Treats, Play, Love: Make Dog Training Fun for You and Your Best Friend

by Patricia Gail Burnham

Overview

Treats, Play, Love is the collected wisdom of Patricia G. Burnham, the author of the highly successful Playtraining Your Dog, which has been in print for more than twenty-five years. Now, after fifty years in the business, she brings to this new book a focus on food training your dog with small treats, while still incorporating fun and games into teaching basic and advanced obedience. Burnham uses no compulsive training or punishment for incorrect or unwanted behaviors (such as barking, biting, urinating inside, or begging), but rather offers rewards for correct behavior, thus reinforcing it.

Topics covered include:

· Basic obedience training for puppies (exercises for sit, down, heel, and stay)

· House manners for older puppies and adult dogs (no whining or barking)

· Recipes for tasty dog treats that your four-legged friend will do anything for

· Understanding your dog's personality

· Preventing dog bites

· Dealing with shy or fearful dogs

· Advice and exercises for training and showing a dog in obedience trials in novice class, open class, and utility class

· Reflections on the end of your dog's life

There are more than 100 photos and line drawings throughout the book to illustrate movements and exercises, and for owners who want to show their dogs, there are detailed descriptions of what they can expect once they enter the ring.

Although Burnham works almost exclusively with greyhounds (which are notoriously difficult to train), her wisdom and expertise apply to all breeds, and her warmth, sound advice, and personal tone make Treats, Play, Love a joy to use.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429994088
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/05/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	337
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Patricia Gail Burnham has been breeding, showing, training, and judging greyhounds and obedience dogs for fifty years and has been a regular contributor to numerous periodicals, including the AK C Gazette, Dog World, Dogfancy, CG Magazine, Field Advisory News, Dogs in Review, Dog News, and Off Lead. She is the author of Playtraining Your Dog and lives in Fair Oaks, California.

Read an Excerpt

Treats, Play, Love is the collected wisdom of Patricia G. Burnham, the author of the highly successful Playtraining Your Dog, which has been in print for more than twenty-five years. Now, after fifty years in the business, she brings to this new book a focus on food training your dog with small treats, while still incorporating fun and games into teaching basic and advanced obedience. Burnham uses no compulsive training or punishment for incorrect or unwanted behaviors (such as barking, biting, urinating inside, or begging), but rather offers rewards for correct behavior, thus reinforcing it.

Topics covered include:

• Basic obedience training for puppies (exercises for sit, down, heel, and stay)
• House manners for older puppies and adult dogs (no whining or barking)
• Recipes for tasty dog treats that your four-legged friend will do anything for
• Understanding your dog’s personality
• Preventing dog bites
• Dealing with shy or fearful dogs
• Advice and exercises for training and showing a dog in obedience trials in novice class, open class, and utility class
• Reflections on the end of your dog’s life

There are more than 100 photos and line drawings throughout the book to illustrate movements and exercises, and for owners who want to show their dogs, there are detailed descriptions of what they can expect once they enter the ring.

Although Burnham works almost exclusively with greyhounds (which are notoriously difficult to train), her wisdom and expertise apply to all breeds, and her warmth, sound advice, and personal tone make Treats, Play, Love a joy to use.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction: Why Write (or Read) This Book?     xiii
Basic Training for Every Puppy: Growing Up Civilized     1
House Manners for Older Puppies and Adults: More Useful Things to Teach     45
Learning from the Past: Compulsive versus Inducive Training, and B. F. Skinner     64
Understanding Your Dog's Personality: We Love Dogs for Their Personalities     72
Preventing Dog Bites: Dominance, Fear Biting, and Pack Leadership     95
Training Basics: If It Eats, You Can Train It     122
Forming the Partnership Between Dog and Handler: The Novice Class Exercises and Rally     155
Jackpot: The Final Step in Food Training: Food Training for Competition     194
Happiness Is a Well-Trained Dog: The Open Class Exercises     198
The Superclass for Almost Every Dog: The Utility Class Exercises     229
The Inner Winner in the Ring: How to Be a Winner No Matter What Happens     269
At the End of a Dog's Life: The Chess Game     295
Why We Do It     302
Title Abbreviations     305
A List of Talented Dogs     309
Index     311