Dog Books I’ve Read since March 2011
(Click on a title to read my review of the book. Titles in bold are some of my favorites and come highly recommended.)
- The Power of Positive Dog Training, by Pat Miller
- How to Speak Dog, Stanley Coren
- The Art of Raising a Puppy, The Monks of New Skete
- Dogs Behaving Badly, Nicholas Dodman
- The Puppy Report, Larry Shook
- Why We Love the Dogs We Do, Stanley Coren
- The Secret Lives of Dogs, Jana Murphy
- The Difficulty of Being a Dog, Roger Grenier
- The Other End of the Leash, Patricia McConnell (read 2x)
- Animals Make Us Human, Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
- The Perfect Match, Chris Walkowicz
- Flush, a Biography, Virginia Woolf
- The Latchkey Dog, Jodi Andersen
- Bad Dog: A Love Story, Martin Kihn
- The Hidden Life of Dogs, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
- The Seven Ages of Man’s Best Friend, Jan Fennell
- Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz
- Dogged Pursuit, Robert Rodi
- Adopting a Dog, John Ross and Barbara McKinney
- The Canine Good Citizen, Jack and Wendy Volhard
- The Dog Who Loved Too Much, Nicholas Dodman
- For the Love of a Dog, Patricia McConnell
- The Dog Whisperer, Paul Owens
- Cesar’s Way, Cesar Millan
- The Adopted Dog Bible, Kim Saunders
- Bones Would Rain from the Sky, Suzanne Clothier
- Training the Hard-to-Train Dog, Peggy Swager
- Shaggy Muses, Maureen Adams
- If Only They Could Speak, Nicholas Dodman
- Love Has No Age Limit, Patricia B. McConnell and Karen B. London
- Dog’s Best Friend, Mark Derr
- Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, Richard H. Pitcairn
- The Well Dog Book, Terri McGinnis
- Dog Sense, John Bradshaw
- Dog Is My Co-Pilot, Ed. The Bark
- Rin Tin Tin, Susan Orlean
- Volunteering with Your Pet, Mary R. Burch
- Dog Years, Mark Doty
- Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson
- Pack of Two, Caroline Knapp
- Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence, Carol Lea Benjamin
- The New Work of Dogs, Jon Katz
- Natural Dog Care, Celeste Yarnall
- Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs, Lew Olson
- Clicker Training for Dogs, Karen Pryor
- Dogs Never Lie about Love, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- The Dog’s Mind, Bruce Fogle
- The Animal Manifesto, Marc Bekoff
- In a Dog’s Heart, Jennifer Arnold
- Agility Training for You and Your Dog, Ali Canova and Joe Canova
- Why Does My Dog Act That Way? Stanley Coren
- A Dog Is Listening, Roger Caras
- Adopt the Perfect Dog, Gwen Bailey
- Don’t Shoot the Dog! Karen Pryor
- My Dog Tulip, J.R. Ackerley
- The Tellington TTouch, Linda Tellington-Jones
- Cautious Canine, Patricia McConnell
- On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals, Turid Rugaas
- Control Unleashed, Leslie McDevitt
- Doggerel, Angela Patmore
- The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs
- Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs, Ted Kerasote
- The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think, Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
- The Possibility Dogs, Susannah Charleson
- Dogs, Raymond Coppinger and Lorna Coppinger
- Chaser, John W. Pilley and Hilary Hinzmann
- Find Momo, Andrew Knapp
- Decoding Your Dog, eds. Debra Horwitz, John Ciribassi, and Steve Dale
- Dog Songs, Mary Oliver
- Dogs I Have Met: And the People They Found, Ken Foster
- If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind, Vilmos Csányi
- Doggerel: Poems about Dogs, ed. Carmela Ciuraru
- What’s a Dog For?, John Homans
- A Wolf Called Romeo, Nick Jans
- Citizen Canine, David Grimm
- Dogs Rule Nonchalantly, Mark Ulriksen
- What the Dog Knows, Cat Warren
- Animal Madness, Laurel Braitman
- Unleashed: Poems by Writer’s Dogs, Amy Hempel
- In Defence of Dogs, John Bradshaw
- Pit Bull, Bronwen Dickey
Dog Books I’d Like to Read
Culture Clash, Jean Donaldson
How to Train Your Dog Like a Pro, Jean Donaldson
Ruff Love, Susan Garrett
How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves, Sophia Yin
Any recommendations? What are some of your favorite dog books?
