All-time TOP TEN Books for Dog OwnersMost bookshops and pet stores offer a bewildering choice of dog books. Consequently, for a number of years, members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT)—the largest association of pet dog trainers worldwide— annually voted on what they consider to be the most useful books for dog owners. All books may be purchased from your local bookstore, or on-line from Amazon.com 2) Don't Shoot the Dog!Karen Pryor's clear and accessible explanation of reinforcement-based teaching and training has made Don't Shoot The Dog! a worldwide, bestselling classic. The book has been translated into 15 languages, with over 300,000 copies in print. Whether you are dealing with a pet or a person, it tells you how and why you can get better results with positive methods instead of punishment. Don't Shoot the Dog! is a popular college text on learing and behavior; the "bible" for humane, gentle animal care in zoos and shelters; and a beloved resource on using positive reinforcement effectively for pet owners everywhere. 4) The Power of Positive Dog TrainingThe Power of Positive Dog Training is the best book yet on explaining how and why purely positive training works. Inside, you'll find easy to read discussion of the philosophy of positive training followed by training tips and exercises. This book is geared toward the dog owner who wants to develop a relationship with their dog based on friendship and positive reinforcement, not fear and punishment. You get 30 chapters with instructive illustrations, including an easy-to-follow, step-by-step, six-week basic training program (with diary) for any dog. 5) The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around DogsThe Other End of the Leash shares a revolutionary, new perspective on our relationship with dogs, focusing on our behavior in comparison with that of dogs. An applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer with more than twenty years experience, Dr. Patricia McConnell looks at humans as just another interesting species, and muses about why we behave the way we do around our dogs, how dogs might interpret our behavior, and how to interact with our dogs in ways that bring out the best in our four-legged friends. 7) On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming SignalsOn Talking Terms with Dogs second edition with three additional chapters, color photos and descriptive captions. Turid Rugaas is a noted expert on canine body language, notably "calming signals" which are signals dogs give to other dogs and humans to denote stress and to attempt defuse situations that otherwise might result in fights or aggression. Written in practical, down-to-earth, logical language. 9) How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live WithWorried about leaving your puppy home alone while you work? Need to keep him from barking too much? Read on! This classic has answers for all that and much more! *six things to expect from your puppy *Ten keys to housebreaking without a hitch *Common puppy personality types and how to deal with them *Six gentle, effective methods of dicipline 10) Dogs are from NeptuneThe new wave of excluding aversives and training with positive reinforcement is rapidly proving itself to not only be the method of choice for adding behavior, but now, as evidenced by trainers like Jean Donaldson, the method of choice for getting rid of behavior, especially emotionally charged behavior like aggression. If you are of the school of thought that "treats are fine for training tricks but I have a dog that bites," you owe yourself a serious study of the techniques and theory in "Dogs Are From Neptune". |