When Pigs Fly_ Training Success With Impossible Dogs - Jane Killion [86]
If you wanted a dog of an “easy” breed, you would have gotten one. You wanted your dog, and you got him. What I have given you in this book is a way to make your fabulous dog a dog that wants to work for you, as well. You can have a sighthound that comes immediately when called, a terrier that listens to you, or a toy dog that plays by the rules. You can have a dog that embodies all of the sublime and ridiculous qualities that you love, that make your heart skip a beat or laugh until you cry, and you can have him be a well trained, good companion, as well…When Pigs Fly.
Resources
Suggested Reading
Note: All my reading recommendations are available from Dogwise at www.dogwise.com.
Foundation Books Everyone Should Read:
Turid Rugaas. On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals, 2nd Edition. Dogwise Publishing, 2006. Book or DVD. If you own a dog you need to get the book and the video and review them many times. Many of the problems between dogs and people arise from just plain lack of understanding of a dog’s body language. You owe it to yourself and your dog to read this book and see the video. It is worth the price of the video to see a big, rambunctious dog calming down before your eyes, just by the owner offering some calming signals he understands.
Pam Reid. Excel-erated Learning. James and Kenneth Publishing, 1996. Fantastic and very easy to read, this book delivers on its promise of being an explanation of how dogs learn and how best to teach them. Ms. Reid has taken the daunting and jargon-filled discipline of learning theory and presented it in a clear and concise fashion that you will enjoy reading.
Jean Donaldson. Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs. San Francisco SPCA, 2002. This book deals with how to prevent, counter-condition, and train away resource guarding. The preventive section is the best information on this subject I have seen—very clear and easy to follow. I put this in the “must read” section because about 50% of the problems that people ask me about could have been prevented if people had just followed the protocol in this book!
Practical Training Books
Karen Pryor. Clicker Magic. Sunshine Books, 1997. Video with small booklet—a really nice illustration of how to clicker train. Most impressive are the recalcitrant mule being clicker trained before your eyes to go into a wash stall and the cat trained to do an agility course.
Pamela Dennison. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Positive Dog Training. Pearson Education, 2005. A great practical guide to training your pet dog, written in a non-technical style that is easy to follow. Also has the distinction of featuring several pictures of my dogs Nicky and Cherry.
Marian and Bob Bailey. “The ABC’s of Behavior” in The Dog Trainer’s Resource. Dogwise Publishing, 2006. A concise explanation of antecedents, behaviors, and consequences and how they relate to dog training and understanding behavior.
Leslie Nelson. Really Reliable Recall DVD. Dogwise Publishing, 2006. Easy to follow steps to train your dog to come when it really counts, in any situation using positive training menthods.
Morgan Spector. Clicker Training For Obedience. Sunshine Books, 1998. Although this is a competition obedience book, the entire first section is dedicated to what Morgan calls “fluencies”—essentially what a pet owner would want from his dog, without the precision of competition obedience. Also, the teaching plans and schedules of reinforcement that Morgan gives for the various behaviors are wonderful.
Amanda Book and Cheryl Smith. Right on Target. Dogwise Publishing, 2006. Filled with fun targeting and touching behaviors, well illustrated with very complete instructions.
Fascinating Dog