Training the Best Dog Ever: A 5-Week Program Using the Power of Positive Reinforcement
$17.99Original price was: $17.99.$10.89Current price is: $10.89.
Training the Best Dog Ever, originally published in hardcover as The Love That Dog Training Program, is a book based on love and kindness. It features a program of positive reinforcement and no-fail techniques that author Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz used to train the White House dog, Bo Obama, and each of Senator Ted Kennedy’s dogs, among countless others.
Training the Best Dog Ever relies on trust and treats, not choke collars; on bonding, not leash-yanking or reprimanding. The five-week training program takes only 10 to 20 minutes of practice a day and works both for puppies and for adult dogs that need to be trained out of bad habits. Illustrated with step-by-step photographs, the book covers hand-feeding; crate and potty training; and basic cues—sit, stay, come here—as well as more complex goals, such as bite inhibition and water safety. It shows how to avoid or correct typical behavior problems, including jumping, barking, and leash-pulling. Plus: how to make your dog comfortable in the world—a dog that knows how to behave in a vet’s office, is at ease around strangers, and more. In other words, the best dog ever.
From the Publisher
In Five Weeks Teach Your Dog to: Succeed at Potty Training Bond with the Family Enjoy the Crate Stop Pulling on His Leash Be Relaxed About Food Accept Bathing and Grooming Respond to Essential Verbal Cues and Hand Signals Be Friendly with Strangers
Down: Luring Your Dog into a Down Position.
Part of Week Two: Training in Everyday Life
If you ever need to control your dog in an urgent safety situation, such as avoiding an aggressive dog or a distraction that makes her either fearful or overly excited, you will be grateful that the down cue is part of her repertoire.
Your dog is ready to learn down when she can sit fairly reliably. The cue takes advantage of her natural tendency to move her body to follow a lure, so it is an appropriate cue to learn after sit.
START AT SIT. With your dog in the sit position, hold a lure in your fingertips with your palm turned down. LURE DOWN. Slide the lure toward your dog’s chest. Just before you touch her chest, lure straight down to the floor, staying close to her body. PRAISE, THEN TREAT LAST. If she drops straight down, mark it (say “good”), praise her, touch her collar, and reward her with the treat.
Step-by-step photos:
Step 1
Start at sit.
Step 2
Lure down.
Step 3
Praise, then treat last.
Praise for Training the Best Dog Ever
Add to Cart
Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
2,395
Price
$11.69$11.69
Also by Larry Kay:
Show off your dog! And let your dog show off, too! Using the secrets of professional dog trainers, this fully illustrated guide with hundreds of step-by-step photos shows how to teach your pet 118 tricks and stunts.
Price: $17.99 - $10.89 (as of Sep 06, 2024 04:31:04 UTC – Details)
Training the Best Dog Ever, originally published in hardcover as The Love That Dog Training Program, is a book based on love and kindness. It features a program of positive reinforcement and no-fail techniques that author Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz used to train the White House dog, Bo Obama, and each of Senator Ted Kennedy’s dogs, among countless others.
Training the Best Dog Ever relies on trust and treats, not choke collars; on bonding, not leash-yanking or reprimanding. The five-week training program takes only 10 to 20 minutes of practice a day and works both for puppies and for adult dogs that need to be trained out of bad habits. Illustrated with step-by-step photographs, the book covers hand-feeding; crate and potty training; and basic cues—sit, stay, come here—as well as more complex goals, such as bite inhibition and water safety. It shows how to avoid or correct typical behavior problems, including jumping, barking, and leash-pulling. Plus: how to make your dog comfortable in the world—a dog that knows how to behave in a vet’s office, is at ease around strangers, and more. In other words, the best dog ever.
From the Publisher
In Five Weeks Teach Your Dog to: Succeed at Potty Training Bond with the Family Enjoy the Crate Stop Pulling on His Leash Be Relaxed About Food Accept Bathing and Grooming Respond to Essential Verbal Cues and Hand Signals Be Friendly with Strangers
Down: Luring Your Dog into a Down Position.
Part of Week Two: Training in Everyday Life
If you ever need to control your dog in an urgent safety situation, such as avoiding an aggressive dog or a distraction that makes her either fearful or overly excited, you will be grateful that the down cue is part of her repertoire.
Your dog is ready to learn down when she can sit fairly reliably. The cue takes advantage of her natural tendency to move her body to follow a lure, so it is an appropriate cue to learn after sit.
START AT SIT. With your dog in the sit position, hold a lure in your fingertips with your palm turned down. LURE DOWN. Slide the lure toward your dog’s chest. Just before you touch her chest, lure straight down to the floor, staying close to her body. PRAISE, THEN TREAT LAST. If she drops straight down, mark it (say “good”), praise her, touch her collar, and reward her with the treat.
