Book review - 'What Color Is Your Dog?'

July 7, 10:13 AMClicker Training ExaminerEve Alexander

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Joel's book rates 5 stars!

In his new book ‘What Color Is Your Dog?’ Joel Silverman, Hollywood trainer and host of Animal Planet's Good Dog U, introduces a simple concept to accurately determine any dog’s innate emotional personality. Just 160 pages in length, this little gem of a book includes lots of color photographs and is cleverly formatted with important information spotlighted so you can reference it easily.

Joel’s innovative concept categorizes dogs as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green or Blue, or some degree in between such as Red-Orange. It’s a simple and elegant system that is easy for everyone, even children, to understand.

On one end of the spectrum, the hot side, are Red dogs. These high-strung dogs are often described as ‘out of control’. They are easily distracted and often challenging to train. At the other end of the spectrum, on the cold side, are Blue dogs. Timid, fearful and untrusting, Blue dogs can become fear aggressive biters. Both Red and Blue dogs frequently end up in animal shelters and rescues simply because their owners don’t know how to deal with them.

Right smack in the center of the spectrum are the Yellow dogs. These ‘mellow Yellow’ dogs are the ideal. On each side of the Yellow dogs are warm Orange and cool Green dogs. The goal is to bring any dog closer to ‘mellow Yellow’ by the way in which the owner approaches, trains and handles the dog.

The title might sound like a fanciful Dr. Seuss book, but once you start reading it you will be amazed at how profoundly perceptive the color categories are. You’ll probably have your own dog’s color identified within the first few pages of the book. This book delivers on it's goal to teach people how to develop a respectful relationship with their dog by providing insight into any dog's personality.

But beyond simply identifying dogs by color, the second half of Joel’s book explains how to effectively train each color type. For instance, Blue, Green, Yellow and some Orange dogs respond very well to clicker training, while the clicker sound and food reward can be too stimulating for the already excitable Red dogs who do best with calming tactile rewards such as petting and stroking.

Joel’s motive for writing this book was to help new dog owners learn the best way to communicate with their dog, in order to reduce the number of adopted dogs being returned to rescues and animal shelters. The book is also a great resource for people who work in rescue. By being able to identify the dog’s emotional personality in advance, the rescue staff can teach the new dog owner how best to handle that particular personality for a happy and successful adoption.

So reasonably priced, just $14.93 at Amazon.com, this treasure of a book is worth its weight in gold!

http://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Dog-Personality/dp/159378645X

More Information
Joel Silverman's Companions For Life website