Dogspeak: How to Learn It, Speak It, and Use It to Have a Happy, Healthy, Well-Behaved Dog - Hardcover

Dibra, Bash

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684824175 ISBN 13: 9780684824178

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

An acclaimed dog trainer offers insights into effective communication with your dog, showing how to interpret their face and body language, along with their barks, and discussing proper ways of choosing a pet, housebreaking a puppy, and much more. 20,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author

Bash Dibra discovered his extraordinary ability to communicate with animals as a small child. While he and his family were interred in a Yugoslavian prison camp after escaping from communist Albania, Bash befriended vicious guard dogs, observing their canine signals and developing remarkable insight into their feelings and intentions. Years later, the unique task of training a young timber wolf for a film led Bash to a new understanding of canine thought processes and the development of his revolutionary training technique.

Dibra is now an internationally acclaimed dog trainer whose client list includes such high profile names as Martin Scorsese, Mariah Carey, Kim Basinger, Alec Baldwin, Naomi Campbell, Calvin Klein, Mia Farrow, S.I. Newhouse, and Kathleen Turner, among others.

Bash is a member of the Bronx County Kennel Club, the Queensboro Kennel Club, and the Saw Mill Kennel Club, as well as the Animal Behavior Society, the ASPCA, Bide-a-Wee, the Humane Society of New York, and the New York State Humane Association, and is on the Board of Directors of New York S.A.V.E. (Save Animals in Veterinary Emergency). A recipient of the New York State Humane Association Award, 1995, and the New York City Veterinary Medical Association 1994 Unsung Hero Award, Bash lives in Riverdale, New York.

Reviews

Noted trainer Dibra here takes the ideas presented in his first book, Dog Training by Bash, one step further. He discusses the social, or pack, nature of dogs and explains eight factors important to pack dynamics: the dominance hierarchy, aggression, territorial behavior, food guarding, flight behavior, chase behavior, socialization, and vocalization. Throughout, Dibra provides examples of how these factors come into play when training the family dog. Yet while teaching us to "speak dog" is ostensibly his purpose for writing, his main focus is actually on general care and training. Sections are included on selecting a dog, preparing to bring the puppy home, housebreaking, learning to read the dog's body language, and basic training in things such as heel, come, sit, and stay. Some problem behaviors are touched upon. While Dibra's style is readable and geared toward the average pet owner, DogSpeak presents little new material. His first book is still a better choice for libraries.AEdell Marie Schaefer, Brookfield P.L., WI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dibra, a New York^-based dog trainer who has a number of celebrity clients, distills the basics of his training techniques in this breezily written new guide. The heart of the book is chapter seven, wherein the author describes dog behavior and explains the meanings of the facial expressions, body language, and vocalizations of dogs--the "DogSpeak" of the title. Chapter 8 shows the reader how to integrate this newly learned language into a training program for the dog, using the concepts to promote the proper responses in the dog. Understanding the dog's language and its reactions to the behavior of other dogs (or humans) will help the reader to understand why these specific training methods work. The other sections of the book cover choosing a puppy or dog, housebreaking, and general care. A liberal sprinkling of useful Web sites is a nice touch, and a number of boxed sidebars give further advice on various subjects, completing an extremely readable book that is a good primer on the psychology of dog training. Nancy Bent

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684824175
• ISBN 13: 9780684824178
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272