Dog Training Books

Owning a dog can be one of the best experiences of your life. When you have a dog that is well behaved the joy you experience with your dog is boundless. When your dog constantly misbehaves it can make your life miserable. Dogs that aren’t trained often misbehave and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage to your home.  You could also be held liable if your dog is out of control and hurts another person or even another dog.  As such, it is probably important for most dog owners to take the time to train their dog.  You can pay to have this done for you, or you can attempt to learn to do it yourself.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.  If you have someone else train your dog for you, you have the convenience of not having to spend the time to do so, and you can also get a very competent professional to train your dog that is likely much more skilled at it than you are.  On the other hand, this could be fairly expensive, and your dog might only respond well to the trainer, and not so much to the owner (you).  In this case, it is much better for you to invest some time and learn how to properly train your own dog for yourself.

Taking the necessary time to train your dog could not be more important. Luckily, there are many great dog training books that will help you train your dog properly.

The best dog training books come from the Monks of New Skete. The Monks of New Skete are a “contemplative monastic community” in Cambridge, NY that follow the teachings of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The monks have been raising German Shepard’s for over thirty-five years. They share their wisdom in their award winning dog training books.

The first book on dog training I would recommend is The Art of Raising a Puppy, by The Monks of New Skete. If you are planning on adding a puppy to your family you should not be without this book. Unlike most dog training books this book focuses on the first three months of the puppy’s life. You will learn how to pick out the best puppy in the litter. The recommendations in The Art of Raising a Puppy involve creating a strong mental bond with your new puppy. Passive mental conditioning is the method of dog training. Keeping the puppy from learning bad habits is the best way to assure they never acquire them.

The second book on dog training I would recommend is How to be Your Dogs Best Friend. Also by The Monks of New Skete. This is their first best selling dog training book and the training methods are flawless. You and your dog will learn with ease how to move together as one pack, with you at the helm. This comprehensive dog training book helps you with everything from picking the best name for your dog to developing the proper eye contact.  There are a lot of subtleties that go into dog training and most books simply do not do a comprehensive job of picking up on all of these details. 

There are plenty of other books on dog training that are top notch. Cesar Millan from the television show The Dog Whisperer has published some of the best dog training books. My favorite is called Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems. Cesar promotes dog training methods that focus on training the owner, not the dog. To Cesar, all dogs are good dogs, there are only bad owners. Cesar will train you to raise a dog based on the principle that your dogs happiness revolves around exercise, discipline and affection.