5 comments about Boas (Complete Pet Owner's Manual).

1. This book is very informative. It gives lots of information on types of boas and their temperment. It also contains information on the care and husbandry of the different boas.



2. I've had this book for several years, and find it to be roughly the same as almost any other small, paperback, guide to owning a pet. I have many books on snakes, a lot of them which are this same type of very general guide. It would be a good read for somebody considering getting a boa. However, I found it to have a lot of generalized information (as many other guide books do). If you are looking for an introduction to boas, this is a good book for you. I would hope that a new boa owner should have done their homework, and found out all of this information prior to getting their new snake. However, in the event that the new boa owner has jumped into an unplanned or impulse purchase, this is a good way to catch up and get the most basic of information. Experienced boa owners may find this to be too general.



3. I commend the author on his works. I have purchased many small books on Boids but so far this is the best. Most books overload their pages with pictures and unuseful information, but this author knew what he was doing. A great book for novice and intermediate boa lovers, and would recommend it over and over again. Thanks for a great book.



4. I have read some books about boas, and this one is very usefull when it comes to talk about diseases, even when the chapter about disease is short, it's clear and concise. It also talks about genetics, a little confusing for someone new in breeding but usefull too. I consider this book is for begginers and intermediate boa owners.



5. This has become one of my favorite snake books. It has really solid information for the size and price. The pictures are great, but it's the little details that make it unusual, things I never would have thought to do or not do.

No comments about The Black-Capped Chickadee: Behavioral Ecology and Natural History (Comstock Book).

No comments about The Cairn Terrier (A Vintage Dog Books Breed Classic).

4 comments about A Country Practice: Scenes from the Veterinary Life.

1. I wholly recommend this to anyone considering a veterinary career - or a client who takes their vet for granted! Good reading - Dr Shaw is great.



2. If you are looking for a book like All Creatures Great and Small, this book isn't for you. James Herriot is the ultimate writer in this category, and it is hard to find any authors that compare to him. As far as this book goes, I found the writing style hard to read and somewhat disjointed, since it is being written by an outside observer. It isn't a smooth read. Also, most of the book is about the trials of being a vet and owning your own vet practice. If you are a vet student or another vet, you might find it interesting. But for the average reader there aren't a lot of animal stories in it. The only reason I found it OK was that I am a dairy farmer and was interested in the types of problems this vet encountered in the dairy herds he visited. Also, I live in Vermont, close to this vet's location, and I knew some of the dairy farmers he had as customers. However, if you are looking for more animal stories like James Herriot's, I can't recommend this book. Instead, I would recommend books by Dr. John McCormack or books by Dr. David Perrin.



3. Dedicated in memory of Bob Zeidler, an Amazon reviewer.
   
   Hobbs the current clinic cat was a survivor. He had once been a feral cat and somehow found himself in the Walpole, New Hampshire Veterinary Clinic. Fat and sassy and beloved by all.
   
   The author, Douglas Whynott followed Chuck Shaw, Vet practice owner, and Roger Osinchuk, his associate for a year learning the ins and outs of a veterinary clinic that saw a mixed practice. Mixed practice in this sense means large and small animals. That is quite an ark full, so to speak. This kind of practice can run a man into the ground, particularly when you are on call every other night and every other weekend. The stories of the owners and their animals and the struggles of daily life become real and vivid in this engaging novel.
   
   As the practice grows, Chuck and Roger decide they need to take on a third associate. Erika Bruner, a fresh graduate from Tufts Vet School, an intelligent, articulate woman answers the call. Thus begins her first year of a grueling, grinding profession. Erika allows us into her life, her emotions, her ups and downs, her insecurities and the struggles she encounters as she starts her job. The cows, yes, always the cows, the joys of examining cows by first removing all of the feces in the anus, and then examining the cows with a long sleeve on the arm and the "feel" of the insides of the cow. This is how one goes about finding out if a cow is pregnant or ready for pregnancy. Vermont and New Hampshire are farm country and cows are a specialty. We get inside the farmer's minds and how they practice their craft- how they care for their animals. A fascinating study of farm life and the people involved.
   
