Books that I have enjoyed
So Your Dog's Not Lassie
Betty Fisher and Suzanne Delzio
HarperPerennial, A Division of
HarperCollinsPublishers, 1998
"With this book you will come to understand and appreciate that for
hundreds of years dogs were bred for qualities like independence,
dominance and determination."
This book has got to move to the top of my list. It is a must
for Chow Chow owners. You can order this book through the
Flying Dog Press.
This link will take you to the
Flying Dog Press. This is the web site of
Suzanne Clothier. Lots of good stuff here.
I called to order the "The Seven C's" and Suzanne
answered the phone. She was very helpful with advice
and analysis. She also recommended the booklet, "On Talking
Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals," which was very useful.
1-800-7-FLY-DOG
Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog
by Carol Lea Benjamin
Howell Book House, 1985
The Culture Clash
Jean Donaldson
James & Kenneth Publishers, 1996
"A revolutionary new way of understanding the relationship
between humans and domestic dogs."
Play Training Your Dog
Patricia Gail Burnham
St. Martin's Press, 1980
In spite of the title, this book is about obedience training.
Smart Trainers Brilliant Dogs
Janet R Lewis
Canine Sports Productions, Lutherville, MD 21093, 1997
Competitive Obedience Training for the Small Dog
Barbara Cecil and Gerianne Darnell
Available from: Sylvia's Tack Box
"Training a small or toy dog is quite different
than the big dog training."
Man Meets Dog
Konrad Lorenz, with a new introduction by Donald McCaig
Kodansha America Inc., 1994, Kodansha International Ltd., 1953
A fascinating book by a Nobel Prize winner. Includes quite
a few observations about Chows.
Don't Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching & Training
Karen Pryor
Bantam Books, Reissue edition (September 1, 1985)
This book is about training and learning in general. It's
just as applicable to your husband as it is to your dog.
Communicating With Your Dog
Ted Baer
Barron's, 1999, 1989
The 1999 edition has more (and more general) info in it.
I haven't read this edition yet, but it seems a bit
cluttered. As I recall, the main emphasis of the 1989
edition was the use of one-word commands and the creation
of a "pidgin" language for dogs. It was most interesting.
The Dog Who Loved Too Much: Tales, Treatments, and the Psychology of Dogs
by Nicholas H. Dodman
Bantam Books; ISBN: 0553375261
This book tells of several dogs whose behavior problems were controlled with drugs.
amazon.com customers who bought this book also bought the following three books:
Dogs Behaving Badly: An A-To-Z Guide to Understanding and Curing Behavioral Problems in Dogs
Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman
Dog Problems: A Professional Trainer's Guide to Preventing and Correcting Aggression,
Destructiveness, Housebreaking Problems, Excessive Barking, Dogfights, Tugging, Jumping,
Shyness, Stealing, Begging, Car Chasing, Fear Biting, Object Guarding, and much, much more
Carol Lea Benjamin
Think Dog: An Owner's Guide to Canine Psychology
by John Fisher
I'm not sure that I read this book. It may have been an amazon.com recommendation.
Favorite Dog Stories
by James Herriot, the Yorkshire Veterinarian, is a great book. All of James Herriot's books are great fun.
The Secret Life of Dogs
by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. I would like to find the audio version of this narrated by Barbara Carrera.
The Heart of the Matter
by Paul Loeb and Suzanne Hlavacek
"Breaking codes and making connections between you and your dog or your cat."
"They open a new paradigm of possible interaction with our animal friends at a deep level..."
Smarter than you Think
by Paul Loeb and Suzanne Hlavacek.
"A revolutionary approach to teaching and understanding your dog in just a few hours."
I didn't enjoy the Paul Loeb books as much as I did the others on this list.
Susan Conant writes about a fictional magazine author named Holly Winter
who solves mysteries and has two Alaskan malamutes named Rowdy and Kimi.
How to Speak Dog: Mastering the Art of Dog-Human Communication
by Stanley Coren
The Free Press A Division of Simon & Shuster Inc., 2000
A facinating book that describes the body language and behavior of dogs. Stanley Coren is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. He has written The Intelligence of Dogs, What Do Dogs Know? and Why We Love the Dogs We Do.
The Intelligence of Dogs
by Stanley Coren
To me the most interesting feature of this book is the author's ranking of 133 breeds of dogs by "working intelligence and trainability."
Dog Watching
by Desmond Morris
Three Rivers Press, New York Random House, Inc., 1986
A fascinating book that describes the body language and behavior of dogs.
Leader of the Pack
by Nancy Bear and Steve Duno
Harper PaperbacksHarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1986
"How to take control of your relationship with your dog. Give your dog a new leash on life when you learn how to be the boss." This is an interesting book about pack dynamics. However the authors state the concepts as rules which you ignore at your peril. I think of the concepts as comprising a kit of tools from which you can pick and choose in order to keep your relationship in balance.