Review

Pet behaviorist and winner of the 2002 Dog Writers Association award for best training article, Swager has written a manual that debunks the idea that independent-thinking, dominant dogs must be trained using aversive methods. She begins by explaining characteristics that make certain breeds more difficult to train. She then discusses how a dog’s pack position influences its desire to comply, and she demonstrates how a person can become the leader of the pack. She covers basic obedience commands and addresses problem behavior, e.g., housebreaking accidents, excessive barking, biting, and guarding. Unlike TV dog-training personality Cesar Millan, who believes in the alpha roll (holding a dog down on its side or back), or Kathy Santo (Kathy Santo’s Dog Sense), who recommends the “jerk and pull” correction method, Swager espouses positive reinforcement. Other recent books such as Tamar Geller’s The Loved Dog and Dale Stavroff’s Let the Dog Decide also explain motivational methods; however, the beautiful and sometimes humorous color illustrations, the easy-to-read style, and the emphasis that all dogs, regardless of temperament, can benefit from reward-based training make this book an outstanding addition to public library collections.–Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY –Library Journal, December 15, 2008

Product Description

Are you the parent of a belligerent dog, or one who resists your every effort to modify his problem behavior? Training the Hard-to-Train Dog takes a practical approach to the subject of dog training with step-by-step ?power training? techniques that teach you how to be a firm yet fair leader to your dog.

This expertly written guide describes how to build on basic training techniques to regain control of a dog and help solve problem behaviors like housetraining issues, barking, growling, and biting. Case studies covering many different breeds reveal the inherited traits that make certain breeds harder to train, like herding breeds, guarding breeds, husky types, and terriers. A special chapter discusses how even the most willful dogs are trainable, so dog owners who might be on the verge of giving up their dog after having failed with other training methods will learn how to take control and avoid abandonment. Since harsh punishments can actually make dogs with aggressive tendencies more aggressive, the book f

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