My son is 9 and he loves this book! He has learned a lot about the different breeds of dogs. He brings it with him everywhere. People are impressed at how much he knows about the different breeds of dogs.

This is a fantastic resource book on different breeds of dog. The descriptions are thorough, easy to read and are accompanied by color photos. Dogs are rated on energy level, exercise requirements, playfulness, affection level, friendliness towards dogs/other pets/strangers, ease of training, watchdog ability, protection ability, grooming requirements and tolerance toward cold and heat. I was able to really determine the best dog for my family using measures I hadn't even thought of! This book is the one for you if you are trying to decide the best purebred dog for your family and lifestyle. Check out "Hot Dogs" for excellent info on some of the newer mixed breeds.

As librarian in a Pre-K through 8th grade school library, I am occasionally asked by students to buy certain kinds of books. The number one request this year was a dog breed book, not a book about dogs, but specifically dog breeds. I looked at all the books available on Amazon and discovered that "Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds" best met our needs. From the time the book was processed and checked out to the boy who requested it, the waiting list remained steady. Once checked out, the book was relinquished only because of threats by the Library Dragon.

All of the preceding paragraph is background to say how valuable this book is and how much students love it. If you or your family are ready to obtain a dog, this book certainly will provide you with information in making good choices.

The first chapter begins with the Dog Family and moves to the Family Dog, asks how good the breed is with children , and how to use the Breed Profiles. Then most of the book is taken by the specifics of the various breeds of dogs. Divided into classes, dogs belong to the sporting group, hounds, working dogs, terriers, toys, non-sporting group, and herders.

When a book contains over 150 breeds of dogs, the viewer will see almost infinite varieties of some breeds. For example, American Staffordshire Terrier and the Bull Terrier resemble each other. Do you know the Glen of Imaal Terrier? Or the Kerry Blue Terrier or Irish Terrier, Lakeland Terrier? The Manchester Terrier looks like a small Doberman Pinscher. The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is one of those with long hair covering his eyes. He's from Ireland.

The Working Group are "those dogs that put their bravery or brawn into the service of humans." They can be guard dogs, protectors, sled dogs, cart dogs, and rescue dogs. They are known for their intelligence and hardiness (105). Each breed gets a two-page spread.

Here's the Komondor, the large dog that has cord-like tassels for fur. The breed originated in Hungary, where it is still plentiful. It was used as a sheep herder and is being bred for that use in the United States now. However, because of its cords, it must live in a cool climate. Its positive qualities are affection, friendliness, good watchdog, and a great protector. Its negative qualities are its unfriendliness toward other dogs and strangers, and low heat tolerance.

Each two-page spread contains sub-articles on history of the breed, temperament, upkeep, health, form and function, At a Glance chart, an illustration showing the standards of the breed, plus a posed, competition-like photograph and a close-up showing the nature of the dog.

The last section of the book contains a glossary of medical conditions, illustrations of dog anatomy, and an index.

This is a book to sit down with and spend an hour at a time, just browsing the interesting articles, looking at photographs, and picking up useful information for now or later concerning dog breeds. "Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds" is simply a great book to have!

Note: Oh my, the powers that be allow this many no-votes for an encyclopedia of dog breeds? What next? Cyber stalking?

As librarian in a Pre-K through 8th grade school library, I am occasionally asked by students to buy certain kinds of books. The number one request this year was a dog breed book, not a book about dogs, but specifically dog breeds. I looked at all the books available on Amazon and discovered that "Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds" best met our needs. From the time the book was processed and checked out to the boy who requested it, the waiting list remained steady. Once checked out, the book was relinquished only because of threats by the Library Dragon.

All of the preceding paragraph is background to say how valuable this book is and how much students love it. If you or your family are ready to obtain a dog, this book certainly will provide you with information in making good choices.

The first chapter begins with the Dog Family and moves to the Family Dog, asks how good the breed is with children , and how to use the Breed Profiles. Then most of the book is taken by the specifics of the various breeds of dogs. Divided into classes, dogs belong to the sporting group, hounds, working dogs, terriers, toys, non-sporting group, and herders.

When a book contains over 150 breeds of dogs, the viewer will see almost infinite varieties of some breeds. For example, American Staffordshire Terrier and the Bull Terrier resemble each other. Do you know the Glen of Imaal Terrier? Or the Kerry Blue Terrier or Irish Terrier, Lakeland Terrier? The Manchester Terrier looks like a small Doberman Pinscher. The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is one of those with long hair covering his eyes. He's from Ireland.

The Working Group are "those dogs that put their bravery or brawn into the service of humans." They can be guard dogs, protectors, sled dogs, cart dogs, and rescue dogs. They are known for their intelligence and hardiness (105). Each breed gets a two-page spread.

Here's the Komondor, the large dog that has cord-like tassels for fur. The breed originated in Hungary, where it is still plentiful. It was used as a sheep herder and is being bred for that use in the United States now. However, because of its cords, it must live in a cool climate. Its positive qualities are affection, friendliness, good watchdog, and a great protector. Its negative qualities are its unfriendliness toward other dogs and strangers, and low heat tolerance.

