Training Books

I am currently enrolled in the American College of Physician Executive's MMM program - Master in Medical Management. I ordered this book and read it in one session cover to cover. It was very helpful in determining how much time and effort such a program really requires; I gave the book to my significant other as well to prepare her for the next two years.

As a Business Executive and recent EMBA graduate, I tremendously enjoyed reading Dr. Stellato's book, A Physician's Odyssey to an MBA. Although I am not a Physician, reading Dr. Stellato's personal experience with the program was enlightening because it reminded me of the challenges we each go through and overcome while working full-time and attending school at any level.

The book does a great job of outlining Dr. Stellato's personal challenges with the program while maintaining a family life and busy medical practice. The journal format makes book a very easy and interesting read. A must for anyone considering an MBA program while employed.

I have loaned this book to several family members and friends and they now have a much better idea and awe of the courseload I went through in completing this program. In retrospect, it has also made me realize what an incredible feat this EMBA journey was. Don't let the book scare you away from an EMBA program. Is it hard work? You bet, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

In this book, Tom Stellato captures the issues, emotions, and sacrifices involved in graduate education for working professionals, especially health care providers. Stellato details not only his personal trials, but also documents specifics about the actual courses and course content. After reading Stellato's fascinating. humble, and often humorous account of his "odyssey", the reader is left wondering whether he is a super-husband, super-dad, super-surgeon, or super-student, or simply a super individual that requires little rest. As more and more physicians determine their need for advanced training in management, finance, and other business topics, this book is a must-read for those considering entering into a graduate management program.

An Exective MBA is an enviable educational goal, but until I read Dr. Stellato's excellent account of his experience, I had no idea just how arduous such a program could be. And while most people enrolled in MBA programs probably don't have to simultaneously maintain the rigors of a top level academic surgical career (as Dr Stellato did), anyone contemplating an MBA would be wise to read this book. The term Odyssey is an apt description, but the odyssey is anything but easy.The book conveys the high volume and accelerated pace of the course work as well as the complexity of at least some of the subjects, especially for people with non-business backgrounds. Dr Stellato is obviously accustomed to success in his past education and surgical career but his anxieties and uncertainties about his ability to master the MBA courses are very well described in this book. He is brave to have put these and the insecurities which they produced down on paper for all to read. It was reassuring to see his level of stress decrease and his confidence increase as he adapted to the workload, and his great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction by the time of graduation. I have long thought about enrolling in an MBA program but after reading this book I am no longer so inclined. I am, however, left with great admirtion and respect for those who have or are.

I really enjoyed the uncluttered, honest and open style that allows the reader to accompany Dr. Stellato on his difficult but ultimately satisfying and successful odyssey. He is to be congratulated for both his academic as well as literary success.

As an MD and an MBA, I highly recommend this book.

For any MD considering pursuit of an MBA, it's a "must read" to get a real feel of what it's like to split your energies the way the author did, balancing the personal, professional and student comparments of his life, without short-changing any of them.

For administrators and professors in MBA programs, it can provide a truly inside view of what your students are going through as they pursue the education you provide.

For families of would-be MBA students (especially for families of MD would-be MBA students) this book gives you fair warning of what life will be like for the next two years!

While reading this book, I felt like I was back in business school again, with all of the pressures, but also with all of the good times (yes, there really were some!)

This is the first bird dog I own and every single item from the book which I have used in training has been on the button. The pleasure of seeing my dog behave as predicted in the field cannot be described, and would only be understood by other bird dog owners .
The success of this book is that it's easy to read, insightful and accurate in the advice it dispenses.
It makes it easy for the dog owner to move through that confusing and daunting task of training his dog from puppy to successful bird-dog without making a mistake.

I've read every birddog book I could find since getting my Brittany last year. This book is the best. Authors vary widely in their opinions on proper dog training and a lot of the advice out there is plain wrong. Based upon my experience, Spencer's advice is right on target. What's even better, the clear and concise writing in this book makes it a very easy to follow guide. The first 98 pages provide an overview of birddog hunting in the U.S., and descriptions of 10 birddog breeds. For the next 146 pages, every sentence explicitly helps you understand the how and why of each aspect of training from puppyhood to the dog's first season afield.

This is the first bird dog I own and every single item from the book which I have used in training has been on the button. The pleasure of seeing my dog behave as predicted in the field cannot be described, and would only be understood by other bird dog owners .
The success of this book is that it's easy to read, insightful and accurate in the advice it dispenses.
It makes it easy for the dog owner to move through that confusing and daunting task of training his dog from puppy to successful bird-dog without making a mistake.

