Great book. I've also been watching his tv show and I will probably read some more of his books. He is amazing with dogs. ( )

Unlike several reviewers here I actually enjoyed the personal and conversational tone - this is applied William Zinsser's *On Writing Well* at its best: make it personal, engage your reader, don't be afraid to use the first and second persons. Yes, the book is full of anecdotes, but Cesar uses them as illustrations, not as evidence. It's not about Junior the pit bull or Mr. President the bulldog, it's about the lessons the author has learned from hundreds of dogs throughout the years. The anecdotes make it easier for the reader to relate to the story, that's all.

There are some wishy-washy passages ("dogs are instinctual", etc), but on the whole I learned a lot from this book. It contains so much counter-intuitive information that I had to pause the reproduction (I had the audio version) every ten minutes or so to take notes and process what I had just heard. Ex.: you don't pick the puppy that comes running into your lap (that's a high energy dog, only suitable for trainers and people with lots of free time and patience); you don't introduce the dog to your whole house on the very first day (he must learn that *you* are the pack leader and owner of the territory); it's better to adopt a "no talk, no touch, no eye contact" policy in the first days (it avoids overexciting the dog and teaches him that he must *earn* your affection).

Maybe some of it is hogwash. And I have no idea what the results are *relative* to other training philosophies. But that's a guy who's successfully trained hundreds of dogs whereas I failed miserably with the three dogs I owned as a kid (a Belgian Malinois, a Weimaraner, and a Brazilian Terrier, all of whom deserved better). I'm probably better off following Cesar's advice than doing whatever *feels natural* or whatnot. And that’s probably true for most owners. ( )

We got a puppy yesterday, so I'm seeing if Cesar has any extra wisdom. So far, its more about his breeder friends than anything else. He sure likes his purebreds. But I'm just about to read the socialization chapter and I'm expecting it to get better.

on edit: Not bad, but not great. If you've read Ceaser, than this book is nothing knew. Lots of re-hash. ( )

This book follows the already known way of Cesar handling dogs: pack leader is the way. Fun to read and informative. ( )

Didn't really learn anything new.Enjoyed reading about the different puppies and it's fun to try and catch glimpses of them on the show. ( )