   Chuck Shaw the Vet in charge is an honest, silent man. Straight forward and truthful, he is a Vietnam vet. Ready for anything, but getting tired of the life of a vet. Roger Osinchuk, the associate has a love of horses and with his skill he develops the practice of horses and in his own life grooms the champion of horses, Shawne. Chuck is married and he and his wife try to have a normal life, sometime having dinner at 11pm after a harried night call. Roger is in love and during this year proposes and gets married to a girl he met in Alberta. He is five years into his practice with Chuck. The other staff in the Vet practice tells a tale of a dedicated staff who love animals and give much, too much at times.
   
   "Country Practice" is a tale of the love of animals. The profession of caring for and loving those animals is a big part of this story. The lives of those involved tell the intimate stories of life in rural New Hampshire. I have much more gratitude and understanding of a veterinarian's life. The life and death of our animals, a big part of our families, is in good hands in the Walpole Vet Clinic . Highly recommended. prisrob



4. There are plenty of cute, endearing animals in Chuck Shaw's Walpole, NH, veterinary practice. Hobbs, for instance, the clinic cat, an obese fellow who gorges on junk food, perhaps in memory of his feral days, and reverts to wild ferocity whenever the whim strikes him. But these animals afford mostly comic relief in Whynott's behind-the-scenes portrait: a serious tale of human drama; of passion, ethics and personalities.
   
   Chuck Shaw is a focused man who chose his work after serious deliberation and before going to Vietnam as a bomber pilot. He wanted a well-lived life in a profession that involved physical activity, outdoor work, and the prospect of working with people and helping others. He also wanted to be independent and own his own business. Veterinary medicine fit the bill and after two years in practices that didn't quite fit him, he bought a "mixed practice" in bucolic, beautiful Walpole.
   
   A mixed practice is unusual these days and growing more so, involving both large animals and small. Chuck might spend the morning checking a dairy herd for pregnancies, the afternoon treating cats and dogs at the clinic and be called out at midnight for an emergency lambing or an "HBC" (dog hit by car). Over the years Chuck had gone through eight associate vets who stayed from a few months to four years.
   
   Roger Osinchuk, the best fit, is beginning his fifth year in the practice as the book ends. Osinchuk, a Canadian from Alberta, grew up wanting to be a veterinarian. His experience with horses is extensive and he quickly builds an equine practice and embarks on a side business breeding and training horses of his own.
   
   Roger, exhausted by the long hours and the on-call weekends, convinces Chuck to hire a third associate - not an easy task for a mixed practice in a rural community. Erika Bruner, a new graduate from a suburban, academic background, wants to work with cows. She likes getting mud and manure on her boots, enjoys the placid, wise look of the cow, and doesn't flinch at being shoulder deep in the animal's anal tract. Enthusiastic and determined, she lifts everyone's spirits. At first.
   
   Whynott spends long days with each of these people, getting them to talk while they work. They talk about the work, and Whynott describes it in details that range from fascinating to gross, often at the same time. They save animals and lose them and Whynott shows us their jubilation and sadness - and sometimes their self-doubt. Inexperienced Erika has a lot of that, but no one is immune.
   
   The patients can't talk, and, not owning their own bodies, have no say in their treatment or even their death. From cows who don't produce enough milk to dogs that bite, death is sometimes the only treatment the owner wants and this is a critical issue in the practice, particularly with pets. Though Chuck early on makes it a rule not to kill healthy pets, it's a rule he sometimes has to break. During Erika's first months a healthy dog is brought in to be put down. The owner refuses to have it adopted by someone else and so Chuck orders it done. Erika is shocked and furious, but Chuck explains that the owner would only have abandoned the dog or had a neighbor kill it. At least he had the power to end the animal's life humanely.
   
   Ethical dilemmas are frequent in a practice where the doctors are surgeons, cancer specialists, emergency doctors, radiologists, dermatologists, obstetricians, etc., and the patients are property. Overwork and underpay (beginning associates with $100,000-plus in debts earn $45,000 a year) also fuel frustration.
   
   Whynott's ("Giant Bluefin," "Following the Bloom) portrayals are moving and involving. He is a mostly invisible observer. Though it's clear people are talking to him, he makes no judgments and offers no personal comments. Traveling with the veterinarians through the beautiful Connecticut River countryside, he shows us the working farms, which each have their own owner-imposed personalities, and the hobby farms with their horses and pet pigs and sheep (which are generally cheerier places, even if the owners are sometimes clueless). He gives us the drama of daily life in the practice, and shows how the underlying dynamics change with the entry of a newcomer.
   
