Susan Overfield | Saturday Dogs … And the Owners They Trained
Published: August 12, 2008
You don’t have to be a dog-owner (let alone, be trying to ride herd on a three-month-old Weimaraner puppy) to appreciate the humor and acuity of Susan Overfield’s book, but it certainly helps.
The author, a veteran dog trainer who lives in Vaughn, suggests that humans have much more to do with their dog’s behavior (or lack thereof) than the canines themselves. “Who really needs to do the most amount of behavioral changing to elicit the best responses consistently …? To me this is an easy answer: the human.”
Saturday Dogs, named after participants in the author’s many Saturday obedience classes, offers engaging, funny and often poignant anecdotes about our canine companions and our often misguided and sometimes damaging attempts to manage them.
The problem dogs range from Bonnie, the border collie whose owner was an emotionally abused and fearful woman who didn’t understand why her dog responded to strangers as though they were enemies; to Kit, the teacup Pomeranian, who so charmed everyone (including his owner), that he had become a master at manipulation; to Punkin, a dog whose master was literally loving her to death.
I closed the last page, growled a firm “aaahtt” to Minnie as she was joyfully unraveling the rattan from my chair, and vowed to be a better communicator, for my dogs’ sake.
Saturday Dogs was published by Muddy Creek Publishing in Vaughn, MT, and sells for $16.95 softcover.
– Kristi Niemeyer
This is an awesome book. Susan has helped myself and my dog beyond what you can imagine!!
Great book! I opened it to glance through when it was delivered and didn’t put it down until I had read the whole thing. Maybe you have to know Susan to truly appreciate her knowledge and her sense of humor, but if you haven’t met her you will want to by the time you finish the first chapter. We have a sweet, well-behaved dog...usually...and we give Susan and her “aaaht’s” most of the credit for that. I highly recommend both her book and her classes.
A most excellent book--not only entertaining, but worthwhile information for any dog owner. Susan ‘tells it like it is’ and we can all learn a great deal from her expertise.
A wonderful book and insightful about the mind of a dog and how people often misread their own pet’s behavior. Susan, you have done it again! Can’t wait for the next book!
I loved Susan Overfield’s book, Saturday Dogs. I would highly recommend this book (and I have) to anyone, whether or not you own dogs. The first two dogs in the book described my dogs exactly. Great book.
I enjoyed the book and it help my relationship with my dog and wife.
I read each page wondering if my Boston Terrier, Ralphie, was going to be in the book. He attended obedience training with Susan beginning at 3 months of age. The things he did learn (and I insist on) are still so helpful and I was also reminded that I needed to get firm with him, as his failures were really mine. Susan interweaves what seems like they should be simple techniques into her stories and I found myself re-reading sections as reminders to myself. But why does it not seem so easy when I’m attempting to do it? I really liked the book and it made me long for more stories that I could learn from. I intend to keep the book as a great reference and maybe get Ralphie into some more intense training...maybe he will be in her next book!
