Can any of you recommend any good behaviour books? I am laid up in bed for the next week or so and unable to walk my pooches so have decided to use the time constructively, over the last 2 weeks i have read The Dog Listener, Think Dog and last night finished The culture Clash i am now hooked and want to read more. The other thing i have found is that the books i have read have all concentrated on the pack leader theory, are there any books out there that look at it from a different point of view?

Cheers

If you fancy a fairly big read, go for Dogs; A Startling new Understanding of Canine Origin, Behaviour and Species by Ray and Lorna Coppinger.

What else - The Other End of the Leash by Pat McConnell, I'm part way through my copy and enjoying it. Also, Diary of a Dotty Dog Doctor by John Fisher (there's a chapter in there abouthow he did his U turn re. pack theory) and Dogs are from Neptune by Donaldson again. Bones would rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier, a bit different and more kind of, chatty I guess.

Any good?

Lindsay
x

Ooh brilliant , thanks Lindsay. I will log onto Amazon when i finish on here and see what i can find :-)

I don't think you'll find the Culture Clash focuses on the pack leader theory....

Jean Donaldson is very much against the "dominance" schools of dog training and doesn't believe in the "pack leader" theory....

Just out of interest but what is the Jean Donaldson theory?

Her theory isn't hers - it's just pack theory rewritten and glossy.  She's looked at studies of wolves and determined ways of living with her dogs that have recently been shot down as rubbish - such as eating first, going through doorways and so on.  Also, she recommends a process called "Amichien Bonding" - a method of "bonding" with a puppy to show it its place in the pack.  Trouble is, we aren't dogs or wolves; dogs aren't wolves or humans; and in dog, captive wolf (which the studies were based on) and wild wolf packs, pups get different treatment - they eat first and get away with a lot more than adult dogs or wolves.

Can you tell I'm not a pack theory fan? ;)

No Nikita that is Jan Fennel - the dog whisperer.   Jan Fennel was inspired by Monty Roberts 'The Horse Whisper' I think.  A book I enjoyed reading - but he is using methods on wild horses to tame them - based on watching horse behaviour.  Not quite the same as training wolves and making them into trained domestic dogs!
However I enjoyed reading her book.  It is much better to follow what she says then treat dogs like humans.

How dogs learn by Burch and Bailey is an excellent boot, as is Don't Shoot the Dog by KP

Second here for How Dogs Learn and Don't Shoot the Dog - and my personal favourite is "The Idiot's guide to Positive Dog Training" by Pamela Dennison.  I've just finished reading it, and it is fantastic - very, very thorough, no pack theory nonsense, just good training advice and advice on getting a good relationship with the dog through entirely positive methods - the author doesn't even like negative words such as "no" - she advises training alternative behaviours such as sit or come, so that instead of telling the dog "no", you're giving them something else to do.  There's a good chapter about dog body language as well, which has already proven useful to me to calm down a mildly growly OES that came thundering up to my girl!