BEst puppy book (and anything else we need to buy)

[30andMerkin]

Have been perusing the New Puppy Owners Support Thread for some time, but I seem to remember vaguely seeing some advice on best puppy books which I now can't find. So, any recommendations??

New pup arrives in a couple of weeks.
We have a crate, bowls, blanket, lead, collar and chewable practical space. He comes with the same food he's being reared on.

Apart from an endless supply of poo bags, disinfectant spray, some vetbed and more food, what else do we need to buy immediately??

Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training by Pamela Dennison, best training book you can get.

The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey is the one most often recommended; I also seem to thumb through the Doglopedia quite a lot, particularly the 'what is wrong with my dog?' section, as my two are quite melodramatic attentionseeking hypochondriac prone to looking tragic for no apparent reason.

Also invest in Simple Solution (it's not the cheapest but nothing else works as well at eliminating the wee smell), and a cartload of kitchen roll. Having failed to keep our 'not on the furniture' rule, we bought some cotton throws to go over the sofas before the dogs get up; it's easier to wash those a couple of times a week that to hoik all the covers off.

Oh, and a Furminator will cut down on your hoovering.

Only other advice is to take lots of pics of the puppy looking heart-meltingly supercute, so you have them to hand when he chews your shoes/wees on your rug/has to be rushed to the vets at 3am because you think he might have eaten some chocolate, etc.

Second the Idiot's Guide recommendation from ThatDamnDog - great book.

If you want to get a bit more involved in training theory then The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson is a fascinating read

I second 'The Perfect Puppy'. 'Before and After You Get Your Puppy' by Ian Dunbar is also good.

I think all new dog owners should be forced to read 'The Culture Clash'. I love Jean Donaldson, she is knowledgable and takes no prisoners.

Culture Clash - and avoid Cesar Millan and Jan Fennell at all costs.

You can read Ian Dunbar's excellent Before & After You Get Your Puppy for free here

What you on about Bella?! I have Jan Fennel's book, I found it hilarious and it makes a wonderful doorstop...

True. And Cesar's is great for getting the BBQ going

Are you guys trying to tell me you don't eat a cracker before you feed your dogs? [incredulous]

My Jan Fennel sits under the sink along with Mein Kampf and Kerry Katona's autobiography, in a box marked "emergency bog paper".

Aye, crackers is right enough

TDD - not only do I eat a cracker before I feed my dogs, I follow them round the garden and pee on top of their pee

TEST

Arrgh, so NOW it lets me post!

Sorry, have tried 4 times to wonder about the cracker situation, and it didn't work!!

YAY! I have mumsnet back! (does happy dance)

Sorry dog owners... as you were.

And seriously, crackers, WTF? Do I need to know about that, or really really not need to ever know about that!

Bitter Apple spray is brilliant for preventing chewing. Only thing that works with our lab. Bit pricey and have to get it on eBay as not many stockists in UK (imported from US).

Unfortunately, we discovered it AFTER lab had chewed kitchen chairs, skirting board, walls and worked his way through the doormat....

We started off buying spray to eliminate odours from accidents, but a friend recommended mopping up accident and then sprinking on bicarbonate of soda and covering with vinegar. Leave it a while then vacumn when dry. Seemed to work as he never had an accident in the same place twice!

We found the book The Puppy Whisperer by Paul Owens useful.

Have you had your puppy's identity tag made up? I'm sure you have as you seem really organised, but not mentioned on your OP. I used this company www.identitag.co.uk/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=3
They were very quick (just in case you haven't sorted this yet).

Might be worth investigating puppy classes now? You should be able to sit-in on most (if they don't want to let you observe before joining then don't enrol and find another). Classes are really good fun and a great way to socialise your puppy.

Rubber Kongs are great to encourage the dog to chew what he's supposed to (not your furniture). We used to fill with kibble, carrots and peanut butter, freeze and give to our puppy if we had to go out and leave him for a couple of hours. Freezing helps sore gums for teething and when their baby teeth are replaced by adult teeth at around four months (puppy biting hurts a lot less once they lose those needle sharp milk teeth).