Doggerel 
I personally loved all the Jon Katz books!
I’m seconding Queen of Zoom – definitely read Jon Katz’s books. You can also check out his blog and all sorts of other interesting things at his bedlamfarm.com website
You should add “Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love”. Its written by Larry Levine, and one of my favorites!
You need Cesar Milan’s books on there — they are awesome.
I have to agree with the comment below. Cesar Milan does not belong on the list. Those who really subscribe to positive reinforcement do not even embrace the Monks of New Skete, let alone Cesar. (That said, I have also read the Monks’ books, and was still able to take some good things away from them. Can’t say the same for Cesar.)
The very good positive reinforcement trainers and authors, like Patricia McConnell, Pat Miller, Karen Pryor, Jean Donaldson and the others, are science-based, and see the bond between you and your dog very differently than simply “being the alpha.”
Some of my favorite books (other than the ones you’ve already found): Temple Grandin, Animals in Translation; Jean Donaldson, Dogs are from Neptune; Karen Pryor, Don’t Shoot the Dog. And for great photos to learn doggie behavior and body language, try Brenda Aloff, Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide and Barbara Handelman, Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook.
How I envy that you will have all of this knowledge before you get your dog — I feel I am just trying to play catch up all the time with my rescued GSD mix. And oh, how lucky that dog will be to have you!
You’re picking great books! Patricia McConnell and Pat Miller are particularly wonderful! If you are considering a rescue, be sure to read Patricia McConnell’s brand new book, Love Has No Age Limit, and Pat Miller’s book Do Over Dogs. And if you are considering a puppy, Ian Dunbar’s books are superb.
Your patience will help you so much in the long run. I only wish I had a smidge of the knowledge I’ve picked up with my rescue when I started with her! Please make sure you are blogging when you finally find that special dog, so we can find out how it’s going!
Cesar’s books/methods bring up a lot of controversy amongst dogs folks. ‘Oogy’ is definitely good, as well as ‘The Lost Dogs’ by Jim Gorant.
To delve into dog cognition research, read:
Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition by Dr. Ádám Miklósi.
http://www.amazon.com/Behaviour-Evolution-Cognition-Oxford-Biology/dp/0199295859
Dog Sense, Dr. John Bradshaw’s new book.
http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Sense-Science-Behavior-Better/dp/0465019447
and a book you should buy for your local animal shelter – Dr. Patricia McConnell’s new book on adopting older dogs.
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/product/love-has-no-age-limit
Cheers!
Julie
Trying to decide what WP template to use, I just stumbled across this site and noticed that Garth Stein’s novel, “The Art of Racing in the Rain” isn’t included in the Dog Books List. It’s a wonderful book with an absolutely marvelous, powerful, touching ending and I feel it should definitely be on your reading list. Hope you enjoy it, and no, I don’t have anything to gain by recommending this book to you.
yup…great book…
Nose Down, Eyes Up by Merrill Markoe. It’s a fiction piece about a woman who can hear what her dogs are saying and is absolutely hilarious!
Merle’s Door by Ted Kerasote is the best dog book I have ever read. You have to read it!
Hi Abby,
Before we got our Dachshund Jarah, I also did over a year of research into natural dog behavior and natural dog training. For me the books and DVD’s of Turid Rugaas were a tremendous help. For me it really was a leap of faith to do things so completely different than I was used to do with my other dogs, but I’m so glad I did. It paid off big time!! I started with Turid Rugaas’ book and DVD about “Calming signals” and then that lead me to reading more of her work.
To get an idea of what Turid Rugaas is all about I’m giving you a link to two of her articles on this webpage: http://www.canis.no/rugaas/articles.php
Her books and DVD’s can be found on this page:
http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=dtb527
Just like Julie commented, I can also highly recommend the book “Dog Sense” by John Bradshaw. This link will lead you to an interview with the author and an excerpt from the book:
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136497064/the-new-science-of-understanding-dog-behavior
I can also recommend a fascinating training method called SATS, developed by Kayce Cover . Personally I don’t believe in “dog training”, and I am most certainly not a fan of Cesar Milan’s methods. I would like to see “training” more as a form of communication( using the knowledge of natural dog behavior/language), based on mutual respect and leadership. SATS fits in there beautifully. http://www.synalia.com/
Another very important aspect of dogs is their health , and you should really look into the shocking world of the pet food industry. There’s plenty of info to be found on the internet, just do a Google on “the truth about pet food” or something. I can highly recommend feeding your dog a natural diet of raw fish or meat, cooked veggies, and the occasional raw bone. I’ve been feeding like that for over 10 years, and rescued my allergic Old-German Shepherd from having to be put down. Luckily the raw natural diet is becoming increasingly popular amongst dog/cat owners nowadays, and there are plenty of books written about it. Ian Billinghurst, Tom Lonsdale, Kymythy Schulze are the pioneers, but I’m sure there are more interesting books out there. You can do a Google on “BARF” or on “raw natural diet for dogs”.
