No comments about Cesar's Way Deck: 50 Tips for Training and Understanding Your Dog.

5 comments about Attracting Birds to Your Backyard: 536 Ways to Create a Haven for Your Favorite Birds (A Rodale Organic Gardening Book).

1. This book is great for those with short attention spans. :)
   
   It's an A to Z format of topics from Acorns to Zinnias. Individual little sections focus on food sources (i.e. acorns, berries, cherries, salvias, suet), common individual backyard birds (bluebirds, cardinals, swallows, etc.), procedures (banding, feeding, first aid), and more. The topics are logical and easy to read and provide lots of little useful tips and tidbits for attracting birds to your yard.
   
   The sections on individual birds generally include getting to know them information and a brief summary of how to attract them as well as some brief information on various types and where they are found.
   
   As an example of the plant sections, the ornamental grasses section gives a short overview of gardening with grasses and best grasses for birds with a chart that includes the plant name, bird attracted, plant description and culture.
   
   The back of the book includes sources, recommended reading, a USDA plant hardiness map and a zone map.
   
   The information is not in-depth (most of the sections are 0.5-1.5 pages long), but it's fun to read and filled with ideas for creating a haven for birds. A few of the more popular sections are given a little more space (water gardens have six pages for instance).



2. I really like the way this author writes: clear succinct explanation scattered with vivid personal anecdotes. This is a sturdy oversized trade paperback that will stand up to years of thumbing through it and carrying it outside.
   
   It's stuffed with beautiful color drawings, side-bars, tables, and landscaping plans. The table of contents is a huge, comprehensive list of topics from A to Z, touching upon everything from bird anatomy to different types of feathers to the coloration and shapes of eggs to project lists to attract birds in all four seasons.
   
   If you can have only one general book on birding, I would recommend this one. With its clear writing and all its illustration, it would be suitable for motivated fifth-graders on up. It also covers so many different common birds that it's not limited to just one American region. Highly recommended. Longer review at OrnateBirdGarden-dot-com.



3. This is a great beginners book. It lacks some types of birds, for pros, but for backyard bird lovers like me, it's perfect. I love the tips and heads up on how to train, feed and attact all types of birds in my area. It even has a page on building a birdhouse!! Lots of homemade treats to give you feathered friends a big smile...LOVE IT!! JK



4. I like this book. I'm a new bird watcher and this book has many good hints.



5. This book is worth its weight in gold. It is loaded with tips on gardening and attracting birds. Good for novice and old timers. Once can never know enough and new ideas are always welcome.

5 comments about Barking: The Sound of a Language (Dogwise Training Manual).

1. As with other of Turid Rugaas's books, this might seem like too a short book to be of much value. Once you carefully read the book, and start watching your dog, you will begin to appreciate Ms. Rugaas's deep wisdom and understand of all things canine.
   
   After having no success with bark collars, penny cans, and spray bottles - all the standard trainer suggestions - I started using these suggestions. I admit my dog has not stopped barking entirely, I don't want him to, but he is barking much less. Plus I understand now why he is barking and how to change perceptions and break the cycle.



2. As usual Turid writes a great, informative, easy to read book with lots of pertainent information.



3. With every book she releases, my admiration for Turid Rugaas grows. Turid is a role model for others in the dog world to follow - her compassion for dogs and reminder to try to understand their perspective, rather than always imposing our needs, is so important. (For example, imposing our need for quiet by using shock collars rather than understanding that the dog is upset/frustrated/loney.)
   
   In "Barking," Rugaas focuses on an age-old topic. Yet, she does so in such a straight-forward, enlightened and enlighting way that even people who have read a myriad of behavior books can benefit. Her emphasis is on the mental state of the dog, and on how to view and address the underlying source of the barking. Sure, others have taken this approach, but Rugaas's presentation is so simple and plain spoken that I recommend her book above all others on the subject - and to *anyone* who wants insight into this form of canine communication, not just to those who have a barking "problem."



4. I also read a great many dog books, and this is one of the best. Rugaas' descriptions are deceptively simple, and might appear to be nothing new. However, they portray barking as a language we simply don't speak, rather than as a problem to be solved.
   
   Rugaas does provide solutions as well as descriptions and common causes for each type of barking.
   
   This book is well worth the read, and for those of us who are dog trainers by profession or avocation, worth several reads over time. At the price, well worth it, and far better than many books at triple the price.



5. This book gave me an attitude change from 'how to deal with this beloved nuisance of a pet' to 'I am lucky enough live with a creature I can learn to understand'. This book gives a view of the world through the dogs needs and perceptions. It allows the human owner a way into that world. You realise that the dog is always trying to reach into 'our' world and we sometimes forget from how far the dog has to reach. Made me a better dog owner.

