The breed descriptions in this book are just great. They aren't as long as some of the wordier books' encyclopedia-style listings, and somehow they seem to include much more information. (Partly it's just writing style; I wish technical writers were this good.) Comparing these descriptions to the lengthy temperament tables in "The Right Dog for You" by Daniel Tortora, "Paws to Consider" comes across as being a measure less objective but more genuine and intuitive and accessible. Temperament isn't described in 16 or 18 separate scales, but these are solid writers and they have a way of hitting the right note. Three different people I've shown the book to have looked for 'their' breed and immediately said something like "This is right, my bassett DOES hate to have his nails clipped more than my other dog."

It's also nice to see a dog book that doesn't group breeds by their official (usually AKC) categories. Instead of (cue the Westminster guy's voice again) "The Hounds" and "The Working Dogs" this book has categories like "The High Input, High Output Dog" and "The Low-Shedding Breeds." There's a category of dogs you can leave home alone for a working day. Geez, that should be in EVERY dog book. Okay, so finding a specific breed is a little harder this way, and some dogs really belong in more than one category, but it's a breath of fresh air to have a new way to think about this stuff.

Again, too, each breed starts with separate categories for the usual pluses and minuses you'll see in that type of dog. In just a few spare lines, they get across an awful lot: Newfoundlands are gentle giants who dream of doing everything with you and whose hearts would break if they were left in the yard alone, but they shed and drool and they're enormous. Some of my other books are surprisingly bad at getting those basic tradeoffs across. This one's well thought out and well laid out.

As an aside, I also love the way this book emphasizes positive reinforcement in training. They do it by using positive reinforcement... on the reader. Makes a person smile.

The thing this book lacks is a really thorough description of the process of buying a puppy from a good breeder. It gives you the usual mantra about reputable breeders and not puppy mills, but it doesn't tell you how to act on the advice. Personally I'm pretty impressed with Your Purebred Puppy, by Michelle Welton, for that stuff. It gives you detailed interview questions to ask, for example, and tells you specifically which health certifications you'd want to see for each breed. Its breed pages aren't as well-thought-through as those here, though.


Paws to Consider   July 8, 2001
If only every prospective dog owner took the advice in the title! The authors do their best to dissuade people from buying the wrong dog for the wrong reasons. I learned a lot about my favorite breeds -- as well as a few I'd never considered as potential pets.

Note: I wouldn't call the authors comletely objective, but their subjectivity makes a lot of sense! I plan to share this book with friends who are looking for family pets.


Fetch this book!   May 28, 2001
 22 out of 22 found this review helpful

If you're thinking about getting a dog, this book is NECESSARY. The literature out there that's breed-specific usually emphasizes only the good points of any particular dog.

Also, a lot of those books use "code": "Protective" really means aggressive; "active" means "hyper." Unless you have a lot of experience with dogs, you might underestimate what you're getting yourself into. But this book lists assets and drawbacks objectively, so the potential owner can make an informed decision.

The authors have decades of experience with dogs, and their training approach is humane and effective. They know what they're talking about. With my limited experience, a lot of what they say rings true. (I've had an Irish setter, a lab/terrier mix, and currently a golden retriever and a longhaired dachs.)

This book is also cross-referenced, so you can see if the family dog is also a good watchdog.

The only problem with this book is that it doesn't list every breed. That may make a future edition as big as the Chicago yellow pages, but I did find that to be a little limiting. Some of the super-popular breeds are suffering because of irresponsible overbreeding (goldens, for example) and I know a lot of people who are attracted to the less-popular types for that reason. It would be good to have profiles of some of those dogs in here, too.

Best of all, this book is FUN--I found myself chuckling at descriptions of dogs my friends and I have had ("If there is a God, there is surely a dachshund at His feet..."). It should be on the shelf of anyone who owns, works with, or just gets a kick out of dogs.


Great book!   May 11, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

As I said above, great book! It has some really good information, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a dog. The only thing keeping me from giving it a perfect five is that some of the descriptions are a little bit stereotyped. I'd read this book, narrow your breed choice to under ten breeds, and check out some breed-specific books on those (as well as talking to breeders and owners, of course). But, overall, a very good dog book.


A must-read for anyone researching breed selection   March 6, 2001
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I can think of no other breed-selection book that approaches the topic with such remarkable honesty, especially in talking about the breeds most people *shouldn't* have. The authors take a unique approach to classifying the dogs, and their descriptions and recommendations hit the mark. This is one of my very favorite books on breed selection, and I find myself recommending it time and time again -- Gina Spadafori, pet-care columnist for Universal Press Syndicate and the author of the best-selling "Dogs For Dummies."