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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Lurker ?: What do you think of the Monks of New Skete?
Hi, my name is Kristina and my husband and I are getting our first dog next month. I am reading lots of books and preparing. I have read some Ian Dunbar and was also recommended "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete (they also have a book, "How to be your dog's best friend"). I have seen Ian Dunbar recommended on here and I wanted to know what you think about the monks. We are also planning on doing obedience classes after the appropriate vaccinations are done.
Thanks in advance for your help! We are so excited about our new family member!
Me - 34. DH - 39. TTC #1 since 9/2010. IUI #3 2/3/13 + progesterone. BFP on HPT 2/17/13. Beta #1 2/19/13 = 61.9. Beta #2 2/22/13 = 71 Beta #3 77 - C/P
Re: Lurker ?: What do you think of the Monks of New Skete?
I'm not a fan of the Monks. They're very old-school, very militant. If you read some of Ian Dunbar, and then read some of the Monks, you'll see that the philosophies are very, very different. The Monks focus on absolute obedience, almost to the exclusion of all else. Dunbar's focus is on helping you build a positive relationship with your dog, understand more about how he interprets the world, and then use all that to train the behaviors you want.
Also, the Monks exclusively trained German Shepherds, and I found their methods to be problematic or ineffective in some other breeds. Their training was tailored to a highly-intelligent herding breed who bonds closely to one person and has a very high working drive. That's might transfer OK to a border collie, but not to a bulldog, or a jack russel, or a bunch of other breeds.
Ditto PP - their methods are harsh and outdated.
If you're looking for more book recs, try our FAQs:
https://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/home/training-and-behavior/tv-trainers-books-and-websites
I am also a fan of the more positive-based training methods, and I highly recommend enrolling in a positive obedience class when you get your new family member. It can really help build the bond between you and your pup while teaching you techniques and strategies that you can use beyond the basic sit/down/stay. I have done basic obedience up through Canine Good Citizen certs with both of my dogs, and it was fantastic.
Do you know what breed/mix you are getting? Are you getting a puppy or adult dog?
Thanks everyone for their answers, it is very helpful. There was so much discrepancy between their book and what I had read from Dunbar that I was getting alarmed. Thanks also for the other book recs.
We are getting a puppy. We are getting a Samoyed. For many reasons this is the right breed for us (we spend a lot of time in the mountains and do snow sports, also I am a therapist and Samoyeds can be trained to be therapy dogs). We heavily researched getting an adult dog through rescue but they just don't come through rescue that often and given that we have some special needs cats (one cat is highly "anxious" - Chup, pictured in sig) we have been advised that it may be easier to introduce the cats to a puppy than a large dog. So we are going through a breeder but we have done our homework and they are certainly a reputable breeder.
Thanks for your help and interest! Any advice is welcome!
Kristina
My advice is to come back and post pictures when the puppy comes home! (please!)
I will be more than happy to post puppy pictures when she arrives! We're tentatively planning on February 10th!
Thanks again,
Kristina