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![The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) by [New Skete Monks]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51-FubfDpPL._SY346_.jpg)
The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) Kindle Edition
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In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog's Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as trainers of dogs of all breeds to provide--brilliantly distilled--the indispensable information and advice that every dog owner needs.
This new edition of The Art of Raising a Puppy features new photographs throughout, along with updated chapters on play, crating, adopting dogs from shelters and rescue organizations, raising dogs in an urban environment, and the latest developments in canine health and canine behavioral theory.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLittle, Brown and Company
- Publication dateJune 29, 2011
- File size12645 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The book observes a litter of monastery puppies from birth to 12 weeks. Tender photographs and dialogue reflect these precious first few weeks of life. Even at this time, the human-canine link is vital; the monks stress the importance of gentle touch to help forge this connection. Basic puppy training techniques are explored and executed, all of which puppy owners should find easy to implement. Virtually all types of dog problems and dog training are examined in the book, always in compassionate and easily comprehensible language. The monks also look well beyond surface training techniques to analyze the roots of dogs' problems and explain how training can help. Owners are taught how to gently assert dominance over their dog, which will make for a long-lasting and fulfilling relationship. Beautiful black-and-white photographs of monastery puppies will pull at every heartstring.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
-Helen Sondrol, Lincoln Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B0047Y0FC8
- Publisher : Little, Brown and Company; Revised edition (June 29, 2011)
- Publication date : June 29, 2011
- Language : English
- File size : 12645 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 329 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #13,170 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1 in Dog Training (Kindle Store)
- #1 in Dog Breeds (Kindle Store)
- #8 in Dog Training (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

The Monks of New Skete have lived as a community in Cambridge, New York, for more than thirty years. Their two previous books, The Art of Raising a Puppy and How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend, have sold almost three-quarters of a million copies.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2016
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Many years ago I read the 1991 book “The Art Of Raising A Puppy” from the Monks of New Skete and at that time thought it was a great book. I recently purchased the “Completely Revised And Updated” version of “The Art Of Raising A Puppy” in hopes that I would find a new and improved version of the 1991 book. Sadly that is not the case. Since reading the first book I have become a professional trainer and I continued to learn from exceptional individuals and now I could never recommend their books or their training.
A few of the glaring problems with the books are:
They state rightly that it is normal and “to expect some whining this first night” from your new puppy when you go to bed. They recommend you “reach down and quiet him without a fuss….Do this calmly, soothing him at first. If the whining persists, a gentle scruff shake along with a low 'No, go to sleep' may be necessary.” What! A scruff shake and a verbal correction for a puppy spending the first night away from his mother and littermates? And this is supposed to be coming from their new best friend?
For housetraining the procedure in the book regarding covering the whole floor in newspaper will create more challenges then necessary in housetraining your puppy.
The 2011 “Completely Revised And Updated” edition on page 64 is another example of what you want to avoid when feeding puppies and the way not to handle these situations. A better course of action would be for the Monks to structure things so as to prevent unnecessary possessiveness and aggression in the puppies during this extremely sensitive time, when the effects of these experiences are permanent. The concern with The Monks of New Skete book continues in the chapter “Discipline and Common Puppy Problems”. The advice on forcefully dealing with the five-month-old male German shepherd that growls at guests is another huge issue. Sadly, following their guidance can actually make the problem much worst.
The book goes on to recommend training collars “Once your puppy has been on a flat-buckle collar or a martingale collar for one to two months”. There is no reason for this. “Training collars” are completely unnecessary for a puppy or an adult dog. They recommend a “snap-around nylon training collar” (basically a nylon choke collar) and a modified prong collar. (plastic prong collar). On page 250 (2011 edition) they state they have begun introducing remote collars (shock collars) in their adult training program. Unfortunately due to a lack of knowledge and training skills the Monks have resorted to “training tools”. In reality none of these “tools” are needed to train a dog, even a challenging dog to an advanced level.
