DOG TRAINING MY WAY

Mrs. Woodhouse, a British specialist in obedience prep, is author of The A to Z of Dogs and Puppies (p. 1297), and like so many of her profession is apt to give herself too much leash at the typewriter, resulting in bursts of puffery' and discursive reminiscences. She begins, for instance, with the obligatory, silly statement: ""dogs have. . .a brain equal to a child about five years old."" (Read Fox's Understanding Your Dog, 1971, for more realistic findings.) But then she gets down to brass collar studs with preliminary remarks about proper (owner) voice control, attitude, and initial equipment. She covers approximately the same ground as the Siegal and Margolis manual (see above) although not so completely, and as an obedience class director, she includes exercises not essential for the home like dumbbell fetching. Although Woodhouse's enjoyment and love of dogs is evident, she parades her professional pride in getting results -- fast. Whereas Margolis ""entices"" in the Heel exercise, Mrs. Woodhouse will briskly drag a lagging hound for yards if necessary to get the point across. There are helpful photographs but overall not so solid as Siegal and Margolis' Good Dog, Bad Dog for the average non-showing owner.