Zelda's Moments with Mom Book

You might get some ideas for games from this book, but a lot of this is silly. One game is teaching a dog to go wake up everyone in the house. Another is throwing marshmallows at your dog ( although you are somehow supposed to pick up the marshmallows before your dog tries to eat them ). Yet another idea is to imagine what trick you want him to do and see if your dog can read your mind and do it.

Another fun game is to make a mud pile and teach the dog to play in it. No worries ' she recommends that you also teach the dog to play in the sprinkler to wash herself off.

Once she gets into places to which you can travel with your dog and similar larger activities, she provides lots of resource lists. I expect these would be very helpful.

The author is trying too hard to be cute so the book is very wordy and more than a bit irritating. However, if you need ideas, skim it. Good luck.

A fabulous and easy-to-understand book about how to best use behaviorism. What is behaviorism? Essentially, the study of human and animal behavior - so this book sheds light on the most effective principles to use if you want to better the way you act. You can apply these concepts to so many areas, ranging from bolstering your health to training your dog. One of the most important takeaways: use positive reinforcement, not punishment. While our society prefers punishment in many ways (e.g., the mass incarceration in the US, how we expel kids from schools, etc.), research has shown its ineffectiveness, because it often shames people and makes them less productive. Positive reinforcement, or praising people for performing the desired behavior, has been linked to many more favorable outcomes.

Overall, recommended if you are interested in psychology or why humans act the way they do. Clear, concise, and in large part optimistic, Karen Pryor has written a wonderful book about behaviorism with Don't Shoot the Dog!.