I have read many books on training pointing dogs, and have trained with some very fine trainers in the past. While I do not agree with all the training techniques (such as the author's mannor of progressing from point, to steady to wing and shot), I found other useful information in every chapter. I was particularly interested in how the author described the way various breeds react to different training - for example, a Brittany will generally respond to a very soft taining hand and lots of praise; while a German Shorthair will (generally) respond to a stronger hand with less praise. This is important to me as I'm about to start with a GSP, having trained primarily Brittanies in the past. Another aspect of this book which I found both refreshing and educational, was that the author consulted with various professional trainers - both to provide their perspective of the breed they work with, and to give the reader other opinions. Most dog books give the reader only the author's opinion, and as anyone who trains dogs knows, opinions vary. This book has earned a place on my shelf next to what I consider to be the best of the best of gun dog training books. Also, it is an entertaining read.

This book is the best of the bunch so far. I have read several training books to work with my GSP, and this one has been the most enjoyable and most accurate. The purpose and methods are clear, and the results one should expect are also laid out nicely.

One of the really great things about this book is the unassuming tone of the book. The author is clearly a working man who has responsibilities that include things other than dog training. After reading most other books, I come away feeling guility, as though I am torturing my dog by not giving her enough of my time. This author clearly understands that not every man has several hours per day to dedicate to training. I also like the way the author spells out so many things, but is noticably short-winded on one area: discipline. Too many books I read lean to far to one extreme or the other. Wolters says beat your dog into submission. Tarrant says don't touch your dog, but feel free to hand out emotional abuse as needed. I think effective training lies somewhere in between, and this book lets the reader judge the dog and doesn't spend a lot of time with high handed preaching(personally, I find that grabbing my pup's scruff and giving her a deep-throated growl usually conveys my displeasure more than adequately without needing to hit her as Wolter suggests, or punish her by withholding her food as Tarrant suggests).

Anyway, the techniques are sound, I get the results I desire, and my dog and I have a lot of fun together in the process, so this book gets my vote for the best training manual I've read so far.

This book was the most outstanding book i have ever read on Pomeranians..It has helped me and my daughter go through the tough times when we got our new puppy.If u are looking on buying a POMERANIAN i suggest you buy this book! Thanks POM

This is a very helpful book and I would recommend it to anyone that is getting a new pomeranian.

this book was a great informational. i had to borrow it from the library before b/c i bought another book which was horrible. this book gives you step by step insructions on how to take care of your pom.

This is a great book to describe the basics of living with your pom. The author has a friendly tone and seems to have a lot of experience with poms of her own. It really reviews everything you need to know...training, feeding, grooming...the works! I just adopted a two year old dog and this book is great because it doesn't focus on the puppy years only. It addresses that time well, but gives wonderful overall advice. Great buy!

I own two pomerananians and have several books on them. This book is one of the best. The writer gives great information on them.

For quantification of models, queuing theory is one of the oldest variants, used for simple first feelings with the processes. This book provides the theory of random arrive processes, probability and all kind of queues. The reader is introduced in single queues like m/m/1 and learns how to calculate and forecast the most important statistics as a start. Later on more complex queue systems are explained in detail all with graphs, simple formulas to calculate and enough text to understand the formulas and steps of the writer. At the moment the theory of the single queues cannot solve the problem, the writer uses some PASCAL procedures. At that moment it looks more like a black box to me, but I am sure the writer knows what he is doing!

A superb guide that manages a realistic introduction without terrible challenges to higher mathematics anxiety. My biggest complaint is one of omission -- it deals with networking at the data link level, and doesn't get into more modern networking.

This is a very good book on queuing theory and applications. I have read or looked at dozens of similar books, but find this to be one of the best. ...

There is also a UK/European edition of this book, which is, at the time of writing, in stock with McGraw-Hill Europe.

The UK edition of Practical Queueing Analysis is available, and can be ordered from McGraw-Hill in the US (609-426-5793). The only difference between the USA and UK editions is a diskette that was shrink-wrapped with the US edition. Contact Mike Tanner if you need the diskette.

I have just read this book and it's excellent. Mr. Walker gives great tips on how to become a better speaker. Also, he lets the reader know that if someone wants to become a better speaker, the person needs to make a lifetime commitment to it. Anyone wanting the basics on giving a speech should read this book. But only do so if you are serious about improving your public speaking.

