How To Train Your Dog

by Jen & Ryan Tate

The complete guide to raising a confident and happy dog, from puppy to adult

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals

288 pages, Paperback

Published March 16, 2021

Reviews

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and usable guide for selecting, caring, training and developing a canine companion. I really like the "why" explanations that this book provides, rather than just saying "do it this way" etc. I think this will be a valuable resource for our family to keep coming back to having recently welcomed a new puppy.

[Catherine Lutvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would’ve given this book 5 stars but it lost a stars for me because there is no index. There are great tips and advice but it’s very frustrating when you have to flick through the entire book again to reread information. Makes it a lot less user friendly! I think the purpose of this sort of book is to use it as a guide and revisit and reread information when needed, but a book needs an index to do that!!!!

[Tahlea · Rating 5 out of 5]

My edition of How To Train Your Dog has so many scribbles, diagrams, highlighted sentences and ideas written in it by me, as encouraged by Jen and Ryan! After devouring this guide I have so many new thoughts about what it takes to raise a dog, and it has given me a boost of confidence in how to train and promote a dogs physical and psychological well-being.

I love that this book takes on a light hearted tone with its witty writing and goofy jokes, and always encourages having fun with your dog above all else. It is not hard to see the expertise and passion of Jen and Ryan through their words and reasoning on raising a confident and happy dog, and it has inspired me to be the best dog parent I can be! I don’t know what I would do without their included checklists, puppy socialisation plans, training guides and goals!

I undoubtedly have gained a wealth of new knowledge about the genetics of dogs and what is required to satisfy and fulfil a dogs life! Thank you Jen and Ryan!

[Ryan Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not getting a dog until I get a partner.

I read this book to gain an appreciation of the work involved and that’s the main lesson I walked away with.

It is filled with tips and (literal) tricks which serve as a useful guide I will return to at the right time.

Here are my notes of points that resonated with me:

Choose a genetically healthy dog and a breed that suits your lifestyle.

Get health checks and give them the right amount of good food, exercise and mental stimulation.

Teach them positive actions, not negative ones; do this, not stop that.

Give consistent cues, commands and rewards but vary routines for walks, feeds and sleep to prevent anxiety around change.

Be calm; your emotions are contagious.

Visit the breeder to check out the parents and their environment; a stressed mum will birth stressed pups.

Look for the right puppy; goofy and lack-back, not high drive or shy.

Buy everything on the puppy shopping list (page 60).

You can do puppy school at home if you like.

The first 48 hours are a big adjustment; see night-time routine (page 83)

After 12 months, feed them once a day (wow, really?).

Before 12 months, feed them twice or three times a day but bear in mind treats.

Give them an absorbent and comfortable place to toilet away from where they want to keep clean.

Remember your aim is to raise a confident, independent and happy dog.

Puppies are impressionable; every experience forms an association.

Gradually expose puppies to new stimulus and environments.

Socialisation is not just about people and dogs; it is about sounds and things too (refer to socialisation checklist).

Take two weeks off work when you bring them home.

Crate them by the bed to adjust them to being alone later.

Come and go without making a big deal.

Provide food-based enrichment activities when leaving (toys only work with a human there).

Do not let them follow you everywhere; gradually build their independence.

Dogs learn through association; throw a ball when they sit, not bark.

Dogs can only learn through positive stress like excitement; sooth them if they are distressed.

Getting a dog to hang out a café is a specific skill (see page 30); build up the components such as by tying a short lead to a chair at home and introducing elements like friendly dogs and people walking by.

Send a letter to your neighbours to let them know you have a puppy for a head’s up on any barking.

Follow the guide to training the most important tricks: sit, drop, come, stay, touch, shake, go to bed, and walking on a leash.

Training is about association, food lures, gradual steps, and rewards.

Cooperative care is when you train a dog to be inspected for treatment.

Try different forms of play: a flirt pole, fetch, tug-of-war, scent-based games, and sports like dock diving and gun dog trials.

Scent games are under-valued.

Dog parks are rarely great environments; dogs are not as social as you might expect and rough housing with a bunch of unpredictable and slobby strangers is not necessarily enjoyable.

Give your dogs varied outlets for their energy (page 227).

