Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog
Original price was: $ 37.99.$ 15.97Current price is: $ 15.97.
, With more than 150,000 copies sold, Mother Knows Best is one of the top training books of all time. Based on the natural way a mother dog trains her puppies, Benjamin’s training method is humane, effective and all natural. Now we’ve put a bright new cover on a timeless classic.
Publisher : Howell Book House; First Edition (March 1, 1985)
Language : English
Hardcover : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 0876056664
ISBN-13 : 978-0876056660
Item Weight : 1.3 pounds
Dimensions : 6.2 x 1 x 9.1 inches
NH Skimum –
Favorite Puppy Training Book
I’ve given a few of these books to new puppy owners over several years, keeping a copy for myself. But I loaned it out and it never came home, so I bought another. What makes this book so worth keeping it on the shelf is that it teaches the “parent” to be a dog mom….discipline is brief and effective and the way the dog mom would reprimand. Play resumes immediately after! Not only does the author have great tips for all aspects of training, she also includes a whole chapter of games to play with your dog to keep them from getting into mischief, challenge their intellect, and give them a fun and rewarding job to do. Easy and fun to read, too!! I highly recommend that prospective puppy parents get the book ahead of time, study it, and when puppy arrives, refer to it often!
Insyte –
Required Reading for Every Dog Owner
Required reading for every dog owner who is not already a veterinarian or other dog professional. Everything is taught with great insight into how the dog is thinking about you and your behavior. This stuff is not “intuitive” or “common sense.” There’s real science and wisdom here. Friends who recommended this book to us have perhaps the best-mannered dog we’ve known without any hint that their dog is fearful or anxious about doing something wrong. She’s a sweet, happy pup who simply responds quickly and without resistance to every command.We’re using this book to train our young cockapoo pup. It definitely takes time, self discipline (on the part of the owner!) and patience, but the results so far are wonderful. I could never have “figured this stuff out” on my own. Our dog is happy, loving and playful and, it seems, happiest when she knows she has done something that pleases us. It’s quite a magical relationship.Whenever I see someone walking a wild or unruly dog, I want to hand them a copy of this book – for both their own and their dog’s sake! If you want your dog to be a happy, well-mannered and cooperative member of the family – and who doesn’t? – read this book and spend a focused 15-30 minutes of quality time with your dog every day for 3-4 weeks. You and your dog will love the results!
Tessa –
Train your dog like mother — with no food/treats to reward behavior. (?)
Have read many books on dog training. This is one of the better ones. I do find it perplexing that the author instructs to train your dog without the use of any food/treats. “Mother” does not use treats, so why should we? Well that seems to make sense, but I wonder if it is altogether sensible to believe that the best way to train is to emulate the mother dog without concessions to the fact that we are not her, after all, and in many cases, the dogs we are training are no longer puppies, and they do know we are not their mothers! Besides, many dogs are very food motivated. I read another book that says that you should study your dog to identify what it is that is most strongly motivating — food, play time, praise — and even which kinds of each of these. One suggests having levels of rewards — bronze, silver, gold, for rewarding behaviors of varying levels of accomplishment. This seems to make more sense. Having said that, the Carol Benjamin book provides a lot of insight and is worth reading.
Practical & Passionate Pisces ♓️ –
Both big picture and guided practice
I purchased this book for my daughter after it being recommended by a close friend, and found the information (both big picture and guided practice) to be presented in an easy and practical manner. I wanted to support her and know what she was reading, so I purchased the audio version for myself to follow along. An “easy” listen as I have played/listened to it twice so far!! I recommend this to anyone interested in understanding dogs, whether you decide to raise one yourself!
Ryan Patera –
good read
Explained well. Written well. Easy to follow. This is the second time I’m reading it. First time I got a dog it proved to be really helpful in training it and my dog ended up passing the canine good citizen test which is not an easy test to pass. I’m getting another puppy so decided to review it.
Sass –
One of the BEST!
I am a dog trainer/psychologist. I started out training dogs by just forcing them to do what I wanted. This was how most trainers did it. Condition responce/Skinner method. Then I read William Koehler in the 1960s. Now we are taking about more of a training method though understanding the dog.Vicki Hearne 1980s and Barbara Woodhouse in the 1980s opened my eyes futher. And I love the book by The Monks of New Skete of the 1990s. But, the two books that enlighten me the most: Patricia Gail Burnham (Playtraining Your Dog 1986) and this book Carol Lea Benjamin (Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog 1985). Natural is the key. Dog understanding /psychology is the way to have the best relation with your animal and Ms. Benjamin book sets you going in the right direction.An example would be training a dog to STAY. In the 1960s I would yell at the dog if it moved- make it understand that if the dog moved it would not like it. Ms. Burnham and Ms. Benjamin in thier books tell us to let the dog move, let it even get to a spot it feels safe (usally between your legs if the dog is young or under a table if it is an older dog). Go get the dog and put it back in the exact spot it left the STAY potision. Say STAY again. Repeat and get firmer only if required- depends on dog. In the 1st method the dog stays in the STAY scared to move, sometime shaking, uncomfortable. In the second, the dog feels like that STAY position is the most comfortable, best spot in the world, real safe, calm. What a difference!Buy a dog book have a better relationship with your ‘best friend’.
Joy –
Mother Knows Best
This is a good book to add to my library as a new owner of a puppy. I also like “Monks of New Skete” puppy training whose book actually mentioned this one as more reading. Between those two books I feel I have gained a good insight to puppy behavior. The methods work. We have more work to do, but it will be worth it to have an obedient and well-adjusted dog in the end. They have a common sense approach with dog behavior knowledge added in. I would have not been able to figure these things out on my own.
jmmac03 –
I bought this book in the 80s and just purchased it for a new puppy owner (who has never taught a dog a single command—but thinks he knows all about dogs…sigh…)The principle is that Mother knows precisely how to keep her pups safe with just the right amount of correction.My Border Collie learned all commands with no more than 3 repetitions so, I was through this book in less than a week but, this is good for more “distracted” Labs etc.The whole family can get on the same page with a daily schedule set out wk by week.Especially beautiful commands like: when to use the word “Enough” versus “NO”. And “OFF” vs. “Down”.And my personal favourite: “Do your business”!And what to do when they chew and chew your hands and leashes! Hehe.It even has some cartoons—easy, quick read that will ensure you don’t have to unlearn bad habits (THAT takes an insane amount of work by the entire family).Cheers!
Anne FB –
This is a gentle, lovely book which as an experienced dog owner makes absolute sense as a way of training your dog.It could do with a reprint with new photographs, but the content is ageless.
Gordon Wood –
great book, super read
Steven N. Tuckerman –
very nice book
G&T –
The book is great! Just a little disappointed when opening the package as it was described as in good condition, but it has teeth marks where a dog had obviously had some disagreement with the training!