Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog

I bought this book because my puppy obedience class uses the sequel "After You Get Your Puppy." I wanted more details on how to "crate train" and this book has that. I wish I had actually gotten this book before we bought our puppy because it describes good things to look for in the puppy you choose, which would habe been helpful.

Want to know what having a puppy is really like? Do you know what your puppy needs in terms of crating, chew toys, and most importantly socialization?? Want to housetrain your puppy to minimize "accidents?" Then get this book! Not only does Dr. Dunbar pack his book with lots of practical, helpful and accurate information, but he does it in and easy-to-read format. He explains the importance of socializing your puppy (what socialization is and how to do it -- and what might happen if your dog *doesn't* get that socialization). As a dog trainer, I wish more of my clients read books like this. Wait a minute, then I'd be out of a job!! It's a great book and I recommend it highly.

Plenty of dog training manuals pepper the market, but Dr. Ian Dunbar's background is as both a vet and an animal behaviorist and writer: the blend of disciplines lends well to Before And After Getting Your Puppy: a guide to positive puppy raising. From the initial considerations in selecting the 'right' dog for a family to the important early lessons a puppy must be taught, Dr. Dunbar's book is loaded with sidebars of information, photos, and a structured plan for everything from socializing the animal to preventing predictable problems at different points of the puppy's growth. If it's only one dog-training 'bible' you're after, make it Dr. Dunbar's Before And After Getting Your Puppy.

What a difference this book makes! When we got our first dog, we suffered through accidents on the floor, chewed shoes, coats, cushions -- you name it -- because we didn't know what to do. I read this book before we got our second dog (a companion to our first), and it was amazing! With the Errorless Training system Dr. Dunbar recommends, the new dog didn't chew a single bad item (he loves his chewtoys and chews only them) and didn't have a single accident in the house. And the errorless system was incredibly simple to set up. I recommend this easy, owner-and-dog-friendly book to everyone I know. Although it says "Before you get your puppy," this book is completely relevant for adopters of adult dogs.

If you are thinking of welcoming a new puppy into your home, this is the most important book you can read! Ian Dunbar includes the information you need to be a successful puppy owner. Please read this book before you get a puppy. If you don't read this book, you may very well contribute to another older puppy or dog winding up in your local shelter.Do your family and your future puppy a favor and order this book right now!