5 comments about Clicking With Your Dog: Step-By-Step in Pictures (Karen Pryor Clicker Books).

1. The illustrations and the short, exact written instructions make it a wonderful handbook both for novices and experienced people who want to clicker train pets.



2. This woman really knows dogs. Her training methods really work. This book definitely changed the way I relate to my dogs, and it made training so much easier.



3. I have read a couple of clicker training books and have also gotten advice from a clicker-savvy friend, but read this to see if it had anything more to offer me. For those who don't know, clicker training uses a marker (the clicker) to mark the exact moment your dog is doing something you want her to. It's very powerful because it sends a kind of snapshot straight to your dog of what you want. You then, of course, give some kind of reward after clicking.
   
   I liked that this book had lots of pictures and presented the information in different ways, for people with different styles of learning. Also, the author shows that there is more than one way to teach a behavior, even within the clicker training philosophy. To me, this is where many dog training books fall short. They present one way of approaching a new task, but there are many types of dogs and many types of trainers! To be shown that shaping, luring, and just waiting for behaviors are all possible ways to succeed is very encouraging. Of course, each task must still be broken down into baby steps, and each training session must be positive.
   
   My one and only complaint is that Ms Tillman suggests raisins and grapes in her list of possible treats to use for your dog. There is anecdotal evidence that raisins and grapes can cause kidney failure in dogs. It's not necessarily proven, but why take a chance? Read this book, but skip the fruit of the vine! And have fun!



4. Clicking with Your Dog is a great introduction to clicker training, and training in general. The pictures are clear and obvious. The instructions are also clear and explain the motivations of your actions and the dogs actions.
   
   The book covers the most desired skills to teach a dog - from basic doggy etiquette to more advanced, impressive skills. I had very good results using the book as a guide while training my dogs. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.



5. I liked this book. Instead of going too much into the theory behind clicker training, this is a practical, hands-on manual designed to teach people how to actually DO clicker training.
   
   I found some of the tricks to need better explanations, but overall, I liked the book a lot and highly recommend it.

5 comments about Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog.

1. I checked this book out at the library and have been impressed thus far. I think the people who are writing negative reviews because of the "deadlines" are not really getting what he's saying. He's not saying you're going to ruin your dog for life, but it will be more difficult to train and live with your dog if you don't establish certain routines and habits by a certain time frame. I'm a firm believer that a dog can be trained at any point in their life, but I think every dog trainer can agree that dogs are creatures of habit. Establishing good habits early is better and easier then trying to break bad ones later on. Plus these bad habits are what cause dogs to become nuisances to everybody. And this is why there are so many dogs who are at shelters.
   
   I don't agree with everything in his book, especially feeding your dog through kongs throughout the day. I don't see how this is beneficial to give a dog food all day while you are potty training him. A set schedule of feeding seems to be more inline so you know exactly when your dog needs to go.



2. This is the best puppy training book out there. ALL new puppy owners should be required to read this book before taking their puppy home. Easy to read, easy to understand, realistic positive puppy training!



3. I read this book a few weeks before I got my puppy, I'm really glad I did. I've never had a dog before so I really had no idea what to expect, I somehow just assumed that I would get a dog that would know exactly where to go to the bathroom and what not to chew. This book set me straight and I went out and purchased supplies that were recommended before I got my puppy. I bought kong toys, sterilized hollow bones, a crate and treats to stuff inside. Once I got my shih-tzu pup at 8 weeks I immediately started socializing her to everyone. (I didn't take my vets advice about not going outside before 16 weeks) She must have met well over 100 people before she turned 12 weeks old. I also took her to socialize with other puppies to work on her bite inhibition. She's 17 weeks old now, I've got her potty trained to go outside, chewing only on her toys and she is not frightened of anything. I know there is definitely more work to do, but having followed all the advice in this great little book I know my puppy has a great start on life.
   
   If you are planning on getting a young puppy make sure to socialize, socialize, socialize, it's really the most important thing you can do to raise a well adjusted dog. I've started to realize that most of the issues that I see in older dogs all came from a lack of socialization when they were puppies.



4. I am only part of the way through the book but I've already learned so much about what to look for in a puppy and a breeder. There's a lot of sound and important advice in this book.



5. I highly recommend this book to anyone getting a new dog. You can pick out specific chapters or read the whole book. It has great advice, and if you stick to the routine you'll see the results in your new companion.

