Pet Books

When I sent away for this book I had no idea that it would be so beautifully illustrated in full colour. It is a real little treasure of cat stories told in a way that only James Herriott can. I loved it.

We loved this book so much, we named our two cats Olly and Ginny. 'Nuff said.

Goes quickly, but he writes well and if you're a cat owner, you'll really develop a rapport with the cat stories in here. Not just for "cat ladies" - my husband picked it up and couldn't put it down.

Look you haven't heard a story read until you've heard it read by Christopher Timothy!!!! This guy could make a phone book interesting to hear read! These stories are great! They'll have you laughing and crying! So becareful if you listen in your car ;0) I was driving my 18 wheeler down a rural road in Luisiana getting all teary eyed! Scary thought, right?

James Herriot writes of his veterinary experiences as no one else could. Full of humor,sometimes sadness but always spellbinding and interesting. I could not put this book down.

If you want to understand your little friends and what can you do for them, read this book

This book is alright if you already have a diagnosis from your vet. But trying to figure out if something is wrong in the first place (symptoms)is not happening. Or perhaps your dog just has dry skin and a sensitive stomach..there is nothing in the book that helped me for less serious conditions either. Needless to say, I ended up returning the book.

I wish I had found this book sooner! My dog had a bulging disc and I needed something other then tradional meds (they were making him very ill). I researched everything I cold get my hands on and I have to say- this book is particularly fantastic as it's easy to read. It also lists the traditional meds and the alternatives which could complement those taditional meds. On top of that it lists other therapies such as chiropractic and acupuncture. Overall- it's easy to read, provides great info as well as accuracy. It's a fantastic reference to have for all animal owners!

My Bichon, Bailey, has food allergies. I bought this book to do research on this subject, and found it had lots of other very informative information. I am looking into natural homemade diets and natural care. It did the trick! It was very resonably priced for the size and information it has in it... Also so easy to read and understand.. I would highly recommend it!
Sharon Coombs
Herndon, Ky.

This is one of the more detailed books I have found. I also got Health for Happy Cats and Your Cat by Elizabeth Hodgkins. This one has a lot of details about what to feed, how to feed it, what the diseases are and what the treatments are. You can look it up by both disease and symptom and treatment, which is fantastic. They discuss pros and cons of various things. They also have a good section on cooking natural diet versus raw natural diet. They are more advocates of cooked diet as far as I can tell. They also have a few diets. If you are going to get one book on natural health for cats this should be it. there is a lot of information on supplements.

The things I like best about this book aren't in most other books. I found the personality test for the dog both interesting and helpful, and the distinction between dogs who react to fear with flight and those who react with aggression is important.

The discussion of the test itself is detailed, and the training programs, particularly the ones that last several weeks, are helpful and practical. This test requires your dog to perform consistently, and that means practice! Learning how to structure a "Stay" program that will take 4 weeks to complete is critical if you really want a dog that can pass the test.

However, the book was written more than 10 years ago, and the specific techniques rely heavily on physically moving the dog into place. There are some master trainers who can do that, but these days most humane societies and group trainers don't advise amateurs to use those methods unsupervised.

For example, the book says that with some dogs, when teaching "Sit," "You may have to physically place them. With your left hand, stroke down the entire length of the back, over the tail all the way to the stifles, and with equal pressure of the right and left hands, fold the dog into a sit with the command 'Sit.'"

I don't know of any book written in the last 5 years that would recommend this method for home training. Instead, the preferred method is shaping and patience--reward the dog for each effort towards the desired behaviour. Almost all dogs will eventually get there, and the shaping method is usually safer and more reliable for amateurs.

This book uses similar physical manipulation techniques throughout. That's really the only reason I can't give it a higher rating.

I recommend that you get any other good recent book on training for ways of teaching the individual Sit, Down, Heel and Stay behaviours. Then use this book for working out a training schedule specifically to prepare for the Canine Good Citizenship Test.

Most other books are going to talk as though your dog will have Heel mastered in a session or two. And it's true the dog will learn the basic command that quickly. But to truly MASTER it, you will need something like the 8 week training schedule that the Volhards lay out in this book.

There's a lot to learn from this book, and some very practical tips. But you'll also need a current book specifically for amateur trainers to teach the individual techniques--or take a class from your local humane society or work with a local trainer to get the basics.

