Now imagine Tinker Creek was a New Jersey suburb, and you have an idea of the surprises that await in John Zeaman’s book. Humorous, thought-provoking, and playful, Dog Walks Man might also be called Zen and the Art of Dog Walking. Zeaman takes us on a journey from a 'round-the-block fraternity of “dog-walking dupes”—suburban fathers who indulged their children’s wish for a dog—to a strange and forbidden wonderland at the edge of town, the New Jersey Meadowlands. Along the way, he rediscovers childhood’s forgotten “fringe places,” investigates the mysteries of the natural world, and experiences moments of inexplicable joy. Each chapter of Dog Walks Man is a bite-size meditation on the wisdom derived from dogs and dog walking. Woven into the narrative are musings on such familiar dog-walking issues as the war of nerves that precedes each walk (or “w-a-l-k” if your dog is in earshot), the problem of dog-walking monotony, and why dog walkers are always the ones to discover dead bodies. This is also the story of Pete, the prescient standard poodle who begins as the “family glue” and evolves into Zeaman’s partner on a journey through an abandoned landscape as alive as any jungle. Above all, Dog Walks Man is about a search for wholeness in an increasingly artificial world. It is about discovering what Thoreau meant when he wrote, in his seminal essay “Walking,” “Life consists with wildness.” Because the truth is, something as simple as walking the dog can open up unexpected worlds.

    This comprehensive, illustrated book gives essential advice on how to become the pack leader by understanding and interpreting the body language of man's best friend. Topics include choosing your Border Collie, taking your puppy home, common sense dog training, nutrition, creating a partnership, and adolescent and older dogs.

    With pet disease and illness on the rise, a significant proportion of pet owners are turning to holistic health care to prevent disease and enhance their pet's well-being. The foundation of holistic care is optimal nutrition, Our own doctors extol the virtues of eating fewer processed foods and more fresh foods if we wish to enjoy good health. Certainly, our pets deserve the same consideration. This easy-to-read book will help pet-lovers enable their dogs and cats to enjoy an ideal quality of life through a species-appropriate diet of raw, natural foods. Readers learn how to easily prepare a healthy homemade meal so their pet can have a shiny coat, healthy skin and digestion, clean teeth, bright eyes, and no fleas or "doggy breath." Also included are the Holistic Animal Yellow Pages, an invaluable information resource.

    An outstanding analysis of why and how protection, Obedience, and Tracking all play an integral part in Schutzhund training, with emphasis on selecting and raising a dog to suit the owner's needs.

    Pat, as the dog came to be known, and his raffish travelling companion, a young pup, "were even more unwelcome than the weather," but after a few preliminaries both settled in as members of the Borland household. The pup eventually found his permanent home elsewhere, but Pat became Hal Borland's true companion - and a local legend, the terror of woodchucks for miles around. With his keen sensitivity to the natural world, Borland here recounts, with deep affection and wonder, how a man and his dog can form a magical and unforgettable partnership. First published in 1961, THE DOG WHO CAME TO STAY "will appeal to many sportsmen and to all people who have ever been closely attached to a dog." (The New York Times Book Review)

    Today, they are family members and surrogate children. A little over a century ago, pets didn't warrant the meager legal status of property. Now, they have more rights and protections than any other animal in the country. Some say they're even on the verge of becoming legal persons.How did we get here—and what happens next?In this fascinating exploration of the changing status of dogs and cats in society, pet lover and award-winning journalist David Grimm traces the rich and surprising history of our favorite companion animals, from their wild origins to their dark days in the middle ages to their current standing as the most valued animals on Earth. As he travels across the country—riding along with Los Angeles detectives as they investigate animal cruelty cases, touring the devastation of New Orleans as he searches for the animal survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and coming face to face with wolves and feral cats—Grimm explores the changing social attitudes that have transformed pets into family members, and the remarkable laws and court cases that have elevated them to quasi citizens.The journey to citizenship isn't a smooth one, however. As Grimm finds, there's plenty of opposition to the rising status of cats and dogs. From scientists and farmers worried that our affection for pets could spill over to lab rats and livestock to philosophers who say the only way to save society is to wipe cats and dogs from the face of the earth, the battle lines are being drawn. We are entering a new age of pets-one that will not only fundamentally change our relationship with these animals, but transform society itself.For pet lovers or anyone interested in how we decide who gets the coveted status of "person", Citizen Canine is a must read. It is a pet book like no other.

    In this fun and informative guide, her first for puppies, she teaches you how to navigate each stage of a puppy's growth, from the first weeks through adolescence. You'll learn:- puppy-proofing your home- toilet training- building leash-walking and play skills- preventing nipping and excessive barking- caring for your puppy's health- and more!

    The truth is, dogs are neither—and our misunderstanding has put them in serious crisis. What dogs really need is a spokesperson, someone who will assert their specific needs. Renowned anthrozoologist Dr. John Bradshaw has made a career of studying human-animal interactions, and in Dog Sense he uses the latest scientific research to show how humans can live in harmony with—not just dominion over—their four-legged friends. From explaining why positive reinforcement is a more effective (and less damaging) way to control dogs' behavior than punishment to demonstrating the importance of weighing a dog's unique personality against stereotypes about its breed, Bradshaw offers extraordinary insight into the question of how we really ought to treat our dogs.

