Why Does My Dog...?

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View books by John Fisher.

Touching, truthful and fun - Rated
When reading this book you could be reading about your own dog, your friend's dog, your parent's old dog, or that dog up the road that really barks when you walk by. Fisher has caught them all to a tee. My only criticism was that it was maybe not practical enough, but it was certainly enlightening and educational. Both my colleague & I said after reading it, we now know why we have being doing it all wrong for all these years!

Essential for all dog owners - Rated
Read this book and you will understand and love your dog even more. I have bought so many copies and loaned them to other doggie people never to see the book again, so be warned, if you buy it, DON'T lend it, just recommend it!

But I have one serious reservation - Rated
John Fisher's book was written with a purpose: to make human beings more compassionate and understanding towards dogs. It succeeds in this brilliantly, except for one sentence, where he says that some of his clients get upset when he tells them that their dogs don't love them. Whether or not John is correct in his assertion - and many, even-non-sentimental, dog-owners would disagree with him - this is not helpful at all. Even in the mind of the most besotted dog-owner on the planet [me] this idea worked briefly as a mental irritant, making me subtly resentful of my dog for a few weeks after I had read it. Goodness knows, resentment of dogs is the last thing the author wished to encourage.

I wrote to the publishers with this comment a year ago, and got a very kind reply from John Fisher's widow, after which I felt it was only respectful to drop the subject. However - I can't. It's been bugging me ever since. I really do believe, for the sake of John's legacy to dogs and dog-lovers, that the publishers should remove this short section of an otherwise wonderful book.