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Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence: A Positive Training Program (Howell Reference Books) | 
 enlarge | Author: Carol Lea Benjamin
Publisher: Howell Book House
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
Buy Used: $0.49
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 231341
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0876057423
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.70887
UPC: 021898057426
EAN: 9780876057421
ASIN: 0876057423
Publication Date: October 15, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
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
Product Description
In Praise of Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence
"Carol Benjamin has brought her usual wit and insight to bear on what is one of the most troubling phases for dog owners.... Whether you're having difficulties with a youngster or have a puppy who will soon be an adolescent, you can't help but benefit from reading this book." Robert G. Maxwell President, The American Kennel Club
"A concise and practical guide Zthat] confronts almost every potential problem...with solid advice and good humor. It is destined to become a dog owner's next best friend." Roger A. Caras President, ASPCA
A Howell Dog Book of Distinction
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
If you have a teenage dog, get this book June 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book that discourages treat training and encourages understanding and praise. It covers the differences between puppies and adolescents, winning your dog's respect, having an appropriate relationship with your dog, tools you do and don't need, understanding how breed and character affects behavior, trade secrets, how to train basic commands, rules for rehabbing a problem dog, dealing with problems, and how to 'build' the dog of your dreams. Behaviors covered range from aggression to grooming problems to wildness. Although it is geared for the adolescent dog, this book would also be suitable for someone adopting a dog or just needing to retrain his or her own difficult pet.
 Not just bad advice -- *dangerous* advice! April 14, 2006
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
I picked up this book looking to learn more about the adolescent stage of dogs. What I found instead was bad information, some of it downright dangerous.
The first chapter I turned to was on behavior problems, and here I read something that horrified me. Ms. Benjamin says that you should punish a dog if it growls at you to defend its food. This is, unfortunately, the perfect recipe to create a dog that bites without warning. If you do this, you don't punish the dog for being aggressive around its food -- you punish the dog for warning you that it is uncomfortable and will bite if pushed further. You stop the growling, but not the "feeling of threat" that the dog has. If you punish other warning signs, such as snapping, you will also cause those signs to disappear. Without the warnings, you will not know that your dog is not comfortable with what you are doing until it feels threatened enough that it has to bite -- and it will bite without warning.
Ms. Benjamin also perpetuates the terribly outdated notion that you can end a bad behavior by punishing the dog after the behavior has happened as long as there is a "reminder" you can show the dog. Reminder or not, punishment never works unless it is timed correctly -- that means that you have to punish during the behavior itself. If the dog has already stopped, it's too late, and you're punishing something else entirely.
Finally, Ms. Benjamin says that "positive training," that is, training without physical punishment, does not work. That is absolutely false. Considering that this book was written over a decade ago, I don't find this attitude surprising at all, but it is wrong. "Positive" traditional training works when used properly. Modern "positive" training works when used properly. Both sides can point to examples of failures from the other group, but that doesn't mean the methods don't work.
There is a little bit of good information, such as "anger has no place in dog training" and "dogs don't act out of spite." But the average dog owner cannot distinguish between the good information and the bad, and the bad is bad enough that I have to strongly recommend than an owner or novice dog trainer avoid this book altogether.
If you are looking for positive traditional training, find another author, one who understands the proper way to use punishment and understands how dogs learn. If you are looking for modern positive training, I recommend Dr. Ian Dunbar's books. He uses only non-physical punishment, and clearly explains how to be a benevolent leader for your dog. His methods debunk the false-but-popular myth that positive = permissive (as another reviewer mistakenly believes). His methods are strict but fair and without physical punishment. The results are amazing to watch and can be seen in his off-leash work with his malamute in one of his videos -- he has great control of his dog. (As an aside, his book "Before and After Getting Your Puppy" will prevent a lot of the problems dealt with in this book.)
 I'm a Survivor! March 6, 2006
I survived my dog's adolescence thanks to this book. Aside from good training tips and practical information on dealing with adolescent dogs, this book also gave me encouragement to keep working with my dog and let me know that I was not alone. Now I know almost every dog owner goes through this...
This book was a life-saver February 3, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
12 years ago, I remember sitting on my bed in tears. My adorable Golden Retriever puppy had hit a point where she was really hard to handle, and I felt overwhelmed-- like a failure as a dog owner! I knew I needed some good advice, and I ended up finding this book at the library.
It was incredibly helpful, reassuring, and positive. Needless to say, my Golden eventually grew into a lovely, kind, and affectionate dog. This book helped us get through a rocky point in our relationship, and I am really greatful to Carol Lea Benjamin for helping me to handle this stage of my best friend's development effectively/helping me to understand my dog better.
A year after reading this book, I adopted an elderly Irish Setter. Benajamin's book "Secondhand Dog" was helpful to us.
If you like the Monks of New Skete and Brian Kilcommons you will find Carol Lea Banjamin's approach to be slightly different (but similar) and very helpful. You may also want to check out Patricia McConnell's humane, wise dog books (The Other End of the Leash, Beginning Family Dog Training, etc.).
An informative, intelligent and entertaining book January 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read about a dozen books on training and caring for dogs, and while some were pretty good none of them alerted me to the fact that dogs go through an adolescence phase just like human teenagers. I read this book when my puppy was 7 months old and not displaying any "bratty" behaviour, but I implemented many of the author's suggestions anyway as a precautionary measure. A couple of months later he was showing just slight signs of adolescence (thinking things over for a couple of seconds before obeying commands) but none of the extreme stubbornness that miniature schnauzers are known for, and I'm sure it is thanks at least in part to the precautionary measures I took after reading this book. I re-read this book and applied the advice, and my puppy is back to making immediate responses to my commands.
I highly recommend this book to any dog owner, preferably before your dog enters adolescence, but definitely as soon as he or she starts displaying problem behaviours.
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