How Many Dogs?!: Using Positive Reinforcement Training to Manage a Multiple Dog Household Paperback – Illustrated, April 15, 2010

Positive reinforcement training is the only way to deal with dogs in any situation. It is even more critical that positive techniques be used in a multiple dog household.

If you don't own other dog books and/or have not spent much time formally training your dogs (at an obedience school or with trainers) then there is probably a fair amount of insight into your dogs' behavior (and your own behavior) that you can derive from reading this book. If you already have experience training dogs and have read some other materials such as those from Caesar Milan, you're likely to be disappointed by this book IMHO.My #1 issue is that this book is almost 200 pages, and yet in multiple places throughout the book, we see this pattern: "To accomplish X, you need to put your dogs in this state / do this... however, I'm not going to spend a lot of time here telling you how to do that. For that, read book XYZ." This was very frustrating to me. I bought this specifically because it was 150+ pages (and not 38); I wanted a lot of specific techniques.[I understand there are "different schools" of dog training, and that the author bases her techniques on one particular school (A-OK), but that doesn't mean the foundations should be skipped or footnoted as they are here in several instances, and then followed up with general tips instead of specific A-to-B steps for achieving a particular goal. It's not necessary or desirable to reproduce the theory verbatim, but what would be great is "This next technique is based on the training principle of ____ (followed by a few paragraphs and examples explaining that). Now here are the specific steps you need to take when you are seeing this kind of behavior in a grown dog / when you want to start that kind of behavior for a puppy." Perhaps I am crazy for expecting this type of structure in a book of this length, but it's what I was hoping for to teach me better training techniques.]The second issue I have (others may not notice) is no fault of the author's, but it lacks the touch of a [details-oriented] editor. There is no clear visual organization from one chapter to the next, [or from one section / technique to the next]. This book could be about 30 pages shorter IMHO, as well. It should be laid out in a way that leads the reader through specific stages of achieving a given behavior with the dogs. Headers, white space, illustrations / tables... all of these things make a difference.[points cut out for brevity]Some other random points:* Make the "real world examples" more than a paragraph each. Tell us the problems those people encountered, what they tried that didn't work, and what did work.* The author seems to use a lot of "calming products". I use Dr. Foster & Smith calm biscuits sometimes when there's no alternative, but ultimately chemically inducing a dog to be more calm is not really a solution but a crutch / band-aid. I'd like to hear both sides when talking about products like these. Surely there must be some downsides in people's experience? Warnings on the label?* Not a big fan of dogs on the bed. [The author is obviously OK with it but I've not seen this advocated very often... perhaps I missed something but would like to know why she came to view this as OK behavior for dogs.]* The sections on walking dogs, and on paying attention to dog posture / behavior and not always freaking out when they snarl a little or wrestle (dogs need to be dogs), were helpful. A lot of people don't get dogs. They think about all the hyper-trained dogs they see on TV and assume that's the way normal, happy dogs are. Those dogs are the exception not the rule. :)(Author: I hope my edits have given you a more clear idea of why I gave this book 3 Stars and that it was not a personal assault on your knowledge or dedication, etc. Hopefully some bit of this can help you to make a better 2e for people like myself with a couple working breeds that they've been mostly successful in training but not 100%.)

I am really struggling to decide exactly how many stars to give this book. I think there's some really solidly good advice in here and some easy to understand techniques one can apply to their multiple dog household but there is a fair bit of woo woo to slog through as well. A few examples:* The author constantly references herbal calming products for dogs. Many of the tips begin with a suggestion to spray an area with one of several she prefers. I know of absolutely no double-blind, controlled scientific study that supports aromatherapy at all and certainly none that support the idea that certain products, sprayed around dogs, will calm them. Save your money and either exercise your dogs more or use that money to hire someone to walk your dog. [...]* The author is a huge proponent of raw diets and to her credit, she is clear that there are other acceptable alternatives though she allows her strong bias for raw diets to shine through. The raw diet is based on the theory that wolves eat raw food and thus dogs should as well. However, dogs are not wolves and haven't been for a very long time. They have evolved to eat far different diets and, if that weren't argument enough, it has been found repeatedly that wolves in captivity actually do worse eating a raw diet than they do kibble. I am all for people feeding their dogs what they like, but the author's unscientific claims will afford their dogs no additional health benefits and will most likely cost them significantly more and may expose both dogs and humans to greater risk of food poisoning and/or cross contamination. [...]* Lastly, probably my biggest beef with this book, is the author's insistence that astrology and the phases of the moon be considered in their dog training. There is absolutely no scientific evidence for either. I'm not even sure how one would use astrology to train dogs as the author simply throws out the comment with no qualification but the idea that full moons increase mischief has been debunked over and over. [...]I don't want to end this review on a completely negative note because while I feel strongly that these are problematic aspects of this book, there's a lot of information that is practical and useful and based on what is clearly a lot of experience with and love for dogs. I appreciate any book that favors positive reinforcement and consideration for the dogs' feelings and natural temperament but also gives the humans a multitude of suggestions for adapting these methods to their own needs and peculiarities of their household. If you are someone who doesn't find the above points problematic, you will likely get a lot out of this book but had I known then what I know now, I probably would have passed up this book for something else.

After having just moved, my 7 dogs were scared and had dissolved into utter chaos. After reading "How Many Dogs?" I started to regain control. Debby makes it very plain in her book that you must insist on manners in your dogs, no matter how many you have. She also stresses that dogs like routine. I than realized I was no longer insisting on my dogs having manners and I had not maintained their routine in our new home. With the use of a clicker, and refusing to feed during chaos, I regained calmness during feeding time. I also made sure to reinstate all the daily routines we had had in the old house. It wasn't long before I saw the very positive results.Debby doesn't tell you what to do to gain a calm and happy home with your multiple dogs. She tells you what she has done with her own dogs and what other people have done as suggestions as to how you can proceed. Her theme throughout the book is that whatever you do is acceptable as long as it works and is a positive reinforcement method. With positive reinforcement methods you gain the willing cooperation of the dogs and wanted behaviors that become strong automatic behaviors. Negative reinforcement (punishment) results in dogs behaving only when you are looking and sneaking behind your back to do whatever they want to do.

Another doggy book that was bought for my wife. Basic but nice.

A great book with helpful ideas as to how to manage a multi-dog household, and also how to mange if you have another dog staying with you.

It was vary focused on having more than one dog. If you're thinking of adding one dog to your crew, this book is for you

No real advice - just telling you the pitfalls - not worth it. Would not recommend as it isnt really helpful