Do you have a copy of Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats? Do you pull it out when one of your dogs or cats shows a worrisome symptom? Do you read the reference sections for fun? Do you cook from its recipe section? Do you refuse to lend it out because you might need it all of a sudden?

If you say yes, then you and I are on the same page.

If you don’t have it, I’d like to suggest that it is a very worthwhile book for your collection. Admittedly, I am a book lover, but this is the most essential of my whole collection of dog books… Read the rest of this entry

Here is my list of the best dog training ebooks. I’m not calling it the “top ten” or any other number, because over time I intend to keep adding to it. Who knows? Maybe someday it will be the top 100! These downloadable products are typically in PDF format, and the free software you need to read them — the Adobe Acrobat reader — is probably already on your computer. If not, get it at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Okay, they are, listed loosely in terms of much I like them and my opinion of value for the price:

Before You Get Your Puppy, by Ian Dunbar, is a popular paperback by a foremost dog trainer now available as a free download from the publishers. It “covers the first three developmental deadlines covering the period of puppy selection until your puppy’s first week at home,” according to the site. They offer it as a public service. If you haven’t read anything by Dr. Dunbar, he writes extremely well.

The A1 Dog Training Collection, by Silvia Kent. The link takes you to my page reviewing this collection, which can be purchased individually or as a group at a good discount. Individual ebooks are: Dynamic Dog Training, Overcoming Dog Behaviour Problems, Your Dog and Your Baby, The Harmony Program, and Take the Class: The Dog Obedience Instructor’s Handbook. (I have separate pages reviewing each ebook, all linked to from this link.) I really like how much love and respect she shows to dogs. Read the rest of this entry

Last night, I googled “dog training forum” and looked at several of the websites that came up. This was not a good thing to do late at night, as I got fascinated by two of the largest forums and stayed up quite late. I joined them and will describe how you can use them as a quick and easy way to get ideas when you are dealing with dog training or behavior challenges.

Notice that I said ideas, not only good ideas. Perusing any forum means wading through a lot of uninformed posts. In the case of dog training today, where there is such a wide spectrum of attitudes about what constitutes good training, you will no doubt encounter attitudes I would NEVER endorse on this website! In fact, I will eventually get together a list of dog forums that are on positive methods only. Actually, I was pretty happy with how extensively people mentioned positive methods, trainers, and books. A sign that the times are changing!

The two forums that I joined were: Read the rest of this entry

Have you read any dog training ebooks? I have read dozens of them, and the majority have been forgettable. Ebooks are Read the rest of this entry