Scaredy Dog! truly offers a lifeline to let reactive dog owners know they are not alone and that, step by step, progress can be made and may be that much sweeter all along the way for the bond that develops between us and our wonderful dogs. Kudos to you! All best, Jessica Swaim
I saw the title, thought, I don’t have any scaredy dogs, then saw the subtitle–“reactive dog” and I KNOW I have at least one of those. And I’ve learned a lot, about my dogs and about myself. Brown recommends, if you have a dog that barks all the time, giving her a reward if she is BLESSEDLY QUIET for three seconds. It does have to be three seconds. And she tells us to notice all the stress signs (that I have read about elsewhere but never noticed with the barker. They are there). I think she puts a whole lot of information in front of us. You may get almost instant results if you don’t fight her ideas, because they’re too easy.
A MUST HAVE book for understanding and rehabilitating problem dogs. I have worked with so many trainers, behaviorists, etc. and this book is common sense, an extremely easy read and in my opinion, right on the money from what I have observed with my dog. He was abused as a pup and to this day he’s leery of men because of the man that abused him. But with the help of many kind, knowledgeable people along the way, and now Ali’s book, we’re making excellent progress. I could not more highly recommend this book. IT MAKES SENSE. Her writing style is great, her approach is great.
It has been nearly a year since I read this book, and I have been implementing the techniques. My dog is by no means cured, but he is definitely much more well-behaved! You can learn enough good tips, techniques, and basic information on WHY your dog is reacting to make great progress with your pup.
Not only Scared Dogs. My opinion is that nearly all dog owners can benefit from reading this book. What is normal human behavior can be stressful for a dog in a household. This was certainly helpful for all looking at each of my dogs and identifying areas where I may need to tweak things for them. So even though there were many things I did already know there was a lot of information that I did not know or that I had not thought of in this particular context. Very helpful.
