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yeah, unfortunately, so many people just get rid of the dog, thinking it was a bad dog, instead of realizing they (the human) are the problem. The more I know of people, the better I like dogs....

The more I know about people, the better I like my dog.
-- Mark Twain

I had the extreme displeasure of meeting someone at a neighbor's house who, when the talk got to dogs, mentioned that he had once had a Poodle who "refused to be housebroken" and so he "had to put her down."

Thanks for the correction on the quote. I wish your neighbor had been "put down" instead. It's a privledge to own a dog. Sometimes I wish people had to take some sort of test first.

I look at it this way, the book is a wonderful story, (yikes YES I bought it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> BUT, I read it and thought about when we had dogs as kids.......does anyone remember these times? I remember our GSD's were the worst at chewing things up, I remember dogs going on the rug, chewing up shoes and the newspaper you had down so they wouldn't go on the rug. I remember them jumping on you and growling over toys, back then we weren't thinking dominance, crate train, ball on a string.....we were thinking that it was frusterating yet part of owning a dog (except for those of us who were not fortunate enough to have dogs as kids). That is exactly what this guy and his family went through. I think some of it is a little embellished but it does make a good book. Yeah, we all have learned TONS since then but you kind of laugh all the way through it thinking......"poor guy, if he only knew"
Just my two cents
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

oops, not your neighbor, but the person AT your neighbors!

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.... I wish your neighbor had been "put down" instead. .....

Yes. When he said that, everyone in the room fell silent. Also, I have never seen him again, and I assume that he was never invited back. (He made that staement to the wrong crowd.)

OK, this is Ines Ventura, wife of William who is constantly on this website and I have to give 'my two cents' as well. We have three dogs and ALL of them are in training. None of them runs the house or is in charge. I still bought the book, not as a read from dog owner to dog owner but as a story of a man loving and despairing over his dog. I read the story and realized the mistakes he made right off the bet because they are obvious. I read some instances that I could agree with for I did them myself before we got into learning about our dogs and training them. Rookie mistakes... He got his dog because he and his wife grew up with dogs and had great experiences. Unfortunately, I would say, they ended up the average dog owners in America, spoiling them, lack of training and often times helplessness. However, I laughed a lot when reading this book and I cannot remember the last time I laughed that much when reading a story (and I read a LOT) and I cried in the end like I NEVER cried before reading a book. In the end, it was about a man reflecting on living with his dog he never knew how to calm and train and about his love for that dog that so many other 'average' dog owners would have put down. You seem to forget that most of us on this website are NOT average dog owners because we care about discipline and love in the right amount, we care about the right food and excercise and what to avoid or have to do's.
I bought the book and I loved it for an entertaining read it is meant to be. There was no agenda of what not to do (although apparent in the read)

Respectfully,
Ines Ventura

the link didn't work for me so i couldn't read that story , but i was just given a book which sounds similar . it's a short little read called " the dog rules . . . almost everything " and it is about a former cat lover who gets a border collie and winds up having his life ruled ( in a nice way ) by the dog . while funny at times , i too read it like , " buddy , you are on the wrong track with this dog . . . good luck ! "

the funny thing about this story though , was that the book was given to me by a woman whose life is ruled by her dogs , and she wouldn't have it any other way . . .