The Canine Good Citizen approaches dog training from the perspective that a person would like their dog to be able to pass the Canine Good Citizen Test. It takes you through the training and techniques necessary for a dog to pass this test which also provides a foundation for a well trained dog in general. It's short, simple, and one of the best dog training books around. All the basics are covered here and it's an excellent book for someone who doesn't want to be overwhelmed with too much information.

Good resource. Offers practical tips as well as things every dog owner should know about how their dog responds and communicates. I've had dogs all my life and I still learned very helpful information on dog training and to train your dog without confusing him/her or sending mixed messages.

If you're considering the CGC test, you already know pretty much everything in this book. The only thing in this book that is not in every single other training reference I've ever seen is the "Motivation Method," which may be just fine, but when I looked at the references for that method... every one of them is another book by the authors of this book. In short, read the free AKC book and a real training book; this one is a waste of time.

This little volume is pure gold. Some may criticize this book as not being advanced enough, or not containing new information - they are missing the point. Ultimately this is a book about educating people about how to help their dogs learn good people manners.

While the context is preparing for the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen test, really this book is for any dog owner. If you have a family dog that needs a little help in learning good people manners, this is the book for you. If you are already involved in competitive dog sports, such as obedience trials or have experience in dog training, this book has not really been written for you.

The Canine Good Citizen test involves 10 individual tests, all of which allow the dog to show that she well mannered in everyday situations. For example two of the tests include the dog must sit politely while being petted by a stranger, and walk politely on leash through a crowd.

Whether you ever test your dog or not, teaching these skills to your dog will result in a dog that is well behaved, a joy to be around. Isn't that what everyone really wants for their family dog?

For me, the best parts of the book are those that coach you on how to work with your dog, how to understand the dog's psychology - how dogs learn. This has been invaluable to me. Early in the book, the authors introduce the idea that dogs are, of course, pack animals. Our human family becomes their pack, and someone has to be the leader of the pack. For everyone's sake, the leader of the pack must be one of the people - not the dog. The Volhards help you understand how to be the pack leader. This is not hard to do and certainly does not require you to be unkind to your dog. Our dog has learned these lessons well enough that she even cheerfully takes commands from our 3 1/2 year old son.

There is plenty of good advice here about preparing for the actual CGC test and what to expect. If passing the CGC test is your goal, the easiest approach is to enroll yourself and your dog in a hands on obedience class and use this book as the companion text book you almost won't get otherwise.

For those without ready access to obedience classes, this book does provide guidance on how to train your dog by yourself. Having been through several obedience classes with our dog, I believe that if you followed the Volhards' advice carefully - and actually practiced the skills as they suggest - you really could train your dog on your own using this book.

I have set myself a challenge - to have our family dog (a 2 year old shelter rescue Australian Shepherd mix) take and pass the CGC test at the local dog show in about a month. As the local dog show is VERY large, this will be an extremely distracting environment and a real challenge for our dog. I am convinced that when our dog takes the test she will pass. This book has helped me understand how to get her ready and how to help her be pretty much the perfect family dog.

In the year-and-a-half since the kids wore me down and convinced me we really "needed" a dog, I have bought several dog books and skimmed many more at bookstores and libraries. This is the one book I would enthusiastically recommend for any dog owner in the early stages of teaching good manners to their dog, even if they never plan on having their dog take the Canine Good Citizen test.

Great stuff, and highly recommended.

Update - our dog has now taken, and passed the Canine Good Citizen test. I am still convinced that the Volhard's book is great stuff. Their advice equipped me to teach our dog to be a well mannered member of the family. Following their advice, she aced the test.

I bought this just after deciding with my son that we would keep his agriculture project(a nice spot gilt) and raise a litter of pigs for the next year. I have read the book from cover to cover and feel confident that I will be able to raise healthier happier pigs because I have this book. I had this guide and used it as my bible during the farrowing and it was VERY, VERY, VERY helpful. I had all of the supplies and knowledge that I needed to help with the birth of the pigs and it kept me from having to have a vet come out when the sow was having trouble with the last few pigs. A MUST HAVE if your planning on raising pigs for stock shows and don't have a clue!!! Good luck, and I hope you have as much fun raising pigs as we do!!!
-Mel

I learned some about pigs in this book but... have you ever tried to render your own lard??
This book says just to boil pig fat in water for awhile
That won't make lard
Took me four tries to finally get it right
Practical experience taught me more than this book

This is a great starter for raising pigs. It gives a lot of the basics on different breeds of pigs. The book is very helpful. Thank you.

