Recommended Books

100 Ways To Train A Perfect Dog
Sarah Fisher & Marie Miller
This fun and informative guide is packed with expert advice that will transform a difficult or even dangerous dog into a well-adjusted, loving friend. Readers will learn to work with their dog’s natural behavioral instincts using a fair and thoughtful training method that includes TTouch bodywork, and exercises. Practical step-by-step instructions, clear photographs and helpful tips demonstrate effectively how to create a happy, safe family pet.

Aggressive Behaviour in Dogs: A Comprehensive Technical Manual for Professionals
James O’Heare
A comprehensive technical manual, written for dog behavior professionals. It discusses understanding aggressive behavior in dogs, functionally assessing the behavior and constructing systematic behavior change programs, as well as consulting skills and case management. Comprehensive and systematic, it favors a behavioral approach. It includes an extensive glossary and functional assessment forms.

Bach Flower Remedies for Dogs
Scott Martin
The Bach Flower Remedies are one of the world’s best-known and most popular types of natural healing therapy. Any dog owner can quickly learn to master this safe and effective system to help the dogs they love with a whole range of problems – from puppy hood to old age. This practical informative book will introduce readers to this fascinating and valuable form of therapy and take you on a guided tour of each of the 38 remedies Dr Edward Bach created in the 1930’s giving you a wealth of information that will last a lifetime and allow you to provide healing support to all your canine friends now and in the future. The Bach Flower remedies are a gentle safe but powerful way of easing mental stress worry and emotional problems in your dog. This book will show you how.

Barking, the Sound of a Language (Dogwise Training Manual)
Turid Rugaas
Barking is one of the many ways dogs communicate with each other and with humans. Think of barking as part of your dog s language. When a dog barks, he is expressing something and you can learn to understand what he is he is trying to say. In this book, author Turid Rugaas, well known for her work on identifying and utilizing canine calming signals, turns her attention to understanding and managing barking behavior. If you can identify what your dog is expressing when he barks, you can take steps to minimize the negative effects of barking in cases where you find it a problem.

Before and after Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog
Ian Dunbar
In Before and After Getting Your Puppy, one of the worlds leading authorities on dog training and behaviour, Dr. Ian Dunbar combines his two popular puppy-training manuals into one indexed value-priced hardcover edition. In clear steps, with helpful photographs and easy-to-follow training deadlines, he presents a structured yet playful and humorous plan for raising a wonderful dog.

Behavior Adjustment Training: BAT for Fear, Frustration, and Aggression in Dogs
Grisha Stewart
Think “functional” to solve your dog’s reactivity issues.
Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) was developed by author Grisha Stewart to rehabilitate and prevent dog reactivity. BAT looks at the function of growling, lunging, or fleeing and helps dogs learn socially acceptable behaviors that serve that same function. In a nutshell, BAT builds confidence by giving dogs a chance to learn to control their environment through peaceful means. That makes BAT very empowering to your dog or puppy, in a good way. It’s also empowering for you, as you learn how to understand your dog and help him learn to safely get along with people, dogs, and other “triggers.”
You will learn:
– How to encourage or shape a “replacement behavior” that provides your dog the same “functional reward” as reactivity.
– Why it is important to keep your dog calm in the presence of a trigger while teaching him to make good choices.
– Step-by-step instructions needed to stage BAT set-ups to work with your dog in a controlled environment.
– Practical ways to keep your dog from being pushed into a reactive state in and around your home and on walks.
– How to use BAT preventively for puppy socialization.

Brain Games For Dogs: Fun ways to build a strong bond with your dog and provide it with vital mental stimulation
Claire Arrowsmith
Most dog owners would readily agree that it s important to keep pets physically fit and well-exercised for them to enjoy a good quality of life. But how many also think about what s going on inside their dogs heads? Bored dogs are notoriously prone to behavioral problems, such as exercise, barking, destructiveness and separation anxiety. As this fascinating book reveals, dogs also need mental stimulation to exercise their brains, boost their self confidence and strengthen the bond that they enjoy with their human families. Brain Games For Dogs is brilliantly conceived compendium of fun games, tricks and activities that you can enjoy with your dog that will help to stretch and challenge it mentally and allow it to enjoy a top quality workout for the mind. Illustrated throughout with newly commissioned colour studio photography Brain Games For Dogs emphasizes the pleasure of working together with a dog to tackle new challenges and of using the power to play to stimulate and unlock your dog’s full mental potential.

Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide: Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog
Brenda Aloff
Canine-Body-Language Never before has canine body language been so thoroughly documented with photographs and text. Hundreds of images in this almost 400 page book illustrate the incredible variety of postures, behaviors and situations that the typical dog either manifests or encounters in his day-to-day life. There isn’t a dog trainer or behaviorist who won’t learn something new in this incredible volume.

Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog
Emma Parsons
Positive Answers for the Aggressive dog The dog that bites. The dog that attacks other dogs. The dog who may not survive his own aggressive behaviour. What can be done to help these dogs ? When Emma Parsons, canine behaviour consultant, discovered that her own dog was aggressive, she developed innovative and effective strategies to calm, alter and re-shape his reactive displays, and those of her clients’ dogs. Now Parson’s strategies, all grounded in positive reinforcement, are available to everyone in her new book Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog. With more than 40 clear exercises, presented in an easy-to-follow “training recipe” format, Click to Calm teaches both pet owners and experienced trainers how to:desensitise your dog to approaching strange dogsgrab your dog’s collar without getting bittenteach dogs to perform canine calming signals on cueuse your own body language when under stress as a cue for your dog to remain calm…. plus many more creative and effective uses of managing behaviour through positive reinforcement and clicker training. Full of remarkable insights and practical information, Click to Calm holds the answers for everyone faced with this most challenging behaviour behaviour problem.

Clicker Training for Dogs: Positive reinforcement that works!
Karen Pryor
Clicker training is the revolutionary method of training that is kind, effective, fast, simple and fun! Written by Karen Pryor, the world-renowned pioneer of the clicker, Clicker Training for Dogs is an ideal introduction that shows you how to teach your dog: general obedience moves, to come when called, not to pull on th elead, target training, to carry items and to put them away, tricks and games. Once you’ve mastered the basic principles of clicker training, you can use it for problem-solving and for expanding on your dog’s training – with the clicker, anything is possible!

Dog Agility Equipment Construction Instructions: YOU CAN! Build Better Training Obstacles for your Dog
Ann Embry
In this new, revised step-by-step guide to building agility obstacles for your dog I took comments from YOU and have created a Better guide to building Dog Agility Equipment. This easy to understand booklet includes: improved color coded diagrams and full color photos of the equipment as works in progress and completed, a list of all materials, which are easily available at hardware stores or home improvement warehouse stores (no expensive specialty pieces that you would have to order on-line) and a list of the common household tools needed. This booklet will easily pay for itself in saved trips to the store, miss cut pieces, and saved time and effort. More than 15 plans included!

Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition
Ádám Miklósi
This is the first book to collate and synthesize the recent burgeoning primary research literature on dog behaviour, evolution, and cognition. The author presents a new ecological approach to the understanding of dog behaviour, demonstrating how dogs can be the subject of rigorous and productive scientific study without the need to confine them to a laboratory environment. Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition starts with an overview of the conceptual and methodological issues associated with the study of the dog, followed by a brief description of their role in human society-almost a third of human families share their daily life with the dog! An evolutionary perspective is then introduced with a summary of current research into the process of domestication. The central part of the book is devoted to issues relating to the cognitive aspects of behaviour which have received particular attention in recent years from both psychologists and ethologists. The book’s final chapters introduce the reader to many novel approaches to dog behaviour, set in the context of behavioural development and genetics. Directions for future research are highlighted throughout the text which also incorporates links to human and primate research by drawing on homologies and analogies in both evolution and behaviour. The book will therefore be of relevance and use to anyone with an interest in behavioural ecology including graduate students of animal behaviour and cognition, as well as a more general audience of dog enthusiasts, biologists, psychologists and sociologists.

Dog Behaviour: Genetics And The Social Behavior Of The Dog
John Paul Scott
The classic study of dog behavior gathered into one volume. Based on twenty years of research at the Jackson Laboratory, this is the single most important and comprehensive reference work on the behavior of dogs ever complied.
“Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is one of the most important texts on canine behavior published to date. Anyone interested in breeding, training, or canine behavior must own this book.”—Wayne Hunthausen, D.V.M., Director of Animal Behavior Consultations
“This pioneering research on dog behavioral genetics is a timeless classic for all serious students of ethology and canine behavior.”—Dr. Michael Fox, Senior Advisor to the President, The Humane Society of the United States
“A major authoritative work… Immensely rewarding reading for anyone concerned with dog-breeding.”—Times Literary Supplement
“The last comprehensive study [of dog behavior] was concluded more than thirty years ago, when John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller published their seminal work Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog.”—Mark Derr, The Atlantic Monthly
“Genetics and the Social Behavior of the Dog is essential reading for anyone involved in the breeding of dogs. No breeder can afford to ignore the principles of proper socialization first discovered and articulated in this landmark study.”-The Monks of New Skete, authors of How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend and the video series Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete.

