Your public library at your fingertips. Anytime. Anywhere. Want to know how that works?
It’s Hoopla, the groundbreaking digital media service offered by your local public library!
Hoopla allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics, and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone—and even your TV! Titles can be streamed immediately or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later. Hoopla has hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily. You can stream titles through your desktop browser or the mobile app. If you use the mobile app, you can also download titles to your device for offline playback later, where wi-fi may be unavailable. Titles are automatically returned and removed from your device at the end of the lending period.
Today, I’ll highlight eight books about dogs that are available to borrow through Hoopla.
What is Hoopla? by Jennifer Still
Audiobooks
The Other End Of The Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs (2009)
by Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D.; read by Patricia B. Archer
(9 hours 53 minutes)
The Other End of the Leash shares a revolutionary new perspective on our relationship with dogs, focusing on our behavior in comparison with that of dogs. An applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer with more than twenty years experience, Dr. Patricia McConnell looks at humans as just another interesting species, and muses about why we behave the way we do around our dogs, how dogs might interpret our behavior, and how to interact with our dogs in ways that bring out the best in our four-legged friends. After all, although humans and dogs share a remarkable relationship that is unique in the animal world, we are still two entirely different species, each shaped by our individual evolutionary heritage. Quite simply, humans are primates and dogs are canids (like wolves, coyotes, and foxes). Since we each speak a different native tongue, a lot gets lost in translation. The Other End of the Leash demonstrates how even the slightest changes in your voice and the way you stand can help your dog understand what you want. Once you start to think about your own behavior from the perspective of your dog, you’ll understand why much of what appears to be doggy disobedience is simply a case of miscommunication.
Inside you will learn:
• How to use your voice so that your dog is more likely to do what you ask.
• Why “getting dominance” over your dog is a bad idea.
• Why “rough and tumble primate play” can lead to trouble–and how to play with your dog in ways that are fun and keep him out of trouble.
• How dogs and humans share personality types–and why most dogs want to live with benevolent leaders rather than “alpha-wannabees!”
In her own insightful, compelling style, Patricia McConnell combines wonderful true stories about people and dogs with a new, accessible scientific perspective on how they should behave around each other. This is a book that strives to help you make the most of life with your dog, and to prevent problems that might arise in that most rewarding of relationships.
Dogs For Dummies, 2nd Edition (2020)
by Gina Spadafori; read by Eva Wilhelm
(14 hours 54 minutes)
Dogs For Dummies is for you if you are looking to adopt a dog, trying to improve the relationship with the one you have, or attempting to come up with fun things to do with your canine companion. This book is also for people who want to choose the right veterinarian, explore the dog-breeding business, find breed-rescue groups, identify canine health problems, and look for a purebred.
It’s a “doggy-dog” world, and this easy-to-use guide will help you navigate it. Improve your chances at pet success by knowing how to raise and live with your dog properly. Discover which breed best suits your lifestyle, and if a puppy or adult dog is best for you. Dogs For Dummies, 2nd Edition also covers the following topics and more:
• Caring for an aging dog
• Choosing collars, harnesses, halters, and leashes
• Considering euthanasia
• Feeding Fido the right way
• House-training puppies and adult dogs
• Keeping up appearances with good grooming
• Participating in canine competitions
• Preparing your dog for a disaster
• Traveling with your dog
Award-winning author Gina Spadafori says the lack of accurate information—not the lack of effort or concern—is often the reason for doomed people-pet pairings. With her help, you can avoid the agony. Dogs For Dummies, 2nd Edition is full of useful tips and how-to advice.
Dog Tricks: Teaching Your Doggie to Shake Hands and Other Tricks (2013)
by Liz Palika; read by various readers
(20 minutes)
It’s fun to teach your dog new tricks. This book shows you step by step how to teach your dog to perform on command. Your friends will be amazed at how smart your dog is!
Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You (2019)
by Clive D.L. Wynne; read by James Langton
(8 hours 27 minutes)
“Lively and fascinating . . . The reader comes away cheered, better informed, and with a new and deeper appreciation for our amazing canine companions and their enormous capacity for love.”— Cat Warren, New York Times best-selling author of What the Dog Knows
Does your dog love you?
Every dog lover knows the feeling. The nuzzle of a dog’s nose, the warmth of them lying at our feet, even their whining when they want to get up on the bed. It really seems like our dogs love us, too. But for years, scientists have resisted that conclusion, warning against anthropomorphizing our pets. Enter Clive Wynne, a pioneering canine behaviorist whose research is helping to usher in a new era: one in which love, not intelligence or submissiveness, is at the heart of the human-canine relationship. Drawing on cutting-edge studies from his lab and others around the world, Wynne shows that affection is the very essence of dogs, from their faces and tails to their brains, hormones, even DNA. This scientific revolution is revealing more about dogs’ unique origins, behavior, needs, and hidden depths than we ever imagined possible.
A humane, illuminating book, Dog Is Love is essential reading for anyone who has ever loved a dog-and experienced the wonder of being loved back.