This is a must for pig raisers! I should know, I raise 5 breeding sows and write my own farm books, and I even mention this book in my resources section! It's that much of a needed book for pig farmers. Every subject you want to know about pigs is found in this book, from showing at the fair, breeding the pigs, to the business aspect of running a farm...

Overall, I would consider this a good but not great book. I was left with a vague feeling of incompleteness after reading it.

For example, it had several pictures of pigs with 'good muscling' (or 'nice topline' or 'great frame' or whatever). Granted, I'm a novice at pigs but it would be nice if it had pictures (preferably side-by-side) of an example of 'poor muscling' (or whatever) so I can see the difference.

I also found the 'butchering' section to be lacking. For example, when 'scalding' a carcass, it only talks about dipping the entire carcass into the hot water. Nowhere does it even mention dipping out the hot water and pouring it over the carcass (which is more manageable for a large pig). And the actual butchering (cutting up) part is minimal ('separate the carcass into the larger primal cuts with a butcher's knife').

My impression is that this book is geared more toward a small farmer wanting to raise a small herd for profit as opposed to a homesteader wanting to raise 1-3 pigs as food. It's just a different mindset. So - if you're a farmer - I would rate this book a '5'. A homesteader would still find it useful but not complete.

(I can't believe that pot-bellied pigs aren't even mentioned anywhere.)

Its a Nice book to round out a collection about the subject .
On the down side while the crab illustrations are really nice they are only half done .Crabs have different crusher and pincer claws ,while only showing one gives you the spirit of the animal it is still not showing the other aspect .

saboettger@yahoo.com. The Peterson field identification guide to the Atlantic Seashore by Kenneth L. Gosner is a useful tool in fieldwork. Seaweeds and animals are arranged taxonomically and described in detail regarding their distinguishing characteristics. All weeds and animals are called by both their scientific and common name and are described in an easily understood manner. The plates with drawings of creatures found along the Atlantic seashore are helpful to establish visual identification of seaweeds and animals. It is useful that the book explains different marine habitats that you may encounter as well as going into detail on important physical marine features such as water currents, salinity, tides etc. The details on how to maintain and preserve animals are an additional plus of this book. The Peterson field guide is a good tool for the use in class as well as for you personal exploration of the seashore. I would recommend its use in combination with the Audubon Guide to Shore Animals of North America. These books would complement each other since the Audubon Guide displays a similar identification system but enhances it with pictures of animals rather than drawings. The combined use of these books would increase the accuracy of your identification.

This book, "A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore" is a great field guide. It presents an excellent overview of the life one commonly finds along the Atlantic coast of the USA. The book is arranged taxonomically, and each entry contains a description of characters useful in determining what you are looking at. As a professional biologist, I find this book to be superior in many ways to the Audubon Guides. For example, this Peterson guide includes both common AND scientific names by each entry, the book is arranged taxonomically rather than by other less important characters like color, etc.

This book is not, however, what many casual naturalists are looking for in a field guide. They often look for a book filled by page after page of photographs or illustrations. This book is filled by page after page of information more useful to the more advanced amateur or to the professional. There are several illustrations, many are simple line drawings that show details of important characteristics used to tell one kind of organism from another.

All in all a great field guide for the advanced amateur and professional. This is not, however, a book that is as likely to be embraced by the casual observer.

5 stars for the more professional audience, but 4 stars for the casual observer.

You might be happiest doing what another reviewer suggested... to use this book along with a photo field guide such as an Audubon Field guide to the region.

Happy splashing!

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

This book is absolutely packed with information and is well written. This is not a bedtime read! There is so much information in each chapter than I found myself finishing a chapter in bed and thinking to myself "what did I just read?"

If you want a simple book for clicker training, this is not it. This book explains WHY clicker training works and WHY your dog didn't do what you wanted to do, with logical and scientific methodology.

Overall an excellent book that I would highly recommend to anybody with some degree of reading comprehension.

and then some. I've not made it all the way through yet, but I'm getting there. Some of it takes awhile to "digest" as it can be a little too wordy at times.

