Dogs: Books on advanced training

If you want to buy a book, clicking on the book cover will take you directly to that book on the Amazon.co.uk web site.

See also:
Dogs: General
Dogs: Health and Nutrition
Dogs: Books on single breeds
Dogs: Origins, canine evolution and wolves
Dogs: Puppy and manners training
Dogs: Behaviour and training philosophies
Dogs: Breeding and kennel management
Dogs: Fiction and biography relating to dogs

The Gundog Veterinary Bible [Illustrated] (Spiral-bound)

Harvey Carruthers
Quiller Publishing Ltd; Spi edition (29 Jun 2009)
ISBN-10: 1846890500
ISBN-13: 978-1846890505

The Gundog Veterinary Bible a very useful manual for anyone who likes an active life with their dog, not just gundog owners. There is help on what to do in emergencies, such as when a dog has eaten something poisonous, or broken a leg. There is also advice on preventing problems, which is well worth reading, so that you do not have to use the advice for emergencies. The author is the vet columnist of Shooting Times, Harvey Carruthers MRCVS.

The book is very accessible, clearly written, with good illustrations. It is a handy size to take on journeys, and is also spiral bound, so it stays open on a car seat, which means that you can follow instructions and check on the dog at the same time. Very highly recommended.

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Practical Scent Dog Training

Lue Button
Publisher: Alpine Publications,U.S.; illustrated edition edition (Dec 1990)
ISBN-10: 0931866472
ISBN-13: 978-0931866470

Lue Button has written a very accessible book for anyone interested in scent dog training, whether tracking, trailing or air scenting. This is a practical guide which you can use for working on your own, or with a friend.. It is full of common-sense advice, such as the need to develop your powers of observation and discover how your dog tries to communicate with you. The first six chapters are helpful for all owners, and go a long way towards helping people to develop canine skills, and a better relationship between dog and owner. There are useful preliminary exercises for pups, useful for all pups, not just those destined to become professional scent dogs. The bulk of the book comprises lesson plans for different types of scent work. The lesson plans are clearly set out, with good illustrations in the form of line drawings. There is enough information to help experienced scent dog people who are encountering problems with a particular book. The joy of this book, however, is that is is an eye-opener for any owner who wants to do interesting activities with their dog.  Highly recommended, a gem of a book.

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Clever Dog

Gwen Bailey
Collins (28 May 2009)
ISBN-10: 0007279930
ISBN-13: 978-0007279937

Some people might describe this book as a guide to teaching dogs tricks, but it is far more than this, it can also help you to teach your dog useful jobs, and give him or her some intellectual stimulation. Giving dogs something interesting to do makes them happier, calmer, and helps to improve communication between dogs and owners. They have to pay attention to you in order to get what they want. It's far better to stretch dogs' minds than play mindless ball games in the hope that this will tire them out! My only complaint is that this book is too short, I want more. For serious skills training, working dog books provide more depth, especially those dealing with tracking and retrieving. However, this book is relatively inexpensive, and is highly recommended as a starter book to help owners learn to teach complex skills to their dogs.

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Clicker Training For Obedience

Morgan Spector
Sunshine Books
ISBN 0962401781

This is an excellent introductory guide to clicker training, with very clear instructions. Clicker training is a reward-based method for training dogs, which relies on 'clicks' to communicate with the dog. It is a technique that is based on operant conditioning theories, and it can give rapid results - either because dogs understand it easily, or because it forces owners to think about what messages they are sending their dogs! Karen Pryor is another fan of operant conditioning, and her 'Don't Shoot the Dog' is perhaps more useful for people with more experience, because she deals with behavioural issues in greater depth, and helps owners to choose solutions that best suit them. However, if you want a clear-cut, 'how to' book, this is the one for you.

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Agility

Patrick Holden and John Gilbert
Ringpress
ISBN: 1860540449

This is an excellent guide to agility, which is very useful for people new to this activity, because it is far easier to make sense of commands taught in agility training if you also have a written and illustrated overview. It is also a useful resource for experienced owners, because of the quality of the detailed explanations. The book is certainly a must have for any agility club, so that it can be lent to members to read at home.

