Puppy Love [Hardcover]

Liz Palika (Author), Sheri Wachtstetter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2009

Combining informative text with beautiful full-color photographs, this book covers everything you need to know about caring for puppies from birth to age six months. Busy puppy parents will get fast and authoritative advice on:

• Puppy-proofing your home and yard

• What age to bring home a puppy

• Housetraining

• The first trip to the vet

• Crate training

• Feeding

• Socialization

• And much more

Whether you're a proud puppy parent or just love to admire these adorable bundles of joy, this is a charming book you'll turn to again and again.

A Certified Pet Dog Trainer and Certified Animal Behavior Consultant, Liz Palika has written more than fifty books. She has received two prestigious Maxwell Awards from the Dog Writers' Association of America. Her work has been published in Newsweek, Dog World, Dog Fancy, the AKC Gazette, and other magazines.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sheri Wachtstetter is a watercolor painter and photographer. Her photos appear in several books, including The Howell Book of Dogs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Howell Book House; 1 edition (April 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470393173
• ISBN-13: 978-0470393178
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 8.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Liz Palika has been writing professionally since 1985 when she was first published in DOG FANCY magazine. Since then she has written more than 65 books and more than 1,000 magazine articles and columns. She has been published in DOG FANCY, DOG WORLD, CATS, CAT FANCY, AKC GAZETTE, and other pet publications, as well as NEWSWEEK, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST and WOMEN FIRST.

Her books include PUPPY LOVE and THE KISS GUIDE TO RAISING A PUPPY; both of which are favorites with new puppy owners. THE ULTIMATE DOG TREAT COOKBOOK received rave reviews in magazines and newspapers all over the country, including USA TODAY. ALL DOGS NEED SOME TRAINING was listed by PET LIFE MAGAZINE as one of the ten best training books available to dog owners.

Liz's books have been awarded many honors. THE HOWELL BOOK OF DOGS was awarded Best Reference Book by the Dog Writers Association of America and was nominated as Best Nonfiction Book by San Diego Book Awards. AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD: CHAMPION OF VERSATILITY won Best Breed Book from Dog Writers Association of America and Best Nonfiction Book from San Diego Book Writers. SAVE THAT DOG! won best General Reference Book from Dog Writers and the First ASPCA Pet Overpopulation Answers Award from the ASPCA. Liz's work has also won awards from Cat Writers and Purina, as well as others from Dog Writers. Liz was honored with the San Diego Leadership Award, was a North County Woman of Merit, and in 2005 was awarded Dog Writers Distinguished Service Award.

Liz has an international platform to connect with her readers. Not only is her podcast, "It's a Doggy Dog World" on PetLifeRadio.com the #1 most downloaded show on that site, but she is also a blogger for the PetConnection.com.

Liz has been teaching dogs and their owners in North County San Diego for almost 25 years. Her dog training is based on an understanding of dogs and what makes them tick. Liz is a Certified Dog Trainer (CDT)and a Certified Behavioral Consultant. She is an AKC CGC (Canine Good Citizen) Evaluator #4182.

Working in Vista, California (San Diego County), Liz is the owner of Kindred Spirits Dog Training and sees more than a thousand dogs and their owners every year. Liz and her dogs, over the years have participated and trained in many dog sports, including agility, carting, conformation, herding, obedience, search and rescue, therapy dog work, and more.

Liz and her husband Paul share their home with three Australian Shepherds.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Puppy Love-LOVE it!, April 9, 2009

By 

Mary R. Burch "Dr. Mary Burch" (Tallahassee, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Puppy Love (Hardcover)

BRAVO to Liz, Sheri, and Wiley Publishers!

As a dog writer, I knew that any new book by Liz Palika would be well written, but dog books are dog books and after you look at hundreds of them, most start to look alike. Puppy Love stands alone.

The material covered is basically the same as what is covered in other puppy books. But this book is very different. Each topic from teaching basic skills to housetraining and handling behavior problems is covered on one page with a color photo of a puppy on the opposite page. Liz has summarized for busy puppy owners what they need to know about each topic on one page. She has left out all of the typical blah, blah, blah and provided only the critical information. For teaching new skill, a very simple task analysis is provided.

The photo editor, Sheri Wachtstetter, is credited on the book's cover. This is something one rarely sees, but this photo editor's work was a key part of this book. In many dog books, every few pages, there is a great photo. In full color, the photos appearing on every other page of Puppy Love are all GREAT. There are coffee table books with wonderful photos and no written information, and there are books with written information that when reading, you wish there were more photos. This book manages to give you both content and photos.

As a dog trainer, I love the approach in this book where less is more. If you want to read about theory, this is not the book for you. If you want a book that is like a cookbook that tells you exactly what to do, Puppy Love is for you and your puppy.

If you're a writer, you should buy Puppy Love because it is cutting edge and unlike anything else that has been done before. This book is the exemplar for the writer's saying, "I would have written less if I had more time."

Puppy Love is bold and fresh and it cuts to the chase in a hurry. The photos are beautiful and the content is behaviorally correct.

Mary R. Burch, PhD

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pass on the book unless you want a book full of photos, November 25, 2011

By 

Readsalot (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Puppy Love (Hardcover)

Every other page is a photo of a cute puppy. Kids liked looking at the photos. While the information on puppy raising is good, it is not easy to read. Opposite each photo is a page of information about puppies. However, a page is not long enough for some topics, and so there is a lot of filler information. When the topic is too long to be dealt with in a page, it still gets just a page (in which case important information is left out), or it is broken down into several pages. I thought it made reading very disjointed.

I prefer Patricia McConnell's puppy book The Puppy Primer. It doesn't have the cute photos, but it has all the information you need clearly and succinctly presented.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent; Thorough, Step by Step guide, August 13, 2010

By 

Patrick Duffy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Puppy Love (Hardcover)

I got a copy of Puppy Love before getting a puppy, and now I have a long list of things to remember and a guide to raising a great dog. A good way to prevent playful puppies from turning into untrained terrors (should you actually read it and follow the great advice)