Worth the Read?

Worth the Read?
By Melissa Warner
Publication: FrontPageMilwaukee.com
Issue Date: October 1, 2007
Section: Review
Word Count: 655

Worth the Read?

Hip Ideas for Hyper Dogs

Living with a hyper dog is quite the experience. At times it is so stressful you wonder why you are bothering. Sometimes it even feels like training is pointless because you are getting no where. I know from personal experience, Kirby, who is part Coonhound and part Beagle, joined our family just over a year ago.

Kirby is quite the handful. I cannot tell you how many pairs of socks, shirts, newspapers and books Kirby has chewed up in the last year. He constantly wants to play and sleeps no more than three hours at a time. After cleaning up all the toys he has destroyed and all the paper he ripped up at the end of the day, angry thoughts cross my mind, but then I look at my cute little guy wagging his back end at me, and realize all the terror is worth it.

After reading Hip Ideas for Hyper Dogs (Howell Book House, 2007) by Amy Ammen and Kitty Foth-Regner I feel that I understand my dog better and have been exposed to not only new, but creative activities and training to share with my dog.

Ammen and Foth-Regner’s book is an incredibly user friendly handbook teaching you how to live with hyper dogs. It is organized in a chronological fashion beginning with how to recognize if your dog is hyper. Once you determine if your dog is hyper, the authors explain various tools and techniques to use with the different sized breeds to deal with the dog’s personality.

The authors explain how to gain the most important part of all training and relationships with dogs- communication. There are various stages and techniques used to do this which are clearly demonstrated through words and pictures. Some of the techniques are obvious, like basic obedience training, and other techniques are more complex.

After you gain control the following chapter offers great ideas to help your hyper dog release energy. A few of the ideas are not original; however, some of them are quite creative. Exercise is a given, but it’s more than just exercising your animal, it’s adding an intense element to the exercise you do. For example instead of walking your dog, go for a bike ride with your dog in tow.

One of my favorite ideas was playing kickball with your dog. It’s a great way to avoid touching a wet, drool filled ball. Another original idea was playing Hide and Seek with your dog. It’s an excellent way to test their listening skills and wear them out at the same time.

Following exercise and playtime, or at the end of the day, there are many suggestions on how to relax your dog. Grooming your dog and petting/massaging your dog are a few suggestions. There are even items like lines of oils specially geared to settle down your dog.

Not only is important to physically relax your dog, but it is important to have a soothing environment. The authors propose ways to arrange your home not only to make it hyper dog-friendly, but also ways to avoid situations like separation anxiety. I found these suggestions most helpful.

Kirby hates staying home by himself, when I leave he starts howling and continues to howl until I return. In this situation the authors suggest you give your dog a tasty treat before you leave. When I did this, he was distracted as I left the house, there was no howling.

Hip Ideas for Hyper Dogs is written clear and simple. The pictures and graphics make it very comprehensible. The instructions are not too vague or too detailed and they are organized by chapters so information is easy to find.

Unlike many other obedience books, this book is truly full of new ideas to create an even closer bond with your animal.

Ammen and Foth-Regner’s have successfully created an effective manual for many dog owners.