Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional book!
Review: Train yuorself and everything else. I have never read a better book on the art of training. This book teaches how to properly train, not the basic command and obey. No fluff here, just solid expert advise and instruction.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative and clear, easy to understand
Review: Karen uses a number of charts to illustrate the results various training methods have regarding specific areas of training. I found these charts [along with her easy style of writing] to be VERY helpful. The charts illustrate the type of results that one would achieve with your dog when using a particular training methods.R. Regnier regnier@ix.netcom.com It's very easy to look and see the result you want and then find the type of training you would need to do to achieve that result.
Rating:
Summary: Not just for dogs, but a great manual for teaching anyone
Review: Karen Pryor has written a book that has broad appeal. She writes in terms that the lay reader can easily understand without sacrificing one bit of scientific accuracy, and illustrates her points with colorful, memorable and useful examples. I have used this book as an adjunct text for my courses in learning theory for years. Don't Shoot the Dog should be required reading for anyone with a new pup or a new child (or a new job, starting college, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: Helped me practice violin more effectively
Review: If you are a practicing musician, the poor "dog" you sometimes feel like shooting is yourself when your practicing isn't going well. This book has changed my entire approach to learning difficult music--I am both a happier person and a better violinist for having read it! Plus the book is delightful to read.
Rating:
Summary: Positive, timely and unexpected re-inforcement = RESULTS
Review: I found this to be an excellent well written book. Clear and precise examples of other situations that relate to some of the every day challenges that I face. I have already applied some of what I learned in this book to my relationships w/ my kids, dog, wife and associates. The results have been both immediate and amazing. I recommend this book highly to anyone who is seeking positive change. In fact, I am going to order five additional copies right now for friends and co-workers.
Rating:
Summary: A good primer for training any animal -- 2 or 4 legged.
Review: Karen Pryor writes a very concise, interesting, and humorous book. In it she gives you the basics on shaping behavior. It's a great primer, but don't look to it if you have specific questions. It doesn't tell you how, specifically, to get your dog to stop barking furiously when he's on the leash. It is great, however, for sit, fetch, and other tricks. I wish she would write another, more detailed, more specific book. I really like her school of thought.
Rating:
Summary: Learn to train pets or people
Review: Not just a great book for pet training but also for interacting with people. I've used these techniques in management as well as with my dog.
Rating:
Summary: Learn why a "thank you" is so powerful.
Review: This isn't about dogs at all! It's about how easy
it is to get what you want from other creatures
if you would only send clear signals, with good
timing, when they happen to be doing it. It's a
wonderful, fun, amusing book. It will change the
way you manage, work, teach and rear. Everyone one I've gotten to read it has thanked me.
Rating:
Summary: Every animal owner needs to read this book
Review: This is my favorite training book (and isn't just about dog training- it's about
operant conditioning for the average Joe). It humorously and thoroughly explains how to influence and shape behavior using well-timed reinforcement. This book will
be especially helpful to people trying to train animals to do unusual behaviors (such
as disabled people who are self-training their own assistance dog). When you're done reading this, you'll understand how to break literally any behavior down into small manageable pieces that you can train for. But don't assume it's just for animal
trainers. I know an excellent manager who read this book when he was first promoted to
management. It's a quick-read, it's fun, and the info is very valuable. Certainly a "must read".
Rating:
Summary: wonderful and informative book
Review: "Don't Shoot the Dog" is only marginally about dog training, (although the dog was reccomened to me by noted dog trainer Sarah Wilson, a fine dog training book author in her own right). What it is about is using postive reinforcement for all training purposes. Postive reinforcement does not mean NEVER correcting the subject, but doing so in a postive way, mostly by rewarding correct behavior. Ms. Pryor shows, by using certain common situations, (kids making too much noise in the car on long trips, dog barking in the back yard all night, etc) how different methods would work or not work, and further adds other examples, with animals that are not usually thought of as "trainable", how certain behaviors were be easily taught. The author is a big advocate of "clicker training" (as is Sarah Wilson, who I mentioned earlier) but even after reading the book, I really don't understand the "why and how it works" aspect of it, which is why only 4 stars, her explantion just doesn't seem clear enough for someone who is new to the concept. (If half star ratings were allowed, this book would have 4 and a half, since I consider this a minor flaw...) This is a wonderful book which should be on the bookshelf of everyone who does animal training, or for that matter, parents as well...
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