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

9 Reviews For This Product

1. 

   by nonneurotypical February 12, 2025

   I am glad I found Ian Dunbar. He knows what he is talking about.
   Dr. Ian Dunbar writes with the voice of authority because he truly is the authority. Read this book and learn from the source because most of the more current dog training guidance you will find elsewhere is following Dr. Dunbar’s lead (or it is 40 years behind).The content presented in this book and the expertise of the author deserve more than a five star rating and easily outweigh any shortcomings of this book. I think I understand why the information is presented in the book in the way that it is, but it may not lend itself to easy reading and easy acceptance by some people.I read a little bit about dog training from several sources before deciding to get my first new puppy in 16 years. I came away a bit confused by the various approaches many of which were not at all consistent with successes I have had on my own with many dogs over the past 40 years. Then I read this book and all of the successes and failures I’ve had on my own suddenly made perfect sense.Initially this book may be a bit difficult for some people to digest. It seems overly rigid at first, but the specific procedures that are described are offered as an ideal approach for the most typical scenario. Don’t let that prevent you from reading on. The sense of humor may not be easy for some to grasp and the degree of emphasis that is placed on the urgency and importance of some aspects of training may put off some people. However, if you hang in there and read the whole book, I think you will come away with a very solid sense of what you need to do, when you need to do it, and why you need to do it even if you don’t do it in the exact manner suggested in the book.I am convinced that Dr. Dunbar genuinely wants to get his readers to succeed at training great dogs and avoid the creation of troubled dogs first and foremost. He points out that 75% of dogs that end up at a shelter because of behavior problems will never be adopted and will instead be euthanize (“put to sleep”). And, of the 25% that do get adopted, half will end up back at the shelter very soon after adoption and will likewise to be put to death. If he started the book with those statistics, the emphasis he puts on the importance of getting it right from the start might seem more immediately justified.I read the small number of bad reviews of this book before I bought it and I’m glad they did not dissuade me. Anyone who has not read this whole book does not have the full perspective on it. Those who don’t value a scientific approach to dog behavior and dog training may not be persuaded by it. Most who believe they already know the best way to train a dog probably will never read it.I think some people will be a bit put off by the heavy sense of responsibility Dr. Dunbar throws on the readers head very early on in the book. Those people probably shouldn’t own dogs.

2. 

   by Amit Menipaz February 12, 2025

   Easy to read and sincere guide for anyone planning to adopt and own a puppy
   It covered everything from the decision, to the mindset of both puppy and owner and practical advice on how to train the puppy throuhg positive reinforcement and guidance to be the ideal companion for your family!

3. 

   by Patricia B February 12, 2025

   Essential Help for You and Your New Puppy
   I bought this book after reviewing some of the articles on the […]website, which offers a preview of some of the key points of the book. I did read many of the reviews here and felt that the negative comments were somewhat over-reactive.From my perspective, the book not only makes sense about how to raise a puppy, but also about how to raise a child! Why waste time trying to teach kids or dogs what is wrong, until they eventually figure out what is right? That seems really inefficient, now that I know the “lure-reward” technique. This technique lets you use the essential nature of the dog to train it to do what you want it to do: pee, chew, and poop where you want it to, for instance. Walk calmly on leash, for another. The trick is to not fall into the trap of thinking that a few weeks of short and long-term confinement is somehow cruel to the dog. Like children, dogs respond quickly to a consistent routine. It DOES require YOU to be consistent and to have discipline, and I definitely figured out where I was being lazy and too lax, and whenever I went back to the tighter crate schedule, things improved immediately. I realized that I confused a few days of successful potty events with “success” in overall training and went from confinement to total lack of restraint, so I referred to the book again and made some corrections.Here are a couple of tips that helped make this book so useful for me. First, I had a consultation with a pet dog trainer who knew about (and recommended) Dunbar’s technique. This really helped me when addressing the issues that I felt were not explained in the book (more on that later). Secondly, while I took Dunbar’s stern advice as the kind of advice someone gives to people who might not pay attention…that is, I didn’t take him quite so seriously. So, when he says that your dog needs to meet over 100 people in his first month (or whatever), I took that as the general message: socialize your dog as much as you possibly can. We have a really small house and we aren’t hugely social, but I was surprised to find that I could make a list of 100 people pretty easily. They haven’t all been over to my house, but I’ve been out and about and exposed my pup to a lot of different people, and I could see the change in about 2 weeks! And, I realized too that this socialization has to continue through adolescence, the difficult stage (again, think of children). I also found that “training” your dog to be OK when you are not around was particularly practical and helpful. It not only reduced my dog’s anxiety, but mine as well, since it gave me a method to work with the dog to gradually introduce him to “alone” time, which will definitely be a part of his life. It also helped me to be aware of where I might be inadvertently feeding into the dog’s anxious attitude when I returned home (or got him out of his crate).The sit, lay down trick is a snap and I even successfully tried it on an adult pitbull that wouldn’t lay down for its owner!What I also found interesting was that the tips I learned in the book and shared with my other dog-owning friends helped them when it came to their adult dogs! I think that the Cesar Milan method can be quite effective, but it is based solely on dominance, and the lure-reward method can work wonderfully too in many situations (such as getting your dog to be calm when going on leash and learning to happily sit when greeting people).Now, for some things that come to mind that I found lacking in the book. First, I happen to have a toy poodle who is bizarrely un-food motivated, and Dunbar doesn’t mention that at all. I did learn from other poodle owners that this breed isn’t the most food motivated one. I wish he would cover that situation in the book. So, for instance, Dunbar recommends putting all of the dog’s kibble in Kong toys, yet if I put all of Buck’s food in his bowl, he *still* wouldn’t eat even half of it. So, if the open dish doesn’t work, the Kong toy is like locking it away! And, freeze dried liver didn’t work for Buck either. Advice: get those beef jerky sticks for dogs. Or try cheese. And strangely: Wheat Thins (even my cat loves them). Small bits of hot dog too. (I use this for the poop reward). Even so, all of these favorite items stuffed into a Kong toy won’t work for my dog. Maybe when he gets a little older/bigger and I can try it out again, but for now I’m mystified about turning him into a chew-toy-aholic.Secondly, I would have appreciated more information on the puppy interaction when you have a really small dog, or a really large dog. I think the problems you encounter as a dog owner do vary when you have a “non-average” sized breed. How do you keep your little dog from being completely frightened of huge dogs (and then later turning into one of those yappy jerks)? How do you keep your rambunctious, lovey Great Dane from bowling over the chihuaha? And, when you do finally take your dog to the dog park, how can you as an owner to a better job of evaluating other dogs as potential problems? Most people don’t even bother to socialize their dogs, so how do you evaluate?Finally, while I initially started asking people to offer a treat to my dog to get him to sit, I quickly learned that most every person will use a different visual method in asking the dog to sit, while only using the word “sit.” So, it’s really too onerous in my opinion to try to get every person to get the dog to sit, since the lure/reward technique of holding the treat over the head works, but most people don’t know the signal! So, my dog dances on its hind legs while people say “sit!” and give it the treat because he’s so cute. This pretty much has de-sensitized “sit” as a keyword so I quickly dropped the idea of asking people to make him “sit.” What *does* work is asking people to offer the dog a treat, since then they naturally great the dog with a lowered hand, palm up, which is far less threatening to the dog and not a dominance display. I am really not going to burden every human social interaction with an instruction on the sit technique that is required. Later, when the dog learns the word itself, maybe then. I feel that in this respect, Dunbar’s advice is a bit impractical.Overall, I am very glad that I bought this book, and it’s been an essential tool in my working with my puppy and understanding the nature of dogs.

