Puppy training book

[PickledMoomin]

Mum has a ten week old collie bitch.

She's incredibly bright and toilet trained immediately. She sits, gives her paw, fetches and drops. Mum is keen to teach her many more tricks (especially because she's a typical high energy collie and doesn't want her to get bored). She'll be starting a puppy training class in a few weeks but would like a good training book.

Any recommendations?

We used Gwen Bailey's The Perfect Puppy. It's very good, and not preachy. And our dog is (mostly) well-behaved.

Once she's old enough, you might want to do agility with her - it's good for smart dogs to challenge them.

I'd like to do agility with her. Mum walks for miles each day but I don't think she'd be able to keep up with the pace of agility. Not sure whether the two master concept would confuse her.

I'll have. Look for the book. Does it have good information about recall? Mum would like to teach her to be able to walk/recall without the lead in a safe environment.

She's currently using a clicker. Hopefully the puppy books don't say that this is a no-no!

My mum is a dog trainer - obedience and agility - and always recommends Gwen Baileys Perfect Puppy. We followed it with our collie cross who is a lovely well socialised dog. I particularly the check list at the back.

I've just ordered it. Thanks ladies.

flyball might be good for your mum if she couldn't do all the running for agility xx

I've always recommended Pamela Dennison 'Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training' and think it is great for training tips, especially if your mum is interested in the psychology of behaviour, but have just received a copy of Mills and Zulch 'Life Skills for Puppies' which is also really, really excellent. Less training oriented though and more about bringing up puppies to be calm and resilient, really important stuff for collies!

Don't necessarily discount agility, the foundation work is fairly static and will still keep a collie brain busy. I've met some wheelchair/powerchair users who compete, as well as some able bodied people who have perfected distance handling and hardly move an inch around the course. :)

I fed Gwen Bailey to the dog.

This book is only ok if you already have a perfect puppy. It contains such gems as avoiding biting by not letting anything upset your dog. Okaaaay, then, dog, just go ahead and swallow that biro you found behind the sofa. Wouldn't want anything upsetting you.