The right way to Be Your Canine’s Absolute best Good friend: The Vintage Coaching Handbook for Canine House owners (Revised & Up to date Version)

dog training for a blind dog
I found that this book stood out from the others of it’s kind by the simple gentleness that the authors use in their training methods. They allowed the dogs to enter their daily routines and lives with something akin to mutual respect. I needed this viewpoint and it’s respectful workability to help me with my situation. About this the book had no answers and I found that most of their training suggestions had to be used in a different manner.My dog has recently gone blind from glaucoma and while there are a few books out there that deal with this, I liked the monks’ approach to training the best. My dog and his situation differs in that he is a bassett hound – very scent oriented – and whose main function/job is as watch dog and protector. He was never formally trained but responded well to a few commands as he grew up to understand his job. We live on a large fenced property (15+ acres) and walk the perimeter nightly for exercise. His blindness came on over a period of time but was still traumatic. It was here that I needed a bit of guidance to get him passed the fear and uncertainty of what to do next. The monks gentle approach helped as we started to work on more appropriate voice commands and a bit of formal training. I needed the assurance that he would behave on command and respond with the appropriate actions so that I could keep him safe. While he can’t see any hand signals or see my movements, he follows my voice and is responding well gentle leash tugs for direction. Also I had never before used dog treats but they are definitely helping to get the training moving along. We still take our nightly walks with me acting as a “seeing-eye dog”, and after a month’s time he now steps out with confidence, head held to the ground, sniffing out intruders, but tail held high.My biggest thanks to the monks and their gentle ways was that as long as we maintained our routine, something my dog had come to depend on, he had the courage to face the world blindly. He still shares in my life the same spot and attention he’s always had. We are able to go out in public with confidence and he’s established friends at the local dog park. I think that the key factor was just being my dog’s bff (best friend forever). With his new situation he is greatly dependent on me to keep him safe while he explores his surroundings. Instead of a depressed, whimpering/cowering dog I have one that steps out with confidence and is once again smiling and wagging his tail happily.If I can get that from this book, then it should work for pretty much everyone.

THE best book for dog owners
I bought this book and was immediately impressed by how it was put together. There’s no new-age, touchy-feely mumbo jumbo, just down to earth, common sense knowledge that is immediately applicable, written by people who would know. The monks of New Skete have had 40+ years where all they have done is breed and train dogs, and pray and ruminate about breeding and training dogs, and observe canine behavior. They look at the dog from the dog’s point of view and drill into why a dog behaves the way it does. Example: dogs that jump up on people are trying to greet people the way dogs do because they view people the same as they would a dog, and dogs greet other dogs by getting close to and/or licking another dog’s face. The monks take a straightforward common sense approach to conditioning a dog toward proper dog behavior, correcting behavior that is less desirable and reinforcing behavior that is.I bought both of the books from the Monks of New Skeete – “How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend” and “The Art of Raising A Puppy” based on the recommendation of a friend when I got my first dog, a yellow lab. People remark about how well behaved and what good dogs my dogs are. (I later wound up with my Brother-in-Law’s yellow lab) I attribute their behavior and well being to what I have learned from these two books. I believe in them to the point where I have bought them and given them to several people who were getting dogs due to how they are written, how the material is structured, and above all else, how easy it is to apply to my own dogs.A couple of other things that I think are worth mentioning regard talking about how dogs show fear, (prevents getting a “fear bite” where a dog lashes out because it’s frightened) how to deal with an overly agressive dog, how to repair damage in a dog that has been abused, and interestingly enough, how to cope when your dog dies – apparently this is something that is avoided by other dog training books and manuals.I believe in these books so much that I consider them to be the first and best authority on the subject, and if you had to choose only one book to buy when considering buying and raising your own dog, this book would be it.

This book is really really great. In fact, the techniques mentioned in the book worked for me almost instantly within a single day. Highly recommend that this book must be read before a pup is gotten home.

Wonderful, interesting, compassionate account of dogs and monks.

This is a very detailed introduction to dog training. I had already read their book on puppy training but needed this for an adult dog. Very helpful and enjoyable to read as well.