods used by professional trainers. It covers the gamut, from using choke chains to dog whispering, and gives the reader the authors opinion on the various training methods. The author also gives his opinion on the use of prong collars and electronic collars such as anti-bark collars (He doesn't like either). I personally think that slip collars (AKA choke collars) and prong collars (AKA pinch collars) can be used very effectively by those who understand how to use them.

Then comes the meat of the book where it goes into training your dog to obey commands such as "sit", "come", "down", "stay" and a bunch more. It's broken down into stages so you can go as far as you want, from basic training, with your dog always on a leash, to advanced training where your dog is perfectly obedient without a leash. And then there are some of the more common tricks that you might like your dog to perform. Like "shake", "roll over" and "crawl."

Another criticism I have is the author's suggested use of a head collar. That's fine for most dogs, but if you have a Pekinese, Pug or any other breed that has a pushed in face, there's basically no muzzle, so there's no place to put the muzzle strap.

Although the author has some reservations on the "Dog Whispering" method of training, he does devote a full section to the subject. He shows how you can train your dog to obey all of the basic commands using the "Dog Whispering" method, and does it in great detail. He also has a couple of paragraphs on why the method can be problematic. He leaves it up to the reader to determine whether to use the "Dog Whispering" method, his basic method, or some of both.

To round out the book as a dog owner's guide, rather than just a dog training book, the author talks about various health related problems that are common to dogs. These include allergies, flees, worms, heatstroke, and even euthanasia.

In summary, I believe this is an excellent book for not only learning how to train your dog, but as a complete guide to owning a dog, from selecting the puppy or dog, to euthanasia, when the time comes." I highly recommend Secrets To Dog Training for anyone who has a dog, or is thinking of getting one. It comes in a reasonably priced package with DVD's and a bunch of excellent training bonuses.

To learn more on Secrets To Dog Training, click on the link below:

Secrets to Dog Training - Dog Training To Stop Your Dog Behavioral Problems!