PuppyPerfect: The user-friendly guide to puppy parenting (Howell Dog Book of Distinction) [Paperback]

Sarah Hodgson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Howell Dog Book of Distinction | Publication Date: November 7, 2005

The book is user-friendly.

The approach is puppy-friendly!

Your puppy is so irresistible, cute, and lovable--until she chews your shoe, uproots your flowers, ruins your rug, demolishes your remote, or gobbles up your steaks.

Understanding your puppy's unique personality, breed-specific traits, and temperament will help you tailor and implement proper, positive training techniques to save your sanity and your puppy! PuppyPerfect explains how to develop a nurturing and mutually respectful relationship with your puppy, which is the key to getting her to behave properly. You'll get information on supplies you need for a puppy, proper feeding, healthcare, and more. You'll learn about puppy psychology, personality, breed differences, and training tools. You'll discover how to make training your puppy more effective and more enjoyable, with:
* Six puppy personality profiles, plus a quiz to help you determine where your puppy fits
* Step-by-step lessons for puppies at various ages and stages
* Information on clicker training, targeting, and point training
* Suggestions and games for positive play training
* Doglish 101 to help you decipher your puppy's bark and body language
* Techniques for dealing with specific bad behaviors, including jumping, digging, pulling on the leash, barking and aggression, stealing food, and more


Complete with more than fifty photos, stories from the author's teaching experiences, a Doglish glossary, and more, this must-read will help you turn your adorable, but far from perfect, puppy into a lovable friend for life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The book is user-friendly.

The approach is puppy-friendly!

Your puppy is so irresistible, cute, and lovable—until she chews your shoe, uproots your flowers, ruins your rug, demolishes your remote, or gobbles up your steaks.

Understanding your puppy's unique personality, breed-specific traits, and temperament will help you tailor and implement proper, positive training techniques to save your sanity and your puppy! PuppyPerfect explains how to develop a nurturing and mutually respectful relationship with your puppy, which is the key to getting her to behave properly. You'll get information on supplies you need for a puppy, proper feeding, healthcare, and more. You'll learn about puppy psychology, personality, breed differences, and training tools. You'll discover how to make training your puppy more effective and more enjoyable, with:

• Six puppy personality profiles, plus a quiz to help you determine where your puppy fits
• Step-by-step lessons for puppies at various ages and stages
• Information on clicker training, targeting, and point training
• Suggestions and games for positive play training
• Doglish 101 to help you decipher your puppy's bark and body language
• Techniques for dealing with specific bad behaviors, including jumping, digging, pulling on the leash, barking and aggression, stealing food, and more

Complete with more than fifty photos, stories from the author's teaching experiences, a Doglish glossary, and more, this must-read will help you turn your adorable, but far from perfect, puppy into a lovable friend for life.

About the Author

SARAH HODGSON has been a dog trainer for twenty years and owns Simply Sarah, Inc., a dog training school in Westchester, New York. She has written five books about dogs, including the bestselling DogPerfect and Puppies For Dummies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Howell Book House; 1 edition (November 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764587978
• ISBN-13: 978-0764587979
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #574,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Hodgson has been a dog trainer for twenty years and owns Simply Sarah, Inc., a dog training school in Westchester, New York. She has written five books about dogs, including the bestselling DogPerfect and Puppies For Dummies.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed., December 23, 2006

By 

anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: PuppyPerfect: The user-friendly guide to puppy parenting (Howell Dog Book of Distinction) (Paperback)

As a total novice in the dog owning/training department I read every dog book I could get my hands on before our puppy came home. A lot of those books were good, but focused on house/obedience training an older puppy (4+ months). We were getting our puppy at 7 weeks and I just wasn't sure what I should be doing at this early stage. This book walks you through all of your puppy's ages starting at 8 weeks and gives you weekly projects to start working on, which I found most helpful. I now know what I can reasonably expect of such a young pup and feel that while my puppy won't learn it all right away at least I'm not sending us down the wrong path from the very beginning. I felt comfortable with the author's teaching style (calm, fun, easy-going, but authoritive) and relieved to know that it's ok to get down on the floor and roll around with your new puppy without losing your puppy's respect as her leader (as some books implied would happen). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone getting a new puppy.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good guide to puppyhood, September 9, 2009

By 

A. Lee (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: PuppyPerfect: The user-friendly guide to puppy parenting (Howell Dog Book of Distinction) (Paperback)

I got my first dog 4 weeks ago and wanted to learn everything there is about raising a healthy, friendly, and fun dog. The book gives you critical information about what to buy for your dog (food, chews, toys, crates), games to play with your dog to strengthen the bond, behavior expectations, suggestions to resolve common puppy issues, and what to expect the 1st year. I am unable to take my dog on walks yet because he's not fully vaccinated, thus, the games are great. I was lost as to what to do w/my dog at home after the first 2 wks because he was obviously becoming bored with his toys. The book also helped me manage my expectations for I realized that I had many unreasonable expectations of my now 11 wk old puppy in terms of obedience and housetraining. After reading this book, I took a deep breath, relaxed, and just started having fun with my puppy. I highly recommend it to anyone who's never had a dog before.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book! Buy this one first!, March 8, 2008

By 

NOVA John (Northern Virgina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PuppyPerfect: The user-friendly guide to puppy parenting (Howell Dog Book of Distinction) (Paperback)

I am not a professional dog trainer but found this book this book to be extremely helpful in dealing with specific behavioral issues I was having with my 15 week golden-doodle. The book as a whole is very good and the index leading to specific problems (such as "mounting") were invaluable. There are alot of books out there, but this one is head and shoulders above the rest.