Playtraining Your Dog

by Patricia Gail Burnham

Book Overview

At last, an inexpensive paperback edition of a book that has been acclaimed as one of the most useful and reliable guides to training your dog. Obedience training does not have to resemble Marine boot camp, with the dog as the recruit and the trainer as the drill instructor. Nor does it have to be work. Rather, as the title of this comprehensive guide suggests, it can be playful fun for both -- with a few rules thrown in to shape the game itno an...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312616910
• ISBN13: 9780312616915
• Release Date: December 1985
• Publisher: Griffin
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Obedience training a sight hound

There are plenty of books on obedience training for dogs. But what if you don't own a Border Collie or a Poodle or a German Shepherd? What if you own a basenji, or a Whippet, or a Komondor, or a Greyhound? How do you get started? Matter of fact, how do you get the dog not to bite you? This book answers some of these questions, and tells about the way the author managed to train some of these less likely obedience candidates. The goal generally was qualification in Utility Class, which typically takes several trials. We see how Ms. Burnham managed to train several greyhounds and even a komondor (the photo of the komondor clearing the bar jump is one of the most unbelievable photographs of a dog I have ever seen). As a basenji owner, I found this book useful and enjoyable.

a great approach to training 'independant' breeds

I really appreciated the insights into finding 'motivators' for independant breeds such as sighthounds and in my case, Siberian Huskies. This book is a mainstay on my dog training shelf. In addition, I recommend William Campbell's 'Behavior Training in Dogs' (at least the edition I purchased in the 70's).

The Dogs Deserve This Book!

When I first bought this little book I was simply impressed by the author's greyhounds. I figured anyone who had that much success with a greyhound must have something interesting to say! Little did I know I was getting a treasury of dog training information. Play Training Your Dog has wonderful motivational techniques, fully explained. Most dogs turn into wonderful 'rag' dogs and for those who don't it's easy to turn her methods into one using food, or another toy. More valuable though than even the training information, are the chapters on having fun with your dog, showing, and anger management. The entire book is also smattered with stories making it an easy fun read. Overall EVERYONE should have this book. It's the one I consistently go back to. And the only one that I agree with completely except for one minor item (the forced retrieve as written in the book). That aside though, the books lends itself to many situations and training methods including clicker training. It truly is a great book.

Without a doubt, the single best dog training book I've read

Play training was a lifesaver for us when "traditional" training methods proved too harsh for our dog. The strength of this method is that it makes training a fun, positive experience for both dog and trainer by working with the dog's own natural instincts and enthusiasm for play. At age 12, our dog still responds to obedience commands with joy and enthusiasm (even though he hasn't been kept in active training), thanks to Burnham's methods. Definitely two thumbs up!