Good dog training book?
My mom was looking to get a book on training her two dogs (maltese-schnauzer mixes) to behave. They’re nice dogs but are just extremely misbehaved mainly because of my dads bad influence feeding them whatever he’s eating whenever they want it.
Anyway that’s besides the point I was wondering if anyone has read any books they thought were particularly good on training your dogs. Mainly she just wants them to behave, like when people come over to the house the dogs jump all over them. Things like that, and them begging terribly (I told her she has to get my dad to stop feeding them every time he eats for this to happen).
There are a number of really good books. Let me give you a short list:
–Patricia McConnell’s “The Other End of the Leash.” She has a call-in show for pets on wisconsin public radio you can listen to off their website or NPR on weekend. Has a PhD, has written a lot of practical books (including another on a training programs for dogs “Beginning Family Dog Training”) that are very well regarded. She takes a positive approach to training rather than a correction/disciplinary approach (which is “old-school” and takes much longer to implement).
–Jack Volhard, “Dog Training for Dummies.” The Volhards (husband and wife) developed the Volhard Temperament test which is THE definitive test for dog assessment, especially of puppies. I dislike most of the “For Dummy’s” guides because they’re too simplistic. But this one is good, has detail, is by a very credible person in the field.
But also take a look at Shirley Chong’s website (www.shirleychong.com). It’s free. She breaks dog lessons down into 6 steps, deals with recalls and obedience. Shirley Chong has a great rep and the material off the website is free.
On a more basic level, tell your mom to crate her dogs during meals. The crate should be the equivalent of a dog’s den, a place they feel secure. You can also use it to train dogs in a variety of ways (see Susan Garrett’s DVD “Crate Games”). But dogs need to learn that during human meals, their job is to be calm, under control and well-behaved. Your dad seems to be sabotaging this so it’s not enough to train the pooches when one of the family member’s is working against the plan. So crating during meals is the best short-term answer for that problem.
BTW, I recommend both of the earlier suggestions (Tillman and Donaldson). Both are very similar to McConnell in approach and philosophy, both are positive/reinforcement-based training approaches. Tillman focuses on clicker-based training (operant conditioning) which ALL good animal trainers use these days (including folks at Sea World, well, they use whistles with the dolphins but it’s the same principle). But if your mom doesn’t know how to use a clicker or doesn’t want to learn, than Tillman wouldn’t be a good fit. The Donaldson book is superb but I remember it as focusing more on understanding dogs and less on training. But Culture Clash is in the category of books like “Don’t Shoot the Dog” (Karen Pryor) that really make it clear how dogs think and work and why they do what they do. Definitely good reading. But if you want a “how to on training” you might choose something else first and then read Donaldson for depth and background.
Effective Dog Training – Ian Dunbar
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