Step-by-step photos:
Step 1
Start at sit.
Step 2
Lure down.
Step 3
Praise, then treat last.
Praise for Training the Best Dog Ever
Add to Cart
Customer Reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
2,395
Price
$11.69$11.69
Also by Larry Kay:
Show off your dog! And let your dog show off, too! Using the secrets of professional dog trainers, this fully illustrated guide with hundreds of step-by-step photos shows how to teach your pet 118 tricks and stunts.
Customers find the book a good training book that helps teach manners and work on recall. They also say it’s very helpful working with a traumatized dog. Readers describe the book as easy to read and follow, super comprehensive, and layout. They appreciate the author’s approach of positive reinforcement and detailed steps.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
10 reviews for Training the Best Dog Ever: A 5-Week Program Using the Power of Positive Reinforcement
Frequent Customer now –
Great dog training manual
We like this manual very much. It operates on rewards and gentle training and has lots of really useful advice.
Joshua Samuelson –
Nice week by week positive program, pairs well with Zak George’s youtube videos.
I don’t know if this is the best book out there, but the thing I really liked is that it has a week by week program to get you started. We adopted a very energetic 4 month old puppy from the humane society who I don’t think had been trained at all. This helped us get through some of the initial challenges and learn the basics. One helpful thing is that there are photos of a lot of the training methods, which I found much easier to follow than just a written description.I really appreciate the non-violent/positive-reinforcement approach this book uses, honestly it just seems to work better and the dog seems happier. So even if you don’t mind more “old school” style, give this a try first. The book has one section that recommends basically yelling to startle the dog out of an unwanted behavior and then immediately rewarding when the behavior stops, which I found to work pretty well. So it’s not like it totally disregards the ways that a more negative approach can be effective, it just focuses more on building a good relationship with the dog.When you’re done with this book I highly recommend Zak George’s videos in youtube (and maybe his book, I haven’t bought that). To me it’s much more helpful to see a video of how to train something than to read a written description. Also, he uses cooked chicken as a training treat, which has worked super well with our dog and it’s cheaper than pet store treats.
Shannon –
Good guide, but missing something important
I read this book about two months before we brought home our 8 week old Keeshond puppy, Pike. The general idea of this book is to reward good behavior and ignore or redirect bad behavior until your dog only wants to do the good behavior. This sounds great until you realize that you have to literally watch and redirect your puppy’s behavior every single second of every day because puppies naturally want to bark, bite, and chew on everything. There are many situations when you absolutely have to say “NO” firmly and consistently. Pike’s chewing on my furniture despite it being covered in Bitter Yuck spray? NO. Pike lunges for my face when we’re playing? NO. Pike’s chewing on the computer cords behind my desk? NO.Once we sparingly paired “no” with the system in this book, Pike started learning MUCH faster and started to respect my authority, not just enjoy being around me. We started saying “no” at the beginning of the second week of training and (like the book says about every other good behavior) praised her with “good” and a treat once she makes eye contact with me after I say “no.” So, our system is “NO” *stops behavior, eye contact* “Good” *treat.*In summary, this is a good training book as long as you add “no” and reward for stopping the behavior.
Tangirl –
Best dog training book Iâve read
This book is fantastic. Teaches training through positive reinforcement and starts from the very beginning and walks you through is week by week. Love this book and I wish more trainers understood how amazing positive reinforcement is rather than pushing aversive training. Itâs so fun to see your dog learn and want to learn and view training time like play
SrhW –
Good information in general
I loved this book before I brought my puppy home – I thought I had everything I needed to train and overcome obstacles. Unfortunately, though, this book just doesn’t match up with my specific needs. The author gives a lot of solid, logical advice, but the she doesn’t often address the possibility that your attempts won’t work exactly as she says they will.For example, her Week 1 leash training protocol assumes that a dog will or will not pull every single time she’s on leash with no room in between. However, my puppy only pulls when she’s very distracted. Otherwise she’s walking next to me. This book says that I should “be a tree” and stand still when my dog pulls, then wait until she looks at me to move on to the next step. Sounds simple, but when my puppy is distracted enough that she pulls, we can sit there for five minutes or more (I’ve timed it) before she’ll look at me, even when I try to get her attention. I worry that I’m actually reinforcing her distraction and pulling by stopping and letting her stare, then giving her a treat via lure. Since she doesn’t pull when she’s less distracted, the advice to try it in a less distracting place isn’t working out for me, either.The author doesn’t discuss any of this. It’s just “if A, then B” type advice. She says in other places that one should “break down the exercise,” but this is the first time I’ve ever trained a dog, and I don’t know how to do that effectively without accidentally reinforcing bad behavior. The book offers no help with this. It sometimes allows for variations from the progression she describes, but not often. In fact, right from step one, there’s this assumption that your dog is always going to look at you and pay attention. There’s not a lot of information on how to get to that point, so if your dog isn’t just instinctively locking eyes with you every five seconds, a lot of the content in this book is difficult to make use of. It leaves me feeling frustrated and ineffective.I’m ultimately glad I read this book BEFORE I brought my puppy home. It did a great job outlining the tone and purpose of positive reinforcement training, and that information has really helped me keep my cool and focus on bringing my puppy up with love. I was much better prepared for how much of a process dog training would be. But I was hoping that I’d be able to save some money on professional training by working this program myself. At this point, I’ve actually spent as much on books as I would have on a couple of private training sessions that probably would have been more useful.
