Memoirs of a Pet Therapist

His first ad--""We'll teach your dog to speak Yiddish for $15""--launched Eckstein on a remarkable career as a pet trainer-therapist. Author of the popular Pet Aerobics and How to Get Your Dog to Do What You Want, Eckstein has served as peace officer for his local Humane Society, operated a Master Dog Training school, trained guard dogs for the Mafia, taught pets to heed their celebrity masters (including Rodney Dangerfield, Al Pacino, David Letterman, Lily Tomlin) and has been a frequent media presence. Here he shares a storehouse of stories from the four-legged trenches. Among his more unusual exploits are teaching a guard dog to respond to commands in Russian and training another canine to dance with its mistress. His practice is not limited to dogs and cats but includes pigs, goats, bears and some exotics (he lost a finger to a mongoose). Whether writing about his own pets or his clients' animals, Eckstein is entertaining. In fact, this is as much a book of humor as anything else, though it is not all laughs, for the author also lets us in on many details of his personal life, including the tragic death of his wife, Faye. But even then he doesn't lose his buoyancy. Photos. Author tour. (Sept.)