Each two-page spread contains sub-articles on history of the breed, temperament, upkeep, health, form and function, At a Glance chart, an illustration showing the standards of the breed, plus a posed, competition-like photograph and a close-up showing the nature of the dog.

The last section of the book contains a glossary of medical conditions, illustrations of dog anatomy, and an index.

This is a book to sit down with and spend an hour at a time, just browsing the interesting articles, looking at photographs, and picking up useful information for now or later concerning dog breeds. "Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds" is simply a great book to have!

I found this to be very helpful as my family was searching for a new puppy. We were able to see and learn about breeds we had never even heard of.

IS THE BEST COMPLEMENT FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, THAT NEED TO REMEMBER SEEING COLOR. IF YOU HAVE THE AKC BOOK AND NEED TO STUDY, THIS ONE IS A MUST TO ADD IN YOUR LIBRARY.

We bought this book to help us decide which breed would be best suited to us, and it was very helpful in that regard. It provides a two-page spread on each dog, discussing history, temperament, exercise requirements, health concerns, two photos, and a diagram pointing out aspects of breed physique (conformation). Finally, there is a chart that awards points from 1 to 5 according to how much a dog demonstrates, or lacks, a particular quality. The structure of the book is thus very sound.

However, I do have criticisms of the book. First, the ratings chart, awarding points for sociability, cold tolerance, trainability, and so on, does not always seem to match the written description of temperament or exercise requirements. This sense of disjunction is reinforced for me by my own knowledge (gained since choosing a Boxer last year) of specific breeds, since I often find myself agreeing with the written statement but quibbling with the number rating: I just don't think, based on my experience and other reading, that those numbers are especially reliable. To name one instance that I'm very familiar with, I think that Boxers are actually friendlier to strangers and other dogs than the number rating would suggest: it gives a 3 rating, where I would make it a 4 (and I live in a neighbourhood bursting at the seams with dogs, including several Boxers).

Similarly, the Boxer rating for 'watchdog ability' is a 3, but I wonder why: my dog knows when a delivery has been put by the door, or when anyone approaches, or even when the local cats are across the street. If there is a degree of watchfulness greater than this, such that a 3 is merely average and 5 is extreme, how so? Being more of a barker doesn't seem to me sufficient to up a dog's score, and this could all be misleading to someone trying to make decisions on the basis of the ratings. Most people that want a watchful dog would be well pleased with a Boxer, but the rating suggests instead that they are just OK in that department. But again, whether you agree with the specific ratings or not, they themselves don't seem to agree completely with the text.

Another flaw is that, while each breed has two photos to represent it, some breeds are represented by only one individual. Going back to the Boxer again as my example, only a fawn Boxer is shown--apparently the same dog. It would have been more helpful to have a second photo of a brindle coat (dark streaks) and/or different white markings (flashing). Further, many dog owners these days prefer Boxers and other dogs with uncropped ears, but only cropped ears are shown, even in the diagram. That is just a refusal to show the dog as most non-show people see it! The problem is not just with Boxers; several other breeds I think are not represented with sufficient variety of photographs.

In sum, this is a good book but it is far from being the best, and leaves much scope for competitors in a popular subject.

I bought this book for my son's tenth birthday. He is crazy about dogs. This is a fantastic book-very informative, great photos, good quality and basically a nice read. It is easy to pick it up and flick through it.My son spends hours reading and rereading it. We have similar books that are not opened now that he has this one. Well worth the modest price!

one of the best dog books out there, and believe me i've read quite a few. i think what i liked best was that each dog breed was given a review on a number of different qualities. 5 stars being the highest. they were judged on energy, "hair care", friendliness towards people and other animals, among many other things. being a dog lover and avid dog guide book reader, i thought i knew just about all there was to the different dog breeds, but this book proved me wrong. i learned more about dogs in this book than i've read in 25 other dog breed books.

A good reference book for various dog breeds. Obviously, it does not go into great detail about all of the breeds BUT it does provide a good overview of the various breeds in question. If you are buying it to obtain information about a specific breed, then this is NOT the book that you need. A breed specific book would be much better. If, on the other hand, you want a good starting point for the various dog breeds, then this is the book for you. Provides ideal information if you are thinking of buying a dog but don't know what breed to get.

This is an excellent book outlining the types of dogs in the world. It presents the types and characteristics of all the common dogs that currently inhabit our planet using good descriptions and photos. An outstanding book for its purpose.

I paid $20 for this book and it has been well worth it. The pictures are great and serves as a great reference. It's sure to grab your guests' attention also as the pictures and information are well placed.

The book is easy to read and has great pictures. It gives a great overview and quickly learn and understand about the breeds. I like the chart it gives about grooming, exciteablity, exercise needs, etc. Very useful and very pleased!

This book is easy to read and has all the good and bad right there for you to see. The descriptions are accurate and it is very easy to make comparisons of the different breeds.
Overall this is an excellent reference book at a very reasonable price.

Excellent reference book on purebred dogs. Highly recommended for any dog lover's library.

I previewed several books before I bought this one. It is a great coffee table to dog lovers - About two full pages of info, charts, and pictures for just about every breed of dog.