T.J. Walker is the very best of his breed. His advice, based on decades of experience, is sharp, insightful, accessible and immediately applicable. His books, CDs and his personal coaching have been invaluable to me and my business.

Presentation Training A-Z is the #1 book I've found on this topic and I recommend it highly to beginners who want to learn the basics of good presentation skills, regular speakers who want to take themselves to the next level, as well as expert presenters who are going for the gold!

T.J. Walker's Presentation Training A-Z takes the mystery...and the terror...out of making presentations. More importantly, it made my realize I'm not the hot shot speaker I thought I was. With a straightforward, practical style, T.J. offers pearls of wisdom and experience on how to move from good to GREAT with your presentations. Now, whenever I have one coming up, I hit the sections that address the weaknesses from my last presentation and fine tune performance. Response to my presentations has become much more enthusiastic and requests for speaking have picked up so much that I'm now charging more. Thanks to T.J.,I have reason to be comfortable in front of an audience and no one has to know my dog-eared copy of Presentation Training A-Z is in my briefcase.
Roger Landry MD

In a world that is over-crowded with Information, Mr TJ Walker's simple yet lucid style of preseneting a fairly complex subject comes as a refresher! Goes well beyond the plethora of 'how to ' books, thus creating a new bench-mark.
His ability to convince the reader, that this, is an opportunity to combine 'Substance and Style', goes down rather well, with effective examples. The Author's ablity to enable the reader 'experience' his examples and test the methodology of this art and science of story telling makes it compelling and extremely readable.
A must read for pro's who want to 'make it' in life!and pass the 'Water-cooler' test that he so clearly enunciates!

After reading Walker's excellent Media Training A-Z, I decided to see if he had any other interview or presentation resource materials. I was happy to find Presentation Training written in the same easy-to-follow style, packed with tips. There is relatively little overlap between the 2 books, though they do complement each other. I also liked the up-to-the-minute topical references that make the book feel extremely current and relevant. Another very handy reference.

For years there was a void in the horse book market about Racehorse Care. With Landers book the void is now filled. This book is unbelievable in its content. I've never read a better Ho -To book in my life on any subject as that of PROFESSIONAL GROOMING & CARE OF THE RACEHORSE. The reader will become a better all around horseperson after completion. I reccommend without a doubt

This book is an excellent sorce of information concerning both Thoroughbreds & Standardbreds,As an owner I now have a good insight as to the level of care my horses should get while on the racetrack , Thanks to Landers. I truly reccommend this book to anyone remotely connected with horseracing.

This book has got to be the best HorseCare book on the market. Easy to read and understand, Anyone connected with racehorses should read it. The author puts you in the place of a groom and indicates the important role of the groom in a racing stable. It is sad that the professional groom gets little recognition for their efforts but this book surely places the spotlight on their skills. Anyone can learn how to perform the skills stated in the book by following the step by step instructions and illustrations. A must have book for any horseowner,

I have received Professional Grooming And Care Of The Racehorse, and it was much much more than I expected it to be. The best literature on this topic that has ever been published. Hands down. Never have I seen an author put so much meticulous time, effort, and knowledge into creating an informative book. Everything you could possibly want to know about racehorses is just a few pages away.

here at last is a reference volume that deconstructs all the mysteries of how and why we work around horses. starting with the premise that the reader knows nothing, it goes step by step though every process that a groom would ever have to perform. although written for the racing industry, this book belongs in the tackroom of every owner, trainer and groom - regardless of discipline! constantly stressing safety for both horse and groom, it cannot help but impart a competent professionalism to those who chose to read it and practice these techniques.

This book describes the way to assess a project management improvement initiative following the concept of the balanced scorecard. It uses a change stage approach that leads to a real ROI: from reaction/satisfaction (acceptance), learning, application/implementation, business impact and quantified ROI. It also provides advice on how to measure each of these stages. I have found the project follow-up questionnaire especially insightful.
At first, I found this book a bit confusing about whether it was trying to assess projects themselves or the project management initiative, but after a second look at it, I see it as is really useful if you need to show the benefits of implementing/developing project management in your organization.

Having read and then reviewed three books co-authored by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (The Balanced Scorecard, The Strategy-Focused Organization, and Strategy Maps) as well as Paul R. Niven's Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step, all of which I highly regard, I was especially interested in reading this book which the authors explain how to measure the success of project management solutions.

