Best Dog Training Books by AU Trainers

A wet kelpie pup at the foot of a kitchen island, a paperback splayed open at chapter three, and an owner who has already worked through two American training books and still cannot land a reliable recall. The fix usually is not a third book about a different method. It is often a different author – one who has actually trained dogs through Brisbane summer humidity, on a Melbourne rescue’s intake list, or at a Sydney puppy school.

Australia’s strongest dog training books tend to come from Delta-accredited or PPG-aligned behaviourists who work in the climate and conditions Aussie owners actually face. Seven stand out: Laura Vissaritis (twice), Lara Shannon, Jen and Ryan Tate, Dr Katrina Warren with Kelly Gill, Sarah Rutten and Louise Ginman, plus Steve Austin’s Working Dog Heroes as bonus reading.

Why a book by an Australian trainer is worth tracking down

Most of the bestselling dog training books in Australian bookshops are written by American or British authors. That is not a problem in itself – good training methods cross borders. But you may notice the small things stack up. The recommended treats are not sold here. The off-leash advice assumes fenced communal dog parks that look nothing like the bushland trails most of us actually walk. The ‘pack of three Labradors’ anecdotes do not help much when you have a single working-line kelpie in a townhouse.

Australian trainers write from a different lived environment. They have worked with summer sessions scheduled before 8am, dogs adopted from Victorian shelters with no known history, kelpie and cattle dog crosses bouncing off the walls, and Sydney apartment owners with no backyard. The books below all pass three filters: the author is Australian-based, holds a recognisable trainer or veterinary credential, and writes from reward-based science rather than dominance or punishment.

Quick picks before you commit to one

• Adopting a rescue – Laura Vissaritis, The Rescue Dog
• Bringing home a new puppy – Jen and Ryan Tate, How to Train Your Dog
• Big-picture care from puppyhood to senior years – Lara Shannon, Eat, Play, Love (Your Dog)
• Reactivity, behaviour issues, force-free deep coverage – Sarah Rutten, The Canine Perspective
• Teaching tricks the family will actually use – Dr Katrina Warren and Kelly Gill, Wonderdogs
• Adding a second dog – Louise Ginman, The Art of Introducing Dogs
• Understanding why your dog does what it does – Laura Vissaritis, Dognitive Therapy

1. Dognitive Therapy – Laura Vissaritis

Published by Penguin Random House Australia in 2017, Dognitive Therapy is the book most owners should probably read first – not last. Laura Vissaritis is a Melbourne-based behaviourist with a background in psychology and education, and her central argument is uncomfortable for owners: to change your dog’s behaviour, the owner usually has to change first.

The book is built around real case studies from her practice. There is nothing on which collar to buy or which command to teach in week one. Instead, you get a framework for reading your dog’s behaviour in context – stress signals, trigger thresholds, the gap between what you think you are rewarding and what your dog actually finds rewarding. Most owners we have worked with finish this book and quietly admit they have been confusing their dog for years.

2. The Rescue Dog – Laura Vissaritis

Vissaritis followed Dognitive Therapy with The Rescue Dog in 2019, also through Penguin. If you have just brought a rescue home – or you are about to – this is the most useful AU-authored book on the topic. It is written for the dog with no known history, the dog that has been bounced through two shelters, the dog whose first week with you involves hiding under the bed or refusing to eat.

The strength of the book is the timeline. Vissaritis walks through the 3-3-3 settling pattern (three days, three weeks, three months), what to expect at each stage, and where most adopters apply pressure too soon. Good for first-time rescue owners. Also useful as a reset for second-time owners who assumed a new rescue would behave like the last one.

3. Eat, Play, Love (Your Dog) – Lara Shannon

Lara Shannon is a certified dog trainer, pet nutritionist and host of Pooches at Play, the Australian TV show. Eat, Play, Love (Your Dog) (Hardie Grant, 2020) is the closest thing to a single-volume manual for AU dog owners – split into three sections covering nutrition, enrichment and behaviour.

It is broader than most training books. You get DIY dog food and treat recipes (with ingredients you can actually find in a Coles or Woolies), brain games, advice on choosing a dog that matches your lifestyle and short chapters on common behaviour issues. It is not a deep treatment of any single problem, and that is the point – it is the book to keep on the shelf and dip into across the dog’s life. Best for: first-year owners and anyone weighing up whether to home-cook or feed commercial.

4. How to Train Your Dog – Jennifer and Ryan Tate

Released in March 2021 by Penguin Random House, Jen and Ryan Tate’s book is the practical, week-by-week training manual most new puppy owners actually need. The Tates run Tate Animal Training Enterprises and between them have close to 30 years of experience – including several years training animals at Taronga Zoo and ongoing work in conservation and detection.

The book is structured around the first 48 hours, the first few weeks, and the first six months. It covers crate training, toilet training, recall, lead manners and the foundation behaviours every dog needs. It is reward-based throughout. The pacing suits owners who want a clear plan to follow rather than a philosophy book – which is what most puppy owners actually want in the first month.