Looks like you are very well prepared, for your new arrival, though. Hope above is useful.

Thanks for those suggestions MrsS (and for saying we sound well-prepared, everyone else just says "But puppies take a lot of work you know". Er yes, we know, but 12 years or so of unquestioning devotion seems a fair swop to me). Definitely need to get the tag sorted!

Also, we have wooden floors - what would bleach them least during mop-up operatiosn?

"And seriously, crackers, WTF? Do I need to know about that, or really really not need to ever know about that!"

Definitely the second - really really not!

Ok, have been doing lots of reading about the first night and am a mite confused about crates - advice seems to be conflicting.

Pup will not have been crate trained as such at breeders, although he'll have been used to a fairly sparten space of his own - no cosy sitting room upbringing for him!

By the time we get him home he'll have had a long journey and it'll be relatively late. I'm planning to have him in a box/on lap etc for the car journey, so the first he'll see of the crate is when we get him home.

Plan is to take him straight out into garden, then feed (or at least treat) in the crate with water, then take him out again. Crate will be in utility room (don't want to get him used to being upstairs at night). But overnight, then what?

• shut door of crate but leave door to utlity room open so I can hear him and take him out during the night?
• leave crate door open with puppy pad on utility room floor (fortunately we have half-door so could still hear him with utility secured)?
• leave crate door open but no puppy pad and get up to take him out at regular intervals?

or some other arrangement that worked for you?

Thank you!

To start with we left the crate door open as they really can't go very long without an accident. We took him out at 11pm and then set alarm for 3am. Our puppy had had accident during this time, but outside of crate.

We didn't start shutting the crate door until we knew he was used to it during daytime, and he could last about four hours overnight, which doesn't take long.

If you shut the crate door you have to be prepared to get up in middle of the night, but I still think it's worth going out regularly in the night even if you're leaving the crate door open. Therefore, I'd suggest your third option.

We tried newspaper as breeder apparently had 'paper trained', but all he did was shred it so that didn't work and then we didn't bother.

I would suggest getting up and taking out at regular intervals seems to work the quickest in house training. We only had to do it for about two weeks. We then changed so I'd take him out at midnight and DH would take him out at 6am.

Puppy could get through 8 hours overnight by four months of age.

Thanks MrsS.

Am going to put my hands over my ears and go "la-la-la cant hear you" about getting up every 3 hours for 2 weeks, but I think that is the most sensible option!

Hate to disagree with MrsS but what is the point of a crate if you don't shut the door.

Put puppy in the crate at night with cosy bedding no paper or puppy pads and shut the door. Many many many pups will go from about 11.00 to 6.00ish without needing a wee. Some will need to go out.

If the dog whines like mad the first night or 3 some do some never do. You have three choices: sleep with the dog downstairs but still with the dog in the crate with the door locked but so the dog can see and smell you and then after a while when the pup is settled move back upstairs,
or bring the crate upstairs (I don't so this as my dogs do not go upstairs),
or ignore the crying for the few nights that it takes for the puppy to settle.

Do not paper train as it totally confuses the puppy and will make toilet training much much longer. Just be prepared to take the puppy out ever hour or so and when they wake up and after feeding.

Just finished the book by Graeme Hall (the guy from Dogs Behaving Very Badly on Channel 5 which is excellent) called Perfectly Imperfect Puppy and found it very useful. The Perfect Puppy is the one that everyone buys and which has been around for years and I think it's fine but a little too simple for my liking

www.amazon.co.uk/Perfectly-Imperfect-Puppy-life-changing-well-behaved/dp/1529149215
you-well.co.uk/the-best-puppy-training-books-to-buy-in-the-uk/

The Happy Puppy Handbook by Pippa Mattinson.

The clicker training one by Karen Pryor

I got up at 1.30 for three nights, pushed it back by fifteen minutes every three nights and it seemed no time till he could go from 10.30 to 5.30 with absolutely no accidents. I put his lead on, was as boring as possible, praised the wee and anything else, popped back in crate, all went back to sleep.

This thread was started in September 2010 so the OP's puppy is more of an OAP puppy now...