The lady and her tiger by Pat Derby - Book review by Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates

Pat Derby, The lady and her tiger, PAWS, Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates, California

A year before Pat Derby passed away Patty Shenker gave me a copy of Pat's book "A lady and her tiger." I misplaced it but found it yesterday and finally read it. It's a very good read about what animal training was like pre 1970.

Back in the day animal trainers made animals perform out of fear and fright. They considered the animals as merely something to be used to make money. They did not provide them with the best enclosures, nutrition or care. When they were no longer useful they sold them for canned hunts, to become taxidermy mounts or merely euthanized them. They did not treat them the way we do our beloved pets.

Pat Derby felt that animals should be given the best nutrition, care, enclosures and enrichment. She believed that it is better to raise them with love and encourage them to do certain behaviors for food and praise as rewards. She did not believe in declawing, defanging, forcing an animal to work, frightening an animal to act or negative reinforcement. Over time other animal trainers came to see the light though some such as Have Trunk Will Travel still use bull hooks, hot sticks and negative training techniques.

The book "A lady and her tiger" takes you through Pat's upbringing in England to her becoming an animal trainer in California. She shares her experience working with different animals and animal training companies. She calls it as she sees it and admits early on she was not the most enlightened person when it came to animal training in her early years. Today of course her sanctuary Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) cares for ex-exhibit animals in a sanctuary environment.

Pat Derby, The lady and her tiger, PAWS, Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates, California

Pat Derby, The lady and her tiger, PAWS, Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates, California

Pat Derby, The lady and her tiger, PAWS, Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates, California

Patricia Bysshe Shelley Derby  (June 7, 1942 - February 15, 2013) was a British-born American animal trainer for American television series, commercials during the 1960s and 1970s and later became a crusader for animal rights. Father was Charles Boswell Shelley (1897-1954) a Cambridge professor, Mother Mary (1900-1977), older brother Derek (1920-1947), husband Theodore Ralph Ball Derby (1934 - 1976) and partner Edward Stewart.

Hardcover: 284 pages
Publisher: Dutton; 1st edition (1976)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0525142754
ISBN-13: 978-0525142751

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

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