Puppy book: what would you want?

[gertrudebiggles]

Shamelessly posting for my brother who has been a mixed animal vet for a couple of decades and has decided to write a puppy guidebook while he takes a year off and travels France.

He doesn't have mumsnet!

His question: If you purchase a puppy guidebook written by a vet, what Qs would you really want answered?

He's thinking to include all the basics (training, socialising, food) but also a guide on picking insurances, first aid, toxic foods, vaccines etc.

For those who've recently had a puppy, is there anything you think would be good to hear about? Or to get a vet's view on?

He's quite no nonsense and says it how it is and has always worked in an independent practice, never the big corporates. It won't be an airy fairy book!

My dog is eight and what I want to know now is this. When she was younger she had upset tummy due to a too large a treat that was new and too many isn't she cute can I give her a biscuit on one day. I'm nervous now to change her food or give her anything new. Do they grow out of sensitive tummies?

So, a bit about introducing new foods would be useful.

I don't think a vet is really qualified to give advice on training or socialising or food really (sorry) - there are people who study dog behaviour, dog nutrition, training etc. Unless he has experience on those issues or qualifications, he should stick to what he knows - vaccinations, first aid, toxic foods etc.

Separately, unless your brother has had a dog, or dogs, then he really won't know anymore about training than anyone else out there with a dog. And even then, not much more than the average dog owner.

It would take a lot to compete with 'Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy' tbh - it's the best book for first time owners on all the essentials.

I would want an explanation about what happens when tge breeder does the first vaccine and it's not compatible with your own vet, and encourage owners to take on the first vaccination themselves to avoid double dosing

It's a really crowded market, there are already hundreds if not thousands of this type of book.

If the book is being written by a vet then I would only really want medical advice.

Vets are not usually the best people to discuss training, socialisation or food (especially people who have been vets for years) .

Thanks all! He's here with me now (bottle of Merlot on the table) so I'm reading him the comments.

He's said the vaccine comment is exactly the kind of thing he was looking for (very common for vets to use different brands apparently).

We've both had dogs all of our lives and he's a bit of a guru with things like training - definitely the "go to" vet in the clinic for that kind of thing. He also does agility with his Collies. Maybe not your typical vet. His wife is also a (very good!) Collie breeder, does it all by the book and has had some lovely litters.

You say he doesn't 'have' mumsnet. I'm guessing then he maybe isn't a big social media user. He needs to be. He needs to have a niche. Agility with collies? Could be his niche. Travelling around France as a vet? Could be this.

Who is going to publish a general dog book? Probably no one. Who is going to publish a dog book from the travelling collie training vet with 20k insta followers. Possibly someone.

What does he want to say? What's his elevator pitch? Who is his audience? He could incorporate general training with a focus on activities for dogs (agility/scent work/herding)

Ready, Steady, Collie
Agility Collies,from A to C.
Collie Puppy Agility: A Vet's Advice

Yes, not a social media user. He tells me he posted a similar question to this in the cycling forum he uses and didn't get any replies, bless him.

Good point Re the niche nut he's adamant this is more of a passion project. Basically he hears all sort of crap advice when it comes to puppies and wants to create a bit of a "bible". I've asked if he wants to make money and he told me not to be silly! So there's that

OK. But what's the point of writing if no audience?

Audience would be new dog owner, who he sees every day.
He's said it would be nice to have this "manual" to offer them as there's only so much you can cover in a 20 minute consult.

I can imagine it would also sell in his and his wife's circle of friends and acquaintances. So hopefully he'd break even for his time and have a book to show at the end of it all.

I'd assume there would be some general appeal too, given how many people have dogs and want to do right by them.

He's said he was always going to do writing on this France trip and fancies writing about dogs as it is what comes naturally to him. It was that or English Cathedrals apparently!

But, yes, he's not about to go on Lorraine promoting it, or to start an Instagram page! His idea of hell!

Ah, Dog Imagery in English Cathedrals would be a lovely book! Or Animal Imagery in French Cathedrals. There's his USP.

Look at an app instead, I thought the Woofz one was brilliant, it allows multimedia content too.

Trust me people will spend £1000's on a dog often a mongrel! but they are not happy to spend £9.99 on a puppy book.

There are 100's of books on the market and probably only a couple that have and decent advice.

English cathedrals would be a better bet!

