ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems in Your Multi-Dog Household

by Amy Shojai

The United States is home to 78.2 million owned dogs, and 28 percent of owners own more than one dog while 12 percent own three or more. That means more furry love for owners, but also can create a howling mess over that (GRRRR!) new canine friend. From conflicts over favorite toys and chew bons to sharing time with a favorite human, adding new pets rubs fur the wrong way and creates hairy situations for everyone—including you.

This new guide gives owners the ability to understand why dogs act with dog-matic aggression, and learn how to soothe the growls and turn your household into a peaceable kingdom. You’ll find detailed prescriptive how-to advice focused in the most common problems found in the multi-dog household. Use these fun techniques to calm fears, explain canine woofs and whines and body language, and strengthen the bond you share with your dogs. Step by step tips from this award-winning author and certified animal behavior consultant explain how to:

Recognize and diffuse dog-to-dog aggression

Introduce the new arrival (including fiancee, babies, kids & cats) to the current canines

Solve canine firework fears, thunder phobias and separation anxiety

Settle disputes over territory, potty problems and mealtime woes

Choose an appropriate furry friend that resident dogs welcome with open “paws”

Solve common pet peeves: barking, chewing, digging, jumping up, and more!

Fun, practical, and eminently informative, Competability helps owners devise strategies that enable multiple dogs to live in harmony within the same household. Written by one of America's premier pet experts, the book explains everything the loving dog owner needs to know. Most important, Competability provides crucial tips on how to evaluate and match your pets' personalities, improve their relationships, and make your home a sanctuary for canine fun and peace.

For more pet behavior advice refer to:

ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems In Your Multi-CAT Household

ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems In Your CAT-DOG Household

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction

ebook

First published October 12, 2010

About the author

Amy Shojai has been reinventing herself for years. She writes THRILLERS WITH BITE! in her debut thriller LOST AND FOUND that features a service dog, hero cat, an animal behaviorist named September Day, and assorted mayhem. The sequel HIDE AND SEEK continues the story with terror from the past revisiting the heroine. The next book in the series, SHOW AND TELL brings the story full circle. The 4th title FIGHT OR FLIGHT introduces some new characters and challenges. And book #5 HIT AND RUN answers many questions about September's past.

Amy's a certified animal behavior consultant, and the award-winning author of 35+ best-selling pet books that cover furry babies to old-fogies, first aid to natural healing, and behavior/training to Chicken Soup-icity. She created the puppies.about.com site and was the cat behavior expert at cats.About.com. Amy has been featured as an expert in hundreds of print venues including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, and Family Circle, as well as national radio and television networks such as CNN, Animal Planet's DOGS 101 and CATS 101. She brings her unique pet-centric viewpoint to her Bling, Bitches & Blood Blog, public appearances.

Reviews

[DOLLY · Rating 4 out of 5]

ComPETability: Solving Behavior Problems in Your Multi-Dog Household has great action, fabulous issues and characters.

[Charity · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is a book that focuses on behavioral problems that arise out of having more than one dog, it can still be useful to someone with only one dog. The author digs into the mentality of a dog and provides easy to understand facts, statistics, and general information to help you better understand and communicate with your dog. I came away with a much better understanding of why my dogs behave as they do and more importantly, why some of the things I was doing to try to stop some of those behaviors wasn't working. She also provided guidance in how to have your dog WANT to respond in the appropriate manner to your commands, rather than just blindly obeying. I loved the examples of "training" where the dogs follow your command because they think it is a game or competition and they want to be the winner. How fun and very, very helpful!

When you start listening to this book via audiobook you may think that there is no way you will get through it because of the poor quality of the recording and the almost robotic sound of the narrator's voice. KEEP GOING. You also might feel like you are being bombarded with too much information too quickly in the first chapter. KEEP GOING. The information contained in this book is good and useful and the pace at which the information is provided slows down to a respectable level in the chapters that follow. If you listen to a sample of the audiobook and decide that you don't think you will get used to the narration, or if you would like to jump to only the topics that pertain to your issues, then you should buy the physical book or ebook.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about how their dog thinks and wants to know the why's behind a dog's behavior; even if you don't have a multi-dog household.

** I was provided an audiobook copy of this for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review **

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received the audiobook version of this book in exchange for an honest review. The information in this book was relevant, detailed, and easily applicable to life with multiple dogs- even if you only have one dog, it has information you can apply to having your dog get along with others during visits or playdates. I love listening to audiobooks narrated by their authors, and this book was no exception. My only regret was listening to it during my spare time in the car- I often wished I had a pen and paper to write down "pearls" of wisdom that I could refer back to in times of need! Chock full of great tips and tricks, Amy Shojai's book is a wonderful reference that I will refer back to for years to come.

[Dusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have more than one dog or are thinking about getting an additional dog for your household -- read this book! Wit, humor, facts and info! One of the best dog training/information books I have read.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am currently "reading" the audiobook version of this book, read by the author. It is full of very useful information from my perspective; however, the quality of the audio is extremely poor and it sounds as if the author was recorded from an AM radio. It is extremely tinny in quality.

[Patricia Sands · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a MUST for all dog owners. Intelligent, well-written information that always has the dog's best interests at heart. Happy dog, happy owner.