How to Live with a Neurotic Dog | 
|  | | | Title: | How to Live with a Neurotic Dog | | Author: | Stephen Baker | | Publisher: | McGraw-Hill | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 21 May, 2003 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0071418652 / 9780071418652 | | List Price: | $10.95 | | You Save: | $0.92 | | Amazon Price: | $10.03 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
This hilarious, tongue-in-cheek, self-help parody is a "musthave" for dog owners who are baffled by their dog's quirky habits and questionable conduct. Whether Fido compulsively chews up old blankets, obsessively licks the hardwood floor, or barks uncontrollably at an empty corner, bestselling humor author Stephen Baker offers "expert" advice on understanding, analyzing, and curing aberrant behavior. The newly repackaged How to Live with a Neurotic Dog covers a wide range of neuroses, including training, grooming, traveling, and feeding freak outs. Through entertaining illustrations and sharply witty text, this canine classic will help dog owners see things from their pooch's point of view.
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Customer Reviews:
• Pleasing The Problem Canine 18 June, 2008
The problem with most dogs lies not within themselves but with thoughtless owners who hog bedcovers, force dogs to make nice with cats and children, and think feeding time is something less than 24/7.
It's good to read a book that at last exposes the base self-centeredness of most dog owners, by which I mean of course all dog owners except myself. I still remember the day I was humiliated at a so-called pet store when I asked a giggling woman at the counter if they sold baby slings for dogs, so I could bring my dear pooch-pal Cassidy (pet is sooo demeaning a term) along for work and shopping. Alas, I was forced to try something with gaffer's tape, which did not suit Cassidy as well as I hoped.
Author Stephen Baker is my kind of writer, judging from other books of his like "The Complete Unfitness Catalogue" and "Playing Golf In The Low 120s". Although published in 1988, there is plenty of timeless advice on offer: "Dogs, like human infants, learn by imitation. Show him what you want; whether or not he performs, he will be duly pleased by your hilarious attempts to please him."
The book contains many illustrations by Fred Hillard; unfortunately I was less pleased with these as they tend toward a humorous bent not at all in keeping with Baker's sober text. In a section about why dogs prefer beaches to mountain retreats for vacationing (which has to do with the absorbent qualities of sand), Hillard shows several dogs wearing sunglasses, not optimal accessories for dogs as they, unlike humans, know well enough to sit in the shade. More helpful is Hillard's diagram of a dog's brain, a complex organ divided into three equal parts: Sleep - Food - Play.
Elsewhere there are useful tips on bathing your dog: "Refreshed by the bath, and glad that it's all over, dog will want to work off pent-up energy. Encourage him to roam around the house a bit, to be himself. Let him shake himself. Then wipe up the puddle he leaves behind."
Frankly, if more people took the time to read Baker's book, there would be far more well-adjusted dogs in this world, or at least better understood ones. It should be handed out to every new dog owner, followed by a government-mandated test.
One caveat: The use of the male pronoun throughout was obviously sexist and demeaning to my own dog, who happens to be a female. Baker tries to explain this in the beginning as not offensive, but it's a bit too much like those ethnocentric bigots who use the hateful term "mutts" instead of "Cockapoo", "German Husky", "Bedlington Rat Terrier", and Cassidy's breed, the "Beagle Jack". It gets me so riled up that I need to compose myself with some bedside reading of "How To Live With A Neurotic Dog".
Unless of course Cassidy is on my bed already. Then the floor is just as nice a place to read from.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1NT7ED5TATUAM
• Hits Close To Home� 14 June, 2001
I loved this book. Everything in it reminds me of the fun and antics that I experience with my two Pugs. I would highly recommend this to any dog owner or soon to be dog owner. It is a lot of fun and has many "out loud" laughs.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1JE43XAY5HQNY
• Yes, This Man Has It Right! 28 May, 2006
I have a dog. My dog is neurotic. I always used to say I had a puppy, but at seven months, heck, let's go the dog route, y'wanna? So this dog, I'll call her Chocolate...no, wait, that's her name...I'll call her Jane, yes, Jane to protect her anonymity. Anyway, she's cute and overall just great, but she has some issues. Yep. One of these is thunder and another is vacuum sweepers. The first hint of thunder and she dashes for the closest person and plows into that unlucky soul, seeking comfort. And as for sweepers, best to lock her outside or beyond the range of hearing the sweeper unless you want to spend about ten minutes picking up whatever item she's shredded into confetti. Now my first theory was she had some sort of past life trauma. Last time around, she might, say, have been done-in by a vacuum sweeper during a thunderstorm. Or maybe the sound of a sweeper just subconsciously reminds her of her father and activates a dog's normal, otherwise latent "my-daddy-abandoned-my-mother" issues, I have no clue. But the nice thing about this book is its level of compassionate understanding. Sure dogs can be neurotic little challenges to sanity and a happy home, but heck, can't we all? I found a lot of "yeah, me too!" moments in this chipper book and the laugh therapy chapters were a much needed relief after my third fragrant cleanup of the evening during a recent electrical storm. I'd recommend this for light reading (with helpful suggestions) for anyone whose dog has more neuroses than Woody Allen and Oedipus Rex combined. It's a hoot.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A28WJUJF6D2ULA
• Funny Book 20 May, 2005
I enjoyed reading it 'til end.
It really make you feel the joy of having, more than a pet, a good companion in your life.
Entertaining book and give you some clues to build a better relation with those tender-annoying-wonderful four legged.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A31WBIKNQT2QYF
• My Father's Book - Still A Classic 12 January, 2007
Of course I am a bit partial. But my dad has caught all the bow-wows at their funniest. For a good laugh, a good gift, you won't be sorry. How to Live with a Neurotic Dog continues to be published in new languages (over 20 so far), and sell briskly. Million of dog owners - or is it the other way around? - can't be wrong.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3SW0ZO5M8ON0R
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