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: Compulsive methods that are unnecessary
Summary: 2 Stars
There is nothing divine about the methods recommended in this book. Most were developed as far back as the early 1900's for police and military K9 training. These methods were never developed to address behavior problems (military and K9 dogs were of sound temperament - those with behavior problems were destroyed).
These methods not only set dogs up to fail, waiting for them to make mistakes and then punishing them for it, they require owners to constantly react to the dog. This is an extremely energy-intensive way to raise a puppy, and excessive punishment used when raising a puppy runs a large risk of creating a puppy with serious behavior problems when they get older.
In working with dog owners who have read this book, they have misused and overused so many of the methods (such as the penny can) that they have desensitized the dog to the point that the dog no longer responds.
If owners want a practical, non-aversive approach to raising a puppy, check out books by Ian Dunbar, Trish King, Jean Donaldson and Patricia McConnell.
Book Review: An indispensible tool for every puppy owner
Summary: 5 Stars
I have quite a lot of experience with animals having worked around horses my whole life, as well as having a "collection" of household pets, and I considered myself to be competent in the field of dog ownership. One thing lacking in my background, however, was puppy ownership. I have a beautifully behaved adult dog I adopted from a pound, but decided a puppy was in order to carry on with my adult dog who is now quite advanced in age. Without this book, I really doubt that I would have known how to progress in training a puppy. The Monks of New Skete have a prose style that is a pleasure to read (I couldn't put it down), and their insights into dog behavior make so much sense once they are read, but never are "obvious." I plan on giving a copy of this book to each and every friend and family member who acquires a new puppy regardless of their experience. If you have a new puppy or especially if you are even considering getting a puppy, I urge you strongly to get this book and read it cover to cover -- you will not regret it!Book Review: Helped us immensely
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I are new to "puppyhood" and wanted some help. I did some research and was swayed by the reviews of the New Skete Monks' book. I am very glad I purchased this book. It offered us insight into dog behavior, specifically in regards to living in a pack. We have had our Shepherd/Chow mix puppy for one month and she is wonderful. She's 10-12 weeks old (we're not sure) and can sit, lay and roll over on command. We just got her an eight week old playmate on 1-29-00 who is also a Shepherd mix of some kind. We are implementing the techniques we learned from The Art of Raising A Puppy with her as well. I was very nervous about the Chow in our first dog since I was attacked by my brother's 12 years ago. However, the info on the owner establishing yourself as pack leader was indispensable. I feel more confident in training our dogs and am less fearful of their aggressive behavior when it occurs. I am now going to purchase the New Skete Monks book on How to be Your Dog's Best Friend. Highly recommend this book.Book Review: Good philosophy and background
Summary: 4 Stars
We recently got a very active, headstrong, and mouthy puppy. She's also very bright and is on her way, I believe, to becoming a lovely dog. I've been reading a lot of dog training books recently, and they all have slightly different methods and angles. But they all seem to have some common ground: take time to bond with your pup; correct quickly and firmly and only when the pup is caught in the act; praise lavishly; know your pup's temperament; make it fun for the pup. What this book also does is remind us all why we get a dog in the first place, what the pup experiences early in life, and how much of a commitment it is to allow that dog to become what we want her to. What they might have said is that their methods work oh, maybe the 5000th time they're applied... Patience and understanding must rule the day. Whew. Anyway, read this and many other sources (as the monks themselves recommend) and then use your own powers of observation to learn what approach will work best for your pup. I'm still trying to figure that one out!Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
The Monks of New Skete have earned their good name through many years of conscientious experience with their breeding and training programs.On top of that they produced very informative and practicable books. I was very disappointed to read some reviewers harshly critising the Monks methods of disicipline in favour of more so called enlightened methods.If they had been training dogs professionally for over 30 years as I have, they would realise that the so-called modern methods of today are in fact old methods. The reason why these methods never endured? Because at the end of the day these methods do not produce a dog that is reliable under stressful circumstances.(Call a dog back when it is chasing a cat into heavy traffic, etc) The so-called modern methods are not used by Police, Prison & military dog units - the phylosophy of the Monks methods are. If the new enlightened phylosophy was so good, why wouldn't the professional trainers of real working dogs being using it?