- Location
- Andorra and Spain
I'm not entirely sure how I came to have this in my Audible library except that it says on there that it's by "Kim Brophy/Raymond Coppinger" so I probably got overexcited when I was exhaustion-buying recently. It's a bit like shopping when drunk; you have no recollection of it until you fall over the package in your hallway. I know I have seen a TED talk by Kim Brophy, so maybe that was what brought me to it.
Anyhow, turns out it's not authored by Ray Coppinger at all, which would have been a huge selling point for me; he simply wrote the foreword, so I started off a little bit disappointed.
I'm only about a fifth of the way in, as I just have it on for a half hour at a time here and there, but what I've heard so far I generally really like. It's not a book about training - which is just as well, because I've frowned rather hard at the training tips given out so far - but what it does well is explain in simple terms why dogs act the way they do. The author uses a twee system she calls LEGS (Learning, Environment, Genetics, Self) to discuss all the factors that come together to make your dog who they are. Explaining that a terrier will chase and kill rodents not because he's bad, but because it's what he's been bred to do over the generations, and us expecting him not to do that to fit in with our idea of "a good dog" is unrealistic.
I'll let you know how I get on with it, but for now it appears to be a book that would be really useful for most dog owners to understand a little bit more about their pet. It's written in plain English, and is easy to follow.
As I have the audiobook, I should comment on the presentation. I find the narrator's voice pleasant enough, but does seem to make me drift off into my own little world from time to time rather than keeping my attention on the content. It's not that it's uncomfortable to listen to - there are audiobooks that I turn off after a few minutes because I can't bear the narration - but just seems to lull me into a trance.
At this point, I would certainly recommend it.
Anyhow, turns out it's not authored by Ray Coppinger at all, which would have been a huge selling point for me; he simply wrote the foreword, so I started off a little bit disappointed.
I'm only about a fifth of the way in, as I just have it on for a half hour at a time here and there, but what I've heard so far I generally really like. It's not a book about training - which is just as well, because I've frowned rather hard at the training tips given out so far - but what it does well is explain in simple terms why dogs act the way they do. The author uses a twee system she calls LEGS (Learning, Environment, Genetics, Self) to discuss all the factors that come together to make your dog who they are. Explaining that a terrier will chase and kill rodents not because he's bad, but because it's what he's been bred to do over the generations, and us expecting him not to do that to fit in with our idea of "a good dog" is unrealistic.
I'll let you know how I get on with it, but for now it appears to be a book that would be really useful for most dog owners to understand a little bit more about their pet. It's written in plain English, and is easy to follow.
As I have the audiobook, I should comment on the presentation. I find the narrator's voice pleasant enough, but does seem to make me drift off into my own little world from time to time rather than keeping my attention on the content. It's not that it's uncomfortable to listen to - there are audiobooks that I turn off after a few minutes because I can't bear the narration - but just seems to lull me into a trance.
At this point, I would certainly recommend it.
