Book Review-Another Piece of the Puzzle: Puppy Development

I love reading dog books. I'll read any book about dogs I can get my hands on, and of course right now I'm particularly interested in book about puppies. So I've decided to try something new for some of my posts, and that is doing reviews of the books I read.

I just currently finished reading a book called Another Piece of the Puzzle: Puppy Development. This book is actually a collection of articles from various authors that cover subjects such as the periods of puppy development, early training, the best time to place puppies in new homes, socialization, health care, temperament, raising show dogs and choosing an agility dog.

The book is separated into three chapters. The first chapter consists of a single article that thoroughly details the stages of behavioral development in puppies. The article is well researched and very informative. Not only does it cover how puppies develop throughout each period, but it also gives suggestions and advice on things that can be done to help puppies learn and become more confident and stable as they grow. I am particularly interested in the section that discusses how mild stress applied to puppies during the neo-natal period(1-14 days) can create dogs more tolerant of stress as they mature. I am going to look up more information on what they refer to as the "Super Dog" program in the book. While much of the early information on development is geared towards breeders, I think it can be a very helpful resource for the pet owner when they are looking to choose a breeder to get a puppy from. And the later periods of development can be very useful to pet owners. I feel this book is worth it just for this chapter alone.

The next chapter in the book is geared towards breeders. It contains some great articles on the importance or early socialization, teaching, the best times to place a puppy in a new home, a neat article on raising single puppy litters, and an article that I was very excited to see that talks about beginning clicker training at an early age. Once again, while most of these articles were written to help breeders, they can be extremely beneficial for the pet owner to be aware of as well.

The last chapter is more directed towards the pet owner. Information covered here consists of getting to know your breed, nutrition and health, preparing a puppy for dog shows(I found this article to be useful for preparing a dog for other sports as well), picking an agility dog, and teaching your puppy to learn and think.

Overall I found this book to be a wonderful read, full of excellent information and sound advice. I would recommend anyone who is planning to get a puppy(especially if you are looking for a performance or show dog) to check out this book. It is not a book that is going to detail how to train and raise your puppy step by step, there are several other books I would recommend for that. But it does get you started in the right direction. :)