In the Preface, they assert that, currently, "there is no book that offers a comprehensive, practical presentation on a project management scorecard, using a process that meets the demands of [project managers, clients and senior managers who must approve project budgets, and evaluation researchers who develop, explore, and analyze new processes and techniques]. Most models and representations of the scorecard process ignore, or provide very little insight into, the two key elements essential to developing the scorecard: isolating the effects of project management solutions and converting data to monetary values." Others (notably Kaplan, Norton, and Niven) are far better qualified than I am to verify or dispute that claim. Of greater interest to me is how well organized and written this book is, and, how helpful I believe it will be, at least to project managers as well as to those who must approve project budgets. My Five Star rating speaks for itself.

Phillips, Bothell, and Snead present their material within four Parts: Setting the Stage (e.g. "Project Management Issues and Challenges), The Seven Measures (e.g. "How to Capture Business Impact Data"), Key Issues with the Measures (e.g. "How to Convert Business Measures to Monetary Values"), and Challenges (e.g. "Overcoming Resistance and Barriers to the Project Management Scorecard"). They conclude with an Appendix in which they suggest how to establish an effective project management culture. In it, they identify 16 "Best Practices" and include a brief case study example for each.

What I especially appreciate about this volume is the fact that the authors devote the bulk of their attention to explaining how to implement effectively the various concepts, strategies, and tactics they present. They are also to be commended for concluding each of the 16 chapters with a "Final Thoughts" section. This facilitates a convenient review when a reader wishes to review key points. In fact, I strongly recommend to project managers that they complete such a review at least every 90 days but, preferably, every 30 days throughout their project's duration.

As the authors correctly point out, "One of the greatest challenges is deciding which costs should be included in the project solution cost calculation. For some projects, certain costs are hidden and never included in the cost calculation. Our preference is a conservative one: Account for all costs, both direct and indirect."

There are several major cost categories:

Initial analysis and assessment
Development of solutions
Acquisition of solutions
Implementation and application
Maintenance and monitoring
Administrative support and overhead
Evaluation and reporting

For most projects, the authors recommend this sequence by which to convert data to monetary values:

1. First, define a unit of measure
2. Determine the monetary value of each unit
3. Calculate the change in performance data
4. Determine the annual rate (and amount) of change
5. Calculate the annual value of the improvement

"Costs are important and should be fully loaded in the ROI calculation. From a practical standpoint, some costs may be optional based on an organization's guidelines and philosophy. However, because of the scrutiny involved in the ROI calculations, it is recommended that all costs be included, even if this goes beyond the requirements of the policy."

In this volume, Phillips, Bothell, and Snead offer a wealth of information and counsel which can help achieve the ultimate success of almost any project in almost any organization. That success can then inform and guide efforts to create throughout the same organization a "project management culture."

I love this book! Why?
1. It is written in easy to read style, simple and direct; anyone with minimal PM expertise, culture will understand it
2. It is covering a wide range of tools and possibilities
3. Anyone can start design, or adjust her/his own tools immediately
4. A great refference for future, to come and review it from time to time
5. It is obvious the author has experience in practicing what he is preaching

Begginer PM practitioner will find a lot of good points, easy to catch and study for future.
Experienced PM experts will have an useful guide to improve or design their own PM tools and ideas to adjust their appeoaches and processes. Highly recommended!

This book is ROI-focused and integrates the people and process elements of project management with a balanced scorecard approach. One of the authors, Jack J. Phillips, has extensive experience and a large published body of knowledge in the domains of HR, ROI and scorecard development. This book has his touch, and covers the essentials of a mature project organization, what to measure and how to measure it.

The approach is as follows:
1. Measure:
* reaction and satisfaction
* skill and knowledge churn during the project
* implementation and progress metrics throughout the project
2. From the metrics capture:
* business impact data
* ROI
3. Identify both tangible and intangible benefits and apply them to an aggregate 'true cost'.

The book also shows how to translate business metrics to dollar values, build a business case, and communicate status, based on the scorecard, to clients and stakeholders. This is essential for anyone who is setting up or managing a program management office or who wants to improve internal project managment processes. It also provides one of the best methods for communicating status to clients and upper management.

This book has a mundane title but could be titled "Everything you ever wanted to know about project success and then some". The Project Management Scorecard focuses on how to evaluate and measure the success of project management solutions. Given that failed projects are far more common than successful projects, executives are investing more time and money in developing project managers. This book recognizes the challenges in measuring the return on project management investment and provides clarity and techniques on how to overcome this obstacle.