Dog Language
R Abrantes
Why dogs do what they do and how we can express ourselves so our dogs can understand us better. Follows the traditions of school of ethology founded by Konrad Lorenz,based,on 51dSeQBA7ML._SX296_BO1,204,203,200_research observations and study. Organized in alphabetical order and cross-referenced; illustrated with excellent black and white line drawings.

 

Dogs – A New Understanding of Cannine Origin, Behaviour & Evolution: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution
Raymond Coppinger
Biologists, breeders and trainers, and champion sled dog racers, Raymond and Lorna Coppinger have more than four decades of experience with literally thousands of dogs. Offering a scientifically informed perspective on canines and their relations with humans, the Coppingers take a close look at eight different types of dogs – household, village, livestock guarding, herding, sled-pulling, pointing, retrieving, and hound. They argue that dogs did not evolve directly from wolves, nor were they trained by early humans; instead, dogs domesticated themselves to exploit a new ecological niche: Mesolithic village dumps. Tracing the evolution of today’s breeds from these village dogs, the Coppingers show how characteristic shapes and behaviors – from pointing and baying to the sleek shapes of running dogs – arise from both genetic heritage and the environments in which pups are raised. For both dogs and humans to get the most out of each other, we need to understand and adapt to the biological needs and dispositions of our canine companions, just as they have to ours.

Dominance in Dogs: Fact or Fiction?
Barry Eaton
You may have read books or seen TV shows that tell you that your dog will seek to dominate you, your family members and other pets unless you become the “alpha” and put him in his place. The theory is that since dogs evolved from wolves and wolves (supposedly) form packs with strict pecking orders and battle each other to become the pack leader, your dog will do the same within your household. In this new US edition, author Barry Eaton separates out the facts from the fiction regarding dominance in pet dogs, presenting the reader with the results of recent research into the behavior of wolves and the impacts of selective breeding on the behavior of dogs. The results may surprise you and will surely inform you.

Dominance Theory and Dogs
James O’Heare
An exploration of the theory of dominance and how it applies to domestic dogs. Dominance is one of the most controversial topics in the dog behavior and training field and is ripe with confusion and misunderstanding. This book is an evaluation of dominance theory as it applies to dogs and is a contribution to the ongoing debate.

Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training
Karen Pryor
“Whatever the task, whether keeping a four-year-old quiet in public, housebreaking a puppy, coaching a team, or memorizing a poem, it will go fast, and better, and be more fun, if you know how to use reinforcement.”–Karen Pryor.
Now Karen Pryor clearly explains the underlying principles of behavioral training and through numerous fascinating examples reveals how this art can be applied to virtually any common situation. And best of all, she tells how to do it without yelling threats, force, punishment, guilt trips–or shooting the dog. 8 methods for putting an end to all kinds of undesirable behavior. The 10 laws of “shaping” behavior–for results without strain or pain through “affection training.” How to combat your own addictions to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, overheating or whatever, how to deal with such difficult problems as a moody spouse, an impossible teen, or an aged parent. Plus. . . House training the dog, improving your tennis game, keeping the cat off the table, and much more!

Fight!: A Practical Guide to the Treatment of Dog-dog Aggression
Jean Donaldson
Step by step exercises on resolving various types of aggression to other dogs.

 

 

 

Finding Harmony: The remarkable dog that helped a family through the darkest of times
Sally Hyder
Heartwarming, inspirational and genuinely touching, Finding Harmony is the remarkable true story of an extraordinary dog that rescued a woman from the depths of depression and transformed a family for ever.
A keen mountaineer, Sally Hyder was in her prime and loving life. She shared her passion for climbing with her partner Andrew and it was a dream come true when Andrew proposed at Everest Base Camp. For them, climbing mountains made anything seem possible and represented their attitude to life.
But a year after Sally and Andrew were married Sally was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She was only 28 and was training to be a Macmillan nurse – she wanted to care for the terminally ill. But Sally was determined the disease wouldn’t slow her down: she went back to work looking after others and, despite warnings that her condition could deteriorate in pregnancy, went on to have three beautiful children.
But it was when her youngest child Melissa was diagnosed with severe autism that Sally began to spiral into depression. Sally felt guilty about the pressures faced by her elder daughter Clara in her role as carer. Sally worried that she was missing out on the freedom of childhood.
She needed help. Unsure who to turn to, she happened upon Canine Partners and an extraordinary dog called Harmony. They formed an instant bond; Harmony can perform over 100 chores – from putting groceries into the trolley to handing over Sally’s purse at the till. Harmony is an unending source of comfort: she intuitively knows when Sally is in pain and calms Melissa when she suffers panic attacks.
Harmony has given Sally the ability to start living once more, and become a mother again in her own way. She has shown Sally that the sky’s the limit and, with a taste for independence that she hadn’t felt since her mountaineering days, Sally’s sights are set on the peaks of Ben Nevis once more.
In August 2010 Sally planned to climb the hardest of the Munro Mountains. Sadly her attempt was thwarted after her motorised wheelchair short-circuited. But Sally is a fighter and is training for her second attempt, which she will complete with her husband by her side. And Harmony too, of course.