This book is for those serious about:
- obedience
- agility
- other sports, including herding
- service dogs
- or just an eager, happily-working and well-behaved pet.

I'd suggest that people first have at least a basic understanding of operant conditioning (clicker training) but I say that only because Mr Spector provides a great deal of detail, explanation, trouble-shooting, and theory for each of the exercises, and his focus is on the serious trainer.

Those are all advantageous aspects of this book, particularly for those of us who want the details and thought processes behind the actions. Working with totally positive principles, he guides us through the most basic of exercises right on through to utility exercises.

Now, for someone not interested in competitive obedience you'd think this book is not the one for you -- not so! Many of the exercises and behaviours he details are transferrable to the agility ring (and elsewhere) and I've discovered some are also transferrable to herding.

The style of writing is simple, straight-forward (not what you'd expect from a lawyer) and very easy to follow. He sometimes provides examples that relate to humans to help understand some of the principles - another plus. Filled with clear photographs, it is possible for any dog guardian to follow and understand his explanations.

I also found that the logic he uses behind training certain exercises at certain stages, unlike many other trainers, made so much sense. One example: he recommends training a dog to heel off-leash before doing it on-leash. His explanation for why and how has worked flawlessly with my own dogs! I'll never go back to my old way again. He does this throughout his book.

The index makes it easy to look up specific exercises, problems, or other related information.

Even if your dog will never enter an obedience competition, and you simply want a reliable, happily-working, obedient dog -- this book will get you that and more.

From european point of view the drawback of the book is that it describes the tasks of american rules for obedience trial. As we in europe have different set of tasks in our obedience trial the book did not fill the need for specific instructions on those tasks. I was also looking for more structured and simplified clear instructions in the book things are more of discussed through. Still the book was worth the money paid for it. It has lots of grounds for why to do this way. The basics of the book is fluencies on what the obedience tasks are based on and those same fluencies are still usefull with european rules too.

I have never seen a dog training book like this. My dog is a crazy, hyper maniac without any focus but since I've been following this book he is learning insanely fast and having a blast doing it. I trained him to follow the target stick and the first time I ever tried it he heeled BEAUTIFULLY with it. Left turn, right turn, about turn, he was staying with me without crowding me, lagging or anything. He had no leash on! He was just following the stick! When I took the target stick away HE WAS STILL DOING IT! He had VERY little heeling experience before this. All I could get out of him was to maybe follow me somewhere in the realm of heel position for about 10 feet. Turns were out of the question. Not anymore! It's like....the target stick finally clarified it in his mind.

If I want to show him how to position himself for any behavior I just lead him with the target stick. Where the nose goes the body follows. He remembers the motion. Once he learns the que I can take the stick away. It's amazing.

For every dog I've ever worked with...clicker training has been a way of great motivation and very clear communication...hence the fact dogs catch on fast...but no book I read compares to this one. It's the closest you can get to having a very wise trainer with you showing you. He's very detailed and tries so hard to save you from making any mistakes that you will regret later. He helps prepare you for the path ahead and keep from digging any pits you'll later fall into. Having never competed in anything other than Rally and Conformation I need this!

You see...clicker training is a VERY POWERFUL, VERY EFFECTIVE, VERY FAST training method....but it's only as good as the trainer! You need knowledge! This gives you that knowledge!

I will update this review after I start trialing. I am certain I will be very successful. I've been to trials and the biggest problem I see is the dog not having what's expected of him clear in his mind to start with.

I read this book with my first graders on the first day of school to talk about behavior expectations. We based our class rules on it!

I found this book very helpful for teaching my twin sons good manners. They relate to animals.

My son is 4 and loves this book! This book is good learning tool for little ones that love clifford.

I thought that this book was a good book for little kids because it teaches you manner and responsibilty. This book used a good way to teach you good manners. It made learning good manners fun.

this book was ok i mean if you were a little kid you would like it but it does sorta teach you manners

There is a lot of interesting information for beginners. It focus on elements of environment and human behavor that influence our parrot bahavior. The text is well organised so it's easy to go clearly where we are interest to. Paragraphs are relatively short so isn't tired to reat at.

I actually wasn't as impressed with this book as I thought I would be. I was hoping for lots of options and things to try to help out a few different behavioral issues, but found very few that sounded like they would work for my birds. Read the book cover to cover and although I loved the pictures, and learned one or two things, I was expecting many more techniques and tips.