carmen –
It is really detailed plus if you are willing to follow it by the rule you will find it very useful for bonding and training your dog.Highly recommend it.
justine rimington –
I am SO impressed with this book. It makes training your dog really enjoyable for dog and owner. I now have an 11 week old puppy who sits when she wants anything, walks at my side, comes when called, will lie down, sit up, stand, roll over when I ask her to. Is happy on a lead walking around the garden without pulling. She sleeps well at night and it’s been for or five days since we had an accident indoors. If you are thinking of getting a dog, either a puppy or a rescue, get this book and read at least as far as the end of the week one training plan before bringing your dog home (if possible). It’s so worth it.
Fleur –
Good book for reminding us how to approach training a young dog
Amazon Customer –
I’ve been using this book for guidance on training my Dogue de Bordeaux puppy. This is our first puppy — we’ve only ever had adult rescues before, so I needed some help. I read it from cover to cover before we even brought her home, so I was well-prepared from day 1. I like the way it’s written…simple, straightforward, easy to understand…and all very positive. Because it’s broken up into weeks, it’s been easy to follow step by step…and I’ve been able to retain the information because it makes sense (to me). The regime works beautifully…almost like magic! I’m thrilled and amazed at how quickly our little girl is picking up everything. And it’s also saved my sanity because it’s helping me understand the various phases a puppy goes through (and that they are just that…phases!), and helping me deal with them appropriately. We’re hoping that our girl will someday be a Therapy Dog, and I’m confident that because of this book, we’re right on track to fulfilling that goal. Thank you, Dawn and Larry! This book is a must for anyone thinking about buying a puppy…and I strongly recommend that you read it BEFORE bringing your puppy home!
customer –
she explains basic training with illustrations and pics. much better than two of the Cesar Milan books i purchased from Amazon. it’s useful, go for it.
Frequent Customer now –
Great dog training manual
We like this manual very much. It operates on rewards and gentle training and has lots of really useful advice.
Joshua Samuelson –
Nice week by week positive program, pairs well with Zak George’s youtube videos.
I don’t know if this is the best book out there, but the thing I really liked is that it has a week by week program to get you started. We adopted a very energetic 4 month old puppy from the humane society who I don’t think had been trained at all. This helped us get through some of the initial challenges and learn the basics. One helpful thing is that there are photos of a lot of the training methods, which I found much easier to follow than just a written description.I really appreciate the non-violent/positive-reinforcement approach this book uses, honestly it just seems to work better and the dog seems happier. So even if you don’t mind more “old school” style, give this a try first. The book has one section that recommends basically yelling to startle the dog out of an unwanted behavior and then immediately rewarding when the behavior stops, which I found to work pretty well. So it’s not like it totally disregards the ways that a more negative approach can be effective, it just focuses more on building a good relationship with the dog.When you’re done with this book I highly recommend Zak George’s videos in youtube (and maybe his book, I haven’t bought that). To me it’s much more helpful to see a video of how to train something than to read a written description. Also, he uses cooked chicken as a training treat, which has worked super well with our dog and it’s cheaper than pet store treats.
Shannon –
Good guide, but missing something important
I read this book about two months before we brought home our 8 week old Keeshond puppy, Pike. The general idea of this book is to reward good behavior and ignore or redirect bad behavior until your dog only wants to do the good behavior. This sounds great until you realize that you have to literally watch and redirect your puppy’s behavior every single second of every day because puppies naturally want to bark, bite, and chew on everything. There are many situations when you absolutely have to say “NO” firmly and consistently. Pike’s chewing on my furniture despite it being covered in Bitter Yuck spray? NO. Pike lunges for my face when we’re playing? NO. Pike’s chewing on the computer cords behind my desk? NO.Once we sparingly paired “no” with the system in this book, Pike started learning MUCH faster and started to respect my authority, not just enjoy being around me. We started saying “no” at the beginning of the second week of training and (like the book says about every other good behavior) praised her with “good” and a treat once she makes eye contact with me after I say “no.” So, our system is “NO” *stops behavior, eye contact* “Good” *treat.*In summary, this is a good training book as long as you add “no” and reward for stopping the behavior.
