The Perfect Puppy : How to Raise a Well-Behaved Dog

We hired a trainer. When he came to the house he saw "The Perfect Puppy" sitting on our coffee table, and mentioned that he thought it was a great book....... just not for us!!! He explained that the book was written about more submissive breeds (ie Golden Retreiver), we adopted a puppy made up of 2 very dominant breeds. At least I figured out that I wasn't crazy after all!

I'll keep the book around and definitely pass it on to anyone I know who will be getting a puppy. I'm very disappointed that it didn't work, because as I said, it was well-written and easy to understand. I hope it benefits someone else.


The Perfect Puppy: By Gwen Bailey   February 14, 2004
Betty Seaba (Wellman, IA USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I was feeling like I was the only person who believed it was better to train a young puppy rather than try to retrain an older puppy. This book had some ideas I have used and some new helpful ones. I really recommend this book to anyone getting a new puppy. I think it was short enough, easy to follow, and to the point to help even a child learn how to have a perfect puppy. If everyone getting a puppy would read books like this we may not need Humane Societies.


A MUST read book for new puppy owners   January 9, 2004
Amy (Long Beach, CA)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I was lucky enough to have "The Perfect Puppy" as the one and only puppy training book I purchased when we got our new puppy. The book is fun to read, the techniques are easy to understand and perform, and the results are undeniable. Our dog is now a three year-old well-behaved, happy dog, all thanks to this book. People ask if our dog was professionally trained, but all we used was this book.

The "dog mentality" insight offered throughout the book helped us clearly understand what and what not to do in order to get desired behavior from our puppy. I really loved the emphasis on positive reinforcement training methods and the attention to "keeping your puppy happy". The many pictures are adorable to look at AND serve as helpful illustrations of proper techniques. I have recommended the book to EVERY new puppy owner I encounter.


Great Book for everyone   May 28, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I bought this book before I got my puppy. It is full of great advice on all aspects of getting and rasing your puppy into the problem-free dog you want. It has full colour photographs and step by step guides to teaching your dog basic commands and lots more. it is a very good book. the only thing which could be improved is the basic training section, where i think it should be explained further. but overall this book is very useful and I recommend it.


Great Book!   February 11, 2003
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Ms. Baily really brings you down to basics. Good thing... my wife and I never had dogs growing up and were a little apprehensive when we decided to get a puppy. I read this book cover to cover a couple of weeks before we picked up our puppy and it's been great. We knew how to correct behavior as our puppy started to test us. Also, the illustration are perfect. We were able to train our puppy using the techniques in this book and they were as easy as they are made to look.

I have recommended this book to several people and will continue to do so!