The other glaring issue in the book is the over emphasis on dominance and alpha. The Monks approach is to show the dog who is boss and act harshly “when necessary”. Dogs, like humans, would much rather follow a leader than a boss. The Monks could learn “How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend” from knowledgeable trainers like Suzanne Clothier and John Rogerson, to name just two. Dominance is exercising the most influence or control in the context of a relationship between individuals. You don’t need to establish an authoritarian relationship to be considered the dominant one in the relationship; you need to be a leader. Styles of leadership are not limited to just two choices; permissive or harsh. Leadership doesn't require you to turn into a food container and act like a PEZ dispenser, nor do you need a “behavior science” degree. What is required is that you understand dogs and the art of dog training. Then simply act like a leader not an adversary and the dogs will look like partners not prisoners. If you get your part right the dogs will be well-behaved, under control and more often cooperating rather than submitting.
Many dogs with training or behavior problems that are mistaken for “dominant” are just lacking self-control and discipline, and were never taught manners nor properly trained. What many people have mistaken for “dominance” was an independent, confident, assertive dog that would not be referred to as biddable. There are dogs with strong personalities that require a committed leader to maintain control, but the Monks training tools and harsh methods are unnecessary. Even the more challenging dogs can be trained without the harsh treatment and all the “training collar” tools.
A far superior book on every level is “The Dog Vinci Code” by John Rogerson. John Rogerson is a world renowned dog trainer and behaviorist who has been training dogs for over 40-years. For a better approach to the housetraining and feeding issues noted above read “The Dog Vinci Code - Chapter 4 “Early Behavioural Development”. With regards to the advice in the “Discipline and Common Puppy Problems” on forcefully dealing with the five-month-old male German shepherd that growls at guests, start with chapter 42, page 247 “Understanding Aggression” and then move to chapter 44, page 260 “Fear and Aggression” for a better approach to dealing with such behavior. For more insight on dealing with a dog that growls, read page 215 in “Bones Would Rain From The Sky” by Suzanne Clothier.
If you are still curious and are open to increasing your knowledge about living with and training dogs, get anything written by Suzanne Clothier. Read her book “Bones Would Rain From The Sky” chapter 17 if you want to understand how and when to apply compulsion or coercion if/when persuasion has reached its limits. Suzanne Clothier has been working with animals professionally since 1977, with a deep background of experience that includes obedience, agility, puppy testing, breeding, Search and Rescue, conformation, instructing, kennel management and canine midwifery. Suzanne is also a German Shepherd breeder and her 8 generations of Shepherds have been successful in obedience, agility, SAR, tracking, herding and therapy work.
It’s my sincere hope that the Monks of New Skete will come to a new way of seeing and seek out some of the exceptional trainers whose methods result in well-trained dogs, and whose approach is based on building a strong relationship and being your dog’s best friend. I’m certain the dogs would appreciate it.
If you've got a new puppy, this book will help you with training a companion pup who will become your best friend and sidekick!!!
Nip those destructive puppy habits without destroying the beautiful soul of a precious canine👍
I am taking off one star because the advice in the book can be a little tough to turn into an action plan in some places. In particular, the book provides some great insight on how to handle the first day and first night, as well as some good tips about crate training. In one section it provides a sample crate training daily schedule of food/play/walks/crate-time, etc. -- In the very same schedule it says that you should be prepared to take your pup out to expel once every 1.5 hours while training, but in another part of the same section says to leave your pup in the crate not longer than "3 hours at a time" -- the sample schedule seems closer to the 3hr rule. This seeming contradiction makes it hard to follow and leaves you feeling like you need to guess or just make up your own mind.
The other reason that I'm taking off one star is that while the book provides great insight and advice on various parts of the pup's life and how to deal with different things, it falls short of providing a comprehensive plan that includes tips on how to decide when to transition between phases. An example is that while there is a great set of tips on crate training, there isn't any information on how you determine that you are "done" with house-training.
I think the Monk's have the knowledge and ability to take this to what I'd consider a 5-star book, if they tweaked it a bit to address these issues.
Overall, this book is a must-read if you want to gain insight into your dog's psyche - which you absolutely should, because you're going to share your life with it. It falls short of being a one-stop-shop, but you can probably close those gaps with a bit of Googling, or perhaps a supplemental book.
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