Having just got our second dog the market is saturated with dog advice books and trainers on social media.

Honestly I would see it the same as books about babies, totally pointless.

Whenever I had specific questions or concerns or those not sure if this is normal situations with my babies and my puppy I googled it. I was given books on both babies and puppies but never opened them. I was never going to read a whole book about every situation because loads of it would be irrelevant and when I want to know something specific it's quicker to use my phone than find the book and the relevant section.

What's missing from existing puppy books is what to train, when, in what order. I found Easy Peasy was by far the best general book, but it still doesn't go much further than the absolute basics. Any more than sit, leave it and recall and you're looking at classes or the handful of decent, more specialised books - e.g. Total Recall, Mission Control, and my current absolute favourite, Control Unleashed. But these latter ones are a big step up from Easy Peasy, and it can all be really overwhelming.

I think a book would be really useful that was able to say train these basics by six months (or whatever) and here's how, week by week; plus here are some common problems and how to avoid them (don't leave puppies to cry it out, don't let your kids take things from the dog, don't leave them before they're ready and not at all when they're tiny, don't bugger about with their food, etc. etc); what are the actual differences between dogs from working lines and those from show lines and why it is a bad idea to get a collie when you live in a flat in London; and what to do if you've done that; then relatedly (a big gap) how to make the next steps to things like co-operative care, basic retrieving/gundog work, rally/agility. Oh, and some up-to-date information on why neutering is no longer advised across the board and isn't the answer to all your problems and you definitely shouldn't be buggering about with your ten-month-old male dog's hormones when they're already all over the place and he barks at lampposts.

Thanks @Bupster, DB says you clearly know your stuff. He's quite passionate about not neutering too early and he's said he will definitely have a chapter on that, and also to discuss when neutering isn't the right decision.

He's said that's also very helpful Re what you feel is missing from other books on training.

A comprehensive chapter on puppy farms/unregistered breeders.

100% agree

I think something on feeding would be good. I think a lot of people get hung up on what it says on the side of the bag/tin and don’t realise that these are guidelines not absolute rules. Young hungry puppies need plenty of calories for growth, and their needs change as they grow older dependent on their size and activity levels. ( I cannot speak for labradors as I’ve never owned one)

I thought of another one...... litter mate syndrome !
I think a vet that does agility would be great for giving pre puppy advice personally.
I do agility myself (G5 Staffordshire Bull Terrier) and I know the extra knowledge gained from the early days, particularly intense focus in a high arousal environment.
So many of these skills are things that would hugely benefit a pet owner, whether they have bigger ambitions or not.
On that subject..... what to look for in a puppy socialization class, and the fact that socialisation means learning to focus on the owner and ignore distraction, and to be dog neutral..rather than what most people think it means (puppy bundle/free for all).
Benefits of using a long line rather than a cheese wire extending lead .
Benefits of crate training/ for toilet training, teaching to settle, traveling safely in a car, and for the day your dog ends up in one at the vets, or when on enforced crate rest.
Dangers of over exercising puppies and the importance of rest.
Why too much use of a ball chucker can cause obsessive behavior and potential injury.
Neutering and how it can affect nervous dogs and how it doesn't magically make dogs calm down. Pros and cons etc.
How Neutering affects metabolism and the necessity to adjust the diet.
Titre testing.
Types of insurance and what happens with pre existing conditions if you change companies.
These are all things that I see crop up on here that people are not aware of. Also things that come up regularly when I am teaching my beginners groups.

I disagree with the saturated dog book market- there are too many books out there and yet we all continue to seek out and read new ones, I’m another that lived for easy peasy puppy Squeezy but I love flicking through dog books (special mention for the dog encyclopaedias!) and have loads!

Some really great comments, thank you ladies.
DB has taken some notes and is quite enthused :)

I'm genuinely excited to read the book. He's a good egg, and really passionate and knowledgeable about dogs, so i think it will work.

My dogs teeth got damaged from those deer antlers everyone raves about. Also tennis balls are terrible for dogs teeth.

id want a reality check on how hard the initial training/house breaking is. And the adolescent stage, Basically a what to expect so people are prepared.

I wouldn’t take nutritional or training advice from a vet tbh, they never seem particularly knowledgeable. The pushing of vaccines and prophylactic treatments makes me take some medical advice with a large pinch of salt too , ( ex veterinary nurse ).