The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition)

There are about 170 reviews of this book already on Amazon, so I do not want to take up too much more space with our opinions. My wife and I have the following comments about this great book: 1. Easy to read and apply the information. We have Pekingese dogs and not the large dogs that are cited in the book. Still, the Pekes are quite stubborn and demanding. The techniques advised in this book worked well to train our dogs. 2. Outstanding insight into how your dog thinks. We think the best aspects of this book deal with providing solid insight based on years of experience and fairly good science as to how dogs interact with humans and others. This allows you as the owner to better relate to your dogs and the training/behavioural aspects advised in the book make much more sense and are easier to implement in a consistent fashion. 3. Excellent use of photographs to enhance the text. 4. We have lent our book to at least 2 other people (maybe more) and purchased this book for family members and referred many others to get it for their new dogs. We cannot say enough good things about this wonderful book.

I adore this book. I bought it 16 years ago to train my maltipoo and I just bought another copy because I just got an 11 week old Cavapoo. This book is so informative telling of all the various stages of a puppy life and what’s important to know for each stage during training. It is so well written and I’ve learned so much from it both times. Anyone who has a puppy should get this book!

This is a great book from knowledgeable authors with a great deal of experience. These monks have been breeding German Shepherds for decades - my mother told me of them when I was a small child. They discuss training, and the two "fear periods" that puppies go through while learning their world. If you can navigate those periods well, and start your training as soon as possible, the results are amazing!

This is an excellent book that does really well to set the tone of what to expect and how to get the best out of raising a puppy into a well adjusted dog. It gives great insight into what makes dogs/puppies tick and helps you understand a lot more of the "why" rather than just the "what" of dogs. I am taking off one star because the advice in the book can be a little tough to turn into an action plan in some places. In particular, the book provides some great insight on how to handle the first day and first night, as well as some good tips about crate training. In one section it provides a sample crate training daily schedule of food/play/walks/crate-time, etc. -- In the very same schedule it says that you should be prepared to take your pup out to expel once every 1.5 hours while training, but in another part of the same section says to leave your pup in the crate not longer than "3 hours at a time" -- the sample schedule seems closer to the 3hr rule. This seeming contradiction makes it hard to follow and leaves you feeling like you need to guess or just make up your own mind. The other reason that I'm taking off one star is that while the book provides great insight and advice on various parts of the pup's life and how to deal with different things, it falls short of providing a comprehensive plan that includes tips on how to decide when to transition between phases. An example is that while there is a great set of tips on crate training, there isn't any information on how you determine that you are "done" with house-training. I think the Monk's have the knowledge and ability to take this to what I'd consider a 5-star book, if they tweaked it a bit to address these issues. Overall, this book is a must-read if you want to gain insight into your dog's psyche - which you absolutely should, because you're going to share your life with it. It falls short of being a one-stop-shop, but you can probably close those gaps with a bit of Googling, or perhaps a supplemental book.

This is a wonderful book. I came across this book after I had purchased my German Shepherd puppy a year ago. My brother is expecting his first German Shepherd puppy in April so I bought him this book as a gift to read before the puppy arrives. I wish I had known about it prior to purchasing my puppy! This book really gives you a different perspective on raising a puppy. I believe that it calms down that uncontrolled enthusiasm that most first time puppy owners have. Everyone wants the perfect dog, we all want to be the envy of all other dog owners because our dog is the most well behaved and best trained. So sometimes we go into the whole puppy ownership thing with unrealistic expectations. Eventually the enthusiasm to create a wonder dog is squashed and is replaced with frustration, anger and the desire to get rid of the puppy! This book really tells you what you can expect for each stage of your puppies life, so that you are not trying to force training beyond your puppies comprehension level. I am expecting another German Shepherd puppy at the end of Feb. and I will be reading this book again in preparation for her homecoming! Believe me, the training experiences that I have had over the last year have been very rewarding. I love the Monks of New Skete books! They make training feel like more of a natural progression in your dogs life rather than a forced response. I feel that I should also mention that the German Shepherd I purchased was sold to me at 5 weeks of age and due to the early separation from the litter, we have had to deal with a lot of issues. But with patience and attention and the help of this and other Monks of New Skete books, my girl is a healthy well balanced and very well trained companion. I know that at least three of her littermates were euthanized due to issues that the owners did not know how to deal with because of the early separation. It makes me sad to know that just the first few chapters may have helped them too.

We just got a staffy puppy and I found this book had tons of information. Worth the purchase

I just finished reading this book last night and have learned a lot. With many practical methods and tips, I feel much prepared to welcome our puppy in mid-April. This book will be handy for us to raise a well-behaved puppy.

This book is great for beginners like me. Has pictures inside and explains things in detail. I enjoyed it a lot.

Just before our third German Shorthaired Pointer puppy was to arrive in our home, I decided to buy "The art of raising a puppy". I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and find it to be an inspiration to make sure we do things right. The book is well written and easy to read. Particularly the chapters on crate training, early grooming and socializing I have found to be very useful but the book is full of little treasures and has helped all of us understanding our pup much better than we thought possible. Our pup "Fritz" is now eleven weeks old and the advice from the monks thus far has proven to be invaluable! We also have "How to be your dog's best friend" and the "Raising your dog with the monks of New Skete" DVD (ISBN 0-9656417-1-6). The DVD is great and helps my family members who aren't into reading to raise our pup the "New Skete" way! Yes, the monks are monks but their religious beliefs are never pushed down the readers' throats. Their style and philosophy however is pleasant and inspiring. I can't recommend it highly enough!

En inglés, pero para quien se defienda con este idioma el libro representa muchos consejos útiles y mucho sentido común. Sin caer totalmente en el políticamente correcto "adiestramiento en positivo" los monjes de New Skete muestran un método que se ha probado eficaz por varias décadas. Su principal fuente de ingresos es la cría y adiestramiento, dentro de su propio monasterio, de pastores alemanes (los venden por 3.000-3.500 dólares, no precisamente baratos). También adiestran perros de dueños particulares con problemas de comportamiento. Para leer varias veces: es ameno pero hay una gran cantidad de información condensada. Totalmente recomendable.