I get phone calls and e-mails all the time from people asking me how they can learn more about the field of canine behavior. My answers always include academic study, attending seminars, actually training dogs to a high level in some area for fun or competition, and reading everything possible on the subject. I find that people are most eager to pursue the reading avenue, possibly because it is easy to get access to books, and this is one inexpensive option that has the advantage of being doable in the comfort of home. Naturally, the next question is always what books are best. The general answer is to read widely from a variety of authors, but the specific books change as new books get published. Here are some of my favorite picks for great dog books to read.
If you want to know more about training in general, I have two favorites. Family Friendly Dog Training: A Six Week Program for You and Your Dog by Patricia B. McConnell and Aimee M. Moore is based on a six-week curriculum for beginning dog training classes, and covers the basics every dog should know and how to teach to teach them in a step-by-step way. Excel-erated Learning: Explaining in plain English how dogs learn and how best to teach them covers learning theory and how it applies to dog training.
If you want to learn more about the science of canine behavior, consider delving into The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People, which is edited by James Serpell or The Behavioural Biology of Dogs which is edited by P. Jensen. Both of these books contain chapters on a range of topics from the world?s top scientists and their studies of all things canine. Steven Lindsay's three volume set entitled Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training is perhaps the most comprehensive treatment of the subject to date.
If your desire is to learn about specific topics or areas of problem behavior, there are arrange of possibilities, depending on exactly which issues you need to know more about. Patricia McConnell has a series of booklets on a variety of topics. Some of her titles are The Cautious Canine: How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears, Feeling Outnumbered: How to Manage and Enjoy Your Multi-Dog Household, I?ll Be Home Soon: How to Prevent and Treat Separation Anxiety, and Feisty Fido: Help for the Leash Aggressive Dog.
Other great specialty books include Raising Puppies & Kids Together: A Guide for Parents by Pia Silvani and Lynn Eckhardt, Visiting the Dog Park?Having Fun, Staying Safe by Cheryl Smith, and Help! I'm Barking and I Can?t Be Quiet by Daniel Q. Estep and Suzanne Hetts.
For books that combine moving, educational stories with practical, useful information and scientific backup for everything in the books, there are several books to consider. Patricia McConnell's The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs explains the human side of behavior within the dog-human relationship. The Covenant of the Wild: Why Animals Chose Domestication examines the mutualistic relationship between humans and other animals, including dogs and debunks the old-fashioned idea that these relationships were good only for the humans and that the humans imposed it on animals. The Nobel Laureate Konrad Lorenz' Man Meets Dog is an amazing foray into the ideas and speculation of a great scientist as he contemplates his own dogs and their behavior.
For some great reads that are literary and enjoyable as well as informative, consider James Herriot?s Dog Stories, which is an insightful and delightful collection of adventures in the life of a country vet in Yorkshire England. His stories are probably the most charming animal tales that have ever been written. Caroline Knapp?s book Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs is about one woman?s quest for love and how she finally found the intimacy that had eluded her in all her previous relationships when she adopted a dog. Have tissues on hand. Dog is My Co-Pilot is a wonderful volume of essays by professional writers about every facet of sharing our lives with dogs.
Finally, a couple of classic reads are books that everybody serious about dog training behavior has read, or at least should read. The books Genetics and the Social Behavior and the Dog by John Paul Scott and John L. Fuller and The New Knowledge of Dog Behavior by Clarence Pfaffenberger both explain the classic studies and breeding programs that informed our current views on the heritability of behavioral traits in dogs, critical socialization periods, and the effects of emotional traits on performance.
Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training brought a whole new perspective on positive training methods to the entire dog training world, and wins my personal vote for the best book title ever.
If you are interested in reading dog books of any kind, there is a single website that is worth checking out. It is called Dogwise.com, but in my house we call it the hide-your-credit-card site because I love it so much and spend so much money there.
--Karen B. London
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