Customer Rating:  
Summary: cesar millan fans be wary
Comment: There are some awfully cruel ways to train a dog. And social dominance has been used as a rationalization by many. Pinning a dog's sensitive ears to the ground for failing to meet one's expectations, jerking choke chains like the break on a stagecoach, dog whips... Jean Donaldson has apparently seen some pretty horrific ways to treat Man's Best Friend and has a humane distaste for unreasoning cruelty.
The dogs in my life (my brother's, my sister's, my friends') are all more willing to do what I ask than what their owners ask, thanks largely to the Dog Whisperer. Like Mr. Millan, I don't beat dogs or try to cause pain, ever. Also, that show, and what I ask of the dogs has nothing to do with doing tricks. Stay off me until you're invited. Get out of the street if I say. Wait until I share to try and get to food.
Jean Donaldson's take on dominance believers is as clear as it is negative. In fact, the first 40 pages could be whittled down to about a page and a half without the constant reminders that dominance is a stupid, dumb, cruel, evil, mean-spirited, intellectually weak, foolish, mongoloid, hyper-compensating, boorish bullying poop-headed world view. Getting tired of reading this paragraph? Multiply it by 50 and you might make it to chapter 2. By the by: if you think there's value in waiting for your dog to be calm before letting him outside, you don't understand that he's excited, moron.
JD doesn't make these declaratives without supporting evidence. She sites many heart-rending examples of aversion training that left me feeling physically ill. You don't see it? What has aversion training got to do with taking a role as pack leader? Me neither. But that's only because I'm so stupid.
If you want to train your dog, there's some really good information in here. She explains steps that your dog may take in the learning process that you should reward; helping you to see partial successes where you might have seen failures. All of it horribly undercut by the snotty imperious tone that will definitely set barriers to the people who most need the information.
Readers of this review may find themselves thinking, "you have a semantical conflict here. Don't let passion you share and deceptive phrasing set you against this book!" This is a fair analysis. Especially since her advice on tug-of-war amounts to: Do it. Play tug of war. A lot. Just follow these steps. 1) obtain dominance, and 2) enforce dominance. Consistently.
I will rebut this argument in Jean's inimitable style. You are stupid.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best book on dog behavior I've ever read
Comment: I considered myself pretty progressive regarding dog training and behavior and then I read this book and realized I needed to update my thinking even more. The book is so good I bought 5 more to give to my friends with dogs. I STRONGLY recommend it to anyone who owns a dog. It is really worth the read. After you read this book, then move on to clicker training books - especially anything by Karen Pryor. Using clicker training (discussed in Culture Clash as well), I was able to train my 7 week old Aussie puppy how to sit, down, give paw, "attention," and "touch" (target) my hand, in about 3-5 minutes for each command. If you love your dogs, read these books and train them well.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good info, not so good writing
Comment: Donaldson clearly knows alot about dog behavior and provides some useful knowledge about the dog's evolutinary history and behavior issues. Unfortunately, her writing style is overly tedious and at times excessively academic. Who cares, other than psychologists, about the subtle differences between operant and classical conditioning and the overly complicated version of "aversives" that she brings to the discussion? Much could be said with far simpler words and better sentence construction. I felt like I was reading a textbook,,,,not what I wanted. Why say "olfactory" when "smell" would do quite nicely. She also displays, on occasion, a rather silly arrogance when she refers to some people (who might have differing views than she does)as "poor" or "stupid." I was extremely disappointed. Her writing got in the way of providing solutions to my dog's issues.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A gift to dogs and their humans
Comment: I love any information that allows us to better understand a species that doesn't communicate via human language. Dogs certainly have a wonderful ally in Jean Donaldson. Her explanations are clear and insightful, based on science rather than subjective interpretation. Anyone who reads this book will have a much better understanding of how to interact respectfully and effectively with dogs. And isn't that what dogs really and truly deserve?