For first aid and health problems I’ve also found “Natural health for dogs and cats” written by dr. Pitcairn very helpful in: http://www.drpitcairn.com/books/
Good luck with your reading, you have a lovely website!
From Holland,
Larissa
Hello Abby. I am happy to have stumbled upon your blog. It seems we have quite a similar project going on, a blog about dogs we might be about to own once. Mine’s in German, however. So … I agree with the recommendation of the books by Turid Rugaas. They are a quick read with very helpful insights. If you like books using a more scientific approach I recommend “Dog Language” and “The Evolution of Canine Social Behavior” by Roger Abrantes. A very good book about the principles of learning/conditioning would be “How dogs learn” by Mary Burch & Jon Bailey. Good luck!
Wonderful that you are reading such a variety. There is no one methodology that suits each dog/owner team about all things, all the time. Having a wealth of knowledge to sift through will allow you to be creative, flexible and adaptable in your role as your dog’s caretaker. Great project! Your dog will be one lucky little soul…
This page is fantastic, although it makes me feel rubbish for not having read anywhere near as many dog books and I have a dog! I cannot recommend “On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals” by Turid Rugaas enough, I see you have it on the planned list. Everyone who has a dog should read this in my opinion, so helpful both for interacting with your dog and working out what’s going on when dogs get together.
I’d also recommend “Train Your Dog Like a Pro” by Jean Donaldson, it includes an excellent method (Drop, Stick, Push) for ensuring that your dog “gets” what you are trying to teach before you move onto the next step in training a behaviour, it has really increased the speed with which Ted learns new things.
This is reminding me to reread Thomas Mann’s “Bashan and I.” I absolutely loved it several years ago, enormously moving.
Another one to add would be the newly released ‘In Defence of Dogs’ by John Bradshaw. I saw you had read another one by him – but this sounds very interesting as my husband keeps reading snippets to me as I wait for him to finish it!
I’m watching a DVD series on working with fearful dogs. It’s put together by Emma Parsons who wrote Click to Calm about clicker training to help dogs build confidence. I read it a few years ago and found it really helpful. I need to get it out from the library again for working with our current foster.
It would fit well on your list and I bet you’d like it.
Another Godsend book: When Pigs Fly! Training Success With Impossible Dogs by Jane Killion……Her methods are beautifully positive and one of the best for explaining how to free shape behaviors. For anyone with Terriers, or hounds or dogs that are innately ‘non-biddable’ this will make you fall in love with your “when pigs fly dog” and make training a delight!
I love this list! Someone looked at my bookshelf the other day and said slowly, “You own a lot of dog books.” I’ll lend you Ruff Love and I would love to borrow Calming Signals. I also have Sophia Yin’s puppy book, which probably has some cross over in her other book.
I don’t have any books to recommend but I love your list. 🙂 What an incredible amount of reading you have done! It’s great too that you read books of authors with different opinions, because then you can form your own viewpoint from the advice that’s out there.
One of my projects for the upcoming year is to start writing reviews of dog books for our local obedience club’s newsletter. I’m starting with your list!
I just adopted a pup and this list is so helpful! I’ve already put a few on hold at my local library.
Just wanted to say thanks! Your page is so helpful- will definitely be sharing 🙂 I also thought I’d pass along a suggestion/contribution! I recently bought this book on Amazon https://primalpooch.com/why-feed-raw. I read the entire thing front to back in like an hour and it is literally the reason I even started raw feeding! Something I never saw myself doing as a vegan haha, but it’s so amazing at explaining why the diet is so important. I thought your list was so amazing and comprehensive, so I wanted to pass it along in case you wanted to add it. I hope it changes other peoples’ lives! 🙂