Bonnie Bergin's Guide to Bringing Out the Best in Your Dog

speaking as long time dog owner and dog lover and avid reader of all literature/canine 'bergin's book is,absolutley,the best thing out there.'

This book is a welcome change from books that try to make a dog a good pet by training the AKC obedience exercises. Instead, this book helps you to understand yourself and your dog and then uses that understanding to train your dog to become the companion you always wanted. I find myself looking back into this book as I work with my own dogs and with my dog training students. It is a gold mine of information, tips and ideas. I have surprised myself by carrying it with me to read whenever I have a spare minute.

Most dog training books tend to be written for a standard person with a standard dog. If you and your pet are both standard then fine. Bonnie Bergin has written a book for the rest of us. Bonnie trains service dogs and unlike a 'how to guide for assembling your Bar B Q', Bonnie assumes that dogs are different and people are different. She has a structure for identifying personality types (both people and dogs). She then goes on to describes how these types interact and how to manage the relationship(still your responsibility) to get the most out of it. There is a lot of personality theory here but for someone trying to understand themselves and their dog, this is the best book I've found so far. It takes you beyond the fact that dogs are pack animals and gives you a richer relationship model than the one that says you should be the the pack leader and your dog should be a member of the pack.