Customer Rating:
Summary: For Anyone That Really Wants To Understand Dog Behavior
Comment: My dog-eared, worn-cover, beaten up copy of The Culture Clash, signed by Jean Donaldson Oct. 5, 1997, is one of my most prized books in my dog training library. I've had the great opportunity to attend her seminars and listen to her speak on a few occasions. It's a book that is required reading for any serious student of dog behavior. It's also great for anyone just interested in learning more about dog behavior and training. Let me explain why:
1. The book opens with "Getting The Dog's Perspective - Walt Disney vs. B.F. Skinner" and goes on to explain that dogs are amoral animals, that they have no understanding of right and wrong. She adds that dogs don't spite us, get back at us or feel guilty for doing "bad behavior." When we believe that our dogs are getting back at us, or trying to spite us, they end up getting a lot of punishment.
Think about it, you come home after a long day at work only to find your favorite $200 pair of shoes chewed to bits. If you think your dog did that to "get back at you" you would dole out a nice big dose of punishment. In reality, your dog was stressed at being left alone and chewed to relieve the stress. The next day you leave for work and your dog feeling stressed again, chews your kitchen chairs. You walk in the house and think, "He did it again to ME!" Severe punishment follows.
If this happens again and again the behavior is likely to get worse. In reality, your dog is not associating the chewing with his behavior. The chewing is a direct result of your behavior. Your dog associates the punishment with your homecoming. You walk in the door and pound him - this sets up a behavioral history. When you walk out the door there is a good chance that when you come back in a beating will follow.
Everyday you leave and your dog learns that when you come home he is going to be punished. It's all very stressful. How does the dog relieve stress - CHEWING!
Jean Donaldson explains this process so well and really gives you insights into why your dog is behaving a certain way.
2. Chapter 2 continues with the fact that dogs are predatory animals, that they are hard wired to search, stalk, rush, chase, bite/hold/shake/kill, and to dissect and eat(prey). This chapter is particularly important because of the writing on tug-o-war, the most misunderstood game in "dogdom".
In addition to tug-o-war, she discusses alone training, chew training and a lot more.
3. Chapter 3 on Socialization, Conflict Resolution, Fear and Aggression goes on to give some of the best advice for new puppy owners. The sections on bite inhibition, timid puppies, dog-dog socialization, food bowl exercises, object exchanges, and the bite threshold model is a must read for any new puppy owner.
4. Chapter 4 - Its All Chew Toys To Them, starts off with the story of The Gorns. The Gorns is an excellent story of putting us in the position of dogs. Humans are kept as companion animals to a more intellectually sophisticated species.
Imagine living on a planet with a Gorn and this Gorn punishes you for doing normal human behavior like: Shaking hands, sitting on couches, eating anything but "Human Chow," etc.
Think about dogs, they get punished for sniffing each others butts (human equilevlent to shaking hands), sitting on the couch, trying to eat anything other than the food from a bag that we feed them. This is a very eye-opening chapter.
5. Chapter 5 is the one chapter that I think makes a lot of people upset - "Lemon Brains But We Still Love Them." The first paragraph of this chapter she states:
"The enmeshment between dog owners and Walt Disney has been too tight to allow behaviorism in. We've been clinging to the wish that dogs might just have big, convoluted, melon brains like humans and have a natural desire to please. The fact of the matter is dogs have little, smoothish lemon brains and are looking out for number one. I personally still like them."
It's an excellent chapter that goes on to explain how behaviors are taught. Much of what has been taught on dog training is false. For years dog owners have been told that when a dog does NOT do the command the dog is being dominant. The dog owner is then instructed to be "The Alpha" and apply appropriate force, setting up a negative situation between dog and owner. If we truly believe that the dog has a natural desire to please, then the dog should want to do it for us.
On the other hand, if we take a realistic view and understand that as Jean states, `They are looking out for number one," we figure out what the proper motivation is to teach the dog to do the command.
6. The final chapter finishes up with instructions on how to teach your dog obedience commands starting with kindergarten levels and working up to PhD levels.
The relationship between dogs and humans is a long one. It's time that we stop expecting our dogs to think like us and learn to think like our dogs.
Is it any reason that we have 56 million dog bites every year in the United States? The only way were going to make that number go down is to read books like Jean Donaldson's book, The Culture Clash.
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