5. Wonderdogs: Tricks and Training – Dr Katrina Warren and Kelly Gill

Dr Katrina Warren is the veterinarian most Australians recognise from Harry’s Practice and Today. Kelly Gill is a professional dog trainer. Their Wonderdogs book (HarperCollins) teaches 20 tricks, ranging from easy beginner cues to advanced sequences, each paired with step-by-step photos featuring the Wonderdogs team – Willow, Jordie, Jinx and Flynn.

This is not a behaviour modification book. It is a ‘now what?’ book for owners whose dog has already nailed sit, drop and stay, and is climbing the walls for mental work. Trick training is genuinely useful – it builds confidence in shy dogs, burns mental energy in clever breeds, and gives kids a positive way to engage with the family pet. Pair it with daily brain games and you will have a dog who is tired in the right ways.

6. The Canine Perspective – Sarah Rutten

Released August 2024, The Canine Perspective is the newest book on this list and the most current on force-free behaviour modification science. Sarah Rutten is a Delta-accredited instructor with 20 years of experience, holding a Cert IV in Dog Behavioural Training, a Diploma in Canine Behaviour Science and Technology and a Professional Dog Training qualification through the Karen Pryor Academy.

The book leans technical without becoming dry. Rutten covers reactivity, dogs and kids in the same household, separation distress and the trap most owners fall into – managing the symptoms while reinforcing the underlying state. It works well as the next book after Dognitive Therapy if you want to move past the introduction and into actual protocols. Best for: reactive-dog owners, second-time owners and anyone considering a professional training pathway themselves.

7. The Art of Introducing Dogs – Louise Ginman

Louise Ginman runs Positive Dogs in Sydney, sits on the APDT Australia committee, and brings an unusual qualification to dog-to-dog work – 18 years of zoo animal introductions with species ranging from lions and snow leopards to red pandas and fishing cats. The Art of Introducing Dogs (Balboa Press) is the only AU-authored book we have come across that handles the specific question of how to introduce two dogs properly.

The book is thorough on play styles, body language during introductions and the staged approach most owners skip. If you are considering a second dog or running a doggy daycare, boarding kennel or shelter, it is the most useful single resource we know of. Many owners assume two dogs will ‘sort it out’ if you put them in the backyard together – that is exactly the assumption this book exists to disprove.

Honourable mention – Working Dog Heroes by Steve Austin

Steve Austin’s Working Dog Heroes (HarperCollins) sits slightly outside the training-manual bracket. It is a memoir-meets-case-studies book about rescuing shelter dogs and training them into detection roles – drug enforcement, environmental protection, even cane toad and penguin work in extreme locations like Macquarie Island. Austin is also closely involved with the Young Diggers program, which pairs trained dogs with returned service personnel managing PTSD.

You will not get a step-by-step recall plan from it. You will get a sharper sense of what dogs are capable of when matched to the right work, and why most pet dogs are bored half-mad on a strict walk-and-feed routine. Read it after a few of the others, not before.

What ‘accredited Australian trainer’ actually means

Australian dog training is unregulated – anyone can call themselves a trainer regardless of qualifications, methods or experience. That makes accreditation the closest thing owners have to a quality filter.

Two bodies do most of the heavy lifting. The Delta accreditation pathway requires a Cert IV in Animal Behaviour and Training (a nationally recognised qualification), and accredited members commit to reward-based methods. PPG Australia represents force-free trainers and explicitly excludes shock, choke, prong, intimidation and other aversive methods from member practice. Both bodies run public ‘find a trainer’ directories. If a book’s author lists Delta accreditation, PPGA membership, a veterinary qualification or zoo behavioural credentials, the methods inside are very likely to align with current AU welfare standards.

Common mistakes when picking a dog training book

Owners get tripped up on the same handful of things, in our experience.

1. Picking by bestseller rank without checking where the author trained, which is fine until you are following a protocol designed for a different climate or breed mix.
2. Buying a ‘balanced training’ book because the term sounds reasonable – it is marketing language for methods that include aversive corrections.
3. Skipping the author bio and not noticing the book is ghostwritten with no named trainer credential.
4. Stacking five books with conflicting protocols on the bedside table. Pick one, work it for three months, then read the next.
5. Reading a tricks book before the foundations are in place. Wonderdogs is great, but only after sit, drop and recall are solid.
6. Buying a puppy book when the dog is six years old and the real issue is reactivity or fear – wrong stage, wrong tool.
7. Assuming a celebrity vet on the cover guarantees training depth. Some celebrity vet books are excellent. Others are general care books with a thin training chapter bolted on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read one book end to end before opening the next. The fastest way to slow your dog’s training is to skim three protocols and apply none of them properly – two months on a single Delta-accredited method beats two weeks on four conflicting ones every time.