Victoria Stilwell's Guide to Unlocking the Secret Language of Dogs

Polypop: Very interesting reading.

United Kingdom on Jul 31, 2023

lizzie Arnold: Really good book, learnt a lot goes into all the stuff you need to know, broken down easy to understand

United Kingdom on Jul 17, 2023

Amazon Customer: Good read. Gives a basic understanding

United Kingdom on Mar 23, 2023

Amazon Customer: I enjoyed reading this book. It had valuable information. Like it says it helps you understand your dog better. Great book.

United States on Jan 11, 2021

Eliza: I love that this book is all about the basics of dog body language. It’s easy to understand and has nice illustrations to reference. Its primary focus is how to read a dogs’ body language to increase safety and comfort in both humane and dog, during training and other interactions. It is not really a textbook and it’s a very basic resource but it is an excellent addition to a beginners’ dog library. My only reason for giving 4 stars and not 5 is I found many of the illustrations to be regrettably frivolous. Many of the largest full page photos showed dogs playing, sleeping, or otherwise just being a dog, while the ones showing actual examples of body language where often drawings of those behaviors. Additionally the drawings seemed to always be small and never took up as much as half a page of space. To me it seems like a poor editing choice and not an author’s error. Regardless I buy books for the words and the content is excellent, and there are illustrations showing the behaviors covered in this book.

United States on Jun 02, 2020

Melinita: This book is so informative and very enjoyable to read. My dogs have been rescue dogs, sometimes not knowing their histories, but this applies to all! It has helped me to have more meaningful interactions with my dogs & assisted in bonding.

United States on Oct 27, 2019

Jay: Going into this book, I knew some areas would be familiar to me but that there would also be some nuggets and/or different ways of thinking to discover.

Well written, even somebody who has no understanding of dog training or behaviour will be able to use what they learn in this book with ease.

I love that the author covers the tail in particular with pictures - so often when I am taking my in-training ex-stray out, people will approach and (usually) ask to say hi or pet him. For a dog that used to be a stray, it’s more likely my pup will see their approach as something to fear so though I can read his body language before I give the stranger a yes or no, everyone assumes his wagging tail means he wants to be interacted with. This isn’t always the case - tail wagging can also mean nervous, feeling threatened and other less positive feelings.

The downside: those people that most need to learn dog body language (AKA those that approach dogs they don’t know) aren’t likely to read a book about the topic, even if it is great! I will be recommending this book to owners of dogs I’m helping to train as a must-read and those I encounter on walks that do ask...

United Kingdom on Jun 18, 2018

Rory Rosszell: This might be a good book for a novice, but having read about dogs for years and now having had a toy poodle for 8 years, I was hoping this book would go beyond "common sense" and provide insight into aspects of our dog's behaviour that I have trouble understanding or dealing with effectively. The section on humping, for example, only discusses the humping of other dogs and people. Our dog gets excited when we have guests over, and, despite being fixed, he often starts humping his cushions and blankets, so I often take them away, but feel badly and wonder if there might be a better solution. Also, whenever we wipe his feet or he gets his feet wet, the first thing he does is to find a carpet into which he can grind his face as he pushes himself along with his hind legs. Those are just a couple of examples of things I was hoping she would touch on or explain. Maybe I expected too much. And finally, although as the author she is free to do as she wishes, I was disappointed to see her consistently use the pronoun "she" when referring to dogs throughout the book. Although our patriarchic culture went the other way in the past and consistently used the pronoun "he" and words like...

Japan on Oct 14, 2017

Storymuse: Lightbulbs went off in my head again and again as the author explained in clear, understandable terms exactly what my dog has been thinking, feeling, and trying to communicate. I am deeply grateful to have found and read this book several weeks before our rescue pup joins our family! I especially appreciate that every point and assertion is linked to the source of that information. Her facts and evidence-based science references are to be trusted over so many flawed training methodologies out there.

United States on Oct 06, 2017

Cara Howell: I love all of Victoria Stilwell's books. She is so insightful and uses positive methods for training dogs. Trained my dog with her help. I have a very well-behaved dog because of kindness not force. I highly recommend this book. I always have felt that dogs know more than we give them credit for and after reading "The Secret Language of Dogs" I see I was right! Great read for better understanding our best friends!

United States on Oct 20, 2016