4. 

   by ssmith February 12, 2025

   An important and entertaining book!
   I flew through this book and found it SO helpful in preparing for and raising our new puppy. This book is perfect for someone bringing home an 8 week old puppy and would be SO important. We adopted our girl at 5 months so missed some of the big milestones but we still found it extremely informative and motivating. I will be passing this around to all of my friends and family that get a puppy!

5. 

   by Dr Anoopraj February 12, 2025

   The good one 👍

6. 

   by Bizibee February 12, 2025

   This is an excellent book based on modern animal behaviour science and good sense. It has a very American feel to it but just go along with it as it’s such a useful book. I read it straight through and found some things a bit repetitive, but when I use it as a handbook that’ll be fine as I shall be picking particular chapters and the repetition makes sure you don’t miss important bits if using it as a dip in handbook. The early material on socialising your puppy is absolutely crucial and the reason I bought the book. I won’t be able to introduce my puppy to as many people and children as he suggests, but I shall certainly have a good go at it, particularly children. I’ve always enjoyed training my dogs as you get such a close relationship with them and young dogs love the fun of the games called training! Dunbar rightly points at that everything the puppy encounters in its first few months in and around the home is effectively training and socialisation. If we all used this book well the animal shelters would have fewer sad cases of difficult, unmanageable dogs.

7. 

   by G D Happy in Montreal! February 12, 2025

   My brother stressed that we read this book before getting our puppy! Everything Dr. Dunbar writes seems to be working like “magic” in crate and housebraking our puppy. We grew up with Dogs of different breeds in Mexico City, but they were never living inside our House. Our puppy’s breed is hard to train (Shiba “INU”). So we followed his instructions and got ready with a crate, play pen, chew toys and all. We have had her for three weeks now and everything has worked like Magic. Yes, I know she is about to go from “Gizmo to Gremlin” as she is teething and has more energy and character every day. We have already had “hints” of a little monster but honestly, what Dr. Dunbar writes works to the letter.Following all his “rules” and recommendations has been a lot of work but surprisingly pleasant and even rewarding. Everything he writes seems to work and althought it does seem like common sense, we would not have done many of these things have we not read the book. Convincing our teen agers of the benefits of crating our puppy was a bit of a challenge, but once they read the book (at least parts of it) it really helped them to understand.His writing is friendly and easy. Now, worrying that becuase The Shiba is one of the “ancient breeds” and they don’t recognize a master, we decided to also get her puppy training. We had a first session with the trainer and she practically said everything that Dr. Dunbar writes in his book! So YES I recommend this book for anyone that wants a dog; even if you don’t get a puppy but rescue a dog. It is worth every cent!Thank you Bro for insisting that we get a dog and making sure we read this book first. We owe it all to you and Dr. Dunbar!

8. 

   by Elisa February 12, 2025

   I stopped reading this book after just a couple of pages when the writer suggested locking your new puppy in a crate on its first night and leaving it to cry and howl and bark, just ignore it. That sounded like a horrible way of breaking a puppy’s spirit to me, would never do it! My puppy slept on the bed on his first night. But there are some good tips in the book about teaching your dog to enjoy quiet time.

9. 

   by NiniFuchs February 12, 2025

   Ian Dunbar hat in einer schönen Art mit viel Know-How beschrieben, was VOR dem Welpenkauf zu beachten ist und wie aus einem ungestümen Wildfang ein sozialverträgliches Familienmitglied wird.Leider gibt es das Buch nur auf Englisch – es ist aber für Menschen Schulenglisch-Kenntnissen durchaus zu verstehen.Am besten kauft man sich gleich noch 2 – 4 Kongs dazu, denn das ist das Zaubermittel von Dunbar.