Barbara Woodhouse (1910–1988)
Author of No Bad Dogs: The Woodhouse Way
About the Author
Image credit: Cofio 1980
Works by Barbara Woodhouse
Difficult dogs 1 copy
Know your Dog 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1910-05-09
- Date of death
- 1988-07-09
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Headington School
Harper Adams Agricultural College - Occupations
- dog trainer
television host
author - Organizations
- BBC
- Relationships
- Kilcommons, Brian (student)
- Short biography
- Barbara Woodhouse, née Blackburn, was born to an Anglo-Irish clergyman's family in Rathfarnham, Ireland, and grew up in Dublin. She was educated at the Headington School near Oxford, England, and attended agricultural college. In 1934, she married her first husband, Allan George Hill, and moved with him to Argentina to train horses; after a divorce, she returned to England. In 1940, she married Dr. Michael Woodhouse, with whom she had three children. She became a dog breeder and trainer and was successful for many years before appearing on her own BBC television series, Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way, in 1980. The show made her an international celebrity, and she appeared regularly on British and American TV until her death in 1988.
She was well-known (and sometimes parodied) for her smiling, kindly manner, high pitched voice, and catchphrases. Her many books included the bestselling No Bad Dogs (1982), which summarized her philosophy of dog training, and her autobiography, Talking to Animals (1975). - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Rathfarmham, County Dublin, Ireland
- Places of residence
- Rathfarmham, County Dublin, Ireland (UK)
Dublin, Ireland (UK)
Headington, Oxford, UK
Wiltshire, England, UK
Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, England, UK - Associated Place (for map)
- UK
Members
Reviews
Dogs want to be loved, and flourish best when guided by a firm hand so they can love and respect their owners in a secure relationship. Most dog faults can be traced back to a lack of firmness in training and various weaknesses and neuroses on the part of the owner. The well-trained, obedient dog that knows what is expected of them is happier and a more pleasant companion than the spoiled disobedient dog of an over-sentimental overindulgent owner. Ms. Woodhouse demonstrates these concepts show more through many anecdotes of her experiences as a dog-trainer. The writing style is a bit rambling and at times feels rather repetitive. Although there are a few "how-to" passages, much more of the book is devoted to the discussion of root causes of dog behaviour. show less
For the non-Animal activist that I am, I found this book to be a good read. It was insightful and gave me a new perspective on how dogs think. Barbara Woodhouse is a dog's champion. I never realized, just in being loving and kind to our pooch, how we are displacing her from what comes natural to her. Barbara Woodhouse explains this well.
This wasn't the training manual I was looking for but it did give me a starting point in that in order to train our dog, the first thing that has to happen show more is to look at oneself and see where we are being consistant and inconsistant. Like Barbara Woodhouse, fixing the owner's issues are half the problem.
This was an easy read and it gave a lot of good tips on training Dogs. I would recommend this book. show less
This wasn't the training manual I was looking for but it did give me a starting point in that in order to train our dog, the first thing that has to happen show more is to look at oneself and see where we are being consistant and inconsistant. Like Barbara Woodhouse, fixing the owner's issues are half the problem.
This was an easy read and it gave a lot of good tips on training Dogs. I would recommend this book. show less
No Bad Dogs: The Woodhouse Way by Woodhouse, Barbara published by Summit Books Hardcover by Barbara Woodhouse
For the non-Animal activist that I am, I found this book to be a good read. It was insightful and gave me a new perspective on how dogs think. Barbara Woodhouse is a dog's champion. I never realized, just in being loving and kind to our pooch, how we are displacing her from what comes natural to her. Barbara Woodhouse explains this well.
This wasn't the training manual I was looking for but it did give me a starting point in that in order to train our dog, the first thing that has to happen show more is to look at oneself and see where we are being consistant and inconsistant. Like Barbara Woodhouse, fixing the owner's issues are half the problem.
This was an easy read and it gave a lot of good tips on training Dogs. I would recommend this book. show less
This wasn't the training manual I was looking for but it did give me a starting point in that in order to train our dog, the first thing that has to happen show more is to look at oneself and see where we are being consistant and inconsistant. Like Barbara Woodhouse, fixing the owner's issues are half the problem.
This was an easy read and it gave a lot of good tips on training Dogs. I would recommend this book. show less
The author is an adamant animal-lover, and she tells of her life with various animals, how she raised and trained many, her methods and affinity with them. She can be stern but mostly comes across in this book as training animals with encouragement and praise. The book opens with her childhood around horses and dogs, and she tells of attending an agricultural college when few women were allowed to. She then went to visit friends at a cattle range in Argentina and ended up staying on and show more working for them, stepping in wherever needed- as much as they would allow! Women weren't supposed to break horses, so it took some cleverness on her part to be allowed the chance, and once the men saw she could train a horse in a few days with gentle methods, she got the job to break and train horses continually. Returning to England she faced hard times during war years, had to sell her horses but started keeping dairy cows to sell milk in the neighborhood- so there's a lot about her work with cows- not only how she kept them and got extra yield, but also how she let her children ride the cows and eventually was called up anytime someone wanted a cow to use in a film! because hers were known for being docile and that she could "do anything with them." When the war ended her household moved, and she began buying and selling cattle, but eventually got back into training horses again, and then tried to get her favorite dog- a great dane- acting in films as well. She found it difficult and tiresome to deal with film companies, but became known as a dog trainer and took up running dog obedience classes as well. This was not a woman to ever take no for an answer- often she got around regulations for her dairy cattle, she made and produced her own film on dog training and self-published a book about her great dane. There are a lot more stories in here, all wrapped around the animals, her love for them, and her claims that upon initially earning an animal's trust, she could teach it to do anything she wanted.
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Members
- 609
- Popularity
- #41,275
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 9
- ISBNs
- 59
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1