The focus in the book is on competitive agility, though the authors stress that it should be fun. Agility is a very good way for owners and dogs to get to know each other, and for both to have physical and mental exercise in an enjoyable way. It is such a useful activity that it would be helpful for non-competing owners to have a little more advice than is given in this guide. Border collies tend to dominate agility in the UK. Non collie owners often feel they have little chance of competing with the collies’ intensity, dedication and speed, and may well feel out of place in a club dominated by collies. Agility, in the sense of obstacle courses that dogs follow on the direction of their owners, is so useful and enjoyable that there is a case for expanding the sport, and designing courses for different breeds. Long-legged dogs, for example, may find the height of the A-ramp difficult to deal with, so an adjustable version of the A-ramp could be useful.

This book also focuses on participants in agility, rather than on people wanting to set agility clubs, or just wanting modified courses in their back yards. One of the big problems that owners often have is transport to agility classes. Attending often involves travelling some distance because agility classes are not as easy to find as obedience classes. More information for people setting up courses would be helpful.

‘Agility’ is an excellent resource for dog owners, and it is precisely because this book is so good that it would be a pleasure to have more from these authors, who perhaps will one day delight us with a longer version.

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Introduction to Dog Agility

Margaret Bonham
Barron’s
ISBN 0764114395

Dog agility can be very enjoyable for both owners and dogs, and can help us learn how to communicate with our dogs, as well as helping to channel the energy of ‘hyper’ dogs into something constructive. So what if the collies tend to dominate agility classes and competitions, you can still do agility for fun, and Margaret Bonham shows you how. She covers all levels of agility activities, from setting up a course in your garden or a field, to competition events (for you collie owners…). This book is an excellent introduction for beginners, since it is clearly written, and is comprehensive enough to be of interest to owners with experience of agility, and to trainers.

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Agility Training: The Fun Sport for All Dogs

Jane Simmons-Moake
Howell Bk.Ho.
ISBN: 0876054025

This book is a very useful reference book for people starting an agility club, or who want to try out agility with friends. There are clear instructions on how to 'do agility', as well as help with building your own course. The focus is also on enjoying the sport, rather than taking it in deadly earnest. Agility is such a useful way of training dogs, and learning to communicate with them by having fun, that it's refreshing to read a book that looks at the sport in terms of enjoyment.

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Tracking Dog: Theory & Methods

Glen R. Johnson
Barkleigh Productions Inc
ISBN: 0914124048

This short book is the 'bible' for trackers from an innovative and highly experienced handler. Johnson has a wide range of experience from finding poison leaks, to work with dogs in the armed forces. A 'must-read' for anyone seriously interested in teaching tracking skills to their dog.

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Search and Rescue Dogs: Training the K-9 Hero

American Rescue Dog Association
John Wiley & Sons Inc
ISBN: 0764567039

Search and Rescue (SAR) dogs save lives - wandering toddlers, people trapped in collapsed buildings, or lost in the wilds. This is a gripping account of their achievements, with advice on how to train them. This account will give you new respect for the abilities of dogs. Not all dogs are suited to high-level SAR work, but it is possible to train any dog to do some of the things that SAR dogs do. Training dogs to find people on command can bring benefits in terms of improving communication between you and your dog, and because dogs like to be given jobs to do. You can also train dogs to find other dogs, which is very useful if you have more than one dog, and one gets lost. You can even train dogs to find missing objects, like your car keys!

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Ready: the Training of the Search and Rescue Dog

Susan Bulanda
Doral Publishing, Inc
ISBN: 0944875416

This is a classic 'how to' book for training Search and Rescue (SAR) dogs. It's very easy to follow, and gives you a very clear idea of the training needs of SAR dogs. The rationale behind the training procedures is explained well, including how handlers should be trained! There is a troubleshooting guide for helping handlers tackle common problems. The book is also very well illustrated. This is a very useful resource for dog clubs, as well as owners interested in SAR work.

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The 10-Minute Retriever

John and Amy Dahl
Willow Creek Press
ISBN: 1572233036

Amy and John Dahl are highly respected trainers in US retrieving circles, though some of their methods are now seen as old fashioned by many pet dog trainers. A British pet owner reading their book is making an exploration into a different dog culture. The dogs trained by the authors, and described in this book are expected to win competitions. If they don’t do their jobs well, they are given to other owners as pets. Pet dogs in Britain tend to be part of the family. They may have useful roles, like keeping us warm in winter, making sure we get exercise, and keeping burglars at bay, but they are primarily companions. This difference in roles goes some way to explaining disagreements on training methods. Amy and John Dahl want results, above all. People pay them to train their dogs, and their own dogs have to win competitions to help maintain their reputations. Retrieving is an optional extra for pet dog owners, something fun to do if the dog enjoys it, which retrievers usually do. However, most UK pet dog owners feel there is little point in coercing a companion dog to take part in a sport, even if coercion may be needed at other times, to keep dogs out of trouble, so they don’t endanger their own and other lives.