Ebooks
Dog Behavior: An Owner’s Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (2009)
by Ian Dunbar
(144 print pages)
Dr. Ian Dunbar, renowned dog trainer and behaviorist, explains how dogs think, how dogs learn, and why they act the way they do. Dog owners who understand these issues can better train their dogs and develop a closer relationship with their pets.
Successful Dog Adoption (2008)
by Sue Sternberg
(244 print pages)
Expert guidance in choosing the right dog—the first time.
Written by a renowned expert in shelter adoption, Successful Dog Adoption delivers all the information you need to find the perfect dog at a shelter and make him part of your family. In easy-to-understand language, Sue Sternberg helps you decide if you’re ready to adopt by evaluating your reasons and translating them into what you should look for in a particular dog. She shows you how to find a reputable shelter, prepare for the adoption process, and work with shelter personnel to make sure they have appropriately screened their dogs. You’ll also learn about “rescue” dogs and why one might be right for you.
This practical guide covers all the vital issues you need to consider when adopting—choosing a male or female, a puppy or an adult; identifying fearful dogs or dogs who will bite; and seeking out a dog with the ideal temperament. Featured here are detailed tests and observations used by professionals to ascertain the temperament and compatibility of shelter dogs—now made available to the public for the first time. You’ll discover how to determine risk factors in an unknown dog, gauge a dog’s potential reaction to guests and strangers, and predict the compatibility level when you add another dog to your household.
This book also offers invaluable advice on training your new pet, including guidance in housebreaking, selecting a training class, and helping a dog who gets carsick or doesn’t like to be home alone. And, if you still experience difficulties with your dog, Sternberg gently discusses the steps you can take.
Authoritative and friendly, Successful Dog Adoption is the one-stop guide for finding your own “superdog”—and keeping the dog-owner relationship fresh and rewarding for years to come.
Choosing A Dog: An Owner’s Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet (2008)
by Kim Campbell Thornton
(158 print pages)
Choosing a Dog is a useful addition to the successful Happy Healthy Pet line, which features expert content in an easy-to-read format. It includes high-quality color photos and informative sidebars throughout.
The author covers all points the prospective dog owner must know before choosing a breed, including tips on choosing purebred or mixed-breed; in-depth info on breed types and specific breeds; information on finding, interviewing, and choosing a breeder who will meet the owner’s needs; necessary contracts and paperwork; and shelter dog and breed rescue options. The book includes specific information on more than 50 of the breeds ranked most popular with the AKC. The author provides basic information on bringing the new dog home and lots of additional reading in print and on websites.
How Many Dogs?! Using Positive Reinforcement Training to Manage a Multiple Dog Household (2010)
by Debby McMullen
(204 print pages)
Would you like to live in harmony in a house with multiple dogs?! It can most easily be obtained when positive reinforcement training techniques are used, along with proper living-space management and good feeding habits. You’ll learn how to do all those things in this book. You’ll also learn techniques for adding new dogs, group training and exercise, playtime, resolving issues with problem dogs, and all the other things you need to know to guide you through your life with multiple dogs. Throughout the book there are examples of real life experiences of people using these techniques. Whether you live with two dogs, six dogs, or more, How Many Dogs?! will help bring joy into your home.
What reviewers are saying . . .
Dog World Magazine: McMullen has trained dogs professionally since 1998, and like many owners, her canine menagerie grew without much planning. She adopted an unwanted puppy, took in a stray, and fostered a rescue or two. These dog acquisitions might have happened without a great deal of forethought, but McMullen stresses that a relaxed approach to a multi-dog home must end there. How Many Dogs?! is a straightforward, realistic book full of valuable guidance. McMullen’s methods are based on real-life experiences living with multiple dogs. She emphasizes that owners must establish leadership to avert chaos, but a domineering approach rarely achieves desired results. “It is not your job to dominate your dogs, nor to let them dominate each other,” McMullen writes. “It’s all about benevolence. You are the benevolent leader.” She discusses strategies for feeding a gang of dogs, sleeping with a bed full of dogs, ensuring the comfort of old or infirm dogs, and the tricky business of group training. For multi-dog households, training is an ongoing experience. She explains how to incorporate it into everyday life, as well as how to avoid complications caused by unintentional training: “Every interaction you have with your crew trains them in some way.” The book is full of advice and ideas, but McMullen admits there are no standard rules. Owners must tailor their routines to the dynamics of their particular dogs. However, dogs will be dogs, and she is realistic about situations likely to arouse pack mentality, such as walking multiple dogs, visiting a dog park, and the arrival of a new dog. “You will know when the mixed group can be trusted to be left alone together when you are not home,” McMullen writes. “And in some cases, the answer may be never. But if integration is to happen, you must never move toward this goal incrementally.” Most importantly, she makes readers aware of signs that trouble is brewing, and steps they can take to defuse conflict before it escalates into a dog fight.—Amy Fernandez