The teenage years will be difficult.

Put in the effort and you will help your dog become confident, independent and happy.

[ThDogs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one to review. I started out really enjoying it, some nice fresh modern takes on choosing a dog/puppy. I really enjoyed the chapters on the breed groups, preparing/puppy proofing, the first 48 hours, socialising, confidence building and raising an independent dog. I like how they covered both the expectations for a puppy and a new adult dog in a crisp modern approach that considered all the factors of a dogs physical and mental wellbeing.

It provided a good thorough understanding on individual dog needs, breed needs, genetics, personality. I could overlook the mandatory requirement of crates (there are alternatives, which the book did discuss but did not articulate as alternatives) and one confusing section where "high drive" was described as a personality trait and not...drive.

I had a huge plummet in interest on Chapter 10: Walking on a lead. Whereas all the other chapters had been flexible and explained things in a way for the owners to decide their own approach, chapter 10 was very strict and gave me flashbacks to attending a compulsion group obedience where you march back and forth with your dog in a heeling position. The chapter was not that, it used rewards and phrases like gentle, but it was the same nonetheless in that it mistakes a heeling position as the equivalent of loose lead walking.

I got the impression this chapter was confused, as it kept giving instructions for a casual sort of formal-obedience with requirements to sit in front to be lured into heel positions, and an unnecessary amount of focus on footwork for about turns, auto sits, figure 8s ....for a chapter that is meant to simply be about loose lead walking.

Loose lead walking does not mean your dog must be in a heel on your left hand side. It does not mean your dog cannot be in front of you, or behind you, or off to the side. It simply means your dog isn't channeling their inner weightpull, head down shoulders forward and hauling ass. But I think this chapter forgot the delightful flexibility of loose lead walking and turned it into some kind of hybrid of obedience-heeling with loose lead walking, but not really either.

It was just very strict, rigid and full of unnecessary rules that will cause conflict between dog and owner when they try to follow them. Simone Mueller's Loose Lead Walking book is much more comprehensive and without all the ridiculous rules about how to walk.

I did enjoy the subchapter on lead pressure. I prefer an errorless approach personally, and for it to be taught to ALL my dogs first before loose lead walking, not just the "sensitive" dogs. But it was a good subchapter.

It lifted again in Chapter 11 with the exercise play and outlets chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter as a refreshing modern take on addressing and responding to our dogs emotional physical and mental needs before fussing over obedience. I would have had this chapter before the lead walking chapter and even before the training your dog chapter, as the content within is much more valuable and precedes those obedience chapters. I'd quite happily read a book entirely on exercise, play and outlets.

Unfortunately the book became quite unhelpful again in chapter 12. I recognise it was providing a range of common problems and describing then and it did this well in some parts, the thunderstorm phobia for example, but for others it droned on and on and on (e.g. the aggression subchapter) when it was entirely unnecessary considering the main point was identification of types of aggression, then find a professional to help you through it.

So the book had a really good strong start for the first half and then kind of slowly died off, except for a blip of life with the exercise play outlets chapter.

I would recommend this as a pretty good book for a first time owner, someone looking to get a dog, or someone whos a bit clueless about the dog they have and has an understimulated dog. But I wouldn't recommend it for training topics, only for puppy section and exercise/enrichment/play/outlets. Although even for those latter I can think of better books that are entirely on those topics.

It is nice to read an australian book though. And I am still tempted to buy it just for the puppy section. Maybe if I snap up a secondhand somewhere so I'm not paying full price when I only want half the book.

[Chooi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good and sound tips in here, but could have done with being a little less long-winded.

In addition, the crux of almost every chapter was to conclude that if you have any issues, see a qualified trainer or take your dog to a training school. Which after a while became a bit too transparent.

[Carmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent resource- I’m about to get a puppy so borrowed a digital copy from the library. This book is so good and one I’ll need to come back to so I will order myself a physical copy tomorrow. I wish it had an index.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book with lots of background information.
I did want me chapters on training and tricks. I was also hoping for some tips on dogs behaving badly

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was useful until the dog in question ate it

[Kate Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starter guide to dog training with a new puppy! So effective and easy to learn