    Believing in a fairy tale world where dogs possess the same moral consciousness and a sense of altruism as attributed to humans has led to consequences that include a drastic increase in leash laws, dogs being outlawed in a rising number of city and national parks, some breeds being banned in several states, an alarming escalation of aggression to humans, a rising cost in homeowner and business insurance, and a record number of clinically maladaptive dogs. This book is not a dog obedience book. Rather, it is about developing a deep understanding of the authors of your dog's behavior; nature and the wolf. For all that man has done to carve the wolf from the wild to create a biological doll, today's dog is still a wolf at heart and the accompanying instincts borne from such ancestry defines how the dog approaches its world. In this book, you will come to know the wolf in your dog and the tools that nature gave it to survive and coexist in both the mountains and in your home. You will learn how activating and deactivating the natural wolf impulses and mechanisms in your dog will lead to the harmonious existence and the control you always dreamed of. Most of all, you will come to embrace the wild in your dog and the grace and the peace that is breathed into its acceptance.

    I Did. Now What?! Now it's time for her to write about the real love of her life: Wendell. Her dog.*Do you talk about your dog non-stop? *Do you suspect your dog is a genius? *Do you name each of your dog's toys?*Does your dog get more heavy petting than your spouse? *Do all holidays revolve around your dog? If any of these scenarios sound familiar, you probably have a healthy admiration for your dog. But if all of the scenarios in What Wendell Wants sound familiar, well, it's obvious that your appreciation of your pooch has truly crossed the line into true love--dysfunctional, sure, but who cares?! Jenny Lee knows this obsession inside and out, and her advice is not to fight it: there's simply no cure. Instead, she offers hysterical accounts of her own experiences--from fretting over her dog's haircut to getting his portrait painted a la Picasso to trying desperately to impress the Bed & Biscuit dog kennel--to give all kindred dog-loving spirits out there some consolation that they're not alone.From the Hardcover edition.

    During the day, she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to help them communicate. At night, she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn't they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans?Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word "outside" when clicked, whenever she took Stella out of the house. A few years later, Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons, and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences.How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide. It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together, from the day they met, to the day Stella "spoke" her first word, and the other breakthroughs they've had since. It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella, broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets.Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had, as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know, How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade.

    BAT looks at the function of growling, lunging, or fleeing and helps dogs learn socially acceptable behaviors that serve that same function. In a nutshell, BAT builds confidence by giving dogs a chance to learn to control their environment through peaceful means. That makes BAT very empowering to your dog or puppy, in a good way. It's also empowering for you, as you learn how to understand your dog and help him learn to safely get along with people, dogs, and other "triggers."

    Things did not go according to plan in Sleightholm's first years as a police dog handler. The difficulties of finding and keeping the right dog were so great that he was ready to give up. Then Cass came along. The two of them quickly formed a bond, graduated as stars from the training school, and became an outstandingly effective working partnership. Cass became part of the Sleightholm family, too. Car thieves, armed robbers, drug dealers, murderers, burglars—Cassius learned to find them, contain them, intimidate, and attack if he had to. Sometimes it was dangerous for him. Usually it was more dangerous for the criminal. The story of Cassius is by turns thrilling, funny, and moving, and always a fascinating insight into the freemasonry of police dog training.

    Many common behavior problems can be either prevented or minimized by starting a puppy with good foundation training from the beginning. In addition, this book provides a program that will help you create a puppy that is ready for sport-specific training at the appropriate age-a puppy with the ability to focus on whatever you want, for as long as you want, whenever you want. "Paying attention" is its own skill set and teaching it should be separate from teaching your puppy more complex behaviors. Without attention, you won't get as far as you want with all those other behaviors you're going to teach because it's likely they will fall apart in the face of distraction. So it is wise to teach the attention skill set as the "base of operations" for your puppy training. The attention skill set includes: Discrimination skills, self-control skills, and arousal regulation skills. The concepts and suggestions in this book can also be used for rescue dogs that, like puppies, are starting out as "blank slates" as far as your training is concerned. About the Author Leslie McDevitt, MLA, CDBC, CPDT is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. In 1998, Leslie rescued Gordie, an American Pit Bull/GSD cross that had been badly abused, and in trying desperately to help him through his crushing anxieties and fears, met her inspiration and mentor, world-renowned veterinary behaviorist Dr. Karen Overall. Through Gordie, Leslie found her calling and devoted herself completely to becoming a dog trainer, and later, a behavior consultant.

    Learn how the puppy's body and mind develop and what you can do to shape his behavior into a well-adjusted, well behaved dog. Explains what breeders should do during the puppy's first seven weeks to insure that the puppy adapts well to family life, plus positive methods for socialization and training puppies of any breed from birth to one year of age.