MEET THE PUPPIES - Junior, Blizzard, Angel, and Mr. President

JuniorWhen I first imagined writing a book about raising the perfect dog, I wanted it to have a personal touch and a hands-on feeling. In my experience, it’s easier to teach using real-life examples. I have raised many dogs in my life, but I wanted to reacquaint myself with all the different stages of puppyhood while I was writing about them so that I would be totally in tune...

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PERFECT MATCH - Choosing the Perfect Puppy

Georgia PeachesGrowing up on my grandfather’s farm in rural Sinaloa, Mexico, I lived among scruffy farm dogs, our loyal friends and coworkers in the fields and around the house. You wouldn’t call these dogs “pets” by American standards, in that their lives were spent near us but not as a part of us. They were our dogs, yet they lived in a world separate from our human lives,...

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MOTHER KNOWS BEST - Learning from the Pros

Binky and her pupsMy first instructors in the different stages of puppyhood were all professionals—professional canine mothers, that is. I’m proud to say that I learned about raising puppies from the very best—the female working dogs on my grandfather’s farm in Mexico. Mother Nature is all about balance, and it is always to nature that I turn whenever I want to explain about...

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PUPPY COMES HOME - Easing the Transition from Litter to Family

Mr. President as a puppyYou’ve done your research, found the right breeder, rescue, or shelter, selected a puppy with the correct energy level, and are as certain as you can be that she will grow up to be your perfect canine companion for life. Now it’s time to bring her home. I always say, when you’re a pack leader, everything you do means something to your dog. Every action,...

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YOUR HEALTHY PUPPY - Health Care Basicsm

 Cesar stays relaxed while cleaning Mr. President’s jowlsThis is a book about puppy behavior, not puppy biology, but when you bring any new dog home with you, you are automatically taking responsibility for every aspect of his health and welfare for the rest of his life. That is why preparation and prevention are so important. All it takes is one disease, accident, or...

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CONNECTING, COMMUNICATING, AND CONDITIONING - How Your Dog Learns

Tug-of-war between Junior and Mr. PresidentA mother squirrel and her baby spent all day on a walkway of the UCLA campus, repeating over and over the same apparently fruitless task—trying to get the baby squirrel to jump up and over an approximately four-foot-high wall. Such exercises in life learning are everyday occurrences in the animal world, but this particular incident...

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THE SOCIAL PUPPY Getting Along with Both Dogs and Humans

Mr. President and Cesar socializing with the staff of Highland Park Animal HospitalJust the other day, I popped into a small pet store to pick up some bully sticks for the puppies, when I ran smack into what was billed as a “puppy class,” intended for the purpose of socializing young dogs. There were eight or ten people there, and each of them had a puppy. There were a Siberian...

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PROBLEM-FREE PUPPIES - A sleeping Blizzard

A sleeping BlizzardJuliana Weiss-Roessler, the writing and research director for my Internet newsletter and blog, conducted an online reader survey, asking our subscribers to list the most common and frustrating issues they have had with their puppies. Here are the results from the 1,342 top responses, along with my solutions for raising a problem-free pup...

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SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT - Adolescent Challenges

Mr. President in a car kennelWhen I first noticed that four-month-old Angel was already lifting his leg to pee and showing early signs of marking behavior, it felt to me like the canine equivalent of the time my nine-year-old son, Calvin, told me he thought it was about time he got himself a girlfriend. I felt that twinge so common to parents everywhere: the wistful realization...

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EPILOGUE - The Puppies Grow Up

Cesar with Junior and DaddyOver the course of this book, I’ve had the joy of watching all the puppies featured here mature from clumsy childhood to gawky then almost graceful adolescence. All the dogs I have had the honor of raising educated me further about the nature of both their breeds and their species, adding new insight and depth to the work I do every day. Blizzard,...

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