5 comments about Living With Blind Dogs: A Resource Book and Training Guide for the Owners of Blind and Low-Vision Dogs, Second Edition.

1. My vet recommended that I get this book. I am so glad that I did take his advise. What I have read so far has been a big help. Before getting this book, I felt helpless. Now I know that Merlin and I will still have a great life together. Thank you so very much.
   
   Sincerly,
   Peggy Parker



2. This book was such a big help I thought my dog that went blind in three days would never have a good life. But since reading this book and using the information I gained from it I and my dog are enjoying things again and we are doing all the same things but just a little different.



3. I didn't find this book to be very helpful. It seems to be geared to having a pack of dogs as opposed to a single dog.
   
   Either my dog is incredibly bright (okay, he is) or the book implies that dogs need far more training than I have found it to be for my dog.
   
   My dog is completely blind. It happened over a period of a couple of months. He does very well at home and away and does not require all the aids the book suggests a blind dog might need.



4. My senior dog recently lost most of her vision. This book is excellent in providing ideas that work to help her navigate in the house, down the stairs and outside. The rug at the top and bottom of the steps helps her find her way and the scents added to certain door frames allowed her to find her way in and out of rooms without bumping her head or causing panic. I recommend this book to anyone who has blind or sight impaired animals.



5. I was devastated when my dog lost her vision. This book has helped me cope, given me reassurance and helped my dog enjoy life again. A must read for someone with a visually challenged pet.

3 comments about Training People: How to Bring Out the Best in Your Human.

1. Very funny book, and unique perspective on the dog-human relationship. Had me laughing out loud in several sections, especially as my own dog has trained me on some of Tess's same lessons. Also insightful to many human quirks, and how our habits are viewed from the dogs' perspective. Great gift for dog lovers, and keep one for yourself.



2. This book is a tell all. Tess, a lab owned by Brian Kahn exposes the way she shamefully manipulates him. She shares all the well know secrets and some not so well known about how dogs, under the guise of being pleasers in fact run the homes they live in.
   
   I must concede she does so with wit and charm. This is a fun book.



3. This book will bring a smile to any dog owner's face. Very well written.

5 comments about How Your Horse Wants You to Ride: Starting Out, Starting Over.

1. Gincy Self Bucklin is the trainer I wish I had had all these years I've spent riding! I have been training with qualified instructors for 18 years, and I have still learned SO much from this book. I cannot say enough about this book and its sequel. This book is wonderful and it FAR exeeded my expectations. I only wish I had these books when I first began riding - I could have saved so much time, trouble and bad habits!



2. I reccommend this book to everyone who rides and loves horses, whatever level, whatever style. I first bought it because, in my youth having ridden wonderfully kind horses that pretended like I knew how to ride, I wanted to get back into riding when I was in my late fifties. After a year of lessons with a well-qualified instructor, the school horse I was riding got fed up with my mistakes and sent me sailing. Two operations and two years of physiotherapy later, I went back, just to make a point. It took me a year to get back to about where I was before the accident. Then I hit a block. I didn't seem to be making any progress, in spite of two or three lessons a week. That is when i read this book and a lot of lights came on. Gincy's "active hand" transformed an irritated,head-tossing horse to a calm, attentive partner. Once I grasped her explanation of lateral centering, the horses I rode stopped cutting corners. My instructor and the people I ride with started paying me compliments on my position and my progress. I continue to read and reread her books, and the lights are still coming on. Some people may complain about the detail, but if that's the particular problem you're working on, you want all that detail. Someone commented that Gincy writes for instructors, to help them be better teachers, but if you don't have an instructor, or if he knows it all and doesn't think he has to read books, students can learn directly from the book. As Gincy mentions, many instructors know what you should be doing, but don't know how to explain to a student how to do what is an automatic reflex for an advanced rider. It's certainly helped me to understand why my instructor was always saying "shoulders back, heels down!" etc. I reccommend it to my friends, but as someone else mentioned, it's not a book you can lend, because it doesn't come back. And perhaps the best thing about the book is Gincy's wonderful attitude towards horses and understanding their behavior. I found that Gincy accomplishes everything she set out to do in her introduction.