Hear, Hear!: A Guide to Training a Deaf Dog
Barry Eaton
Hear Hear! goes through training a deaf dog step-by-step. It covers basic training that most pet dog owners require, including teaching the dog to sit, lay down, stand, walk nicely on a lead, stay, and to come back when ‘called’. It also covers important subjects like socialisation and suggests ways of overcoming some of the most common unwanted behaviour, like jumping up, barking and preventing your dog becoming destructive when left on its own. The moral issues of finding a home for a deaf dog are also discussed.

How Dogs Learn
Jon S. Bailey PhD.
“…this book should be on every animal trainer′s bookshelf for future reference. How Dogs Learn covers the content of an undergraduate course in learning and behavior, but the examples are taken from dog training it is practical and very useful without sacrificing scientific and technical accuracy.” –Jack Michael, PhD, Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University How Dogs Learn explore the fascinating science of operant conditioning, where science and dog training meet. How Dogs Learn explains the basic principles of behavior and how they can be used to teach your dog new skills, diagnose problems and eliminate unwanted behaviors. It′s for anyone who wants to better understand the learning process in dogs. Every concept is laid out clearly and precisely, and its relevance to your dog and how you train is explained. A Howell Dog Book of Distinction.

How to Run A Dog Business
Veronica Boutelle
The demand for skilled dog trainers, dog walkers, dog sitters and dog daycare operators has never been greater. To succeed in one of these fields, you’ll need more than dog expertise??????you’ll need business savvy as well. Written for the non-business person, Veronica Boutelle, the industry’s top consultant, gives you the information you need to start, operate, and prosper in your chosen field.

How to Start and Run a Petsitting Business: A Step-by Step Guide to Setting Up a Successful Enterprise in This Rapidly Expanding Market
Fiona Mackenzie
Petsitting may be a relatively new concept but the demand for dog walkers, cat sitters and ‘home from home’ pet care, is growing fast. For today’s pet lover, a career in petsitting offers the flexibility of a low cost start-up business with the freedom to work the hours you choose. This book is full of vital advice, invaluable tips, and accounts of the author’s and other petsitters’ experiences – both heart-warming and educational. It is a step-by-step guide to the whole process of setting up your own petsitting business. It tells how to fully explore all possibilities and develop your business once up and running.

How to Train A Superdog
Gwen Bailey
Unleash your dog’s potential and build a rewarding relationship that will last a lifetime – from walking on a loose lead to carrying the shopping, everything you need to know to train your dog and ensure you have a happy and contented canine companion. Starting with choosing the right breed for you, to understanding their exercise needs, learn every aspect of owning and training a dog. Get in-depth instruction on training, from basic obedience to advanced tricks, by following clear, step-by-step explanations and illustrations which show you exactly what to do. Understand your dog, with the aid of the latest research into canine behaviour and learn to correct problems and maximise their potential. A well-trained dog is a well-behaved, healthy and happy dog.

In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding
John Bradshaw
What would dogs ask for, if they knew how? In the Sunday Times bestseller In Defence of Dogs John Bradshaw, an anthropologist at Bristol University who has been at the centre of the latest research into what makes dogs tick, gives us the answers.
Overturning the most common myths about dogs’ emotions and behaviour, this book shows how we should really treat our pets, and stands up for dogdom: not the wolf in canine clothes, not the small furry child, not the trophy-winner, but the real dog, who wants to be part of the family and enjoy life – mankind’s closest friend. This is the real science that every dog lover needs to know.

Labrador (Collins Dog Owner’s Guide)
Dr. Peter Neville
Collins Dog Owner’s Guides is a well-established series of superbly illustrated, practical books for pedigree dog owners. The series has built up a reputation for the books’ comprehensive coverage, their authoritative text and the quality of the specially commissioned photographs.
Each book is written by an expert breeder or show judge, and the Consultant Vets to the series are John and Caroline Bower. The text is practical and authoritative and illustrated throughout with specially commisioned photographs of champion dogs and practical step-by-step photoguides to training.
Each book is divided into three main sections:
1. You and Your Dog – Breed characteristics and behaviour
2. Caring for Your Dog – Practical information on feeding, training, grooming, exercising, breeding and showing
3. Healthcare and First Aid

Mine!: A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs
Jean Donaldson
Step by step exercises to modify the behavior of dogs that are aggressive around their food, food dish, toys, bones, sleeping locations etc.