2 questions for you

[ilovetofu]

What't the best dog insurance company?

What's the best book on puppy training?

Thanks.

[summershine2204]

I can't comment on the training book as I grew up with dogs and once you're both "connected" you'll find your routing in my opinion.

I use Lifetime Pet Cover - very reasonably priced and so easy to make a claim. Whilst on our honeymoon our pooch had an accident at the sitters and needed stitches, antibiotics and several vet trips. When we got back we just sent the receipts and form in the post and it was all paid within 2 weeks with no questions asked.

Be sure to look for insurance that covers lifetime illnesses and doesn't cap them at £2K for the entire policy for example.

[BiteyShark]

There have been a few threads on here with recommendations for dog insurance.

Whoever you go to I would get the best cover you can afford. Go for lifetime and personally I would avoid any that require a percentage rather than a fixed excess. Look at the T&Cs closely as they can be very different across companies.

It isn't like car insurance where you swop about every year to get the cheapest cover because anything you have gone to the vets for, even if you didn't claim or have a diagnosis, can mean things are excluded as a pre existing condition (mine asked for a full history from my vets on the first claim).

[WwfLeopard]

I’m yet to find a good one, I would avoid animal friends and Argos though. No idea in books, I also grew up with dogs

[BiteyShark]

Sorry I should have said I am with petplan lifetime and have claimed many thousands in the first couple of years with no issues. My regret is only getting £4000 per year vet fees cover having seen how quickly vet fees mount up (really wish I had gone for the 7k or 12k one).

Haven't used any other company so can't comment but if you search past threads you will find other experiences.

No idea on puppy books as there is so much online and honestly I think 1-1 training is far better than reading about it.

[WisestIsShe]

We use pet plan for our boy. They're a bit more expensive than some others but we've had to claim on it twice in the last ten months and had no problem. They even pay the vet directly. I would highly recommend them.

[Panicmode1]

I use Tesco with lifetime cover and have £7k a year cover. I started paying 19 a month, but she's had cancer and I'm now paying close to 50 quid a month but I've claimed £3k this year on drugs etc....

I also had a really good puppy book, something like 'the perfect puppy' which helped. I went to gundog training with her and also puppy classes for 6 months....

[ilovetofu]

Really helpful replies thank you!

[StillMedusa]

Easy Peasy puppy squeezy.... the title is cheesy but the book is excellent!!!!!!
www.amazon.co.uk/Peasy-Puppy-Squeezy-step-step/dp/1788701607/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=easy%20peasy%20puppy%20squeezy&qid=1574548106&sr=8-1&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 And only £4!!!!

I'm with Petplan, not cheap but our vet can deal with them direct.

[talia66]

I use 'bought by many'. After my previous insurance for my last dog was so inadequate for all the thousands of pounds of vet bills, I also have a cover for life policy. Cant stress enough - Check the condition limits and annual vet limits and get the best you can afford. My last dog needed his gallbladder out and in the end that year we had over £6000 worth of vet bills and got less than £2000 back.

for training I go to a puppy class once a week. However I do recommend using you tube! there are tons of puppy training videos and channels and this has been so valuable to me.

[Girlintheframe]

I've got bought by many lifetime insurance. It cover up to £15.000 per year and has cover for when we go abroad included too.

[SunnyUpNorth]

We have petplan but haven’t had to use it yet, lifetime policy.

Books:
Easy Peasy puppy squeezy
The Happy Puppy by Pippa Mattinson
The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey

They are all really good. Worth reading a month or so before and then again with a highlighter just before you get the puppy.
I’m just reading Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson now too about recall training.

There are loads of good YouTube trainers for looking up specific training exercises, Kikopup and Zak George are good. Short vids and easy to follow. Crate Games by Susan Garrett is good too.

[adaline]

Never read any dog books - we just went to positive reinforcement classes.

We went with Tesco Lifetime cover - upto 10k per year including dental.

[shopsalot]

I could have written the same reply as Sunny! Although I have a lifetime policy with Bought By Many (not had to use it yet) after a lot of research - seemed best value for money for my dog breed and had good reviews.

But completely agree with the books - you only need one of them but I bought all and found them really engaging and useful. And I am also reading the Total Recall book at the moment - just beginning to implement! I've been watching the Zak George youtube training which has been good as his puppy is the same age as mine.

[SunnyUpNorth]

@shopsalot hopefully we will both have perfectly behaved pups very soon! I took the pouch of cat food out on our forest walk today, it was quite messy but went down very well! I only gave him half the pouch as thought a whole one would be too rich.

[shopsalot]

@SunnyUpNorth I am looking forward to a well behaved pup! I've got cat food on my shopping list. The books by Pippa Mattinson are really good. I also found having a decent dog trainer was invaluable - although puppy classes were a little stressful (my puppy barked a lot!)

[SunnyUpNorth]

My puppy barked a lot in classes too @shopsalot! I’ve put loads of effort into socialisation and he is now generally great with other dogs. But our puppy class trainer does a drop in class on a sat which we went to this week and he kept barking again!!!! I kept insisting to the trainer he isn’t normally like that anymore.

[ilovetofu]

Aw puppy training sounds like fun I can't wait!