Customer Reviews:
 The very basic basics, and a little misinformation. August 30, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you know anything about dog behavior and interaction, this stuff is probably a boring review for you. The book was clearly intended for people who do not know how dog pack behavior works, what a dog rolling over means, how to tell when dogs are dominant and when submissive, etc. There's a little bit of everything in this book, which would seem convenient, but it's not nearly in depth enough for a lot it touches on, especially breeding.
My biggest beef with this book was a chart about halfway through which list major breeds and rates them as "low, medium, or high" in three areas: activity/excitability, aggression, and trainability. These are flawed categories. Excitability and activity are not the same thing. A pomeranian is easily excitable but needs nowhere near the exercize that a whippet, a very calm and docile dog, does. It lists many dogs as "low" in this category, such as the dalmation, doberman, Hungarian vizsla, and australian shepherd. Anyone who gets these dogs thinking they have low activity levels is bound for an unpleasant discovery. The aggression category is vague and unnecessary. One, we do not know if this means the dog is a good watchdog, receptive to guard dog training, or if is likely to attack the owner and her friends! Second, it reinforces stereotypes that certain breeds are somehow more naturally "vicious" than others. It should have NEVER been made a category. "Watchdog ability" is a much better choice. I dare not think someone would come away from this book thinking Great Danes are highly aggressive.
This is not the book to get to find what breed you want. It is not the book to get if you want to go in depth into dog nutrition or training. It is a book for someone completely clueless to thumb through, then put back on the library shelf.
 NOT for younger children January 28, 2003
0 out of 10 found this review helpful
Not for younger children, as it gratuitously displays and describes dogs in the act of mating. This adds nothing to the book, as small children love dogs, but would be less likely to be dog breeders at the ages of, for example 6 or 7, and as such do not need to view such explicit depictions. Also, adults can pretty much already identify those acts (especially) in fellow mammals when they see them, and so this adds nothing for them, either.
 i liked it but my favorite is legacy of the dog September 26, 2001
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
i have many dog books because i study them and read them whenever i have time. the reason that i like this book is because it is very informing it tells what to feed your dogs it shows the ways to groom and so on i recomend this book to dog lovers and people who just like the pictures ether way is good.
Complete Illustrated Guide to Dog Care April 11, 2000
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is very informative. I just adopted a Miniature Schnauzer puppy, and he is my first dog. I didn't really know the in's and out's of dog training and behavior. When I read this book, I learned a lot. It is not only very comprehensive, but interesting. It also has a lot of pictures of dogs exhibiting certain behaviors, this makes it easy to follow along. I highly recommend this book to all dog lovers and owners.
Great Photographs March 29, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a great source of information for new dog and puppy owners. It is very readable, very entertaining, and very informative. I bought it for the photographs, however. The photos are so expressive, and there is a great variety of breeds shown
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