Fired Up Dogs Book
Posted about 5 years ago by Holly
Being the manager of a Belgian Malinois and a border collie mix, "Fired Up Frantic & Freaked Out" was right down my alley. Owners of aggressive, reactive, enthusiastic, and/or hysterical dogs will invariably tell you that their dogs have many wonderful features and talents. Relaxing and letting things go is just not part of their skill set.
This relatively short and easy-to-read book by Laura VanArendonk Baugh discusses the "why" of dog behavior and then supplies a step-by-step guide for teaching a dog to calm itself. The tools of this method are simply food rewards, a verbal or clicker marker, and a mat to place the exercises. All very straight-forward, but the behaviors to capture are subtle. Advanced exercises will benefit from the use of controlled distractions such as leashed "decoy" dogs.
If you are well-read in conditioning theory, you know that there are no magical, secret, 10-minute recipes to changing deep-seated emotional responses. It takes a great deal of time and effort. I already use BAT and counter-conditioning techniques similar to the ones in this book with good success. I
found a number of additional gems that made this book worth my while. I especially liked the chapter on medications. I had never had the effects of acepromazine explained to me and it was eye-opening. This is a great book to share with owners who are serious and committed about changing their dogs' attitude and behavior. And for $8.99 on Amazon, who can resist?
I contacted Laura VanArendonk Baugh, who is as nice as she is hard to spell, and she has agreed to give away a copy of her book! Her Facebook page is Canines In Action, Inc. The Rafflecopter app below will be familiar to those who do the rounds of blogs. Log in or create an account so you can be contacted after you win the drawing, which of course you will. This is a pretty cool sweepstakes-tool because you get entry "points" for every option you select. Go crazy, guys ;-)