Reviews for Little Dogs Training Your Pint Size Companion

The average rating for Little Dogs Training Your Pint Size Companion based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-08-10 00:00:00 Heather Moore Ok, I adore this book, and it is revolutionizing the way that I train my chihuahua. In the month that I've been reading it I've figured out what his issue is with regard to barking at other dogs, and I have gotten that problem well resolved. I understand more about why my chihuahua barks his head off at every sound he hears outside the home, and thanks to this book, I've figured out how to stop the racket he makes if I choose to do so (it does not involve a muzzle and duct tape). I'm better able to groom him, including trimming his nails, and we are well on our way to getting him to heel on walks. His "stay" has improved dramatically, and we have also added some new commands and "tricks" into his already considerable repertoire, all of which were inspired by what I read in this book. Look, training small dogs is necessary, and it does present some challenges that just aren't there when training a big dog (we had a big dog prior to our chihuahua, and there are some similarities, but there are some big differences, too). This book deals with those unique issues that come up in training a little dog, and it shows the frustrated owner of a little dog how to relate to the more diminutive wolf in your home. Before reading this book I was ready to fork out big money to hire a "dog whisperer" type of trainer to come in and train my dog. Since reading this book I feel like I can do it on my own, and I'm already achieving very encouraging success. I don't think my chihuahua will ever be a therapy dog for sick children or elderly folks, but I do think he can become a civilized little dog, and that he will be a pleasant little guy to walk with and live with, and that's all I really ask.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-04-13 00:00:00 Hubertus Peter I haven't finished the book, but have read about 6-7 chapters and am a little frustrated so far. I feel like Wood spends a LOT of time justifying her book ("this is another way little dogs are different than big dogs!") and a lot of time promising her techniques are fantastic. Sometimes she'll say "teach your dog not to bark, because ..." but then won't really say valuable things about HOW to do so. Every now and then you'll get a page of actual training steps, but so far they've been a lot like the training techniques I've read about for big dogs. For instance, SIT and housetraining are taught much the same way. I also dislike that the "watch me" command is presented first -- it's an almost imperceptible concept for the dog, in my opinion, and hard to really succeed at. A command like "sit" where the dog has a physical motion to perform is more conducive to helping the dog understand obedience training. Maybe I'm disappointed because I expected there to be some sort of magic difference between small and large dogs and to be amazed by new training techniques. But it seems like training is training is training. And who knows, maybe my opinion will change as I continue reading (though honestly I'm not very motivated to do so).