The Art of Raising a Puppy

Until I read culture clash I thought this book was probably mostly ok, if not someone superstitious. Since then I have realized that this book is more dangerous then good. The ideas in this book are mostly baseless, the methods in this book may “work”, but they are definitely not the best, and can be very damaging do some breeds.

Please, if looking to buy a book, get culture clash first, then get this. You will then realize what I’m talking about.
Rating: 1 / 5
The Art of Raising a Puppy

Given the harmful, almost insane nature of some of the Monks of New Skete’s training advice (”How hard should you hit your dog? If she doesn’t yelp in pain you haven’t hit her hard enough.” — pg. 44, orig. ed. HOW TO BE YOUR DOG’S WORST ENEMY) it’s hard to take anything they say on the subject of dog training seriously.

That said there is a modicum of sound and practical information in this book. Not enough to override the horror of putting your dog in the hands of those who would advise you to hit her until she yelps in pain. (If I had my way, it would be against the law to give such training “advice,” and probably IS in some jurisdictions.)

Then there’s the fact that the monks are way behind the times when it comes to understanding the nature of a dog’s social instincts. HINT: There is no such thing as an alpha wolf, alpha dog, or pack leader. That is a complete myth, as has been proven by the top wolf experts in at least the last five years These researchers don’t even like to use the word alpha anymore because “it falsely implies a hierarchical structure.” (L. David Mech, et al, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2002).

And how do the monks reconcile the fact that “dominance displays are uncommon” among wild wolves (Mech, Canadian Journal of Zoology, 1999) with their belief that nearly everything a puppy does, in terms of its social behavior, is either dominance or submission? If a dog’s social instincts are inherited from wild wolves and if, according to the real experts on the subject (like Mech), wild wolves almost never act dominant or submissive towards one another, where is all this dominant and submissive behavior coming from? Maybe from the way the monks treat the animals in their care?

I’ve been training dogs in New York City for fifteen years and I’ve only seen one instance of what could be called dominant behavior, and it was between two adult males, both unneutered. The owner of the dog that exhibited this behavior quickly stepped in, yelled at his dog, and smacked him really hard (though the dog didn’t yelp in pain, so the man apparently didn’t hit him hard enough). Yes, that got the dog to temporarily stop what he was doing, but in my estimation it’s just that kind of mistreatment that caused this totally unnatural behavior to develop in the first place! Dogs who aren’t mistreated never exhibit unnatural “dominant” behaviors. They just don’t.

This is so sad to me because the real nature of the dog’s social instincts is for cooperation, group harmony, and — for lack of a better word — love. How do the monks get this so wrong? Why don’t they see this beautiful aspect of a dog’s nature as being his primary social impulse?

I guess when you live in a monastery and you have a mindset that tells you it’s okay to hit dogs until they yelp in pain because they understand it’s your right as a nonexistent “alpha wolf,” you’re bound to be a little removed from reality.

If you have the slightest twinge of love or compassion for your puppy, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
Rating: 1 / 5
The Art of Raising a Puppy

This book has given us some good training ideas
for our Boston Terrier Sammy. He is a good boy and
is getting better every day.
Rating: 4 / 5
The Art of Raising a Puppy