How to Talk to Your Dog (Talk to Your Pets) - Hardcover

George, Jean Craighead

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060270926 ISBN 13: 9780060270926

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2000

Synopsis

Find out what your dog is really saying -- and talk back!

How do you say hello and good-bye in dog talk? Most importantly, how do you tell your dog that you're the boss and have him adore you? Learn what different tail positions and facial expressions mean -- and much more!

Jean Craighead George, award-winning author of over 80 books about nature and animals, demonstrates in words and photos how to communicate with your best friend.

01-01 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist

Children's Books 2000-NY Public Lib.

About this title

About the Authors

Jean Craighead George wrote over one hundred books for children and young adults. Her novel Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973, and she received a 1960 Newbery Honor for My Side of the Mountain. Born into a family of famous naturalists, Jean spent her entire career writing books that celebrated the natural world.

Sue Truesdell has illustrated many children's books, including How to Talk to Your Dog by Jean Craighead George and Betsy Byars's I Can Read! series about the adventuresome Golly Sisters. Ms. Truesdell lives in Tenafly, New Jersey.

How do you say hello and good-bye in dog talk? Most importantly, how do you tell your dog that you're the boss and have him adore you? Learn what different tail positions and facial expressions mean -- and much more!

Jean Craighead George, award-winning author of over 80 books about nature and animals, demonstrates in words and photos how to communicate with your best friend.

01-01 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist

Children's Books 2000-NY Public Lib.

Reviews

Grade 2-5-An easy-to-read, conversational, humorous, and informative guide that will help young dog owners communicate with their pets. (However, the author warns, "it is not very rewarding to bark at your dog. He doesn't understand your bad accent, and may twist his head and look at you in confusion.") The illustrations depict George interacting with various cartoon canines whose expressive and varied postures, faces, and actions are irresistible in a Jules Feifferesque way. They begin with a demonstration of how to get the dog's attention and show who's the boss. (George is shown on all fours, "tail" in air, nose-to-nose with a yellow mixed-breed in the same posture.) The book then explains tail talk, facial expressions, sniffing behaviors, eye language, and sounds. The author's affectionate understanding of dogs is very apparent, and makes this book one that can be read just for pleasure by any dog lover, as well as for information by any child curious as to what certain actions may mean-or how to stop a dog from doing them. The final picture of George sitting on a park bench with dogs on and around her-goofy dogs, adoring dogs, stolid dogs, sleepy dogs-is a perfect portrayal of good communication.
Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

PLB 0-06-027093-4 Playful illustrations of happy dogs superimposed on photographs of George (Morning, Noon, and Night, p. 799, etc.) set readers up for a romp into interspecies communication. "No one will ever love you as much as your dog does," the author admits, before mentioning in brief the roots of the domesticated dog's desire for a leader; she then moves into the nuts and bolts of how that fact can be used to build a fine and lasting relationship with a pet. Throughout, George models recommended behaviors and postures, interacting with those antic illustrated dogs, an approach that works beautifully. The dog's expressive abilities via tail and face are depicted as well, putting to rest the notion that animals have no such abilities, and George's how-to instructions include corrective measures. This delightful book provides a respectful, competent way to communicate with four-legged family members; a companion title, How to Talk to Your Cat (ISBN: 0-06-027968-0; PLB 0-06-027969-9), is just as enjoyable. (Nonfiction. 6-9) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060270926
• ISBN 13: 9780060270926
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Truesdell Sue
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40