   This is an absorbing inside look at a changing profession and the interplay of personalities between a veteran owner, an experienced young man with ambitions of his own, and a neophyte struggling to find her place. A book to be enjoyed by anyone who likes animals and a must for aspiring veterinarians.

1 comments about Orchids From Seed for Pennies.

1. I just wanted to say I got a copy of this and my sister and I tried it, not expecting much, as it is so cheap. We planted eight flasks and they are all growing. We also made a dessication jar for nothing but the cost of a little package of Damp-Rid that would cost $29.75 at the supply house, so that saved more than we paid for the book. I also found what I thought was a virus wasn't, and that the reason my Lc. Lorraine Shirai wouldn't bloom was because of light.

No comments about Irish Wolfhound (Comprehensive Owner's Guide) (Comprehensive Owner's Guide).

No comments about RAT (Pet Owner's Guide).

5 comments about The Life of a Lab.

1. Starting, as this book does, with the all too believable notion that the Labrador Retriever is perhaps the single most agreeable and people-oriented creature this side of Paradise, the author shows the reader how and why to care for God's most perfect earthly creature, the Labrador Retriever! He entices us into the earthly domain of the heavenly Labs with a torrent of photos that show them in all their splendor and glory, and reading this book is such an utter enjoyment it is easy to overlook the valuable information it also provides.
   
   For example, by showing us the degree to which the breed represents a witch's brew of intelligence, honesty and loyalty to its human companions, the author illustrates why the Labrador has become the single most popular breed of dog in the world today. Labradors are sturdy creatures indeed, bred for sporting use along the quicksilver shores of Newfoundland, where the water temperatures and sea conditions require a healthy dollop of strength and endurance, and those are qualities these dogs have in spades.
   
   For any of us that have seen them at work or play in the fields and in the water, their unique combination of physical attributes and obvious intelligence makes them the ideal human companion. I should know; I live with four of them! The proof of their adaptability to almost any condition and their loyalty, intelligence, and unparalleled work ethic is demonstrated by the wide use of them as guide dogs and as adjunct partners for the physically handicapped. Stories of Labradors crawling out onto the ice to save their masters are legendary, as are the tales of them rescuing children from fires or from underneath rubble. Never has there been a dog superior to them.
   
   The author has testifed as to the qualities and abilities of the dog, and one walks away from a reading of the book much better informed as to the all of the many qualities and capabilities of the breed, which seems to represent an astonishing list of useful and worthwhile attributes. We also get quite critical information as to what to look for when choosing a lab, and how to analyze the quality of the puppy you see before you. The author offers information regarding genetics, feeding, health care, and inherited dispositions, as well as some sage advice as to how to ensure your puppy becomes the grown up Labrador companion you will come to view as another family member. This is a great book, and one I heartily recommend! Enjoy!



2. As a lab owner, I was eager to see what this book had to offer. It is superb. The photos are gorgeous, perfectly showing every aspect of these wonderful animals. The text was just as good, perfectly complementing the photos. This is the best book I've seen on the breed and the most beautiful. A must have for any lab or animal lover.



3. I picked up this book while waiting in my doctor's office and immediately ordered a copy for myself. Denver Bryan is an outstanding photographer and depicts this beautiful breed in all possible scenarios, beginning from puppyhood to old age. I was smiling, laughing, and crying, all at the same time. The text, by E. Donnall Thomas Jr., describes these wonderful dogs, their antics, personalities, and the unconditional love they show for their owners. This one's a keeper!!



4. I've spent hours looking at pictures made by Denver Bryan and reading the words of E. Donnall Thomas Jr. ... This book and "Labs Afield" are 2 of the best photography books on Labradors I have found so far ... What can I say ... I don't like hunting but I think Labradors are wonderful ... and the collaboration between photographer & writer celebrates the breed in quite an exceptional way ... If hunting photographs don't disturb you, then this wonderful book will help anyone understand how special it is to have a Labrador as friend and companion ...



5. Not much to say other than check this book out and compare it to any of the others out there. You'll see for yourself. Especially loved the sequence on the "old Lab stealing hotdogs."

No comments about Freshwater Aquariums in Your Life.

No comments about The Sit Down Come Heel Stay and Stand Book: A Step-by-step Dog Training Achievement Program.