Training Your Retriever Revised Edition: Amazon.ca: James Free: Books

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First Sentence
IF YOU ALREADY own a retriever-or any other kind of dog for that matter-you may as well save your eyes and skip this stuff about how to go about buying a good one. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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1.0 out of 5 stars Vicious and Outdated, Mar 11 2004

By

Linda D. Landis (Ward Cove, AK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Training Your Retriever Revised Edition (Hardcover)

I have trained dogs of many breeds over the last fifteen years. Some for obedience trials, agility trials and also I have trained my certified Search and Rescue dog, as well as having taught obedience classes for several years.

This book needs to be taken out of circulation. I am horrified that this book, which describes to the novice exactly the best method to best beat their dog, and also to pick it up off the ground and shake it without being bitten, and then often telling the reader that if the training and beatings don't work then get rid of the dog. It is obvious to me that this man never trained anything other than patient, kind retrievers. It is amazing he wasn't viciously bitten many times. It is a credit to the Labrador breed that he wasn't.

If you are a good trainer, there will never be a moment you will need to be guided by Free's advice, quoted here: "Most retrievers can take, and *like* (emphasis mine) a lot more punishment than they ever need, without any danger of being cowed. But if you should be unlucky enough to get one who (emphasis his) can't take as much as he needs, and shows signs of being cowed - then you'd better get rid of him at once..."

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1.0 out of 5 stars Training your Retriever-By James Lamb Free, Jun 10 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Training Your Retriever Revised Edition (Hardcover)

If I could I would give it NO stars. I found some of his training advice to be horrible! Just to name some things... talking about how to beat your dog. No dog should ever be hit/beat it does not make him a better trained dog. It just makes him a sad, hurt dog. You should train your dog with love... praise, NOT BY HITTING HIM! All dogs should have a loving home, NO dog should EVER be hit. Also, talking about having him in the kennel all day, only take him out to work, it's mean and doesn't make a good dog... just a sad dog, a happy dog who gets a lot of love will be a better worker! You CAN'T keep a dog in the kennel all day, and only take him out for work, or to beat him! Dogs need someone to love them, they need to be played with, taken on walks, someone to pet them... hold them... love them.......

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5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Retriever Training Book Of All Time, Feb 25 2001

By

Mary Horst (Peoria, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Training Your Retriever Revised Edition (Hardcover)

Mr. Free's book is for those who want a HUNTING dog. If you're looking for a book to train Fido to do cute tricks for your friends like retrieve the paper go elsewhere. He trained dogs for field trials and intended them to be 1-owner dogs. I plan to train my next dog to be a more serious hunter than prior dogs I've owned. Even if you want a family dog that you can take in the field without being embarassed in front of your hunting buddies you can get several great methods from this book. Mr. Free stresses the importance of getting a good pup from exceptional pedigree to save yourself a lot of heartache down the road. I plan on using about 90% of what he recommends in this book. I own about six different retriever training books and this is by far the best. BTW if you plan on training anything other than a labrador retriever you may be put off by his obvious prejudice for this breed.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just For Retrievers
I first used this book to train a retriever. At the time I had no prior experience training a dog. Read more

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