How Will I Raise This Dog?

I'm new at this dog thing, so I'd better go read up on what to do. I'll be back in a minute.

OK, I'm back. And I'm so confused.

It seems that everyone has an opinion (or two) on how to raise a dog, and they're all pretty sure of themselves. There's lots of "You Must" and "You Must Never" phrases in their writing. You can tell that there's not a lot of science behind any of this, because there's also a fair bit of dismissal of other techniques.

I'm reading Caesar Millan's "How to Raise the Perfect Dog." I'm not sure this is the book for me. Maybe a better title for me would be "How to Raise the Least-Defective Dog." I'm sure Caesar is a nice man, but this book wanders all over the place. If you'll forgive the analogy...like an untrained beagle. But I'm learning!

One thing about Cesar -- watch his shows, don't read his books. I get a totally different impression of what he's trying to say. Of course, it would be nice if I had all the time in the world, and a giant "Dog Psychology Center" to train the dog. But I have to go to work and I only have a back yard for training.