What dog books do you like and have gotten the most from?
What books would you recommend to a new puppy owner? What books would you recommend to someone that wants to compete with their dog? In schutzhund? In Obedience? In Tracking? In Agility?
What dog books do you like and have gotten the most from?
What books would you recommend to a new puppy owner? What books would you recommend to someone that wants to compete with their dog? In schutzhund? In Obedience? In Tracking? In Agility?
Don’t Shoot The Dog, Culture Clash, The Other End of the Leash, Click to Calm….all for general dog ownership and training. Oddly enough, I’ve never read or used a book for any specific form of training, and have only used one DVD (the 2×2 weaves DVD for that style weaving since I had no clue what it was about). I guess any book that stresses the importance of freeshaping and a dog being proactive rather than reactive gets my thumbs up, since that is the style of training I prefer across the board (retrieves, heeling, training articles off the track, agility obstacles).
Books:
Puppy Right Start: Foundation Training for the Companion Dog by Kenneth and Debbie Martin –
You have to buy it directly from them at http://www.veterinarybehavior.com/store.html
I like if best for my pet dog students because the book shows how to get the behaviors by targeting, luring, and capturing. It covers puppy development, the proper way to use a clicker (or marker word), fading the a lure, adding a cue and even has a socialization check sheet.
Focused Puppy by Deb Jones and Judy Keller-
They provide a day by day plan on what foundation exercises and games to do for the pup’s first year. The book does not go much into detail about how to use the clicker.
Train Your Dog Like a Pro by Jean Donaldson
This one comes with a DVD to show what the training process looks like and teaches you how to logical increase criteria.
The Thinking Dog: Crossover to Clicker Training by Gail Tamases Fisher
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Positive Dog Training, 2nd edition by Pamela Dennison
Power of positive Dog Training, 2nd edition by Pat Miller
Family Friendly Dog Training: A Six Week Program for You and Your Dog by Patricia McConnell & Aimee Moore
Training Aids:
Targets
mytrainingstore.com/
Awesome list Robin! I just bought the Focused Puppy book but have not yet read it. You rock Robin!
I really like “Control Unleashed.” I think it is the best training book I’ve ever read.
For tracking I like Sil Sanders’ “Enthusiastic Tracking.”
I haven’t found many agility books that I like, but there are some good DVDs out there. I got a lot out of Joe Canova’s weave DVD (a structured approach to proofing the entry and staying in the weaves). The book is not nearly as good, but it does have the steps written out, which is helpful for reference.
From Mike, for tracking : ‘Best book is “Tracking from the Beginning” by Gary Patterson.”