Man Meets Dog (Routledge Classics)

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever for training a dog as a family pet
Review: A slim and witty volume with many anecdotes from Lorenz's work as an animal behaviorist. But the jewel in the book is a single chapter where he lays out how to train a dog so that the dog understands what you want of him. Train your dog in two weeks, 30 minutes a day.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever for training a dog as a family pet
Review: A slim and witty volume with many anecdotes from Lorenz's work as an animal behaviorist. But the jewel in the book is a single chapter where he lays out how to train a dog so that the dog understands what you want of him. Train your dog in two weeks, 30 minutes a day.

Rating:
Summary: The book is worth every penny and then some.
Review: As usual with Konrad Lorenz the book deserves 5 stars. He has the most charming writing style and writes of his many dogs, and cats, in tones of wonder, friendship, joy, surprise and love. Here is a man who found his life task, he simply couldn't do anything else, it is his love, his joy his purpose in life. Its rare that this happens so easily in someone's life and in that sense he is a most fortunate man as well as the fact that he recognised this path early on in his life, even as a young boy.

Lorenz not only enjoys writing but does so from both a practical and deeply knowledgeable orientation. In this book he describes the many remarkable experiences he had with his dogs and also gives plenty of practical adice: such as when to buy a dog, what sort of dog to buy, dogs and children, canine personalities etc etc. As with his other book "King Solomons Ring" the book is full of his wonderful little drawings which are most expressive of each character trait of his dogs and cats.

The book is simply invaluable as a guide to sharing your life with your very own devoted friend, whether it be a jackal or lupus dog. there is much that was unknown to me such as the previous distinction between dog types or the fact that a dog's eyesight is poor and that dogs are capable of lying, astonishing.

The book is worth every penny and then some.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book about dog behaviour.
Review: In the new introduction Donald McCaig says that if this is your first time reading this book I envy you. If you're a dog person then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: outdated, though still worth a read
Review: Lorenz is a keen observer of dog behavior and a wonderful teller of tales. On that level, the book is very enjoyable and highly recommended. Where is comes up short, though, is in the science.

While his many tales are very insightful, they are not necessarily indications of general behavior. And though the book is a wealth of information, some information is clarified or discredited by more recent research (see Desmond Morris' DOGWATCHING and Stephen Budiansky's THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS). His jackal/wolf theory about dog evolution, in particular, is invalid. He gives some valuable information about dog ownership, though this book is not a complete guide to owning a dog.

Rating:
Summary: outdated, though still worth a read
Review: Lorenz is a keen observer of dog behavior and a wonderful teller of tales. On that level, the book is very enjoyable and highly recommended. Where is comes up short, though, is in the science.

While his many tales are very insightful, they are not necessarily indications of general behavior. And though the book is a wealth of information, some information is clarified or discredited by more recent research (see Desmond Morris' DOGWATCHING and Stephen Budiansky's THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS). His jackal/wolf theory about dog evolution, in particular, is invalid. He gives some valuable information about dog ownership, though this book is not a complete guide to owning a dog.

Rating:
Summary: A dog book for everyone
Review: Well, I'm probably a little biased since I have a great affinity towards Lorenz's writings, but I still think I'd consider this the best dog book even if I didn't believe the first statement to be true... although I do.
Anyway, I'm guessing you probably don't care and want me to get on with it. The main reason for the brilliance of this book is the simple insight that it offers. As you read it, you realize just how much of what he is saying is common sense. But that is the brilliance of it; it's stuff that is wonderfully obvious, but that many of us probably would have never thought of. Now that is not to say that the book is a simplistic, uninteresting lump of paper. No, quite on the contrary: it is an thought-provoking, eye-opening, rather exciting book.
The below are some things that one can (and probably will) take away from this great work. They are: A) will help you better understand your dog and his/her behavioral workings; B) will help you train and own a well-behaved, loyal dog; and the most important C) will help you to truly appreciate your best friend...