More than just an ideas book for dog games this book teaches about dog-dog play and dog-human play, the importance of play to dogs’ social development and how to recognise play behaviours. Pat Miller describes some of the actions and signals that dogs use when playing and describes their purpose and meaning.

She also describes different play styles, talks about which styles are compatible and points out things to watch for so there won’t be tears before bed-time. Body Slammers, she says ‘play best with other Body Slammers, but can also be compatible with Wrestlers and Chasers. They don’t usually do well with Cheerleaders and Soft Touches.’ The section on introducing dogs will help get things started on the right foot and just in case something does go wrong there is a section on breaking up fights.

Dog-human games are divided into Play to Exercise, Play to Train, Find It Games, Running Games, Chasing Games, Digging Games, Tug Games, Mind Games, Tricks and more. Many of the games described will be familiar to experienced people but there are some interesting variations so there should be something to inspire just about everyone.

There’s a whole chapter on children playing with dogs – what the participants need to know, what the adults need to watch for and some ideas for suitable games. How Not To Play With Your Dog is a short but important chapter and Rehabilitating The Play Deprived Dog helps make sure that noone needs miss out.

The person who will get the most from this book is probably someone who is already interested in dog play and would like to know more. My copy will get borrowed a lot, I think. (Posted on 28/07/09)