The Art of Raising a Puppy by The Monks of New Skete
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Book Reviews of The Art of Raising a Puppy
Book Review: Outstanding guide to understanding and training your puppy
Summary: 5 Stars
The monks of the New Skete Monastary in upstate New York have produced an excellent guide for puppy owners of all experience levels. Their training philosophy is based on using the dog's pack instincts to establish the owner as the "pack leader" who must be obeyed and looked to for leadership. I saw two main areas where the monk's recommendations differ from the other training techniques commonly advocated today. First, they advocate using praise and affection as a reward for behaviors (rather than food treats). Second, while they advocate positive reinforcement of desired behaviors, they differ from other common contemporary training methods when it comes to dealing with unwanted behaviors. The monks advocate humane correction rather than the ignoring of undesired behavior. We found this to be absolutely essential with our 12 week old German Shepherd puppy when the "ignore" method advocated by other trainers failed utterly.
The book is laced with many helpful photos to illustrate the training points and contains an excellent chart of of dog facial expressions for various states of mental condition (thus helping you understand your dog's state of mind: very important in effective training).
Overall this book is a must-read for anyone who has a puppy or is considering acquiring one.
Book Review: An excellent guide for new buyers, trainers, & breeders!
Summary: 5 Stars
The breeder we bought our german shepherd puppy from recommended this book to us. I am amazed at the work the Monks of New Skete are doing for the german shepherd breed. My hope is that all breeders would use the New Skete method with their litters. If this were done, then maybe so-called "dangerous breeds" would lose their bad rap. Surely there would be less dogs in animal shelters and pet shops.
I can not stress enough the importance of early human socialization, and the Monks of New Skete seem to agree. If you are planning on breeding a litter, I urge you to pick up this book an heed the authors advice.
This book also stresses humane training methods, and the importance of positive reinforcement. Using this method has helped with my dominant GSD pup. Constant scolding will get you nowhere. A quick pop on the lead when bad and copious amounts of praise when good makes training a happy occasion for both dog and master.
I would recommend the three tape training set "Raising Your Dog With The Monks of New Skete" along with this book. The tapes show the New Skete method from the puppy birth, to training the adult dog, and brings the information together nicely.
Book Review: Communion with DOG...
Summary: 5 Stars
There are scads of books on how to raise puppies out there, and most of them range from fairly informative to extremely useful. This one is not only useful, but a step beyond the others. It takes on the total relationship between puppy and trainer, delving into the nature of the dog-human bonding experience. Further, this book presents a spiritual perspective on that experience without succumbing to flippancy or cutesiness.Even if you don't plan to obtain a puppy soon, you will enjoy the way this book creates a sense of wonder over the sometimes trying, often rewarding relationship that humans forge with their canine friends. The first chapter alone is quite inspirational, explaining the miraculous event of a German Shepherd giving birth. Little details are carefully pointed out in such a way that they all contribute to a growing sense of reverance for dogs and their place in the grand scheme of nature. Yet the book is loaded with sound, workable, and tested advice that every dog owner should appreciate. If you have a friend who likes non-commercialized, non-sectarian spiritual philosophy... and likes dogs ... and is thinking of getting a puppy -- this IS the PERFECT gift! Should be on the bookshelf of every dog-lover.
Book Review: A must for anyone that is or wants to be proud of their dog!
Summary: 5 Stars
The only thing I regret about reading this book is the fact that I didn't buy it and read it sooner. It dips a little (actually a lot) into every essential aspect of properly training a dog from day one. Some of the best parts are the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test in the Appendix and the extensive bibliography in the back. So if you find something that wasn't covered to your expectations of completion, then you have an easy resource to locate more information on the the subject. To be honest with you, I haven't found anything in the book that wasn't necessary or covered enough. The only reason I sought more information was out of couriosity rather than need. Needless to say, the book was well written, informative and ultimately intriguing. Their methods are proven no matter how old they are. They have done their research and it shows. I am a believer for many reasons. For one, when you read the book (if you already own a dog) there are several occasions where you think to yourself and say, "so that's why..." The other reasons are because of all the times I have practiced their methods on one thing or another, the expetations of results are consistantly detailed in the book.Book Review: the best book if you're getting a puppy!
Summary: 5 Stars
Our vet recommended this book to us. As we started telling our friends about it, we discovered that everyone we know who loves dogs has read this book and loved it! That said a lot to us. One thing that I especially liked about it is all the topics that it covers like the development of puppies in the first 8 weeks--before you get to bring them home. It specifically explained the eating schedule for a new puppy and that helped give me some structure to my day when we brought our Golden Retriever puppy home from the breeder 2 months ago. Their training tips have been useful and encouraging.
The Monks of New Skete are a monastery of monks in upstate New York who raise German Shepherds. We also purchased a video set of 3 VHS tapes used and really enjoyed them and would also recommend them--if you think you'll find yourself more likely to watch a video than read a book (as is the case with me some times).
If you are having issues with the behavior of your dog and are looking for something more like the Dog Whisperer, but in book form, they have recently come out with a new book called "Divine Companion" which is a collection of stories about reforming and retraining dogs.