Book Review – The Culture Clash

This book will open your eyes!  You may be horrified to learn that your sweet fluffy canine companion doesn’t cuddle up to you because he loves you, and he doesn’t chew your slippers to get revenge for leaving him at home. Nope. Dogs basically do things or don’t do things because there is something in it for them. Not for love. Not out of defiance. Not for revenge.

That may be hard to get your head around, and should make you stop and think about how you interact with your dog. Do you come home and get angry at your dog if he has chewed the furniture while you were out? He doesn’t connect your anger with the furniture, all he sees is his beloved master coming home and yelling at him. That’s not good for your relationship at all!

Similarly, if your dog doesn’t sit when he is told, is he being defiant? Not at all, there’s just nothing in it for him. Yelling and punishment will probably make your dog do it, but he’s doing it because he’s scared of you. Not good for your relationship either.

This book explains that if your dog doesn’t do as you ask, he’s not being defiant or even “dominant”, he might just not understand what you want. It also shows you how your dog’s mind works, and how you can train him to do what you want using only positive methods.

This is one of my favourite dog training books and should be on the bookshelf of every dog owner.