It's refreshing that the question concerns books and not the more common dog training media today, video tapes and DVD's. Tapes and discs are very good and easy to learn when it comes to how to train a dog, but aren't so good with showing the why of a particular technique or system of training. Books, on the other hand, are very good at teaching the why's of training behavior. If someone who owns a dog wants to fully understand what is going on in a seminar or tape, the first step is understanding the theory of training and, only then, will the trainer fully appreciate what a good trainer is doing.
What follows is, to us, the very foundation of knowledge that every good trainer must learn and then develop. Some of these texts are old, even dated, but in every case the writer is a person who has unique insights about dog behavior and how it can touch our training of working dogs.
General Dog Behavior
Dog Behavior. John Paul Scott & John L. Fuller. This book is the result of an exhaustive study of the genetic basis of behavior. It is interesting, in reading this book, that the American view of animal behavior started to take a very different turn from that in Europe. These two men were psychologists, not biologists. Their experiments, done in the late 1940's, focused on the genetic and developmental characteristics of behavior. It is a book rich in fundamental truths about dog behavior, especially during the formative period.
Canine Behavior. Michael Fox. Fox was a research veterinarian at the time of writing this book. While his interest was generally like Scott and Fuller, he was more involved in examining the characteristics of dog and wolves and how the behavior of wolves might lead him to a clearer understanding of developing dog characteristics.
Understanding Your Dog. Eberhard Trumler. A student of Konrad Lorenz, Trumler was particularly interested in how dogs develop behaviorally from puppies. His work in this field was revolutionary at the time. It is still one of the foundation books for trainers in Germany.
The Dog's Mind. Bruce Fogel. If there is one book that the trainer must read, it's this one. Fogel capsulizes all the scientific research that preceded this book and goes on to give incisive observations about his personal experiences. While less than 200 pages, it is a wealth of knowledge for the dog trainer.
Aggression
On Aggression. Konrad Lorenz. One of only three people to have won the Nobel Prize for research into animal behavior, Lorenz's book focuses on the nature of aggression and creates a clear understanding of what, to many, is a complicated and confusing subject. Lorenz was one of the pioneers in studying the genetic basis of behavior and, particularly, imprinting. His writing is enjoyable and enlightening at the same time.
Der Schutzhund. Helmut Raiser. Raiser has had more influence on late 20th century working dog training than any other. His theory isn't necessary original, but his application of theory started a revolution in how working dog people approached training. Originally in German, the book has been translated into English. A small book, but profound.
Social Behavior.
The Wolf. David Mech. While the books listed in the General Dog Behavior section all address social behavior, there is another good source that has little to do with dogs directly, field studies of wolves. David Mech is a biologist and the world's eminent authority on wolves. While studying aggression in dogs is a separate matter, if the trainer wants to understand the dog's predatory and social behavior, it is best to enter the wolf's mind first. The parallels are so close it is often hard to distinguish one from the other. We have found Dr. Mech's observations so compelling that it was hard to mentally break the connection between the two species. Frankly, there is too much parlor psychology written about the dog's social characteristics. Mech takes the reader to ground zero when it comes to real life social interaction.
Imprinting
The Art of Raising a Puppy. The Monks of New Skeet. While Lorenz, Fox and Trumler all wrote extensively about developmental work with young animals, little in the way of specifics was written about how to do it with puppies. This book is entertaining and gives a detailed approach about how the monks raise their puppies. It is one of the few books that covers everything the puppy owner needs to know, with a track record that proves their program. While there is a training section, the real importance to the reader is understanding the underlying philosophy of their program and how it can benefit the dog trainer.
Training
Don't Shoot The Dog. Karen Pryor. No recent book has had such a profound effect on the dog training public as this one, while, at the same time, being so misinterpreted, even misapplied. In its broadest sense, it is a training book, but it goes much deeper than that. B.F. Skinner, a Harvard researcher in the fields of learning and developmental behavior, was Pryor's guiding light and it shows. Skinner took on many of the traditionalist in Europe at the time, preferring to study the psychology of developmental behavior, rather than emphasizing the then held belief that genetics controlled most everything. Pryor follows through with these ideas by showing how scientific learning principles can be applied to teaching a dog. All kinds of claims have been made by the dog training public that this book was the beginning of modern ideas such as “positive motivation” or “clicker training”, but that is a shallow analysis of what she is writing about. If the reader can grasp her concepts of how she teaches an animal (even humans) to learn a new task, the first steps of dog training should be easier and clearer.
General Interest.
The books that follow aren't as immediately useful to the dog trainer as the ones listed above. Having said that, there have been a few writers whose insight and intelligence is invaluable to those of us who want to think differently about dog training.
Training Dogs. Konrad Most. Colonel Most was the most important trainer in the history of working dogs. This book, written in 1911, was the first book defining working dog behavior ever written. It's profundity rests not in what he says, but the fact that he virtually invented all of the concepts discussed: there was no precedent to guide him. Surprisingly, much of what he says still holds up today in general terms.
Training The Dog. Will Judy. Not all the innovators in dog training were in Northern Europe. Will Judy was the founder of Dog World Magazine and this book, written in 1927, shows that he was just as astute as his German counterparts. Widely popular at that time, it can be easily found in used book stores.
In The Shadow Of Man. Jane Goodall. It may seem strange to list a book about chimpanzees here, but we have found this book, and several others written by Dr. Goodall, to be invaluable. They offer nothing in the way of specifics about dog training or development. What they do offer is how we as dog trainers should think when training a dog. Her intelligence is profound and shows how observation alone can open up insights that are often passed over by lesser trainers.
You will note that we haven't put any specific dog training books in this section. It isn't that there aren't some that are valuable, because there are. Most training books are pet oriented or, even worse, written by people with a large reputation and little teaching ability. The reader should concentrate, instead, on understanding dogs at first, not how to train them. The training comes surprisingly easy if the rules of the canine world are understood. If you have some books that you think helped you, please let us know. We will review them and post them if they meet our goals.
