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Recommended Books/Videos


Kitch
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Hi Guys -

 

I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread on recommended books/videos on training, dog behavior or BCs in general.

 

We often see the same books recommended on these threads and it is a great resource. I figure this way, we can point to a thread for some ideas...I have listed ones I have read/am reading or have seen listed/recommended. Please add your own!

 

Books

The Other End of the Leash - Patricia McConnel

 

The Cautious Canine - Patricia McConnel

 

How to Be the Leader of the Pack - Patricia McConnel

 

On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals - Turid Rugaas

 

Don't Shoot the Dog - Karen Pryor)

 

Culture Clash - Jean Donaldsen

 

Natural Dog Training - Kevin Behan

 

Bones Would Rain from the Sky - Suzanne Clothier

 

How to Speak Dog - Dr. Stanley Coren

 

The Intelligence of Dogs - Stanley Coren.

 

Mother Knows Best - Carol Lea Benjamin.

 

The Well-Mannered Dog -

 

Understanding Border Collies - Barbara Sykes

 

Building Blocks for Performance by Bobbie Anderson.

 

Videos

 

Starting Your Border Collie on Cattle, Sheep or Ducks

 

Lassie Come! -Patricia McConnell ? This is a ?polished? video. It is about 45 minutes long and it is strictly on teaching recall. Most of the stuff in it isn?t new and can be learned from books, but it definitely helps to see someone do it.

 

Reading Between the Lines -Patricia McConnell: ~3 hours. This video is a recording of a lecture* she gave to animal control officers so it focuses on aggression more than anything else, but it is fascinating none the less. She goes over the many different signs a dog can give off to reveal his/her state of mine and what each behavior indicates. She talks about a dog?s eyes going ?hard? and how it is hard to pinpoint exactly what about the expression changes when the eyes go hard, but that you know it when you see it (I can certainly attest to that!)

 

She shows slides, pictures and videos. While many of us are familiar with the various facial expressions, tail wags, etc it is amazing how much can be revealed in a second and how many behaviors we can miss. I spent much of the time rewinding the DVD to try to pick up on everything. A lot of info is packed into the seminar. She also brings up one of her dogs and some other practice dogs to illustrate points.

 

Both Ends of the Leash -Patricia McConnell: ~6 hours. This is a recording of one of her lectures*. She uses slides, pictures and videos as well. (She has a great section where she uses some herding videos to illustrate the emotional state of the dogs - some were very uncertain, some were uncertain but more confident and some were very confident depending on their experience). She brings up many practice dogs and demonstrates many techniques. If you read and liked her book (The Other End of the Leash) I think you will enjoy this. She covers many of the same topics and shows the effect of using body positions as a way to control your dog?s movements. She also goes over tone of voice and how often we say one thing but convey another with our tone. Again, this isn?t really new stuff but she does a great job of bringing it to life. I was sad when the DVD was finished!

 

 

*At first I was a bit leery of buying a DVD that was just a recording of a lecture, but the quality is fine and honestly, I got so involved in what she was saying that most of the time I forgot that it was even a recording.

 

Nutrition

Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet Kymythy R. Schultze

 

Better Food for Dogs: A Complete Cookbook and Nutrition Guide David Bastin, Jennifer Ashton, Grant Nixon

 

Raw Dog Food: Make It Work for You and Your Dog Carina Beth MacDonald

 

Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative Donald R. Strombeck

 

Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, Wendy Volhard (contains specific recipes approved by a vet nutritionist)

 

 

Please add your own! :rolleyes:

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Feisty Fido by Patricia B. McConnell

 

Your Outta Control Adopted Dog by Eve Adamson

 

Aggression in Dogs - Practical Management, Prevention & Behavior Modification by Brenda Aloff

 

I have most of the books you mentioned but to be perfectly honest, I have found this board to be much more informative than all of these books combined.

 

Although the video was much more helpful than any of those posts that never made a lick of sense! :rolleyes:

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For those of you interested in the herding side of things:

 

Talking Sheepdogs by Derek Scrimgeour

(also his videos, A Hill Shepherd Trains His Border Collies and The Shepherd's Pup)

 

Lessons from a Stockdog by Bruce Fogt

 

The Natural Way by Julie Simpson

 

Herding Dogs, Progressive Training by Vergil Holland

 

For folks who would like to know more about the dogs in their own dog's pedigree:

National Sheepdog Champions and Blue Riband of the Heather by Barbara Carpenter (these are two different books: the first is about English/Irish national champions and the second is about International Supreme winners)

 

Sheepdogs, My Faithful Friends by Eric Halsall

 

Videos I like (besides Derek Scrimgeour's):

The Year of the Working Sheepdog (beautiful scenery, and the video will give you a new appreciation of what these dogs do and where they come from)

 

And any of the Rurual Route videos, including

Starting Your Border Collie on Cattle, Sheep or Ducks and any of the national finals, international supreme, etc. videos Martin Penfold has produced.

 

General dog books:

The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell (my sister, who is not a dog person, loved this book too!)

 

Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor

 

and

 

Second-Hand Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin (I got this one when I got Indy, my first dog once I was on my own--Indy is now 12 and it's been a long, long time since I read the book, but I remember liking it).

 

Most of the stockdog stuff can be obtained at Border Collies in Action http://www.bordercollies.com , including the Rural Route videos, which can also be obtained directly from Rural Route: http://www.ruralroutevideos.com

 

The rest can be obtained at places like Amazon.com

 

J.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I came across this:

 

MINE! A GUIDE TO RESOURCE GUARDING IN DOGS

by Jean Donaldson

 

Haven't read it, so I can't tell you how good it is, but I believe (in general) her books are pretty good.

 

Hope this helps!

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Power of Positive Trainng by Pat Miller

Feisty Fido: Help for the leash aggressive dog by Patricia McConnell & Karen London

How to Teach a New Dog Old Tricks by Ian Dunbar

Before you get your Puppy by Ian Dunbar

After you get your Puppy by Ian Dunbar

 

There's more but I can't think.

 

Annette

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  • 4 months later...

Dogs : A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior & Evolution

 

By Raymond & Lorna Coppinger

 

Specifically for the border collie enthusiasts:

 

Nop's Trials

Nop's Hope

Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men

 

By Donald McCaig

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What a fabulous list of books! I have a number of the books and videos listed and think that every resource you guys have mentioned is a very worthwhile read.

 

Now, do we need a list of books that we would NOT recommend? Resources that may be outdated in training philosophy, etc.?

 

The books by the Monks of New Skete might fall into that category. I found their descriptions of the stages of a dog's life to be very interesting, and they contain a lot of good information. But some of their training techniques are NOT for the average dog owner (alpha roll) and may not be useful in general. However, I do think the books have been released in new editions and might be much better than they used to be. Any thoughts?

 

Of course, Jonathan Katz's books have been alternately loved and hated by posters on the boards. A fun read from what I understand, but a person with an insufficient understanding of Border Collies and farm work to be an influential writer.

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