Dog Tricks and Agility For Dummies

This book offers a great deal of information for a very reasonable price. Less than half of the book pertains to agility training while the rest deals with any other tricks or sports you might be interested in trying. I originally bought this book because I wanted to try agility, but I found myself using quite a bit of the other tricks in my dog's training.The book tells you how to teach basic commands such as "sit," "come," etc. and more advanced tricks like "put 'em up" and "run for cover." One of my favorite chapters explains how you can teach your dog to search and find treats, toys, and eventually household objects. The book also goes through how to deal with problem behaviors such as barking and jumping. There are even sections on how you can teach your dog to warn you if there is a fire or get you a cold beer from the fridge!The chapters on agility give excellent information for beginners. The author explains pretty well how to do basic jumps, go through tunnels and chutes, weave through poles, etc. Out of the 324 page book; however, only 91 of those were actually on agility training - and within those 91 pages there was a lot of fluff. I would have liked to see more pictures and drawings to clarify confusions I had from reading the text. I actually found some videos on youtube which helped a lot.Overall, I am very happy with the book. If I could, I would give it 4.5 stars because I felt it needed more visual descriptions and was disappointed that agility was only a small fraction of the entire book. Because I really enjoyed learning about some of the other topics covered in the book, I am giving it 5 stars.

Like most Dummies books, nicely done. With instructions about how to use a clicker, fun tricks, basic obedience and manners, plus agility, this book can keep an owner and dog happily busy for a long time. There is the typical great Dummies indexing. I found it particularly useful for compiling a list of commands for my new pup. I am open to the possibility of agility, rally obedience, or whatever my dog finds to be fun, and I didn't want overlapping vocabulary. I probably have 30 Post-it notes sticking out of this book, and there would be more if I hadn't started feeling silly. There is a lot of good stuff in here.

I'm not much of a "Dummies" book fan, but I looked at several dog agility books and this one is laid out well and covers some very important subjects to consider *before* trying to train dogs for agility work.

Wife is using this daily, working with two young Cairns Terriers. The book has been a big help so far, as we have never tried to train one of our dogs for Agility Competitions.

Read this from the library and it was so good I had to have a copy to keep and use. Bought used to save on cost and it is good as new.

Very informative book. Helps to understand how to go about training a puppy. Very good read.

I like the step-by-step approach used by the author. The review of basic skills and ways to help you and your puppy/dog become more grounded in them is very useful, especially for first-time owners. I particularly like the sections on agility. While my puppy and I will never compete, I have a knowledgeable base upon which to build us a "play ground" to keep her active spirit alive and provide her with the exercise she needs. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a canine partner who is forever in motion except when asleep.

Love this book so much bought it 3 more times after lost first book and gave two others as gifts for new puppy owners.

Fantastic book, couldn't recommend highly enough. Basics plus more advanced training, with the dog's welfare and happiness taken into account at every step, including tricks not suitable for certain breeds due to eg. hips, not to overdo sessions etc. Written in an easy and fun format, descriptions are so clear that no pictures needed. Excellent!

I have used this book to teach both my dogs lots of tricks and its very easy to use and read. Everything is set out well and has step by step guide. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to do more with tricks and agility. Ten out of ten!!! :O)

The trick with the ball, dog always bringing back the ball.

Read this book first then use it as a reference to go back to on the aspects and tasks you want to tackle. You'll find it a lovely book to take to bed then try the suggestions the following day - just remember your dog is not a machine!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent product. Thank you.