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How do I find the right dog for me and my family?

Why does everyone at the bark park leave when they see Fido and me coming?

How can I cure my dog’s smelly breath?

What’s really in my dog’s food?

Have you asked yourself these questions or ones just like them? Fear not, canine expert Krista Mifflin will teach you how to solve these dilemmas and much more. Whether you are a new dog owner or seasoned canine companion, The About.com Guide to Owning a Dog is there for you with easy-to-implement tips and essential dog care information. Using her extensive experience counseling the thousands of visitors to her About.com Dogs site, Krista will guide you every step of the way to a happy, healthy, and well-adjusted pooch.

The About.com Guide to Owning a Dog will show you how to:

• Choose the right kind of dog for you and your lifestyle
• Teach your dog the most important commands
• Solve common behavior problems
• Practice petiquette through socialization and training
• Understand your dog’s veterinary needs
• Travel safely with your dog

This all-encompassing guide takes you from puppyhood to the senior years and all the vet visits and doggie play dates in between.

About the Author
Krista Mifflin, the About.com Guide to Dogs, has vast experience training puppies, rescue dogs, and rehabilitating animals with severe antisocial behavior problems. She studies rare breeds, specializes in special needs pets and has written numerous articles on the essentials of responsible dog ownership. She lives in Winchester, Ontario.

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Kennel Club Books® presents an instructional volume dedicated to the most all-American of dogs: those marvelous mutts! This is sound advice on a timely topic, as more and more pet lovers are adopting mixed-breed companions from shelters and rescue organizations. Whether your new mixed-breed friend is a puppy or adult dog, and whether or not his parentage and background are known, you?ll find an effective approach to training your dog in Training Your Mixed Breed. Experienced animal trainer Miriam Fields-Babineau acquaints you with many common breed traits as well temperament testing to help you learn about your dog?s personality and trainability based on his lineage. If your dog?s mix is unknown, the author?s descriptions will help you make an educated assessment of possible parentage. From selecting and caring for your dog to house-training and basic obedience commands, the author presents positive-motivational ways to teach your dog. A special section on preventing and curing bad habits will be helpful to readers, ideal for adopters of adult dogs with unknown backgrounds. Explore professional-training options and head-halter training for challenging cases, and have fun with your new friend, as the author introduces you to the many canine sports available to mixed breeds and their owners, along with plenty of things to do together at home. Enjoy your one-of-a-kind canine by following the experienced advice in Training Your Mixed Breed. Illustrated with photos of the various exercises as well as plenty of adorable mutts, this book is sure to be as enjoyable as it is educational.

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Any experienced dog trainer will tell you that puppy training positively requires a major investment of the owner’s time. Are you ready for the commitment of a new puppy? Are you prepared to train your puppy every day? First decide if you have five minutes to spare! Kennel Club Books offers a fresh look into the mind of a puppy and how to use your pup’s outlook on life to work for you in a positive-training program. Find out how to start out with your puppy, using his short attention span and high aptitude for learning to teach him in short five-minute training sessions at various times throughout the day. This useful guide is a must for experienced owners and newcomers alike, as the author’s insight into a puppy’s frame of mind is sure to amaze. And using the five-minute plan, think of how much more time you will have to enjoy your new four-legged family member!

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Picture this: You finally take the plunge and decide to adopt a dog. But you have no idea how to train it or make it a member of your family. As the weeks progress, the dog becomes increasingly difficult and eventually runs you out of your own bed. Now, the dog sleeps next to your partner and growls every time you approach your significant other. It may sound hard to believe, but that?s what happened to one couple that went to Matthew Duffy, a longtime dog trainer, for help. And just as they took control of their dog and their lives, you can, too! In this book, you?ll learn: How to transform a rambunctious dog into a composed family member The basic training approach needed to achieve your goals The role of distraction management How to understand how your dog thinks How to adapt to your dog?s likes and dislikes And much more! If you are an average dog owner looking for answers, then it?s time to take Ten Natural Steps for Training the Family Dog.

Amazon.com Review

As any parent knows, adolescence is the most challenging part of raising a child. However, as Carol Lea Benjamin proves in “Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence,” illustrative cartoons, pertinent case studies, and good advice can certainly make that challenging age easier to handle.

As a professional dog trainer, Benjamin focuses her advice on positive training techniques designed to help both parent and teen through the tumultuous adolescent period. Many of her insights are portrayed through the eyes of a canine, and help to illustrate the types of thoughts entertained by the teen dog. These range from the dog who responds to his owner’s calls of “Come” with “When Pigs Fly,” to the dog who demonstrates his tenacity by staking out a mole hill with a flag that says “Never Say Die.” Also included are techniques for effective training, guidelines for appropriate dog-owner relationships, and tips for dealing with specific dog “problems.” Case studies of real-life dogs offer substantial evidence to back up Benjamin’s recommendations.

A must-read for any owner of an adolescent dog, “Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence” can help any parent understand the teen dog and help to provide guidelines that result in a rewarding relationship for both dog and owner. –Jennifer Pugh

From Publishers Weekly

Lest any dog owner think thorough puppy-training sufficient to ensure happily-ever-after canine camaraderie, the author of the puppy-training classic Mother Knows Best pinpoints a trouble spot in doggie development. At anywhere between five and 10 months of age, warns Benjamin, the typically “underemployed” family dog will hit adolescence, and even a previously obedient dog may become “bratty,” “moody” and easily distracted. The language here may be anthropomorphic, but Benjamin quickly goes on to offer sensible solutions to a legitimate set of canine behavior problems. She bases her training on the well-known model whereby the owner assumes the so-called Alpha role in the “pack”; while she has explained her theories and methods in previous books, and while most of her strategies for “winning your dog’s respect” are more explicitly discussed in her colleague Job Michael Evans’s People, Pooches and Problems , her focus on the adolescent dog is unique and her insights about general training are stimulating. The tone is chatty and the pace leisurely–which may reassure those in need of sympathy and aggravate others who want to get down to business. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Spare the punishment and raise a happy, well-behaved dog ?

The Complete Idiot?s Guide to Positive Dog Training, Second Edition, replaces the standard punishment-based training methods that have potential consequences for puppies and limited effectiveness with older dogs. This guide demonstrates positive training methods, based on a system of rewards and encouragement, to teach basic commands and housetraining, and correct a host of problem behaviors. Readers will also learn loose-leash walking games and how to train for the American Kennel Club?s increasingly popular Canine Good Citizen test.

? Dog owners number more than 40 million in the United States, and more and more of them are giving up on punitive training methods
? One of the few dog training books that exclusively adheres to positive training methods

About the Author
Pamela Dennison, owner of Positive Motivation Dog Training, has been training dogs since 1992. After switching methods from traditional punishment-based training methods to positive training, Pam has become an expert on working with dogs with various behavioral issues. She has written a monthly column, “The Barking Lot,” and authored Bringing Light to Shadow: A Story of Recovering an Aggressive Dog.