Barron's Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds

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Summary: Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds
Review: A wonderful book! One of the best dog books I've ever seen!! There are beautiful photos of each breed, and there are over 150 AKC recongnized breeds in the book! The author could have added more breeds, but the book only includes AKC breeds, so doing so would have been giving false info. There are two pages for each breed, so plenty of information is givin. There is a chart for each breed which includes Playfulness, Affection level, Cold tolerance, etc. Sections of the text are History, Temperment, Upkeep, Health and Form & Function. You can learn a lot just by reading a few pages in this book! The pictures show the dogs in all different positions, not just in show position, and in a variety of the breed's colors. The backgrounds resemble the dog's function (ex. Belgian Tervuren has a background that includes sheep) This is a great book! 5 stars!

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Summary: A Must-Have For Anyone Searching ForThat Perfect Dog
Review: After owning large dogs for many years, our family decided to look for an (additional) small dog for our daughter. This book not only gave us almost every small dog breed in the world to find information on, but the information it gives is invaluable. I say this because it's the information that you need to make an informed decision: average adult height & weight for male and female; potential health problems; upkeep (a very big factor to consider); temperment, etc. We really appreciated the "At a Glance" feature : a prominant box where everything from energy level to friendliness toward other pets, friendliness toward strangers, ease of training and more is rated from 1-5. This feature made it very easy to compare one breed to another, and helped immensely in our quest to find the "perfect" small dog for our needs. This is a large, beautiful book with wonderful photographs and a full two pages on each breed.

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Summary: Breeders Agree, It's Great
Review: As an avid dog lover and veterinary student, I found this book to be a very complete, yet concise reference. The pictures are wonderful, I have taken this book to several dog shows and I always get comments on how nice the dogs in the photos are as well as being correct in describing the breeds. I turn to this book regularly to research breeds for clients, for myself and just to look at the pictures.

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Summary: It Rocks
Review: I adore this book! I am a total dog nerd, and am always thirsting after the most complete and informative guide to selecting the breed for you, and this book is it!!! I feel so strongly about this book that I have even bought it for or lent it to family and friends that are contemplating owning any kind of dog. The pictures are lovely, the history is interesting, but the most important part of this book is the rating key that the author has included. It rates each AKC registered breed on a scale of 1 to 5 on maintenance, health, pet/human compatibility, and several other need to know categories. It shows each breed's popularity in the US by ranking it on how many new dog ownerships were registered when the author was compiling this book before it's publication in 1997. It also gives a health synopsis that tells you what to expect in terms of health problems and life expectancy. I have bought and read several similar books since purchasing this one, but every one of them has been a GREAT disappointment by comparison. After you own this book, you'll never need another dog breed encyclopedia or dictionary. If only the author would create an addendum every 5 years or so to cover new breeds!

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Summary: The definitive guide to selecting and owning a purebred dog
Review: I adore this book! I am a total dog nerd, and am always thirsting after the most complete and informative guide to selecting the breed for you, and this book is it!!! I feel so strongly about this book that I have even bought it for or lent it to family and friends that are contemplating owning any kind of dog. The pictures are lovely, the history is interesting, but the most important part of this book is the rating key that the author has included. It rates each AKC registered breed on a scale of 1 to 5 on maintenance, health, pet/human compatibility, and several other need to know categories. It shows each breed's popularity in the US by ranking it on how many new dog ownerships were registered when the author was compiling this book before it's publication in 1997. It also gives a health synopsis that tells you what to expect in terms of health problems and life expectancy. I have bought and read several similar books since purchasing this one, but every one of them has been a GREAT disappointment by comparison. After you own this book, you'll never need another dog breed encyclopedia or dictionary. If only the author would create an addendum every 5 years or so to cover new breeds!

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Summary: Great Dog Reference Especially for New Dog Lovers!
Review: I bought this book because I've been looking for a detailed reference on dogs with real pictures. I previously owned Dr. Fogle's book. It is quite good, with full color illustrations of the breeds. It also contains around 400 breeds of dogs, including those not yet registered by the AKC. Unfortunately, it lacks details like affection level, freindliness to different types of "elements" like to dogs, to strangers, etc. This book went further down with what Dr. Fogle has. Unfortunately, only 150 AKC breeds are included. Those looking for uncommon breeds, this book is not for you. However, if you plan on doing research on dogs that are easily obtainable, then this is a great reference. I like the different sections for each breed like History, Temperament, and Upkeep. This helps a lot especially when buying a new dog or puppy. I also like how the author differentiated watchdog ability and protection ability. Many people confuse these as one and the same. Then when they got their dog, they found out that it's all bark and no bite. The standard is helpful for those wishing to show their dogs (the Philippines has the same standard as the AKC). The only thing I didn't like that much are a few of the pictures. Most of them are fabulous. However, some of them, like the Miniature Schnauzer, are not well represented. I have a Mini and kinda disappointed at the second picture of the breed they used. That ear crop on those two dogs is terrible! With this, I have to bring my rating down to 4 stars. Overall, a great book for dog lovers.

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Summary: Best handbook
Review: I have been searching for a good encyclopedia for dogs, from libraries and local book shops. This is truely one of the best I have come across and I have made the right choice to buy it. Thanks to the readers' comments on Amazon.com. They helped.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Dog Encyclopedia You Will Find!
Review: I have searched around book stores and read many different dog books, and I have found this one to be the all-around best choice. It gives ratings on several different qualities, (how much grooming it needs, energy level, etc.) and provides much more information, and it also has a lot of pictures for each breed of dog. I highly recommend this book!

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Summary: Gives you the un-sugar coated skinny on life span, coat care
Review: I have tried and tried to find a realistic text to help me bring in a new large breed dog to my canine family when my Kuvasz passes. I use the Irish Wolf Hound as my guideline to see if an author tells the often unpalatable whole scenario. And this book does. The lavish pictures are a joy to behold but I am NOT unwittingly beguiled into adding a family member that statistically will pass on in 5 to 7 years, such as I know to be the case with the splendid Wolfhound. Other authors, whether through ignorance, lack of research or just plain not caring about the impact of lifespan on an uninitiated I.W. first time purchaser, routinely claim 11 years an I.W. lifespan. This book allows ME to decide based on CORRECT information for the breeds.I also like the distinction between watchdog and protection factors, one often blurred by other authors. HUZZAH!

Rating:
Summary: NICE LAY-OUT!
Review: I liked the giant pictures, simple charts and good descriptions of each breed. My only complaint is I guess the same I would have about most dog books which is that it's missing a lot of breeds. I guess it would have to be really huge to not be missing anything, but there was a really obvious one missing - Pit Bulls, and I didn't understand that. But overall, it was really good.