Can anyone recommend....
 

Can anyone recommend a good book about dog behavior? Not necessarily about negative behavioral problems, but just about why they do some of the things they do. Some of the actions I see in my babies (mostly toward each other) make me wonder "why did she do that?? Is that normal??"

On another note: I have seached and searched for the Joan B. Gordon book The Complete Yorkshire Terrier - no luck. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of this book, please let me know!

I was at the book store yesterday,, I got the book Angel Dogs.. GOod!
Anyhow, I saw a bunch of books like just what you are asking for there, I'd go to a book store and look and see which one interests you the most, like I said, they had a ton of those kind.

Amazon has Gordon's book


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...0gordon&page=1

Me! Me! <hand waving frantically in the air> I can name some good books on dog behavior:

Either of these are good for interpreting doggy language:
Calming Signals: On Talking Terms With Dogs By Turid Rugaas
Calming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You By Turid Rugaas

This is a great book:
The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson

Happy Reading!!!

My favorite is "Good Dog, Bad Dog" by Mordecai Siegal and Matthew Margolis. The entire front half of the book is on training
and about different behavior problems. The second half lists each breed and
tell you the good and bad point of each breed. I'll give you what it says about yorkies

Positive characteristics: Yorkies are very often kept as decorative lapdogs and serve their families as the quinteessential companion animal with no function other for raising the status of their owners. Nevertheless, Yorkshire terriers are wonderful pet for considerate children and elderly people. Because they are terriers they are stury with lots of spunk. They are equally at home in the country and the city. Yorkshire
Terriers are extremely intelligent.

Negative characteristics: They are difficult to housebreak and have the same stubborn
behavior found in other terrier breeds. May owners keep their Yorkies indoors to avoid
extra grooming, and this can hamper their need to be adquetely socialized.

Specific training advise. Yorkies are aggressive and yappy. The most difficult, command to is HEEL. They dart from side to side (tell me about it-my input lol) and
back and forth when being walked. You must be firm, demanding and patient when
teaching this command. (the front of the book shows you how) It is recommended that you housebreak these dogs right at the start. They may still have mishaps long after training has ceased. During the house-breaking they bear constant watching and many walks. Do not use a training collar, they are too delicate. Because yorkies
are stubborn, begin training at an early age. Be firm and patient. Most corrections
should be vocal (I agree) Do not overjerk. Because these dogs are so small and precocious, their owners tend to spoil them. (lol)

I love Katz on Dogs, a Commonsence Guide to Training and Living with Dogs. It is by Jon Katz.He has a lab and two sheepdogs but his knowledge and observations apply to all dogs.I have learned a lot about Vivi from reading this book.

Thanks for the recommendations! I will look for some of these books. Unfortunately I live in such a small town, we don't have a book store, so it will be a few days before I can go look.
I have tried to order Joan Gordon's book through Amazon before, but they always respond that they are currently out of that book and they will notify when it becomes available and then I never hear from them again. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the link, I will try again. Hopefully I will get one this time...

You should be able to order the books that I recommended from either Amazon or dogwise.com!

actually I found a nice web site promoting this author. It has a great question and answer section that I have been looking through. There are also a couple of articles that have been some very good reading.
http://www.canis.no/rugaas/articles.php

It is certainly enough to make me want to look for these books when I get to the bookstore.

I just read The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell. It's an amazing book. It just describes why dogs do the things they do and how to communicate with them better.

Erin is right. "At the Other End of the Leash" is an excellent book. No cutsie stuff (which is fine if that's what you want), but just the facts and good explanations of dog behavior and how to deal with it.

Sounds like you got lots of good reading ahead of you. Have fun! :)

:thumbup: Thanks for posting that link. I hadn't found that one yet. And you're right, the question and answer section is awesome!

I just picked up this book last night- I made it to the nearest bookstore after all (hubby was going that way last night, so I tagged along and then at just the right moment... "honey- since we are already here, do you mind if I just run into the book store real quick?" LOL- he hates it when I go to the book store)
I looked first for the Calming Signs by Turid Rugaas, they didn't have any of her books. But I did remember seeing this one listed on her web site as recommended readed so I bought this one. So far it sounds like what I am looking for- can't wait to read it!

I have to get that one for a friend who is looking. Since my dog is almost 12 yrs old
I'm over these things and she has been through advanced training which was well
worth it.