from THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK by Jan Irving (2015)
Reader level: intermediate to advanced
Review of content/advice: It is not really a book for a novice trainer, but get a bit of experience under your belt and it has some great advice, and the advice that I have played around with works!
This is written for the person with some experience and essentially is material for the early course that McDevitt constructed, it is the forerunner of newer material which I haven’t investigated. This book is about moulding calm dogs from previously reactive dogs. However, that aside, there is a lot of great advice and inspiration within these covers. I refer readers to my book The Dog Ate My Homework and the chapter I Saw Magic Happen Today for an example of using McDevitt’s Look at That game and the chapter Enthusiasm, Excitment … Hysteria for a quick reference to jaw tension that McDevitt also discusses, and I also mention this book in the chapter Use the Environment.
Do I suggest you buy it? Yes
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Nuts & Bolts including
Is Control Unleashed (CU) for you?
Chapter 2: Basic Concepts Including
A behavioral program
The principal principles
The Goldilocks Rule

Chapter 3: Night One Including
before the class
twilight times
Leash exercises
Default behaviors
Release cues

Chapter 4: Night Two Including
playing with stimulation levels
Active attention exercises
Balancing environmental challenges and performance criteria

Chapter 5: Night Three Including
Simultaneously building focus and changing attitudes
Giving dogs a task to focus on while working around other dogs

Chapter 6: Night Four Including
increasing enthusiasm and focus in a distracting environment
Sniffing is not a crime
Campfire game

Chapter 7: Night Five including
There’s a dog in your face game
Increasing challenges

Chapter 8: Night Six including
More fast, more furious, still under threshold
Distance work

Chapter 9: Night Seven including
Applying CU to agility contexts
Think inside the box
Dealing with the distracted

Chapter 10: Real Life, Snap’s Progress Report
Recommended Resources