The book is very thorough in its examination of the problems, process, and solutions to measuring project management success. First the authors break down the problem into its component parts, then they take a look at the project management process steps, and finally they present multiple approaches on how to create an effective scorecard and to use it to achieve desired results. The book includes not only straight-forward steps to follow, but also questionnaires and forms that can be easily used. Success stories and case studies are also included to illustrate major points.

Some of the topics include the following:
o Project management issues and challenges
o Changing corporate cultures
o Measuring reaction and satisfaction
o How to calculate and interpret and ROI
o Capturing business impact data
o Measuring skill and knowledge changes during the project
o Monitoring the true costs of the project
o Converting business measure to monetary values
o Forecasting ROI

This book provides a straight-forward approach to setting up and measuring project success. The authors have taken an onerous topic and provided clarity through simple techniques that can be easily adopted. If implemented, the solutions presented should siginificantly contribute to overall organizational success.

I agree with all above that this is a fine book. I wish there were more such insightful forays into other sports. My one quibble with Pumping Iron is that whistles past the graveyard of the great dark evil, steroids. One reading this book would get the impression that all of the bodybuilders within had sculpted their physiques with weightlifting, diet, dedication, and genetics. The truth is, all the stars of that era relied heavily on steroids, as subsequent admissions by such as Arnold Schwarzenegger have revealed. That, and the near-death disaster to Steve Michalik from steroid overdose (the book attributes his great "sea change" gain of muscle mass to heavy weight training and eating a lot of chicken and tuna fish) are crucial facts for the reader to know. To ignore the dirty little secret of big-time bodybuilding is dishonest, and presents a disservice to the readership. I would enthusiastically welcome another edition of Pumping Iron, as suggested above- it's a fine book- but I would repect Messrs. Gaines and Butler the more if they would address the steroid issue.

I book this book back in 1973 and then lost it in a flood but was able to get a copy at a used book store.These were the real champions and pioneers of bodybuilding; Arnold, Nubret, Columbu, Zane, Corney, Waller, Katz etc.You rarely see training photo's like this and heretofore, never saw bodybuilders depicted as real people as Gaines and Butler did with this work and the movie that followed.Pumping Iron and a Mega-Superstar German with a hard to prononunce last name literally took bodybuilding into the mainstream and turned the stars of our sport into household names.While I was lucky to find a copy of this book at a used book store, I really feel that Gaines and Butler should have a reprint for people who would like a new, first class copy; perhaps even a revised version showing where those champions are today.Great book Mr. Gaines and Mr. Butler.

It is no overstatement to attribute to the publication of this book much of the fitness revolution that first began in the 1970s. It lionized the then relatively obscure sport of bodybuilding, and in particular made much notice of the then only marginally known figure of a relatively young Austrian muscle freak with the unlikely name of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The book proved such a trenchant and penetrating look into the shadowy subculture of fitness freaks and muscle-heads that it created a boom in the gym business, which previously existed only in a few locations where the numbers of bodybuilders reached enough of a critical mass to allow such a commercial venture. In fact, as Gaines points out in the narrative, most of the gyms were owned by guys like Joe Gold, who weren't in the gym business to make a profit, and who merely managed to eke out a living, and who rarely made much of a return on their original investment.

Of course, this affectionate and knowing look at the life and lifestyles of several serious competitive bodybuilders was so successful that it encouraged the photographer, George Butler, to try to find backing for a film version of the book. And it was a difficult sell, for the movie mavens had little appreciation for the degree of public interest in muscles and muscle men then. Indeed, the movie was never released for wide commercial viewing, but was rather relegated to showings at art cinemas and other venues. Yet the book was a resounding success, and was on the best-selling trade books for months and months.

The book can still be found in used bookstores, and is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the history of bodybuilding or the lifestyles of the most famous musclemen of the late 1960s and 1970s. I have several copies, although I lost one in a fire last year. It is a shame it is now out of print, for the book (and the subsequent movie) capture the essence of the exotic little world of competitive bodybuilding as it existed in the days when the sport was marginalized, before it became big business, and before eager young men who want fame and riches got involved for that reason rather than because they just wanted to be bodybuilders. Ah, the good old days! Enjoy!

