Training Your Mixed Breed

A lot of attention goes to purebred dogs who win prizes at dog shows, but most of us own a mixed-breed dog. For us, "mutt" is a term of endearment. Our mixed-breed best friend is as important to us as any Labrador Retriever or French Bulldog. Training Your Mixed Breed is the perfect book to help you understand and train your beloved dog or puppy. Miriam Fields-Babineau is an experienced dog trainer whose work has appeared on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and Animal Planet. Her knowledge of animals is encyclopedic. In this book, she discusses selecting the right dog for your lifestyle and temperament, purebred dogs and the bloodline they form as they mix with other breeds, popular crossbreeds and the traits that they form, and more. Learning the ancestry of your new canine can give you valuable insight into your dog's tendencies and behaviors. It will help guide you as you follow Miriam's advice about the best methods for training your dog. The book details the ways you can decode the behavior of your mutt by looking into the characteristics of its ancestry. This research will also help you know what you can expect when you bring a dog home and start the training process. Knowing about your dog's background can tell you if the dog is compatible with children, if it can be left alone for longer periods of time while the family is out for the day, and it might even provide vital information about the life expectancy of your new family member. Miriam explains the different breed groups from the sporting breeds to the different categories of adorable hounds. You'll read information on fascinating bloodlines that can trace your pooch back to anything from Bassett hounds to Dobermans and even the smaller toy breeds. So if it seems like your mixed-breed pooch can guard the kids with affection, then chances are he might have a dash of Rottweiler somewhere in his background. A more playful one who fetches endlessly is more likely connected to the Border Collie. The bottom line is this: most of us would give anything just to have that adorable little bundle of joy greet us when we come home. But the secret lies in the dog's ancestry. Knowing the breeds from which it originated is the key to success in using loving, positive behavior reinforcement techniques.