Raising Dog App vs. Book: What's in Each

The Raising Dog book is your dog's customized training plan, built from a quiz and delivered in print or as a PDF, and the Raising Dog app is its daily companion: lessons, a digital copy of your guide, progress tracking, potty logs and reminders. The book tells you what to do; the app helps you keep doing it.

Two separate products that work well together - your book holds the plan, and the app keeps it moving.

The book is the plan. It is built from your answers to a quiz about your dog's breed, age band, coat type, known commands, potty and crate training, problem behaviors, stress triggers, living space and how many minutes a day you can train.

Your book comes as a printed copy, a PDF ebook, or both. Your printed book is made to order and shipped with tracking, and your ebook arrives by email as a download link, so save it to your device.

The app is where the plan meets your day. Here is what you get:

It runs on iPhone and Android, and you can also use it in your browser at app.raising.dog if you would rather not download anything.

Neither column is the better one. They answer different questions: the book answers what to work on, and the app answers whether you did it today.

Most training does not fail on the method. It fails on memory.

You cannot remember whether your dog came first time on Tuesday or third time, or whether the accidents are getting rarer or just feel rarer.

A log answers that. It turns "I think it's working" into a trend line, which tells you when to move on to the next step and when to stay put. That is the real job of tracking: it shows you what is actually working.

This worry stops a lot of owners from using rewards at all. It mixes up two stages of learning.

While your dog is learning a new behavior, frequent rewards tell them exactly which action paid off, which makes learning fast and clear. Once the behavior is reliable, you shift to rewards that come some of the time, and to everyday rewards like a walk, a game or the door opening.

A dog on that kind of schedule keeps working because the next rep might pay, the same reason people keep checking their phones. So treats do not create dependence; staying on a continuous reward schedule forever does. Once your log shows a cue working nearly every time, that is your signal to start thinning out the treats.

You can use either on its own. The book stands alone as a complete plan, and the app has its own lessons and tracking.

Together they cover the two halves of training. The book is where you read the plan and see how the weeks fit together; the app is what is in your hand at the park, at dinner time and when the reminder says it is time for five minutes of practice.

If you like paper, start with the book. If you live on your phone, the app keeps you consistent. A simple way to split the jobs:

If more than one person trains your dog, keep one shared record of what was practiced and what your dog is working on this week. The cues and rules then stay the same no matter who is holding the leash, which is half the battle.

Neither the book nor the app can do the repetitions. They give you the plan and the structure; your dog learns from what you practice together.

Neither can see your dog, either. If you notice aggression, panic when your dog is left alone, signs of pain, or a sudden change in behavior, see a vet or a qualified trainer - the app's daily records can be handy to bring along.

Raising Dog offers a customized training book and, separately, a companion app: the book carries the plan built from your quiz answers, and the app carries the daily lessons, logs and reminders that keep the plan moving. Choose the book format you prefer, and add the app if you want tracking in your pocket.

Start with the quiz at raising.dog.

The book answers "what do we work on?" The app answers "did we do it today, and is it working?" Each is useful alone; together they close the gap between knowing and doing.

Pick the format you will actually open every day, and let the log tell you when to move on.