Puppy Love

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

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.

This books is just okay. I should have listened to some of the negative reviews that I now agree with. It limits each topic to one page and there are definitely some topics that need more in depth coverage. I wish I had purchased a more comprehensive dog/puppy training book.

This book has a great way of giving information and making it very easy to understand. We have a new puppy and she is already sitting! I would highly recommend it to a new puppy house

If you love dogs, you'll love this book. Even if you don't have a puppy and aren't thinking about getting one, this book is one you'll open time and time again. The fantastic photos show puppies "being puppies" and make you want to reach into the pages and pet and play with these adorable little dogs. I have this book on my coffee table and it is so fun to hear family and friends, young and old, "ooh" and "ahh" over it and pick their favorites. The information is clear and easy to read and will be an excellent resource for me when I get my new puppy!

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)

The author really knows her stuff, too! Very lovingly written, humorous at times and offers excellent helpful ideas on how to adapt to your new puppy and help that puppy adjust to you too.. I used many of the suggestions.. You can tell she is a dog person. Thankfully, I didn't run into any of the more critical problems that can happen with learning to live with a puppy as one's new roommate!My little doxie is almost two, now...and as sweet as can be, even if she is little stubborn!I highly recommend this book because its easy to look at, easy to read and understand, and can be used as a quick refresh, or just to enjoy looking at the adorable pictures.

Very informative.