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Great Dog, Difficult Book to Process I respect Vicki Hearne, I like this book. Bandit, and his case that Vicki fought for so well was a very important watermark in exposing the myths and half truths that cause so many local authorities accross the country to blindly deem certain breeds of dogs as dangerous. I want to love this book because of this, however, for me the book was to difficult to read. Vicki uses extremely complicated sentence structure and seems to enjoy putting the reader through the wringer before she makes her point. I had to come back to this book a few times to finish it. I believe this is a story we all should be aware of, unfortunately the style of writing alienates it from a good deal of it's prospective audience. If you're well read, go for it, if not just expect to go through a mental obstacle course before the book is finished! The S & M Trainer The late Vicky Hearne was never considered a great trainer across the board. Those that believe in Positive Reinforcement training consider her techniques and ideology to be cruel and unnecessary. For instance: holding a dogs head in a hole filled with water to stop the dog from digging. There are other methods that can stop the behavior without using such barbaric methods. Her techniques should not be used, and notice, the aggressive dogs she deals with are never rehabilitated into mainstream doggy life as it were. They are never trained to the point of being trusted. So much for her methods. One of my favorite books Some people object to Vicki Hearne's writing style (smart girls can be annoying). Others feel her training methods were too harsh. But Vicki Hearne knew a great dog, and how to write about one. Be warned: This book is politically incorrect and may make you do something really stupid, like adopt a pit bull. Vicki Hearne is, after all, the one who said, "It is true that Pit Bulls grab and hold on. But what they most often grab and refuse to let go of is your heart, not your arm." Awesome book very true to the issue I have owned and trained multiple breed of dogs and Ms Hearne is very right about the issue. This book should be mandatory to be read by anyone and everyone of the dumb politicians that come up with those stupid bans. This book is very true and is a must read, whether you are a dog owner (of any breed) or not. Of dogs and men This isn't a book about dog training, although it talks about that quite a bit. It's not even a book about dogs really, although it talks about dogs all the time. It's really about our relationships with dogs, how they fit into our lives and our society and our mythology. Hearne taught poetry at Yale, but her real calling seems to be dog training. Her writing is funny and dry and full of information, and sooner or later she'll say something that annoys you. But if you can't take a little annoyance you should have a dog. And she's probably only annoying you because you are carrying around some misconception about dogs. See also:
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