A compassionate, brief-interval method for training dogs.
Mitchell draws on his decades of experience as a dog trainer to simplify the process in this guide.
The author distills his dog-training program down to a handful of basics: sit, stay, and come. In his years of doing one-on-one, in-home dog training, Mitchell frequently heard from clients that they hadn’t done the “homework” he’d assigned them because they didn’t have the time. He then developed a process in which basic dog-training could be done in very short sessions (the author’s idea of “micro sessions” amounts to an incremental training program). In brief, colorfully illustrated chapters full of engaging graphics and bulleted text, Mitchell takes the reader through his program. He broadens his advice to include many training-adjacent subjects, like dog cognition, leash training, nipping and biting, and even the nuances of picking the right food. The book is full of color photos illustrating the positions—dog’s and human’s—that Mitchell has found to generate the best results when teaching dogs skills like waiting unrestrained to go outside (or leave the car) and remaining composed instead of jumping up on strangers. Mitchell writes with energy and a good deal of empathy. The foremost strength of the book lies in the inherent compassion underlying all of these micro sessions of training—the assumption (running throughout the book) that dogs are separate, complex beings, far more intelligent and intuitive than most humans give them credit for being (“Like us, each dog has a one-of-a-kind personality. And with it comes a unique way of understanding the world”). Most of the training advice is the kind of self-evident counsel included in many dog-training books: pay attention to your tone of voice; don’t overload your dog; offer frequent, step-by-step small food rewards. But even basic reminders, when made by a smart and caring guide, can be very helpful.
A compassionate, brief-interval method for training dogs.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2023
ISBN: 978-1733164535
Page Count: 164
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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