3. How Your Horse Wants You to Ride: Starting Out, Starting Over
   
   If our horses could have a verbal conversation with us, it would be about how they want us to ride on their backs. So, if that is the information you are looking for, this book will do that for you. Coming to horses late in life, with only weekend trail riding and no ownership in my background, learning to train my horse and ride her has, at times, been overwhelming. All bad habits that horses have are from bad training, not from stubbornness or naturally occurring mean spiritedness. Every interaction we have with our horses teaches them something, good or bad. Gincy is a patient person, I know from interacting with her on her Riding with Confidence list group on Yahoo. She has great insights into muscle memory, fear, breathing, etc. and the way those things cause horses to react in one way or another. How Your Horse wants you to ride is not a quick fix answer. It is deep and thoughtful requiring work on the part of the owner/rider. The reward is as great and worth striving for. After all, if you have a horse, you want to have fun with it, not be fearful of it.



4. This book has inspired me to work on bareback exercises this summer to retrain my balance. I'm sure my horse will thank me. Having ridden with the author when I was a teenager (40 years ago), I remember the value of the bareback riding after this book reminded me. I have tried to read Sally Swift's "Centered Riding" but just didn't engage me. This book has and I will be applying the lessons to myself.



5. I started riding quite late in my life and this book has been a great help to me. Whenever I encounter a problem I consult it again and it always gives me new ideas which work. I like especially the mixture of at home, on the ground and on the horse exercises. You can try basics safely first before you mount your horse. I am a Western rider and although its focus is English riding I was able to use it.

5 comments about How to Raise a Jewish Dog.

1. Very cute point of view, if a little much at times. May I recommend, "Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother" for an eye-popping, serious, yet entertaining, and absorbing look at this maligned stereotype.



2. This was a great book - very easy to read and extremely funny!
   I bought this for my kindle but am going to get a hardcopy for a co-worker- she is raising a Jewish dog and doesn't even know it!



3. Very few books make me laugh out loud as frequently as this one did. I especially loved the training lessons, and am impressed with what brilliant actors they found to portray the dogs in the evocative photos that illustrate each step of the program. I eagerly await the sequel, How to Raise a Jewish Cat.



4. I'm not Jewish but I loved this. Sent to a Jewish friend who said they really identified with the book



5. HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH DOG by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman
   January 21, 2008
   
   This book was way too funny! HOW TO RAISE A JEWISH DOG is a manual that teaches us all how to raise our dogs Jewish. In Chapter 1, the age-old question is brought up:
   
   "Why is a Jewish Dog different from all other dogs? A Jewish dog has three important traits that an ordinary dog doesn't have: an exaggerated sense of his own wonderfulness, an exaggerated sense of his own shortcomings, and an extremely close relationship with his master."
   
   This is a good indication of what the book is like, and for those who can't see the humor in this, then maybe this isn't the book for you. Filled with photographs and charts, it's a how-to for those who want to raise their dogs Jewish. I also discovered after reading this book that I'm definitely a Jewish woman -wanna be. Very scary, how much my behavior matched those depicted in the book. (My own conversations with Alice our cat, as I go on and on asking her, "Why you do this to me? Why? What did I do to you to make you behave this way?" is a clear-cut example of my Jewishness).
   
   I'm definitely recommending this book to those who can appreciate the humor. It certainly made my day.

5 comments about The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide.

1. i started a marine aquarium from scratch and with no knowledge. it was very confusing but without this book i don't know what i would have done. it covers all the basics, got me up and running and with no problems.



2. This is a great book and perhaps the best one I have read for a newbie who wants to set up a marine aquarium



3. I would recommend this to anyone interested in starting a marine aquarium. The author provides a to the point and practical guide to setting up your first or next tank. You do not need a biology degree to enjoy it.



4. The writer did just as intended in this book. It is a starter book for someone starting a marine aquarium and it does that precisely without going into heavy details which would create a sense of doom for the new marine aquarium keeper. I spent years with my successful tank and I owe it largely to Michael who is also a sometimes writer for Marine Depot and other places.



5. I've maintained freshwater aquariums for about 7-8 years now and during the summer I thought I'd give saltwater a try. I was looking for a well regarded, easy to follow, and comprehensive book which would teach me the basics on how to get things started. After scouring all the different book reviews on Amazon I finally settled on The New Marine Aquarium. Its been about 4 months since I purchased the book. Today I have a 54 gallon marine tank set up with saltwater fish and inverts and they are doing very well. I purposely waited until now to write a review because I wanted to see the success rate of following the authors steps. With that said, I couldnt be more satisfied. This book is worth every penny. It covers all the basics and provides some very valuable suggestions. The best thing about it is that its a good read, unlike some aquarium books which can be like reading a medical journal this author provides helpful insights in an easy to understand language. Great illustrations and lots of valuable advice and tips are a plus too. Is this the be all/end all for your aquarium research? Of course not. I still did some research on the web but I always came back to this book for the final say on any questions I had. Highly recommended for those that are looking to start up in this hobby.