Okay, first, oh please no-no-no-no-no, please not the Monks of New Skete Book! The methods in that book are not just outdated, they can be very dangerous, and in fact the monks themselves have since discarded the whole alpha roll theory. Here's the thing about the alpha roll. If you can do it, you don't need to (and it can be very demoralizing/threatening/scary for your dog). Conversely, if you have a dangerous dog, trying to alpha roll the dog could well result in a very bad bite. The New Skete book is a great example of a book that still sells but that should be pulled from the shelf.
As for books from a dog owner's perspective vs a vet perspective, there are any number of good ones. I love "And Bones Would Rain From the Sky" by
Suzanne Clothier.
Control Unleashed is an excellent guide to helping fearful dogs and calming over-the-top dogs, it's by Leslie McDeavitt. Clean Run publishes a number of general books (they are mostly focused on agility but many of these books work well for almost any dog). One of my favorites is
The Focused Puppy by Deborah Jones PhD and Judy Keller; I did the book design on that one and it is a wonderful guide to getting a puppy off on the right foot training-wise.
A really good book for anyone wanting obedience skills is Schutzhund Obedience, Training in Drive by Dildei and Booth. While concentrated mostly on the sport of schutzhund, this book has a lot of great ideas to produce a dog who drives you to get what he wants by offering you nice behaviors like heeling and sitting.
The very best source for dog related books is dogwise,
http://www.dogwise.com/
In general fiction, Nop's Trials by Donald McCaig is wonderful (if a bit far fetched, even for a dog as smart as a border collie).
I would be somewhat hesitant to get a book about veterinary treatments from a non-veterinarian though; it would depend on the recommendations and ideas. One must be careful not to tread in "practicing veterinary medicine without a license" land; there be dragons!
Oh and hello everyone. I'm new to the Kindle boards but am a 20+ year graphic designer whose passion and avocation is dogs. I own, train, and teach and and show. I started out in Obedience in the early 1980s, and through the years have done breed/conformation, rally, dock diving, lure coursing, tracking, schutzhund, and my big passion, agility.
