Customer Reviews

Perfect Puppy-Newly Revised & Updated: How to Raise a Well-Behaved Dog

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't have too much to say about this book other than, buy it! Thorough, humane, realistic, this book covers everything about raising, guiding, and training your puppy into a mannerly and happy dog in a way that meets your puppy's needs as well as yours. The focus on play puts it well above others - the author realizes that puppy play is the heart of bonding, and uses that knowledge well. I am completely impressed and have nothing negative to say about this book. Even the printing is impeccable - high quality with beautiful color photographs and a helpful layout. No other puppy book comes close.

The Perfect Puppy is an excellent resource book that should be read before the decision to acquire a puppy is made. Ms. Bailey includes helpful information about selecting the right puppy for your family as well as detailed information about handling issues after the puppy is in your home. Besides the basics of housebreaking and training, you will learn how to "play" with your puppy, how and where to socialize and how to handle behavior issues such as biting, chewing, etc. The book contains color photos and step-by-step instructions. Ms. Bailey also educates the reader about the "why" behind certain behaviors. Now I understand why my former dog behaved the way she did. How I wish I had this resource on my bookshelf 20 years ago! Buy this book and keep it handy. You will find yourself referring to it frequently during your puppy's first 18 months.

I think this is a great book for people getting a new puppy. It goes over the basics, is a user friendly book, easy to read, and also has lots of photos to help.

My husband and I read this book cover to cover. My puppy (10 weeks old) can sit, wait, and come. He learns so fast. This book is wonderful and easy to read.

This truly is the perfect puppy book!! It has EVERYTHING you need to know about puppies, training, crate training, tricks, good behavior promoting!!
This book is filled with pictures, illustrating tricks training.
I really adore this puppy book! Best buy for potential pet owners!!!

Hello!

I have read this book from cover to cover, and found it seriously lacking in many areas.

Fist off, this author seems to believe that you are either retired, or independently wealthy, or supported by a spouse, and dying to spend enormous amounts of time with your dog, as she expects you to spend HOURS EVERY SINGLE DAY doing all this stuff.

For example, she offers a "Suggested Daily Routine" chart on page 50, that she says, "It is flexible enough to enable you to live your own lives around it."

The chart has you starting at 8am doing stuff with your dog, and doesn't end till after 11pm! There are things scheduled at 15 minute to one hour intervals ALL DAY LONG! You DON'T have time to visit friends, do shopping, see a movie, go to church, have a job, or even a part-time job! If you did everything on this list, it would take a MINIMUM of 2 to 3 hours each and every day! Most people don't spend that much time raising their own children!

This book offers NO advice for 2 working parent families, or advice at splitting your time up if you have children, or other pets to take care of.

Secondly, it is written in a dull, sterile manner, more like an auto repair manual than a book about (wo)man's best friend. She offers virtually NO advice on what to try, if one of her methods fail, which can happen for a variety of reasons; nor does she offer real life examples of her methods working with different, or in fact any, dogs. There is NOT ONE real life example in the entire book!

Thirdly, she expects you to do UNENDING UNREASONABLE things, continuously. For example, there is another chart on page 200 which lists almost 4 DOZEN different sorts of people, places, and pets that you are supposed to take or expose your dog to, and not just once, but multiple times each! These include restaurants, bars, ducks, wheelchairs, and elsewhere in the book it even mentions buses! I don't know about you, but unless you have a seeing eye dog, or one that helps with another handicap, I would not try going into a bar, restaurant, or attempt to board a bus, with a dog; let alone a pet dog I am in the process of training!

Fourthly, she seems to think that everyone you know, and even total strangers, should be involved in your dog's training. She expects you to have, apparently, dozens of close friends with dogs, that have nothing better to do, than to go over to your house with their dogs, and help with your dog's training. I don't know about you, but MY list of people willing to do this is zero. She even suggests getting strangers you meet on walks to help you! I consider this bad manners and an enormous imposition on poor people simply out for a quiet walk.

