I am frequently asked for book suggestions or other resources for further information. There is a growing list of books that are either on my shelves, have been on my shelf (from a library), or are on my “desperate to read, but need money!” list. I figured now is as good a time as any to post some of the books I have found most beneficial or informative to my evolution and education as a trainer.
I’m going to try and group them into broad topics because many people are looking for help in a specific area and searching through a giant list can be overwhelming. Many of them overlap into different areas, but I did my best to categorize them.
General Human Canine Relationship and Basic Positive Training…
**Culture Clash (Jean Donaldson)
Dog Behavior (Ian Dunbar)
**Don’t Shoot the Dog (Karen Pryor)
Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us About All Animals (Karen Pryor)
For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend (Patricia McConnell)
**The Other End of the Leash (Patricia McConnell)
**The Power of Positive Dog Training (Pat Miller)
Play With Your Dog (Pat Miller)
The Dog Whisperer: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach to Dog Training (Paul Owen with Norma Eckorate)
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Positive Dog Training (Pamela Dennison)
Fearful Dogs
Cautious Canine (Patricia McConnell)
Focus Not Fear (Ali Brown)
Scaredy Dog! (Ali Brown)
Help for Your Fearful Dog (Nicole Wilde)
Reactivity or Aggression
Click to Calm (Emma Parsons)
**Control Unleashed (Leslie McDevitt)–while I put the book here, it’s not specifically for reactive dogs. It’s also good for dogs who simply have trouble focusing in high distractions
Feisty Fido (Patricia McConnell)
Fight! (Jean Donaldson)
Aggression in Dogs (Brenda Aloff)
Resource Guarding/Separation Anxiety
Mine! (Jean Donaldson)
I’ll be Home Soon (Patricia McConnell)
Don’t Leave Me! (Nicole Wilde)
Body Language/Calming Signals/Reading dogs
Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide (Brenda Aloff)
Calming Signals (Turid Rugaas)
**Are the 5 books I would say are “must reads” for people interested in positive dog training. These books were absolutely crucial in changing the way I thought about training and gave me the information to make a change for my dogs. The Other End of the Leash, The Power of Positive Dog Training and Culture Clash are books I absolutely love and have read over and over again.
Many of these books are listed on my Amazon.com Listmania List… So You Are Interested in Positive Dog Training if you’d like to skip the searching step! Are there any more you’d add to the list?!? What are YOUR go-to training books?
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When Pigs Fly by Killon is one of my favorites. Clicker training for those dogs that are less than impressed by the method…at least in the beginning!
Also Coaching People To Train Their Dogs by Ryan. Great resource.
Thanks for those suggestions!
I also enjoyed reading Canine Body Language: a photographic guide by Brenda Aloff. The pictures are very detailed and it helped me a lot in learning how to read dog body language.
Ooops… You already have that!
And that, kids, is why you always read the post completely before responding.
One more just sprang to min – Control Unleashed. Love it. Use it often
I either love or want most of the ones you listed! Another great read on the humane – canine relationship is Suzanne Clothier’s “Bones would Rain from the Sky”
Great list of books there. Thanks.