The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs

I read a few books on dog care and training before I adopted a 2-year-old Shih Tzu two years ago. I hadn't had a dog since elementary school so my experience was rusty. This book's explanation of dog motivation and behavior makes more sense to me, and confirms things that I've observed while living with a dog for the last two years. Dogs learn behavior through classical and operant conditioning. This happens - in both directions - whether or not the human owners are aware of it. Trainers can use these learning principles to encourage desired behavior and discourage unwanted behavior.

I had instinctively been conditioning my dog to do things in certain places or at certain times (for example, crate training) by offering positive show more reinforcement. Donaldson's book provides explanations and describes techniques that will help me to improve my still fairly raw skills. Now that I've read the book, I think it would help to see the training techniques in action, so I've ordered one of her DVDs.

The book is essentially self-published by Donaldson's Academy for Dog Trainers. The valuable content is worthy of professional editing and design to eliminate repetitiveness and make it more visually appealing. show less

frequently technical, would be off-putting for someone who isn't already mostly convinced that dominance is n't the way to go (calls it "stupid", etc, in a dismissive way, though later talks about why). BUT for someone who is already familiar with some positive training concepts and is mostly on board, GREAT.

This book looks at dog training more from the dog's point of view, and I found it so inspiring that I lent it to friends who never returned it, and so I don't have it here to leaf through for this review.

I liked Jean Donaldson's emphasis on the fact that dogs are dogs and not people. One thing I found interesting was her discussion of how dogs don't generalize in the way that we do. That's why a dog may respond to Sit beautifully in the living room but not in the bedroom. The solution? Train in many places.

This groundbreaking book can be scathing on the force-based methods of dog training that have been the mode for too long. At times, I got tired of that aspect of Culture Clash. But then, the cutting edge is often just that... cutting.

Jean Donaldson's book is hard going, but rewards the reader's effort, ultimately, in seeking to disabuse us of the notion of the 'Walt Disney dog' who exists solely to please us.

It's Donaldson's contention that our reluctance to believe that dogs are anything other than self-interested beings has hindered our understanding of the creatures themselves for years, and her book attempts to set out the hows and the whys in dog behaviour, and harness this information to inform the training process.

On the down side, this book is a very tough read, through the author's use of technical language from the spheres of behavioural science and psychology. On many occasions, I had to read the same sentence several times before I understood what it was show more Donaldson was trying to say.

And by 'many', I don't mean three or four, I mean literally every page. Also, an assumed knowledge of scientific terms doesn't aid the flow, and it took me almost a week to complete the read of what is, really, a relatively short book.

That said, it's a fascinating, illuminating read, and makes a lot of sense (or seems to), although it can read a little extreme, in places.

Having spent the most part of the book outlining the science and the principles, the final section contains a whole series of graduated training exercises for you and the dog (there are training examples throughout the text, too), and these look really good, although Mali and I have yet to work on them properly.

Not a book for the faint hearted, purely because of the writing style, which, seriously, is a big hurdle. But very, very good - that writing style cost it the fifth star. show less

One of the better and most practical books on dog behavior and training that I have read. Gives a lot of insight into what motivates a dog vs what people think motivates them.

This is the book that I give as a gift to new dog owners. Nothing else I have read, especially books by some of the more well known (as in "seen-on-TV") dog trainers has made me understand my dog better, nor has dog behavior ever been explained more clearly.

Some of the information feels dated and things got a little preachy here and there - but there was quite a bit that was worth the time of listening to - and a couple exercises I am going to go back into - in print and run through with my dog.
Good book.