Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Posted by Animals at 5:56 PM Monday, July 20, 2009

Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Happy Tails A book for the new (and not so new) dog owner

Posted: 20 Jul 2009 06:41 AM PDT

MyCarmie Who doesn't love reading dog books? For that matter, who doesn't love reading pet books - dogs, cats, chickens...whatever? Some people will adopt anything so there are books about all sorts of 'pets'!

Today, I'm offering a book about our favorite pet - the dog. Ok, maybe dogs aren't our favorite...maybe cats, birds, fish, alligators, horses, and anything else that moves, fits into our "favorite" category. We just love animals. (I saw we meaning Me, myself, and I, of course.)

Anyway, a good friend of mine wrote a book a few years ago called Happy Tails: Hilarious Helpful Hints for Dog Owners, and since I haven't done a book review in a long time, I thought I'd do one today. After all, this is a GREAT book - not only is it short, it's funny, and best of all, it's chock full of expert advice from a good friend of mine (Joy Underhill) and her vet, Gary L. Ailes, DVM. (note: the site www.pawpublishing.com no longer exists - please refer to the links in this blog post if you wish to purchase this hilarious, but educating, book.)

Here's what I love about this book - the illustrations match the text, and the tone is one of hilarious party-fun. Yes, you can have fun training your dog, and this book proves it.

Written in the voice of Hank, the dog, we get an inside look at how our long-eared pets (or pointy-eared pets) think (well, in relation to us, of course; the book is written by people, not pets - I think). In "My Weakness is Hot Dogs" Hank says, "Don't yell at me, yank my chain, call me a hairball, threaten to haul me to the local shelter, or leave me locked in a room with a cat." Instead, Hank says, "Do train me with hot dogs! Especially small, tasty morsels I can gulp in an instant!"Happy-Tails-helpful-hints

For those of us who also prefer the vet's advice, Dr. Gary, one of the authors of this neat book, gives great advice on getting your dog to stop barking - the first of which is: figure out why he's barking. Then, give him more people time, and teach him the "Quiet" command. All good, and workable. We did manage to get Carmie to behave by being patient and teaching her to be 'quiet' with just a glance.

If you're a new dog owner, this book is for you. It's got loads of great advice, a lot of funny turnabouts, and some fabulous illustrations. I recommend it to all new dog owners, whether that dog is full-grown or a pup just starting out. Joy and Dr. Gary did a bang-up job writing a humorous but well-done book on training your dog to behave - like a dog, but like a dog with manners.

This is a great book to add to your collection. Hop over to Barnes and Noble and get it today.

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