Victoria Stilwell's Book

One of the first things we are concerned about is how to properly train our dog so that it's relaxed and happy and safe. After browsing several commonly recommended books, we found out that most were vague overviews with lots of photos that weren't related to the text (i.e. mostly "cute" type photos). We're big fans of the show It's Me or the Dog, so I looked up on Victoria Stilwell's fan site (see our blog links) and ordered her book How to Have the Perfect Dog. Just received it yesterday in the mail, and I love it so far! Mrs. Stilwell writes about her own experiences, and every chapter has tons of practical information. In many cases, more than one training method/sequence is given, in case the other doesn't work out. She lays out how a dog may understand or think; for example, if a dog has peed on the carpet and you come in the front door and see it and yell at the dog, it will only associate your arrival (from then on) with anxiety, since whenever you come through the door you yell. She says that dogs will only link words/commands/actions if they are within 1 second of each other. That is really helpful. There is a great chapter on dog food content, too. All in all, I'm riveted to every single word so far.