Dog Training Aids - The Leading Dog Training Methods Revealed
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For raising and training puppies I like Dr. Ian Dunbar's books Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy. For the dog-human interaction I like Patricia O'Connell's The Other End of the Leash.
For a general book, It's Me or the Dog is actually pretty good and comprehensive.
Edit: Some books recommended represent training techniques based on outdated understanding of canine behavior. For example, the ideas of the Monks of New Skete were transitional between the old harsh training techniques and modern positive techniques. Be careful what you take from them. My 1978 edition of How To Be Your Dog's Best Friend, talks about how to discipline, for crimes as heinous as house soiling:
"How hard do you hit the dog? A good general rule is that if you did not get a response, a yelp or other sign, after the first hit, it wasn't hard enough. Remember, one good correction will save you fifty. You cannot hurt the dog with this method, or cause irreparable damage. Your contact must be firm." The chapter closes with the notorious, misguided "Alpha-Wolf Roll-Over."
As far as Siegal and Margolis go, I have seen "Uncle Matty" training in person. In my opinion he is a charlatan.
Search and Resuce Dog Training, Learning to Save Lives
- Positive Reinforcement method is the training of the future and aversive methods are primitive. Dominance training(pack leader nonsense) has been debunked and proven wrong by science.
Click to Calm by Emma Parsons
Don't Shoot The Dog by Karen Pryor
Click For Joy by Melissa Alexander
Karen Pryor is the person who started clicker training in dogs. Please visit her site. It's really helpful and informative. - I really liked 'The Loved Dog' by Tamar Geller and 'The Dog Listener' by Jan Fennell. Also, Victoria Stillwell, 'It's Me or the Dog.' Also 'Calming Signals' by Turid Rugaas. Very educational on non-verbal dog communication. 'How To Be Leader of The Pack…And Have Your Dog Love You For It' by Patricia McConnell.
I like what Milan says about dog psychology - it's really helpful in treating dogs like dogs - but these books I've suggested are more about communicating with the dog and persuading it to do what you want, rather than dominating the dog. They also talk about how dogs think as compared to humans. I've incorporated parts of all of their methods and have been very successful in helping rehab dogs, including puppy mill dogs. Each of mine and my parents' dogs are rescues and using their methods helped them overcome things like trauma because of being beaten on a regular basis, being chained outside, being starved. - In all honesty? I walk into the book store every couple of weeks, stand in front of the dog section, close my eyes, and just reach out and grab a book. Unless it's a book about a specific breed, i tend to get the first two i choose, just like that.
You can learn something from just about ANY book you pick up, even if it's "what not to do"! In addition, some books/trainers will have information that you can nitpick through or that you can adapt to your own style.
I've read all of Millan's books, i've read Dunbar, i've read McConnell, i've read Rugaas, i've read Monks of New Skeet, i've read Aloff, i've read Koehler, and so on. They've ALL taught me one thing or another. - My Smart Puppy by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson
The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete
English for Dogs by Teresa Gray
How To Raise A Puppy You Can Live With by Rutherford and Neil
Puppy Perfect by Sarah Hodgson
How to Raise the Perfect Dog by Cesar Milan
Before and After Getting Your Puppy by Dr Ian Dunbar
Puppies for Dummies by Sarah Hodgson
The Puppy Primer by Patricia B. McConnell PhD and Brenda Scidmore
New Knowledge of Dog Behavior by Clarence Pfaffenberger
Good Dog, Bad Dog by Siegal & Margolis
Read them all; you'll learn something from each one. - The Monks of New Skete (The Art of Raising a Puppy is good for beginners) and Elizabeth Marshall (The Social Lives of Dogs)
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