How Smart is Your Dog?: Discover If Your Pet Can Solve These Fun Canine Tests

by David Alderton

How Smart is Your Dog?

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

David Alderton is a UK-based writer specialising in pets and natural history topics. Growing up in a home surrounded by pets, he originally trained to become a veterinary surgeon. An allergic dermatitis acquired in his final year of study forced a change of career however, and so led him into the field of writing about pets and their care. He has since become a regular contributor of articles on this subject to a wide range of newspapers and magazines in the UK and abroad, and also participates frequently in radio and television programmes.

His books have currently sold over six million copies, and have been translated into 30 different languages. David’s titles have won awards in the USA from the Cat Writers' Association of America and the Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writers’ Association of America, as well as being nominated for the Sir Peter Kent Conservation Book Prize. He has also chaired the National Council for Aviculture, the umbrella organisation for bird-keeping clubs and associations in the UK, and is a member of the Kennel Club, as well as editor of the monthly magazine Practical Reptile Keeping.

Reviews

[Lör K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't as bad as a lot of people have made out in reviews and rating but honestly? Eh. It's clearly laid out enough but I think the enjoyment in this book comes from your dog actually paying attention and doing as you tell them, which my dogs... did not, which made this quite a boring book for me. However, for people with dogs that are... obviously smarter than mine, this would be a really good book for you if you wanna train your dog in stuff!

[Peta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly I think the title should be changed to "how trainable is your dog?" As it's not so much an inteligence test as it is another training book with more of a focus on tricks and sports than the basic sit, drop, come commands. It is a nice quick read and give nice short basic steps. There is no trouble shooting which I think is good for keeping it simple but a pitty if you are following the steps and they're not working.

[Carrie Daws · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laid out well, each category includes a couple of quick tips, but much of the book is very basic. Probably the most helpful section includes step-by-step instructions on teaching your dog popular tricks. Otherwise, the book is far more general than I like.