Customer Reviews
think like your dog and not ask him to think like you - By: J. K. Smith, 28 Aug 2006 
Well what can i say about Jan Fennell that we dont already know, anyone who cant look at their dog in a different way after reading her books shouldn't be owning a dog at alll. This technique of hers is unique & is a total & complete way of turning us into a dog (in the eyes of a dog) & i truely hope dog owners read any of her books to help our best friends live a settled & more fulfilling life in this alien human world they live in because WE now understand them ! A must for anyone who wants to understand why dogs do what they do , they arn't wrong unfortunatley we the most inteligent species on earth are the ones that get it wrong. A lovely book as with alll her books
Practical ????? - By: D. S. Hughes, 18 Jul 2006 
I was somewhat fooled by the title, expecting this book to be a practical guide. However, like the other reviewers, I found it to be more a collection of annecdotes. In addition, much of the book deals with packs rather than individual dogs. Desperately trying to adopt the methods suggested, I found myself interacting less & less with my dog & to be fair I didn't get a dog so I could spend my time ignoring it.
Although put forward as a natural, non-violent means of training a dog, the Dog Listener approach seems to rely on mental rather than physical domination. Fearing I was misinterpreting the approach I contacted one of the Dog Listeners on Jan's web site, who seemed to be saying that I wasn't ignoring the dog enough!!! Some very, very, good points in the book, but not enough practical advice, too many case histories & too much focus on packs.
This book is possibly of more use to those who have just got, or are about to get a puppy. The book doesn't address the common behavioural problems that caused me to buy the book in the first place.
Maybe a Little Too Informative - By: Maz, 16 May 2006 Overalll, this is a well written book. However, during reading, you may not be able to help getting a little frustrated at being constantly referred to past cases. Whilst I can appreciate the value of reading about possibly "similar" cases, it is inevitable that the experience would mean more to the author than to us readers.
We readers can't possibly imagine the full scale of the issues which Jan is describing for the specific dog, as she will have the full mental picture, & the full experience. We don't. We are, instead, reliant on a textual description. It just doesn't translate that well, & I personallly, ended up almost silently shouting in my head "Stop! I'm not interested in Mrs. Brown's dog who had similar but not reallly that similar problems to that of my own dog's.".
My main objection to the book, again related to the case-studies, is that if you took out the case-studies, you can quickly realise why they are there. Without them, there is actuallly very little to the book in terms of practical methodology.
With alll the above said, it would be foolish to suggest that there is nothing to be learned from this book. There are interesting snippets of dog behaviour psychology & training methods, but you reallly have to want to find them amidst the past-case studies. It's one of those books which, ideallly, you need to go through with a highlight marker, & highlight only the instructional parts. (Actuallly, not an easy task as it tends to interweave between practical exercise & the infernallly frustrating "Let me tell you about Benji, the dog which..." case studies.)
Having read it, would I buy it? Probably not. Not because it's not well-written, it is. But because it actuallly contains very little information which is of much value to anyone other than the author. I'm going to purchase the first in the series "The Dog Listener", which I am assured is a tad more informative.
There are better books out there - By: Dogstudies, 21 Apr 2006 
I am training to become a dog behaviourist & read this book when I was starting out. Having spoken to a lot of recognised behaviourists (including a founding member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors) I have learned that Jan Fennel's methods aren't particularly helpful - pack theory just doesn't work because dogs aren't wolves anymore. You wouldn't look at chimpanzees to find the best way to bring up your children I hope, so why look at wolves to see how dogs behave? I even paid for one of Jan Fennel's associates to come & help me with my dogs & her methods didn't work at alll.
If you truly want to understand dog behaviour read books such as The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson, any of Ian Dunbar's books & John Fisher's 'Diary of a Dotty Dog Doctor'.
Good addittion to the dvd + original dog listener book - By: , 16 Feb 2006 
I bought this book after watching the Jan fennell dvd( which I would recommend you watch, before reading the books, so you can see the evidence before your eyes.)and also after watching the dog listener book, which I also recommend you read before buying this book.
I would recommend this book to owners who have more than 1 dog as she gives extra advice to dealing with 'packs' & ' the sorting out of top dog scenarios that can happen in such cases,that are not in her other books.
It was a good read & I am about to buy it for someone else too but it was not as informative or as interesting the original book & dvd.
It also has less information due to large print & colour photos but some people might prefer that.
over alll - a good extra but if I bought that one first, I would not hvae been inspired , like I was with her other books & dvd , but definitely helpful in my situation with 4 dogs.
