I just finished reading We Bought a Zoo, by Benjamin Mee. What an entertaining book! This book is the true story of one daring English family that spent their life savings to buy an old, dilapidated zoo. The zoo has been shut down due to having it’s license revoked and is rife with problems, from […]
Book and DVD Reviews RSS feed for this section
There are SO many animal training books and DVDs, that it can be a bit overwhelming! In this section, you’ll find all of the book and DVD reviews that I’ve posted on my site. If you’re new to positive animal training and the science of animal training, I recommend starting with Karen Pryor’s book, Don’t Shoot the Dog.
Alex and Me: Our Knowledge of Animal Intelligence
I recently finished reading Irene Pepperburg’s most recent book, Alex and Me. When Irene Pepperburg first started working with Alex, many people scoffed and laughed at her. Parrots were thought of as “bird brains.” While it might be possible to teach them to repeat back answers to simple questions, the bird wasn’t actually “thinking” or […]
Mark Rashid: Ground Driving 101 DVD
I recently watched one of Mark Rashid’s DVDs, Ground Driving 101 , after renting it from Giddyupflix. I was interested in watching this DVD because I love Mark Rashid’s books and would like to start with some ground driving work with a few of the rescue horses. Overall, I was not very impressed with this […]
In a Whisper or In a Shout? Training under Time Constraints
Recently I watched a documentary film called In A Whisper. It’s a DVD of a colt starting challenge that was held in Fort Worth in 2002. The three trainers in the competition, Craig Cameron, Pat Parelli and Josh Lyons, each had 2 1/2 hours to start a two year old colt. The horses had very […]
Lessons from Teaching Your Dog To Skateboard DVD
In the ORCA meeting several weeks ago, we watched Bill Ryan’s DVD Teaching Your Dog To Skateboard. You can see a preview video clip of this DVD on the Dogwise site here. It’s a short, but well done DVD that explains one method for teaching your dog to ride on a skateboard. The approach is […]
Jason Patrick’s Free Horse Clinic DVD
Over the weekend I watched a DVD produced by Colorado horse trainer Jason Patrick. Although our philosophies and training techniques differ, I really enjoyed watching the DVD. He has a relaxed and easy going style, which seems to carry over to how he works with his horses. Jason Patrick is an innovator–willing to try new […]
