Someone is killing the great dog trainers of the world, and it's up to former dog trainer and current PI Rachel Alexander and her trusty pitbull, Dashiell, to stop the carnage.

Well, a bit dull plot even though I'm a dog lover myself. I would have liked the detecting part starting a bit earlier but have to admit murders in dog training scene is refressing. I didn't know these kind of books exists.

I hope kirjakko finds this more amusing.

Searching for the courier at our monthly meetup, hoping to end up to kirjakko eventually:)

**EDIT: Oofiri took it.

The pitbull is finally here - went to fetch the books right after the meet-up, but oofiri's son didn't think there would be more than A BAGFUL... So made another trip there today to pick up the rest! If greed is one of the deadly sins I'm doomed...
Knowing how quarrelsome dog-people can be, I'm surprised there aren't more murders to be solved in these circles.

First impression: The motive for hiring our PI seems a bit far fetched, even if dog people are quarelsome and passionate. Let's see how things develop.

Perhaps I'd better start commenting as long as I remember what I want to say.
There certainly are different "schools" of dog training methods. My opinion is that as there are different temperaments of dogs there is no one method for all of them. It would be lovely to train all dogs with treats, but dogs who love to chase cars do not give a hoot about liver, cheese or what you are waving in your hand. I used to have an Icelandic sheepdog who was a car chaser and believe you me, if I had been able to find an electric collar (they are illegal in Finland) I wouldn't have hesitated to use it. Hit by car is the most common reason of death of a member that breed, so making that chase unpleasant for the dog may well save its life. If you are able to tackle the problem in the dog's first attempts, you might eradicate that behaviour pattern altogether. On the other hand, put an electric collar on a timid dog or misuse it and you may do harm which takes ages to get over.
In dog shows you get certain trends of how to show a particular breed and feeders have taken the retriever rings. Retrievers in general have bottomless stomachs and an insatiable appetites and I think it is appauling to watch the constant feeding when dogs should be standing. Their tails wag the whole dog, they are pacing and foaming from the mouth and getting more hysterical by the minute as they are trying get hold of what the handler is holding in her hand - or dealing out from her fanny bag (that was an expression I had not heard). Somebody started it and it spread like plague. Judges hate it as a) they can't see the dogs' lines b) they'll get sticky handshakes from the handlers whose hands are covered with saliva.

I was interrupted earlier on as I happen to be dogsitting in Sipoo.
About owners: Yes, it's very true that especially with age ladies in dogs tend to get heavier, loose their looks if they ever had any, walk around in baggy trousers and shapeless shirts (why dress smartly as you are bound to have pawmarks all over in no time? Your dogs love you all the same). Although in toy dogs you more often see the aging shirleytemples and lolitas trying to stay girlie until they drop dead. Men in toy dogs or dog shows are often gay. German shepherd owners dress in overalls and have almost no sense of humour - or very Teutonic sense of humour (I apologise already if this book ever travels to Germany).
I think the most famous British female dog trainer still is Barbara Woodhouse, although she's been dead probably over a decade already. She had her own TV-show, held classes when nobody else did, wrote books and kept educating the public of the fact that "There are no bad dogs" - only stupid people. She was very old fashioned and strict and when she died there was a comic strip in a newspaper picturing dog angels in heaven saying to each other: "We had such fun here, rolled in mud, chased cats - until SHE came" and there was Miss Woodhouse with wings looking very stern indeed.
It's so true that people should find out what the dog they'd like to have was bred for, not just go by the looks. People who live in small city flats get Jack Russels and wonder why at the end of the day their home is turned upside down, sofas have lost their paddings and their neighbours are giving them The Eye or dropping anonymous hate mail from their letter box. Jack Russels were farm dogs, designed to kill 50 rats a day, dig into a badger's nest and give alarm if there are strangers about. They never tire. Try to make them sleep 22 hours a day and you wish you'd never met them. They are leading the problem dog statistics.
I know it's bloody hard to admit that you've gotten yourself a completely wrong dog. I had a love-hate relationship with my Icelandic sheepdog. I should have known that a dog who can solve a Rubic's Cube at the age of eight weeks spells trouble. She was great at rescue work, but unfortunately we do not have earthquakes, Twin Towers, tsunamis or major catastrophes in Finland. I was wise enough to give her away, although it meant I had to swallow my pride. The only thing I regret is that I waited for four years for that decision.

Two murders down and I knew who the killer was. I had no idea of the motive, but have read enough mysteries to figure out who it was. Or not even figure out, to have a gut feeling. But enough of that, I don't want to spoil the fun for those who are yet to read this.

What else? Many a time I enjoyed reading when I knew exactly what she meant when she described for instance a drooling St Bernhard. I hate all dogs who have those yoyos hanging down from their mouth, moloss breeds they usually are. They either wipe those horrid things on you (and gosh how those stains stick) or shake their head and some of it lands on you, on the WALLS, on the chandelliere... I just spent a dog show weekend in Tallinn with a friend who has a chow chow who happens to drool whenever she sees food. Or thinks somebody has titbits (well, we all do at a dog show). The owner is very particular about her looks and clothes, but didn't do anything when the dog approached me with her yoyos getting longer. Gaa, I was SO near saying something very rude, but just tried to push the dog away saying loudly "Do NOT mess my clothes."
The book was published in 1999 when Britain still had quarantine laws. It's all much easier nowadays with pet passport scheme and measuring rabies antibodies.
Oh, I particularly liked the part when she said that she knows of no dog who is said to finish a fight, not to start one, but who would not pick up a fight given half a chance. Glens as a breed are described as "finishers", but even if they do not show it so that everyone can see, they do those provocative gestures - show their middle finger - so that their opponants will go mad. For owners not paying attention it may look like the other started it.
And small things like the boxer pushing herself sitting on somebody's knee. That probably is breed-related, at least boxers and dobermanns do it often.
Finland does not have acts for dangerous breeds, but I would not mind at all if pitbulls, dogo argentinos, cane corsos, caucasian shepherds, rotties and a few others were made to wear a muzzle - or would be forbidden even. The temparament of rottweilers is in crises, there are so many unstable dogs with unexperienced owners that they are a ticking bomb. I once was in sauna with a bunch of vet nurses and they started to compare scars. I was the only one with no chow scars, but that was pure luck, in my ex-working place my fellow nurse was badly bitten by a chow, both in leg and hands. Those oriental breeds are like oriental people - their faces do not reveal their thoughts until it's too late.
I would not mind reading another book by this author.

This book will be released in the Anident Vet Clinic's client's library.

This book is still in Anident