training books or dvds?

[kathryn]

I am looking for any suggestions on good training books or dvds for obedience and competition obedience.  Any suggestions?  There is a training place close to me that does obedience training but I get a bad vibe from the trainer so I don't want to go there.  Otherwise, there are petcos and petsmarts around me but they don't train up to competition level.  I am thinking that I want to see if Kaila or Cinder or even Shiner can do competition but at the very least I want to get their CGCs.  By the way, I have tried reading Don't Shoot the Dog but for some reason I become narcoleptic reading it. 

[ZooCrew]

Besides books and dvd's (sorry, have no suggestions), I might suggest finding a club or group near you that deals with obedience.  They may know of someone that gives private or group lessons.  Or even your local breed club may know of someone.

[-Molly-]

Well there's this website yourpurebredpu ppy.com and it has this obediance trainer lady and she made some e-books. You download them with Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's only $9. She says if you don't like it she'll refund your money. It sounds really good to me so you should check it out.

[sc.trojans]

There are many excellent books and DVDs out there by well renowned trainers with clinical training in the science of behavior.  Anyone can call themselves a trainer (no training or certification required), so I always recommend going to someone who truly has training and certification in the science of behavior.  We are still living with a lot of myth about canine behavior that gets perpetuated by many "trainers".

An excellent trainer AND communicator (always a plus) is Patricia McConnell - I highly recommend "The Other End of the Leash" but all of her books and videos are excellent.
http://www.dogsbestfriendtraining.com  She also has a great Puppy book, a Puppy Primer, with very basic obedience instruction (sit, stay, and come)

Also, The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson is excellent, but a tougher read. 

Turid Rugaas' On Talking Terms with Dogs is also a must have:  http://www.canis.no/rugaas/books.php

This is where I would start and I would go to:

The Animal Behavior Society
http://www.animalbehavior.org

to find a qualified trainer in my area - NOT the AKC who is a "sporting registry" and does not qualify the breeders or trainers it may list.

[sc.trojans]

I should have also mentioned that I have learned it is about first knowing what drives behavior in order to assess trainers and recognize bad training technique and then second, talking and networking to find the best resources in your area.

Start with the behaviorists who may likely be able to point you to competition folks and so on....

You can also try through sites like these:

http://www.courteouscanine.com/findtrainer.shtml

http://www.trulydogfriendly.com/blog/?page_id=15

And turning to the breed club - or even other breeds who are commonly involved in obedience competition are great resources as well.

[kathryn]

Thanks guys.  I went to Half Price Books last night and found several books to read up on.  I will also start looking into breed clubs.  I hadn't even thought of that.  You gave me a lot of great ideas and now I just have to find something and someone that I am comfortable taking the dogs to.