30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog

The Loved Dog Method

By: Tamar Geller, Jonathan Grotenstein

Narrated by: Renée Raudman

Widely regarded as the anti-Cesar Millan by dog owners and experts, Tamar Geller's nonaggressive approach to dog training is based on love, play, and mutual respect between dog and owner - much like how a wolf plays with its young. Using a combination of child psychology and animal behavior science, Geller revolutionized the way Americans train their dogs and has won the approval of the Humane Society, for which she is a longtime adviser.

Now she expands on her play-training methods and offers a day-by-day, easy-to-follow plan for raising a happy and well-mannered canine. In this step-by-step guide, Geller gives dog owners all the essential training instructions, insights, and tips, including housebreaking, socialization, commands, hand signals, games, developing a routine, and much more.

Throughout, Geller explains theories on how dogs think and breaks down dogs' basic needs in simple yet engaging language. She also makes fascinating connections between raising a puppy and the process of nurturing a toddler that will shed new light on dog training. Whether it's a new puppy from the pet store or a rescue dog from the pound, this is the ultimate go-to reference for anyone who decides to bring a new dog into their home - or improve the behavior of the family dog in just one month. Turns out, you can teach an old dog new tricks!

©2010 Tamar Geller (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The Loved Dog method is nothing short of a revolution. Tamar Geller shows us a pathway beyond punishment, and reminds us that understanding and respect are the key words in dog training in the twenty-first century. Now these common-sense and humane principles are set out clearly in a single, accessible volume." (Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO, The Humane Society of the United States)

For Dog Lovers

This book is a great read for those that love their dogs and want to learn more. I have a Boston terrier and While reading this book and it has helped strengthen my relationship with her. I am a new dog mom so this Boston is my first dog ever! I would recommend this book for those that want to learn more about their dog’s trust, training, and hope. I chose this reading because I am a first dog mom and never grew up with dogs. I wanted to learn more about my dog’s behavior and learn how to train the best dog for me.

Good Information... difficult format for audiobook

I did learn some really good ideas, but because it is organized by days... instead of topics, it feels like you are jerking from topic to topic and then going back again. She uses a lot of human stories from her life and turns to dog point of view, Celebrity dogs and their problems and progress shared. See events from dogs point of view.

Learned a lot. Great book!

If you put in the time these methods work! I'm having fun training my dog!

I wish I had listened to this earlier

I wish I had listened to this with my first dog! I’ve had so many wonderful pets, but didn’t have the skills to train them well. This gives simple ways to teach them and enjoy them even more!

Has Value but Too Simplistic

There was a lot of good information on positive ways to interact with and train your dog in this book. I like that. However, the frequent name-dropping of Hollywood clients, such as Oprah, got more than a little tiresome. Also, the narrator’s cloyingly sweet tone in the audiobook became annoying quickly.

I believe in positive training methods, I really do. However, this trainer implied that changing aggressive and troublesome canine behavior was simply a matter of getting your dog to love you through treats and petting. It’s often way more complicated than a few simple sessions of positive reinforcement. I applaud that she was attempting to get people to think positively and work with their dog’s issues rather than dropping the animal off at the nearest shelter. Unfortunately that is a very common response, and the author was clear and blunt about what actually happens when a dog or cat is discarded this way. People need to know that BEFORE they take on the responsibility of an animal and think long and hard before giving up once they have.

So while giving people effective tools to work with the problems their companion animals have is a great thing, it is also important to be clear about the time and effort significant behavior change takes. It’s definitely worth doing, but the transformation seldom happens over-night or even within a 30 day period of time. In addition, I believe there is a place for negative consequences in training troublesome canine behavior that is not responding to more positive, “friendly” methods. You need to love your dog (or your child) enough to be the “bad guy” occasionally. It can save their life.

I’m glad I listened to this book. The author is an experienced trainer with much to offer. She just doesn’t have the entire answer for every dog in all situations. If her program doesn’t work with your dog(s), try some Michael Ellis training DVDs and use what works for you.

a dog is a dog not a wolf. don't read.

Although read well. It isn't worth the time. Many other books are better.

criticizing other trainers

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Dog owners who never administer negative corrections and only want to explore one point of view. I wanted her point of view but she is too narrow minded to realize there are always differences and neither has to be wrong.

Has 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog turned you off from other books in this genre?

I would not read more of her books.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog?

Anytime she critiqued other trainers who she doesn't agree with.

Any additional comments?

I could not finish the book because she constantly mentioned about how other trainers were training wrong. She doesn't give names but to me I felt she was referring to Cesar millan. I agree with his methods but wanted to learn about a different approach, but it was too distracting because she keep talking about how other trainers did training wrong. I felt she was trying to justify her method like she was threatened by a different training method.