Woof! Woof!! - Uncle Matty's Guide to Dog Training [VHS]

Master everything from picking the right puppy to making him feel at home, from basic obedience training to nipping those common behavioral problems in the bud.

Woof Woof: Uncle Matty's Guide to Dog Training offers a friendly and funny approach to raising a dog. Host Matthew Margolies speaks with humor, warmth, and authority when talking both to his pupil dogs and to his audience. He does scold some of his example pet owners, mostly for not being diligent enough about enforcing doggie boundaries and rules. Woof Woof presents several scenarios familiar to a dog owner, including selecting a dog at a breeder or the pet shelter, teaching sit-stay-heel, and generally having more control over Fido when out walking him. He stresses the aphorism that it is not the breed that is vicious or willful, but the treatment of the dog that determines behavior. Margolies's philosophy is that "love, praise, and affection" and a good leash will get one far in gently enforcing an owner's control. He demonstrates in some almost-too-good-to-be-true situations in which a playful and undisciplined puppy completely submits to sit-stay, even when his real owner calls to him from across the room in an attempt to distract him. Another demonstration has Margolies taming an aggressive pit bull by speaking gently to the dog while distracting him with a lesson in "heel-sit." The video includes discussion on behavior problems, not just solving them, but really getting to the root of them, and then proceeding from there. Despite the thorough puppy selection (ways to ascertain new puppy and dog personality), and basic training and leash-holding technique demonstrations, there is no "chapter" or demonstration on house-training methods when bringing that new pet home. This might have been more useful, especially considering the time the video devotes to selecting a new pet. Overall, the video presents basic training principles in a positive and "team" approach to working with a dog. Thankfully, Margolies is not above baby talk, either. It is nice to see an authority in dog training still cannot resist a cute pooch. --Gilia Angell