Product Description

A San Francisco Chronicle bestseller: a veterinary behaviorist evokes James Herriot with these remarkable stories of distressed pets and their equally troubled owners.

With humor and compassion, renowned animal behaviorist Dr. Nicholas Dodman explores the complex emotional problems of troubled animals and their (often) equally distressed owners, creating a classic of animal literature, with stories as wise, and almost as human, as the lives of the animals they portray. Did you hear about the dog who always arranged exactly six pieces of kibble in buttonhole depressions in the couch before he could lie down? Or the cat who compulsively hoarded shiny objects? Fifteen years ago Dodman began studying the psychological maladies that afflict our pets, helping to launch a field of animal psychotherapy and psychopharmacology that suggests that animals' emotional problems are often as complex, heartrending, and treatable as those of their human counterparts. If Only They Could Speak, with thirteen true stories culled from Dr. Dodman's own practice, echoes the wisdom of writers like Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and Jane Goodall. The stories here are as wise, and almost as human, as the lives of the disturbed animals they portray. Animal Personality Assessment Guide included. 15 b/w photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #664880 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

From Booklist
The countless joys and rewards as well as the frustrations and failures of pet ownership are explored by an author who examines the complexities of the human-animal dynamic from both points of view. From the dog who is more apt to chew his master's slippers than fetch them, to the cat who would rather pounce than purr, determining why even the most loyal and lovable pets display inappropriate behavior is the goal of renowned animal behaviorist Dodman, a proponent of behavior modification based upon a thorough understanding of an animal's inherent personality traits and species characteristics. Sharing case histories culled from his extensive caseload of distraught pet owners desperate to discover the cause of their pet's perplexing actions, Dodson advocates strategies ranging from dietary changes to pharmaceutical remedies. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Stanley Coren, author of How to Speak Dog and The Intelligence of Dogs
This is a "must read" book for anyone interested in the behavior of dogs and cats—and people too!

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs
[R]equired reading for anyone who even thinks about getting an animal...skillfully written, very exciting, and highly entertaining to read...

Customer Reviews

The pit bull from hell?
I enjoyed "The Dog who Loved too Much" (which might have been better titled "the Dog Owner who Loved too Much") so I picked this book up for more engaging stories of animal behavior and problem resolutions. My interest was further piqued by the chapter heading, "The Pit Bull from Hell". As the owner of a 9 year old pit bull, I have to say that Mr Dodman does not really "get" pit bulls. It's probably because the people who tend to have pit bulls cannot afford fancy schmancy animal behaviorist sessions.

Mr Dodson seems to imply that aggression against people is something normal in pit bulls, just lying beneath the surface of even those "cupcake" pit bulls he mentions in passing. I have lived in a densely populated urban neighborhood where pit bulls are popular for over 30 years, and I have never felt threatened by any of the local pit bulls including those used for dog fighting. I have been menaced by rottweilers, a rott-GSD mutt, and GSD mixed breeds running off leash in a local park.

The author describes a somewhat naive young man who tries to adopt a pit bull at a shelter but is directed to a pit bull breeder (WHY? with so many pit bull puppies ending up in shelters everywhere!) The dog he acquired seemed to be a product of careless dog breeding, but we are told nothing of the breeder. The animal developed a decidedly atypical aggression towards adult humans, probably a genetic error compounded by the ignorant owner's lack of understanding of dominant dog behavior.

I'm surprised that Mr Dodson didn't take this opportunity to point out the extreme importance of training puppies not to exhibit food aggression, as I did with my little pit bull. Food aggression causes so many dangerous problems with dogs and people that every dog, not just pit bulls, should be trained to allow people to take his food, bone, or whatever away from him at any time. This is most easily done when the animal is very young! I think Mr Dodson needs to get out and meet some good pit bulls, those entertaining and loyal companions which will never find their way to an animal behaviorist.

I agree- Poor Writing and Ego Ruin It
As if we don't have enough to worry about in regards to the children of today being overmedicated...now our pets, too?! His solution to almost every problem was prescribing an antidepressant. Also, his writing of his patients' owners came across as very egotistical and condescending. Some of the stuff had merit, but it was the same thing any trainer or behaviorist would tell you to do...establish dominance, ignore bad behaviors and reward good, etc.

Excellent resource for dog behavior
Dr. Dodman is a world renowned animal psychiatrist and his and all of his books are great sources for information about understanding dogs and correcting bad behavior.