No Bad Dogs: The Woodhouse Way (Paperback)
Amazon.com Review
According to the late Barbara Woodhouse, there are no difficult dogs, only inexperienced owners. In No Bad Dogs she propounds her outspoken beliefs about dog behavior; having trained more than 17,000 dogs and their owners, Woodhouse knows of which she speaks. She isn’t shy about condemning bad owners, firmly believing that dogs reflect their masters, habits and all. But this highly regarded book doesn’t dwell on the negative; it suggests positive and simple training techniques for any owner and offers hope for all types of dogs, ranging from the chronically phobic to the severely jealous. No Bad Dogs is illustrated throughout with case studies of cured canines.
Product Description
Barbara Woodhouse, “the lady with the dogs,” is already familiar to millions of Americans through the publication of her best-selling book, No Bad Dogs, her frequent appearances on such national television shows as “60 Minutes,” “The Tonight Show,” “Donahue,” “Merv Griffin,” “Good Morning America,” and the syndication of her enormously popular television series, “Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way.”
There are no bad dogs, Barbara Woodhouse believes — only inexperienced owners. She ought to know: in thirty years she has personally trained 17,000 dogs and their owners in her weekend courses, teaching perfect obedience to basic commands in only six and a half hours.
In this irresistible book, Barbara Woodhouse passes on to the reader the simple, effective techniques as well as the infectious, positive attitude that have enabled her to make the most unruly or nervous dog happily obedient — sometimes within a few minutes, as astonished television audiences can attest.
No Bad Dogs will leave every dog owner with both the skills and the indispensable attitude of love, firmness, and enthusiasm that gets results — The Woodhouse Way.
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This isn’t a step-by-step training book. It’s an attempt at human adjustment. The author provides clear examples of how people’s lack of canine understanding often causes “bad dogs.” For example, if you have a neurotic, nervous dog, you shouldn’t sympathize with it and coddle it (which only exacerbates the nervousness); you should take control and provide clear leadership, thus building the dog’s confidence. Many times the owner’s sympathy is the greatest hindrance to proper training, for a dog needs a leader. If you aren’t it, the dog will run you.
Woodhouse provides solutions for all sorts of problem behavior such as soiling, jealousy, fighting, barking, and schizophrenia. And she teaches the proper use, and style, of choke chain by which to get the dog’s attention without harming it. She provides examples of how she was able, with firmness, encouragement and praise, to create drastic changes within hours in problem dogs brought to her for training. The greatest hindrance to change was the owners themselves seeing their beloved pets manhandled. She also discusses how dogs, being quite telepathic, would often display the phobias and fears of their owners. For example, a woman who hates men may have a dog who hates men, or someone who is an erratic driver may create a dog that hates being in the car.
I quite enjoyed the book and read it in a couple of hours. I came away understanding the “mind” of a dog better, and with that understanding the necessity for firm leadership and a few tips and tricks for getting results.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Would Rate it No Stars if Allowed
This was written in 1978, every suggestion is practically to yank on the choke chain, or put the dog down.
A friend of ours got incarcerated for drunk driving. This lasted for six months. She had a dog named Maddie who was to be put in a doggie’s home. I took the dog. Maddie was a German Shepard mix and a whole lot sweeter than human beings! Everybody loved her. But when I walked her, she would chase after other dogs. And she would howl terribly at them. I got this book at a yard sale. What Woodhouse said in it frightened me a great deal. A CHOKE CHAIN! YELLING AT THE DOG! It was a riculous book. But Woodhouse assured the reader that a choke chain would not hurt the dog or even cause ANY pain (if you did it right). And she also said that the yelling was necessary. I didn’t want to yell at Maddie. I don’t like people who hit their dogs, not counting their children. But I had to do something. Every 30 min. walk and bathroom session and Maddie would go crazy at some neighbor’s fence that had a dog in the yard. Pretty soon, I would avoid certain parts of the
neighborhood in North Hollywood. I bought the choke chain, reluctantly put it on Maddie, and followed Woodhouse’s orders. I also used her “voice” technique. When Maddie would go after another dog, I was to yell real loud, “BAD DOG! REAL BAD BAD DOG! ” (this once scared a policeman out of his pants! ) Using Woodhouse’s advice, the choke chain caused no pain! I examined Maddie’s eyes to see if there were any pain as I used it. Nothing at all. She didn’t mind it a bit. But you will have to use it as Woodhouse states. Like a flick of the wrist. The next part was rougher. Screaming at Maddie when she would go after other dogs even with the choke chain on. I was also instructed to pet and praise her when she would pass a dog who was barking or just sitting quietly. This took about 20 days. And every now and then, she would have “relapses”. But after one month, she was a real sight. And never went after other dogs. Then came a bad part of Woodhouse’s books. Excessive petting. Yes, according to Woodhouse, you can pet your dog. And snuggle them. I would scratch Maddie’s belly 400 times at once! But Woodhouse implied that this was habit-forming. And so I did cut down (not by very much, maybe 50%), and Maddie seemed much less restless! And she sure loved her belly rubbed! So this book really helped me! I had to give Maddie back when the owner got out. It was rough. But I did it. Maddie was over 4 years-old when I took her. It was the right thing to do. I don’t want to think about it. BUY THIS BOOK! BUY THIS BOOK! BUY THIS BOOK!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy training book
This is the best book I have ever used for training dogs. I first found this little paperback at a yard sale and I used the training methods of Barbara Woodhouse when I bought my…
If you’ve never trained a dog, start here. Barabara’s philosphy is that most dog problems are “owner” problems. That dogs key into what their owners are thinking. That said, Barbara uses corrective training techniques with a choke chain. The current thinking is that you need to also use “reward” based training.
Some trainers use only one of the other. I claim you need to tailor it to the particular dog. Some dogs couldn’t care less how much you yank them around by the neck, others will quit behaving after they’ve had enough treats. Anyway reward based training requires lots of variations in the reward, sometimes its a game of frisbee.
With corrective training you need to assert yourself as the head of the pack. Seems to work well with some dogs, especially those more alpha pack dogs. But all dogs require lots of rewards to be well adjusted. And as you can see from the cover photo Barbara does reward her dogs.
1.0 out of 5 stars
awful!
this book is awful and does not go into detail on how to train your dog. she says you should have your dog killed for way to many reasons.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource for training PUPPIES
We have a problem dog, and had heard that this book was excellent for learning how to train dogs. However, we found it’s an excellent resource for training PUPPIES.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for the new dog owner
A timeless dog training classic. Great theory.
3.0 out of 5 stars
OK, but it could be much, much better.
A decent book, with a sound enough training method, but very lacking in several areas. First, it doesn’t go into hardly any detail.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad but could be better
Thankfully I got this book from the library and did not spend the money on it. I found it too generalized with the only method of teaching to be a collar jerk using a choke…
4.0 out of 5 stars
No Bad Dogs The Woodhouse Way
This book was a good primer for understanding the basics of dog behavior and the psychology of dog training.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A SENSIBLE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING YOUR DOG
Woodhouse offers all dog owners the tools needed for building a successful and meaningful relationship with their dogs.