Excellent book. We love it!! Fast service, great price.!!

Thanks

The book is wonderful. It has a "scoring" system which enables the reader to determine how much affection, exercise, intelligence etc. the particular breed has/needs. We chose the breed we want (Golden Retriever) by comparing it with the others. Only problem with the book was that the binding was upside down. When you open the book, the "guts" are upside down. Other than that, the book was great.

Fabulous coffee table book with excellent pictures of every dog breed. More importantly, a must get for the person (like me) planning to get a puppy. The thorough text told about characteristics of the breed so I could narrow down the options and get the puppy that really suited me. Now that I have that puppy (Havanese) I continue to refer to the book as I hear about or see other breeds that I want to learn about.

Great book with lots of information but a bit large and heavy.

This is a great book with big pages and is very easy to read. There is at least one large color photo of each breed in the book. The price is very good considering all of the information contained in the book.

This is an excellent book which provides just enough insight and expertise for casual dog fans and owners without overdoing it. More intense, information-hungry dog aficionados might want more but that's not what the book delivers. The quality of the pictures is outstanding and give an accurate representation of the dogs appearance, although there aren't too many (if any, as I recall) of the depicted breeds as pups.

The rating system for strengths and weaknesses of each breed is an extremely effective way to quickly educate the readers, especially on types they may not be familiar with. I'd give the book a five star rating, but then Dr. Coile would have nothing to shoot for.

This is a great overview of AKC breeds. There are 2 full color photos (not drawings) of the dogs. I refer to this book all the time. It covers the history of the breeds, statistics, temperment,personality, health isuues, and much more. I bought one for me and one for my sister. I highly recommend this book!

Our dog showed up at dinnertime. Just like that. So we don't have any pedigree papers, and no one called the animal anything. Just "dog".
I looked at EVERY page in this book, and NONE of the "dogs" resembled my dog IN THE LEAST. So what breed is it?
Don't know who his father is. Or his mother.
I'll bet you have a pretty strong impression that you know who your mother is. But are you sure? Might have been a little switcheroo, maybe, back when you were red and wrinkly and less charming than you are now?
And your father? are you SURE? ah, ha ha, you don't have any idea, really! Do you KNOW where your mother used to go, you WISE hominoid?
I LOVE my dog, I don't care who his father was. Hey, your "soulmate" may be in Japan. Or Iraq. Who cares who's related to who?

I really enjoyed going thru this encyclopedia. It helped me judge which dog was right for my family.

This book features profiles and beautiful color photographs of more than 150 dog breeds, including information about AKC standards. The book also rates the different breeds for such tendencies as energy level, playfulness, ease of training, watchdog capabilities, heat tolerance, etc. (summary by South Texas Library System)
You may not need this on your bookshelf at home, but do consult it at your public library before choosing a dog. It's sad to see the wrong breed suffering because it's too active, not good with children, etc. Many behaviors are inherent in a breed and it's a mistake to ignore that.

If you just want to read about different dog breeds, or if you want to know which breed is best suited to you and your lifestyle, this is the book to buy. This book is an ocean of information. You can find out the history of the breeds, the difficulty or ease of maintaining a specific breed, the personality of a specific breed. The pictures are beautiful. The information is concise and easy to read and understand, even for the person like myself, who knows nothing about dog breeds. I couldn't put this book down. It's one of the favorite books for our whole family in our library (this one and the cat breeds book).

After owning large dogs for many years, our family decided to look for an (additional) small dog for our daughter. This book not only gave us almost every small dog breed in the world to find information on, but the information it gives is invaluable. I say this because it's the information that you need to make an informed decision: average adult height & weight for male and female; potential health problems; upkeep (a very big factor to consider); temperment, etc. We really appreciated the "At a Glance" feature : a prominant box where everything from energy level to friendliness toward other pets, friendliness toward strangers, ease of training and more is rated from 1-5. This feature made it very easy to compare one breed to another, and helped immensely in our quest to find the "perfect" small dog for our needs. This is a large, beautiful book with wonderful photographs and a full two pages on each breed.

Other books may call themselves The Ultimate Dog Encyclopedia, or whatever, but they are not. This one is! The descriptions of the breeds and their origens make for endless hours of absorbing reading. The large, vivid photographs seem to capture the spirit of each breed and aptly illustrate the points made in the text. If you are trying to decide on what breed to buy (which I am), the charts make comparison of the characteristics of different breeds (including everything from weight to playfullness) a very pleasant chore. My only complaint, and it is a very small one, is that the charts do not always fully agree with the text. In those cases, I take the verbal descriptions in the text as the ultimate authority. All in all, this is a book which no dog lover, or for that matter, no animal lover in general, should be without.

In addition to this being a wonderful tome for the coffee table with its numerous color photographs, Baron's Encyclopedia is filled with useful information for the prospective owner trying to decide on a breed. There are paragraphs on temperament and health concerns (excluding cancer), but the most immediately useful feature is the five-point rating of characteristics such as trainability, affection, watchdog ability, grooming issues, etc. Dog lovers will want to own this book.