How to Talk to Your Dog Book

I am a veterinary nurse who specializes in pet behavior. Our practice owner ordered this book for our kid's room. When I read it, I was mildly horrified and will be advising her to return the book. I love the idea of the book, the pictures, and the writing. What I have a problem with is some of the things the author advises children to do with their dog.

I would never advise a dog owner to let their child grab the muzzle of any dog, get in their face, or sniff them to show who is boss. In my opinion, this advice is actually dangerous. On p.15, she states, "Sniff his nose to tell him not to be angry or confused." If a dog is "angry" or confused about how to feel, a child should not approach it, and he/she should certainly NOT put their face in the dog's face.

Thousands of children are bitten every year because people do not understand how to interact with pets. I'm not saying that every dog would bite a child who gets in their face. In fact, many family dogs let their human brothers and sisters crawl on them, stand on them, even hit them without any problems. Unfortunately, this sometimes gives owners the idea that their dog would never hurt anyone.

Many dogs put up with unwanted behavior from people, but do not necessarily like the behavior. If you watch a dog's face, ears, and body language, you might notice ears to the rear, a worried, wrinkled brow, large eyes, and/or hunched body posture. All these can be signs a pet is uncomfortable, frightened, or becoming distressed. Any of these emotions can lead to a bite. The only way a dog can communicate these emotions is through body language. Many pets, cats included, will give subtle signs of anxiety, fear, or distress that often go unnoticed. Their last form of communication is to bite. Some will even learn that biting is the quickest and easiest way to get a human to back off when they are uncomfortable. Obviously, you would never want a dog to learn that dangerous lesson.

A dog trainer once wrote about a golden retriever who was put down because he bit a child in the household. The owner left the child alone with the dog (who had not shown any sign of aggression before this incident). After the dog was gone, the veterinary staff discovered 8 staples in the dog's ear. What this means is that this child's dog let him staple his ear 7 times before he made the move to stop the pain that was being caused to him.

A better resource for how to behave around dogs would be drsophiayin.com. She is a DVM and behavior specialist in California. She has many resources on how children should SAFELY interact with dogs. Again, I love the idea of this book, but I would never recommend it because of safety reasons, only a few having been mentioned in this review.