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Hello
I have a few books by Karen Pryor and Mike ritlands team dog.
What's the best dog training books ?
I have a few books by Karen Pryor and Mike ritlands team dog.
What's the best dog training books ?
Best dog training books?
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It's pretty hard to define "best", because there are so many disciplines and so many unique situations related to training a dog.
There's a sticky post which can be found near the top of this training sub-forum. It contains a comprehensive list of popular and widely-respected reading suggestions.
www.dogforums.com
There's a sticky post which can be found near the top of this training sub-forum. It contains a comprehensive list of popular and widely-respected reading suggestions.
Reccomended reading...
I thought now would be a good time to post a selection of training books I enjoy and recommend. I'll try to list them by subject Basic training: COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO POSITIVE DOG TRAINING, 2ND EDITION by Pamela Dennison THE DOG WHISPERER, 2ND EDITION by Paul Owens GOOD OWNERS GREAT...
www.dogforums.com
Some of these aren't technically training, but they're behavior/cognition- so they can help you understand better so that you can train better.
Decoding your dog- American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Inside of a dog- A. Horowitz
The other end of the leash- P. B. McConnell, PhD (this one is more of a training book)
To read with caution-
Books by Stanley Coren (good, insightful books such as "how dogs think" or "the modern dog". valuable lessons, but his writing is influenced by the now-disproven dominance theory. still useful if read with caution)
"Bones would rain from the sky" S. Clothier (a bit romanticized, scientific evidence only given for some things)
"Wag" by Z. Todd (I only say use caution because I personally haven't finished reading and fact-checking it. seems pretty good so far though)
Decoding your dog- American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Inside of a dog- A. Horowitz
The other end of the leash- P. B. McConnell, PhD (this one is more of a training book)
To read with caution-
Books by Stanley Coren (good, insightful books such as "how dogs think" or "the modern dog". valuable lessons, but his writing is influenced by the now-disproven dominance theory. still useful if read with caution)
"Bones would rain from the sky" S. Clothier (a bit romanticized, scientific evidence only given for some things)
"Wag" by Z. Todd (I only say use caution because I personally haven't finished reading and fact-checking it. seems pretty good so far though)
Clarification on the dominance theory, this was brought to my attention elsewhere: dominance does exist in dogs, however it is not a simple pattern of "top dog, middle dog, bottom dog". It is very complex and varies between different wolf packs. In dogs, some groups display a dominant, but others do not. And the dominant dog changes depending on the situation. It is more similar to a modern family where both the mom and dad act as the leader in certain situations. But it is NOT the playground bully dominance as portrayed by dominance training. And dogs DO NOT humans as their pack. They have lived with us for thousands of years and absolutely see us as "human" and not "pack member".
With that, I agree that Stanley Coren should be read with caution. He has read studies and misinterpreted the data and come to conclusions that the study authors specifically stated were NOT to be concluded.
For example Dr Coren is quoted stating that according to one study "the patterns are clear that neutering increases aggressive behavior, specifically early neutering."
However, Dr Coren was NOT involved with the study. He has made that conclusion on his own.
Per the actual study, this is specifically warned against (bold mine):
There are important limitations to the study which must be noted. In particular, caution with regard to assuming a causal association between castration and problematic behaviours. While attempts were made to exclude animals that were castrated because of problematic behaviour, it is possible that some owners misremembered or incompletely reported the reasons behind their decision to castrate. Equally, there may be limitations regarding the applicability of the survey result to the companion dog population as a whole because people who sought out and completed the C-BARQ survey may be more engaged with issues surrounding problematic behaviours generally and may also have different views about the timing of castration when compared with companion dog owners as a whole.
If you want to learn more about animal emotions, including dogs, read some of the books by evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. and bioethicist Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. Very interesting reads. You can also find articles by them on psychologytoday.com (just do a search on their names).
With that, I agree that Stanley Coren should be read with caution. He has read studies and misinterpreted the data and come to conclusions that the study authors specifically stated were NOT to be concluded.
For example Dr Coren is quoted stating that according to one study "the patterns are clear that neutering increases aggressive behavior, specifically early neutering."
However, Dr Coren was NOT involved with the study. He has made that conclusion on his own.
Per the actual study, this is specifically warned against (bold mine):
There are important limitations to the study which must be noted. In particular, caution with regard to assuming a causal association between castration and problematic behaviours. While attempts were made to exclude animals that were castrated because of problematic behaviour, it is possible that some owners misremembered or incompletely reported the reasons behind their decision to castrate. Equally, there may be limitations regarding the applicability of the survey result to the companion dog population as a whole because people who sought out and completed the C-BARQ survey may be more engaged with issues surrounding problematic behaviours generally and may also have different views about the timing of castration when compared with companion dog owners as a whole.
If you want to learn more about animal emotions, including dogs, read some of the books by evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff, Ph.D. and bioethicist Jessica Pierce, Ph.D. Very interesting reads. You can also find articles by them on psychologytoday.com (just do a search on their names).
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