Pet dog training has also developed differently in the UK from in the US. There is more of a close co-operation between trainers and behaviour counsellors in the UK than there is between trainers and ´behaviourists´in the US. Behaviour counsellors in the UK are expected to have training skills, and to understand dogs from a wide range of perspectives, whereas ´behaviourists´ in the US tend to be more academic, and more focused on ´´behaviourism´´, as in the view of learning developed by Skinner and Watson, and popularised by Karen Pryor. The British APBC, Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, long ago moved away from force in training, and this, in turn, has influenced British pet dog trainers. The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), set up by Fisher, is opposed to the use of coercion in training, so those UK trainers who have kept their skills up to date have moved away from force. There are other differences between US and UK pet dog cultures, but a key difference is that methods based on force are less likely to seen as an option among pet dog trainers who have kept skills up to date in the UK. This is less true of British hunting dog culture, where coercive methods are still common.

What may first strike pet dog trainers, and pet retriever owners about this book, then, is that some of the methods described, such as jerking to prevent pulling on the lead, and ear pinching to teach a stage in retrieving, are now seen as unduly harsh for pet dogs. However, the 10-Minute Retriever does make very interesting reading, because the authors clearly love training dogs, and bond with the dogs through training them. It is a very pragmatic book, based more on decades of refining traditional training methods, rather than a ‘grand theory’ of training. The authors’ one foray into behaviourism as a way of explaining their methods is a little confusing, because the terms they use are different, or used in different ways from terms used by academic behaviourists. Many of the points the authors stress, which they have learnt from experience, are the same as those stressed by more ‘softy’ trainers, for example, that harsh methods tend to be counterproductive, by making dogs less enthusiastic about working. They also note that jerking on a choke chain can injure a dog’s neck, that electric collars can make dogs fearful if misused, and all that collars can do is shock, not teach. They recommend electric collars for some work, but also suggest using whistles as an alternative way of communicating to dogs at a distance.

The chapters on puppy training contain little to upset ‘softy’ pet owners and trainers. There is a stress on the need for patience and encouragement, and not allowing unwanted habits to develop, rather than chastising pups. These chapters cover good manners, general obedience, and fostering enthusiasm for retrieving. The authors warn owners to be restrained over teaching obedience up to the puppy’s limit, because, though puppies are capable of very high levels of obedience, this can hinder the development of confidence, desire, and initiative. It is refreshing to read a book which suggests ways to develop dogs’ cognitive skills and joie de vivre, as well as obedience.

One particularly interesting section is the discussion of what constitutes rewards for retrievers, which includes the act of retrieving, praise, and exercise. Food is not mentioned once. This is a useful reminder that food is not the only way to motivate dogs, and may not always be the best way. Food, of course, has many uses in training dogs, but it is possible to become a ‘food junkie’, so it can broaden our understanding to hear from trainers who don’t use food at all. Other important points stressed by this book include the need to keep sessions short (the ten minutes of the book’s title), to develop skills using a logical sequence of training ‘building blocks’, and to be consistent. They remind owners to remember to give a release command to end ‘heel’, ‘stay’ and other commands, something it is easy for owners to forget. They also stress keeping one’s temper, rather than chastising dogs for not understanding what one wants, and advise owners never to train when they feel upset or angry, or to take it personally if dogs don’t follow what is required.

There are four young Labrador retrievers in the Spanish village where I live. They are kept in yards with little human contact, and no training. Here, hunting dogs are just taken out when their owners go shooting, which may be once a week. These dogs are seen as disposable, usually shot when they do not do their job properly. Most of these dogs would probably trade an ear pinch or two for more companionship and more interesting things to do. Many hunting dogs in the UK are kept outside the home, not (as is true in much of rural Spain) because they are seen as too big to be pets, but because owners feel they would be spoiled by too much attention as pets. Such owners feel that the dogs learn better if the only attention they receive is while being trained for hunting.