Tangirl –
Best dog training book Iâve read
This book is fantastic. Teaches training through positive reinforcement and starts from the very beginning and walks you through is week by week. Love this book and I wish more trainers understood how amazing positive reinforcement is rather than pushing aversive training. Itâs so fun to see your dog learn and want to learn and view training time like play
SrhW –
Good information in general
I loved this book before I brought my puppy home – I thought I had everything I needed to train and overcome obstacles. Unfortunately, though, this book just doesn’t match up with my specific needs. The author gives a lot of solid, logical advice, but the she doesn’t often address the possibility that your attempts won’t work exactly as she says they will.For example, her Week 1 leash training protocol assumes that a dog will or will not pull every single time she’s on leash with no room in between. However, my puppy only pulls when she’s very distracted. Otherwise she’s walking next to me. This book says that I should “be a tree” and stand still when my dog pulls, then wait until she looks at me to move on to the next step. Sounds simple, but when my puppy is distracted enough that she pulls, we can sit there for five minutes or more (I’ve timed it) before she’ll look at me, even when I try to get her attention. I worry that I’m actually reinforcing her distraction and pulling by stopping and letting her stare, then giving her a treat via lure. Since she doesn’t pull when she’s less distracted, the advice to try it in a less distracting place isn’t working out for me, either.The author doesn’t discuss any of this. It’s just “if A, then B” type advice. She says in other places that one should “break down the exercise,” but this is the first time I’ve ever trained a dog, and I don’t know how to do that effectively without accidentally reinforcing bad behavior. The book offers no help with this. It sometimes allows for variations from the progression she describes, but not often. In fact, right from step one, there’s this assumption that your dog is always going to look at you and pay attention. There’s not a lot of information on how to get to that point, so if your dog isn’t just instinctively locking eyes with you every five seconds, a lot of the content in this book is difficult to make use of. It leaves me feeling frustrated and ineffective.I’m ultimately glad I read this book BEFORE I brought my puppy home. It did a great job outlining the tone and purpose of positive reinforcement training, and that information has really helped me keep my cool and focus on bringing my puppy up with love. I was much better prepared for how much of a process dog training would be. But I was hoping that I’d be able to save some money on professional training by working this program myself. At this point, I’ve actually spent as much on books as I would have on a couple of private training sessions that probably would have been more useful.
carmen –
It is really detailed plus if you are willing to follow it by the rule you will find it very useful for bonding and training your dog.Highly recommend it.
justine rimington –
I am SO impressed with this book. It makes training your dog really enjoyable for dog and owner. I now have an 11 week old puppy who sits when she wants anything, walks at my side, comes when called, will lie down, sit up, stand, roll over when I ask her to. Is happy on a lead walking around the garden without pulling. She sleeps well at night and it’s been for or five days since we had an accident indoors. If you are thinking of getting a dog, either a puppy or a rescue, get this book and read at least as far as the end of the week one training plan before bringing your dog home (if possible). It’s so worth it.
Fleur –
Good book for reminding us how to approach training a young dog
Amazon Customer –
I’ve been using this book for guidance on training my Dogue de Bordeaux puppy. This is our first puppy — we’ve only ever had adult rescues before, so I needed some help. I read it from cover to cover before we even brought her home, so I was well-prepared from day 1. I like the way it’s written…simple, straightforward, easy to understand…and all very positive. Because it’s broken up into weeks, it’s been easy to follow step by step…and I’ve been able to retain the information because it makes sense (to me). The regime works beautifully…almost like magic! I’m thrilled and amazed at how quickly our little girl is picking up everything. And it’s also saved my sanity because it’s helping me understand the various phases a puppy goes through (and that they are just that…phases!), and helping me deal with them appropriately. We’re hoping that our girl will someday be a Therapy Dog, and I’m confident that because of this book, we’re right on track to fulfilling that goal. Thank you, Dawn and Larry! This book is a must for anyone thinking about buying a puppy…and I strongly recommend that you read it BEFORE bringing your puppy home!
customer –
she explains basic training with illustrations and pics. much better than two of the Cesar Milan books i purchased from Amazon. it’s useful, go for it.