This is a pretty good guide on chihuahuas.  Most chapters contain useful and some fun information and they are easy to read.  The book talks about the history and characteristics of Chihuahua, AKC breed standards, how to find a Chihuahua pup, basic care and training, briefly touched upon senior Chihuahuas, and showing your Chihuahua.  There are also many many adorable pictures of Chihuahuas.  I was able to find a couple of them that Cola look like.  They are so adorable!  But I do admit some Chihuahuas look rather weird.

I think the author did a good job talking about the history, characteristics and breed standards.  Normally I don't care too much about history of anything but I actually find the author's theory about Chihuahua's origin interesting.  Also, the book goes into detail about the standards of the breeds.  I was able to use the different sections in this topic and see how Cola stand up against the standards.  He didn't do too well, but I love him, nevertheless!  The characteristics of the Chihuahua that the book wrote didn't really fit Cola, so maybe Cola is just different but some of the characteristics I find depends on the individual of the dogs, but don't apply to the whole breed.  I could be wrong because I am not an expert.    

It seems like the book started strong and then goes down hill from there.  The health section is only a section that introduces the different dog parasites and eye diseases - it wasn't very practical at all.  This section also doesn't specialize in Chihuahuas nor does it put any emphasis on any diseases that Chihuhuas are more prone to hve.  If you want to look at health of a dog, this wouldn't be the book I'd suggest.  Perhaps the topic was included because it's standard to cover such topic, but to me, I feel like I'd rather just get another more comprehensive guide on dog's health.  

I wouldn't recommend this book for people who have already had Chihuahua for a while because this book contain only basic information that most dog owners already know.  It would be an excellent book if you are interested in owning this breed or if you have a Chihuahua pup and still are new with it.  I do like this book over all because it focuses on Chihuahuas (until the latter part of the book).  It would be a good guide for first time Chihuahua owners.

Getting in Ttouch With Your Dog
By: Linda Tellington-Jones

When I first saw the title of this book, I thought it was a book about learning about your dog's behaviors so you can bond and understand him more.  It turned out to be a book written by this woman who developed this special technique for touching dogs.  She claims that her ways of touching dog helps him in many ways, including emotionally, physically, and with you.  I was rather disappointed once I found that out but I figured there's no harm in learning about these techniques trying them on Cola. These techniques are called Tellington's Ttouches, developed by this lady called Linda Tellington-Jones.  There are many kinds of different ttouches with funky names such as Clouded Leopard Ttouch, Lying Leopard Ttouch, Phython Lift Hand, and Raccoon Ttouches.  My favorite one, name-wise, is Tarantula Plowing something or other.

Anyway, I finished the book and thought that it would be difficult to go through the lead training for confidence and agility.  So I settled with the ttouches alone.  I tried them on Cola and it seemd to help a little, but not as miraculously as what Tellington said.  I still try to do the ttouches when I think of it but I am not real sure about the effectiveness.  Maybe I am doing them wrong, but I sure am not going to attend any of Tellington's events, as they are quite outrageously expensive!  Cola does needs help with nail clippping, and I don't think the technique that is supposed to help him feel at ease with nail clipping works that well, so to me, ttouch doesn't really work for me. 

Think I am doing the ttouches wrong or you have something else to say about Ttouches?  Let me know.

The title of this book seems to promise great help with regards to self-defeating behaviors.  Since so many people have these behaviors that hinder their lives, this book should really solve a lot of people's problem.  According to the cover on the back of this book, self-defeating behaviors include, but are not limited to:

When I saw this book, I thought that it would help me with my procratination and perhaps worrying problem.  Yeah, I tend to waste time and also think a lot and worry about a lot of stuff that it doesn't help me with my life and I do feel like I am being held back from my self-acknowledge behavior.  To rid of these behaviors, I knew I'd need some guidance, as it is harder to do it than it seems.  The title of this book seems to hit the spot with me so I picked it up and borrowed it from the library.

After reading it, to my disappointment, 2/3 of the book was spent on explaining and discussing how self-defeating behaviors were formed, how they work, and all the many factors that affect this process and how people generally take the wrong steps down the wrong path, and what the correct path should be.  The authors believe that it is important for the readers to understand how this process works in order to be able to actually work on themselves.  I don't think I agree with the authors, as when I was reading it, I felt like even though the text was informative, but it was meant for students, not 'patients".  There were very limited examples and I could not relate to any of them.  For a self-help book, I think that it is essential for the readers to identify with the issues/examples discussed in the book in order to feel that the book is geared toward the readers and that they should be able to gain some help from the book.  I did not feel that way for the most part.  This book would have been very good for people who want to learn about the topic and how they work and why they happen, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who want to use it to help themselves.

The authors did leave a few short chapters that outline what to do to defeat your self-defeating behaviors.  However, I feel that what was said was too vague and the exercises that the authors suggest in doing were too difficult to do.  I think for someone to be able to do the exercises, he/she would have to know themselves very very well, and notice all their behaviors on cue.  I don't think most people are like that.  Since the exercises seemed too difficult for me, I couldn't go on to the next step because the next step requires knowledge of the result that you got from the previous exercise.  I found what was said by the authors were too vague, as there are just too many self defeating behaviors out there for them to be able to give one general approach to the different behaviors.  

In sum, here are two reasond why I think this book was not an effective self-help book.  One, the exercises that the authors suggested the readers to do were too difficult to do.  The exercises requires you to think very deeply about your behavior and pattern.  I couldn't do it because I am not that aware of my behaviors to under why and what I do waht I do.  Even if I thought of some answers to the exercises, I wasn't sure if i was on the right track, and there was no one to guide me.  I think to do these exercises, it would be best to have someone there to help you analyze and guide for you: reading according to the instructions given just wouldn't be enough to derive the answers that the authors intend you to get.  Two, I think that the text written by the authors were too vague.  Again, there are so many different kinds self-defeating behaviors that I don't think by having only a few chapters on how to defeat ALL of them is sufficient.  The book needs to have the readers relate to the examples and discussions given and that sure didn't happen with me.  

Maybe if the authors would break up the each self-defeating behaviors individually and give examples and specific approach on how to break these behaviors, this book would have been better.  It would probably take more than one book to accomplish discussing all these behaviors...but that would be a different story.  

The Other End Of The Leash: Why WE Do What We Do Around Dogs
By: Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D

I learned a several things from this book.  This book is a read-through book, not one that gives you step-by-step instruction on how to train your dog.  I caught some training tips here and there throughout the book, but I don't think training tips are the the forte of this book.

The author owns four big dogs: one Great Pyrenees and three Border Collies.  All of them herd sheeps and live on a farm with the author.  Because of this, I think, McConnell tends to talk about how her dogs behave, and how they behave is very different from what I know about how my little chihuahua behaves.  Perhaps this is the reason why I don't feel as related to what McConnel describes in the book as I should.  Nevertheless, this book is pretty good, in general.  If you own big dogs, you would probably get more out of the book than I did.  I love how she talks about her dogs: you can feel how much she loves her animals and she never claims to know what is going on in her dogs' mind. 

McConnell compares primates with dogs and goes into detail how things came to be.  It might be interesting read but I was more interested in the "how-to" part than the "why" part, so I only skimmed through those parts, which is a major part of the book.  This part is good for knowing how McConnell concluded about behaviors of dogs.  I would recommend this book to dog owners.  I definitely learned from it and actually went back to the book to look for good tips.

Ya-Yas in Bloom
By: Rebecca Wells

I wouldn't have thought of reading this book if it weren't for Bzzagent's campaign that was available for me to partcipate.  I saw was excited when I received the book