In many hunting dog cultures, in Spain, the UK and US, there are owners who think they should dominate dogs by means of force, allowing no space for initiative. This is, of course, a misunderstanding of wolf ethology, the role of the alpha wolf, and the role of humans as leaders. As Amy and John Dahl stress, a true leader is sparing with corrections, and has the confidence to encourage the dog to enjoy retrieving, and to leave some space for initiative. The result of excessive use of force can be dogs that gag when a retrieving object is placed in their mouths, and a lack of trust between owner and dog, so the erosion of a basis for co-operation between dogs and their owners. Gun dog owners sometimes buy e-collars over the internet, and treat the dog as though it were a machine with push button controls, which again can ruin dogs for retrieving. In the context of some hunting dog cultures, then, this book not only aims to help owners to get results, but is relatively humane, even though some of the recommendations may jar with pet dog owners. The authors recommend that owners live with their dogs in the home, and are sometimes criticised by hunting dog people in the US for stressing the need for allowing dogs to have some initiative.

John Dahl describes training retrievers in the early 1950s, and is cheerfully frank about his early mistakes. He conveys a sense of training as a work in progress, that new dogs can always teach us something new, which rings true for people deeply involved in training, rather than just writing books. Amy Dahl has been experimenting with clicker training. Maybe one day, when she has built up enough experience, she could be persuaded to write a book that softy pet owners could happily use, explaining how to use clickers for retrieving, and whistles for distance work. Only a minority of retriever owners can, or want to win competitions, while most pet retriever owners want to have fun with their dogs, and to teach their dogs at least some of the activities that they were designed to do.

This book is not, then, a complete guide for UK pet retriever owners, though it could be a useful supplement to more conventional training. Owners can skip the problematic sections. These problematic sections tend to deal with skills that can usually be learnt in local obedience classes in the UK, using methods more suited to companion dogs. It is also easier to learn how to train a dog in basic obedience and retrieving with the help of a good trainer than with a book, because a trainer can provide feedback on the owner’s handling. Labrador and Golden Retrievers tend to do well in obedience classes, being generally quite robust, large and easy going. The value of the book as a supplement is because The 10-Minute Retriever has a lot of useful ‘softy’ advice on specialist retrieving training, such as fostering enthusiasm in puppies, and teaching retrievers to like going into water on command, rather than taking a dry land route (involving entering the water oneself!). As a way of taking retriever training that bit further, then, this book has something to offer even to ‘softies’. It is also worth reading simply as an insight into a different dog culture.

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Gundogs: Training & Field Trials

P.R.A. Moxon
Quiller Publishing
ISBN: 1853105856

The late Peter Moxon has been highly influential in the world of gundog training, and this is an excellent guide for anyone interested in working gundogs. The illustrations are not as fancy as in some of the more modern books, but the content more than makes up for this deficiency. There is a lot of helpful detail, so it's ideal for novices who need clear explanations. More experienced handlers who have not yet read this work will enjoy it, and will have a better understanding of the development of gundog training, since Moxon is such a key figure.

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Working Gundogs: An Introduction to Training and Handling

Martin Deeley
The Crowood Press
ISBN: 1852237643

Martin Deeley is very well known internationally as a gundog trainer and author, and 'Working Gundogs' is his introduction for beginners who are serious about the sport. He looks at both the skills that handlers need to develop, and at how to select the best pup for the job. He places a lot of stress on the importance of basic training, and gradually building up skills. There is also a troubleshooting guide, with examples from his own experience. The book is clearly written, and the illustrations also make the explanations easier to understand. The main breeds covered are the retrieving breeds and spaniels, though owners of other gundog breeds will find the book useful. This is a very helpful book for people wanting to start off on the right track.

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Advanced Gundog Training: Practical Fieldwork and Competition

Martin Deeley
The Crowood Press
ISBN: 1861263961

'Advanced Gundog Training' is the next step up from Martin Deeley's 'Working Gundogs'. This book is geared to the more advanced handler, who wants to participate in UK field trials and formal shoots. Different aspects of fieldwork covered include rough shooting, wildfowling, pigeon shooting, and beating. Deeley writes well, and his enthusiasm for the subject comes through clearly, making this book enjoyable to read, as well as a useful reference manual.

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Gundogs: Their Learning Chain

Joe Irving
Quiller Publishing
ISBN: 1840370335

This is a very useful guide to gundog training for novices, which is worth reading before owners obtain their dogs. Every stage of training is covered, from selecting the right sort of pup for the handler, to field work. There are also explanations of the training needs of different breeds of gundogs, such as the retrieving breeds, spaniels, pointers and setters. There is a lot of help with building up skills, in the form of lessons that are clearly explained. Experienced owners will enjoy this book for its common sense approach and clear explanations, but it's most helpful for beginners who want to know what gundog training involves.

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