This engrossing documentary/commentary of bodybuilding is the Bible of what bodybuilding IS. It does not drown you with technical detail, nor attempt to teach you HOW to bodybuild. What it does is bring you inside the gyms, (where the competitors work out) the arenas (where they compete) and inside their minds, where the peculiar and fascinating drive for the physical ideal finds its germination, growth and finally fruit on the posing platform. Why they do what they do, and just a smattering of detail of the equipment they use to accomplish their ends, rounds out this book. It is centered around a not-then-well-known Arnold Schwarzeneggar in his quest for the ultimate bodybuilding title, the Mr. Olympia. A few other competitors are also featured along with their quest for physical perfection and recognition of that by the bodybuilding contest judges. The well-placed and very informative pictures of the athletes at work in the gym, at play and in competition were a constant source of fascination to me as a teenaged boy, and I spent uncounted hours slowly flipping through the pages and examining every detail of what I thought a physique SHOULD look like. If you have ever been mildly curious of what essence makes men into bodybuilders, or have wondered WHY they do this, this book is for you. I recommend it very highly, and would probably be flipping through it right now if I had it, so inexhaustible is its supply of interesting information!

Before this book, bodybuilding was an obscure sport that nobody cared about or was interested in. Pumping Iron changed all that with it's realistic look at the sport with many pictures of the champions of the 70's & early 80's at work and play. Shattered many of the myths that people believed about bodybuilders and presented them as ordinary people with an intense drive and competitive will.

If you have a puppy or young dog, this book is great for your kids who want to help train it. It has great pictures and some neat tricks for the dog to learn.

As preparation for a puppy for our 10-year-old son, we had him commit to reading this book first. Each night he read alone, and then we read together. It was not only informative, easy to read and follow, but a great shared time as well! It was the perfect "first" book to introduce our son into the upcoming responsibilities of having a dog. I also realized how neglectful I was in raising our now adult Labrador, and how much I want to re-train her with our son's puppy, too!

Pretty good. Easy to understand unlike a lot of other dog books. I think it's just a little lacking in information, but it's a great book to start with, above average.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful and easy to understand. Children can follow and understand how to care for and train their new puppy. This is not a book for people who are looking to learn about dog behavior the history of a dog. You will need to find a more informative book like; Good Owners, Great Dogs by Brian Kilcommons for that kind of information. But for older children who want to learn to care for their dog this is a good book for them.

JoAnn Dahan author of Kids Training Puppies in 5 Minutes and TV Show Host of Kids Training Puppies.

This is an excellent book for your children if you plan to make puppy a new member of your family. It guides the children through the various stages of training a puppy, has good photographs supporting the text and highlights certain important phrases. Whislt it, of course, does not cover all aspects of dog traing, it does not need to do that: the training will be the adults responsibility, and not the child's. The child however can and should support those efforts and by reading this book can add to the training and hence become a responsible dog owner her/ himself.

This is the best dog training book I have read amongst many, and yet it is so much more. It is a blueprint for a wonderful relationship of understanding with your dog. Written with a sense of humor that really struck my funny bone, it says so much that you can't absorb it all on the first pass. Read it again and again, and then use it for reference. You won't regret it!

This book is fantastic, one of the most interesting and engaging I've found so far.

I found this book not only easy to read, but the authors genuine love and appreciation for her dogs is evident on every page. The information regarding how and why dogs react to emotional energy, body posture, breathing and even eye contact is fascinating, and the training techniques in part 3 are extremely useful. The underlying and best quality about this book is how the fun times and the relationship a person has with their dog is the most important part of dog ownership.

I've read many dog training books and this is by far the best. If people could just understand how well positive training works then they could understand why negative punishment isn't the best idea.
I have an BS in psychology and specialized in behaviorism. Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement is the best way to train. I am not going to say that punishment doesn't work but I think all to often it actually harms the dog. To be the pack leader doesn't mean you beat the dog into submission. To gain respect you have to earn respect and using punishment inspires fear
not respect. Fear makes the dog obey but is that what we really want? for our dogs to fear us?!

This is one incredible book. It is exactly as the title states, Companion to Competition. The book starts out with basic rules or concepts that apply universally to teaching your dog good house manner or competitive obedience. The techniques are foolproof and can be easily incorporated into every day interactions with your dog. I started reading this book when my most recent dog was 8 weeks old. This book has allowed me to achieve a bond and level of trust with my dog that I did not realize was possible. I have read many dog training books and this book is the best by far.