I am new to parrots and this book literally takes you by the hand and addresses whatever issue you are having. I highly recommend it.

This is an amazing book! There are so many tips and suggestions for correcting or preventing bad behaviors in birds. The ideal time to read this would be before even bringing the parrot home, but it is a must read for all bird owners. The parrot world is evolving and new things are being learned all the time.....read it to learn!!!!

My hubbie decided to petsit his uncle's macaw but we had no idea why she acted the way she did. She would screech loudly, try to bite us, & if we tried to get her down from our shoulder she would run to our back. We needed information. This book didn't disappoint! Chapter 2 was a treasure trove of information. It had games you could play with your parrot, also how to get your parrot to stop biting. The wobble correction method is what we have been using. Chapter 3 was about developing behavior patterns. This chapter was great in helping us realize height does matter. We were letting Baby D(parrot's name) get on our shoulder and also letting her roam on the top of her cage. She was getting very aggresive and we couldn't understand why.Letting her spend time in places that were high was making her think she was the boss. Chapter 5 Common behavior problems talks about dealing with screaming, chewing, and boredom in birds. It also talks more about the height factor. Chapter 7 talks about reading parrot body language and the pitfalls of leaving your parrot home alone all day.

I learned alot by this book. Parrots are alot of responsibility but they are also lovable. I know they have times when they screech and scream but if you follow this book you should you should have a better behaved parrot most of the time. I see some impovement already in baby D. This book has loads of information that should help you understand all about your new parrot.

Not sure if it worked in 10 minutes but did have some ideas to try. Wouldnt be the first book I would buy on training but worth a shot if other ideas fail.

I like this book for it's teaching methods concerning positive techniques, for example, teaching a cat to do tricks. It has good step by step instructions for novice cat trainers to use. But the book falls far short in the section called "Correcting Improper Behavior." The author almost seems to assume that you'll be present, for example, every time kitty jumps on the counter, & that's just not going to be the case for most people, especially working people. The author suggests correcting improper behaviors by hissing at your cat while using a water pistol. I've tried it, & it doesn't work. Part of the problem is that when you see your cat doing something undesirable, you have to go & get the water pistol. By that time, the cat's finished with the behavior & it's too late to follow the procedure. I don't tend to walk around the house with a water pistol in my hand or pocket all day long, & many times, kitty silently surprises me with what he's doing. Another option is to keep a water pistol in every room, also not practical! In addition, many people want to buy a book such as this one to halt improper behaviors, & there are very few such behaviors covered in this book. So for the positive approaches, it's a good book, but it's not sufficient for dealing with improper behaviors.

I purchased this book and another entitled "Getting Started: Clicker Training for Cats". The latter is absolutely useless! It is filled with antedotes and very little to almost no instruction. What a waste. "10 mintues" is the only book you need to clicker train your feline. My very energetic kitten has responded almost instantly to clicker training. It gives her something to do and think about, as well as use all the excess energy! After three 10 minute sessions my kitten targets, comes, sits, and twirls, as well as taking treats from my hand politely. What more can I say? Buy this book!

Don't know what else to do with your cat besides petting and playing a game catch the string or ball? Have fun, train your cat.

I just got this book and already my cat and I have spent time doing the beginning tricks and she's loving it! She bit my finger though trying to get the treat, so I suggest you follow the book and make yourself a training spoon. As for getting a 'clicker' I haven't found a good reason to use it. (After trying the 'come here' command successfully several times without the clicker, I tried it with the clicker and the sound scared my cat--maybe we'll work on it...)

Good info in this book--it would be nice if they can make a cat training DVD. It's nice to see it working.

I'm a HUGE fan of this book. It has straightforward, easy-to-follow instructions with clear illustrations, and it really works! I'm working my way up to the bigger things (like walking on a leash), but so far, with only 5-10 minutes of "training" a day, my cat has quickly picked up both the "come" and the "sit" commands. This book suggests particular hand signals to pair with the voice commands (which the pictures clarify) and they REALLY seem to make a difference. My kitty even responds to the hand signals alone now, which is great. But to pick up these behaviors in a day or two is truly impressive! I can't get over how fast he's learning all these things, and all credit goes to the book. It's a great resource for training your cat, and I highly recommend it to everyone.