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Title: Dopey, Misleading Book Relying on Discredited Theories
Review: Although behaviorism has largely fallen out of favor because of the very limited picture it presents of the psyche, nonetheless people like Pryor persist with the idea that operant conditioning is the solution to all of our problems. This book has very few insights about dogs (indeed, her advice is sometimes dangerously misleading because she doesn't pay attention to the way dogs are hard-wired to behave). And the advice she gives about modifying human behavior are often unintentionally hilarious. (For instance, she recounts that in order to give herself incentive to get out of bed for an early class, she would feed herself small squares of chocolate.) There is much more to the mental life of dogs than this book would suggest. For a book that does them justice, try the Monks of New Skete.
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