Fiftly, she really offers no advice on nutrition at all, apparently assuming that nutrition has no effect on a dog's behavior, and that any old dog food is fine. Having read over 300 books, thousands of research abstracts, and hundreds of research papers on the subject of nutrition, I disagree. Nutrition can have a profound affect on a dog's behavior and mood and health, which, of course, would greatly affect a dog's training. After having read what is REALLY in most dog foods, my wife and I MAKE our own dog food, adding appropriate nutritional supplements. And we've only had our new dogs 3 weeks! (There are two: 6 month old pugs that a co-worker of my wife's had to give up. They are littermates, and both female, which apparently is not recommended by anyone. HOWEVER, her limited advice on the matter in her book I considered useless, and her advice on adding a dog to a household with a dog already there, cruel (Keeping the dogs separated from each other so that the new dog bonds to you, instead.)) She also does not offer a list of simple foods that can kill your dog. Most people know about chocolate. But, did you know that even small amounts of grapes or raisins can kill a dog? Plus about a dozen other common foods. I had to find out this information elsewhere.

There are many pictures in the book, though mostly they do not add to the book. If you really like looking at pictures of dogs, I guess it's OK. The best use of the pictures, is in the dog training section, and might help some if you are confused. The pictures don't really add much elsewhere, though.

Why do I rate this book 3 stars, instead of 1?

She does give OK standard information about reward based training, although she derides any other form of dog training other than hers, without explanation. This information is available numerous other places, though.

Also, she does offer some scientific information about dogs usually not included in dog books, that I found of some interest.

All in all, this is a weak book, that could've been substantially better, but wasn't. It is NOT written for a normal family, with normal jobs, and I can't recommend it. The book is called "The Perfect Puppy", but the REAL title should be called "The Perfect Dog Owner", because that is what she expects from YOU, ABSOLUTE PERFECTION in raising your dog.

Instead, I would recommend "Rover, DON'T Roll Over", by Jody Rosengar. It is filled with numerous real life examples of training, and gives tips on what to try when standard methods fail. It is a much more balanced and practical book, written for regular people with regular lives, by someone who obviously really loves dogs.

Karl

This book fails because it allows your dog to be the alpha, and not the owner.

Indicative of the dog's control over the owner are the problems that Karl mentioned. Specifically, your ENTIRE day from early morning to late at night is devoted to playing, walking and feeding the dog. Karl was wrong when he said that the owner is to devote 2-3 hours a day. I counted up the hours, and it is more like 7-8 solid hours. More importantly, because the owner has responsibilities every hour, the owner cannot work. In fact, the routine is such, that this wouldn't even work for a stay at home mom. There is absolutely no free time to care for the children. It wouldn't even work for a housewife with no kids (if there is such a person any more) because there is no time for cooking and cleaning for the family. If you have to vary from the suggested schedule, the longest that the dog is "permitted" to be confined is 2 hours, and I don't recall if you can even leave the dog alone in the house. No one could live like this, and if you did, the dog, and not the owner, is the one clearly in control.

Also indicative of how the owner is not the alpha are the sections on biting. We all agree that play biting can be bad, and that toys should be substituted. Great, but what if the dog continues to bite? Her suggestion is to turn your back and stand still. She said that this will work because he dog will realize that the game is over and will stop the bad behavior. Hmm. So, assuming that the dog doesn't continue to bite your leg, what she is saying is that withholding play is the punishment. That would only remotely work if the dog is played with all the time. In the real world, the dog must be able to entertain him/herself for much of the day. Unless, you are exclusively devoted to the dog, withholding play should never be a punishment. (Just like you don't play with a child 100% of the day for myriad reasons, you don't play with the dog 100% of the day.)

The sections on housebreaking also are odd. She says to walk the dog hourly, and then paper train in between. What is missing is that a dog who is permitted to go out hourly will never need to develop bowel and bladder control for longer stays inside. Additionally, if the dog is permitted to pee and poop inside, the dog won't be very motivated to actually be house broken. The author is opposed to crate training (the crate is only to be used with the door open and only for 1 hour max), which is generally accepted as the preferred method of training. Because the crate doesn't permit the dog to use it as a bathroom, she says that it is inappropriate. HELLO. That is the reason for the crate.

Overall, this is a simply terrible book. Whatever small points might be okay, it is overwhelmed by the terrible advise and these completely off the wall theories.