Dog Training Books

When it comes to beginner books in general, people have come to trust the “for Dummies” series as a shortcut to good information. There are so many dog books on the market that it’s hard to know which ones are good. Naturally, people will look to the Dummies series for a quick fix. But even then, there are more than a handful of Dummy books dedicated to dog training out there, many from Sarah Hodgson. Today however, we will focus on Dog Training for Dummies by Jack and Wendy Volhard.

The book covers a broad range of topics and is a very easy read. It has advice on housetraining and crate training as well as providing step-by-step instructions on teaching basic commands like sit, stay, and fetch. There are sections on understanding your dog’s mind, walking your dog, dealing with aggression, destructive behaviors, and more. In particular, a lot of people like the personality tests for helping to profile your dog’s type so you can train accordingly.

While the dog training portions of the book are solid, several people have expressed that the authors are out of their element in the sections that deal with nutritional and medical information. It is true that veterinarians will vary to a degree on health advice, but some readers have taken issue with alternate treatments being presented as facts, the information on vaccines, and a mention of feeding your dog raisins (because they may be toxic to dogs).

Overall, it’s a serviceable dog training book for new dog owners and trainers. There are no mind blowing revelations, just practical advice. Not all of the book will be useful for everyone. For example, there are over 70 pages dedicated to training for competition, not exactly an area you would expect to find for a book for beginners. That takes up nearly a quarter of the book. Anyhow, you can find better dog training books out there, but Dog Training for Dummies is not bad at all for the average person looking for a beginner book.