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: Still too harsh on punishment/correction
Summary: 3 Stars
As another reviewer noted, there's a lot of good information here -- but the correction-based methods are out of date. Puppy raising these days, except in a few die-hard trainer circles, is postive, reward-based and uses punishment only in extreme circumstances. The emphasis is on catching the dog doing something right, not catching it doing something wrong. Both methods may work, but one is a lot more pleasant for both dog and owner. Don't make training your dog any harder than it needs to be! Relax and enjoy your puppy.If you can read this book and take away the useful information without buying into the old "scruff shake" and "alpha roll" theories, go for it. If you'd rather stick to truly positive training (or find out why it works better than punishment), check out Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson or any publication by Karen Pryor or Ian Dunbar.
Keep in mind one of the principal authors behind the original New Skete books changed his views, years after the books were published, and until he died he told dog owners where he went wrong with the punishment-based training. The rest of the Monks still stand by the old harsh methods.
Enjoy your puppy, and remember: Catch them doing something RIGHT!
Book Review: Not just a training manual...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book because I thought it would be a good training manual for my new puppy.
It turned out to be a lot more, which is a mixed blessing. It's great in that it gives a lot of information about how dogs act when they are pregnant, the bond that mother dogs make with their babies, how dogs relate to one another (alpha males, dominance, etc) but as I was reading it, I kept wondering where the training exercises were. I finally found them on page 111.
The first cover things like finding a dog breeder, deciding if a puppy is right for you, preparing for a puppy, supplies you'll need, etc. was really impressed at the breadth of information, along with all of the insight and explanations for why dogs do certain things.
My only complaint, is that the book covers a lot more information than I was looking for. However, this is more my fault for not examining the book thoroughly, rather than anything I can pin on the structure and writing.
Bottom line: If you have plenty of time to read through the book and don't have to train one right away, this book is fantastic. However, if you're looking for a "meat and potatoes" book on dog training, you may want to look elsewhere.
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.