Book Description:
Bringing a new dog into the household should be one of life’s happiest events. The process always starts with excitement and high expectations. Too often, though, it ends in disappointment. The new puppy wakes everyone three times a night, gnaws on furniture, piddles everywhere, knocks the children down. The new adolescent dog is too wild. The new adult dog growls at your neighbors. And where did all this dog hair come from?
Most people spend hours researching a new mattress, days researching a new car, and weeks researching a new home or job. Yet for a new dog, a companion for the next 10-15 years, the most they do is visit the nearest shelter or pet shop and buy whatever looks cute and appealing. It’s no wonder they end up disappointed.
Whether you are looking for a purebred puppy or a charming mixed-breed, the type of dog you bring into your home matters. A quiet owner will struggle to keep up with a high-energy labrador mix, for instance, while an active outdoor family will be impatient with a snoozy bulldog. And finding the right kind of dog means becoming the right kind of owner—a task that takes some forethought and planning.
How To Find Your Dream Dog is here to fix the disconnect of dog ownership. It walks you step-by-step through the process of choosing the right type of dog for you—not only exploring the canine qualities that can determine your perfect puppy, adolescent, or adult dog, but also assessing your lifestyle to make sure you’re a good match for the dog, too. The book also looks at good (and bad) sources for finding healthy and sound pet dogs, gives guidelines for evaluating individual puppies, and warns of some red flags to watch out for during your dog search. With this guidebook in hand, you can be confident that the next puppy or dog you bring home will be the right companion and friend for you for the rest of its days.
Dixie Tenny is a Certified Training Partner with the Karen Pryor Academy of Animal Training and Behavior. During her 30+ years spent working with people and their pets, she has seen again and again how mismatches between dog and owner can create “behavior problems” that never would have happened if the right dog had been matched to the right owner in the first place. She wrote this book to help puppy buyers and dog adopters start out on the best possible foot with their new pet dogs, and stay on that path for years to come.
When I was looking for a dog I really wish I had of had this book. I do have 2 dogs, and they are more like my kids then pets and I wouldn't trade the for the world. Both of my dogs are over 10 years old and I know one day I will be looking for another one. This book is a very informative guide to helping you choose the right dog for you and your family. I do not believe in picking a dog because it is cute and then taking it to the pound a month later because it chews on everything in the house. If you knew before hand how to choose the perfect pet this would not be a problem and the animal shelters would not be over run with animals.
When my kids were young, we decided to let the have a dog. We went to the local and looked at all the dogs available. We foudn the cutest little black puppy. He was a Weimaraner. We had never heard of this bread. I asked the lady working there and she told oh he is a medium sized dog, so we took him home and named hi George. We were in effect lied to. A Weimaraner is kin to the Great Dane. George turned out to a huge dofg and my small children after a few months could not really play with him considering my husband was 6 feet tall and George could stand on his back legs and easily put his paws on my husbands shoulders. George ended up having to live in the back yard. After that there were no more dogs. We switched to cats since we knew how big they would get. If we had of had a book like this I would of never made that mistake. Of course if I had of told the lady we would be back and would of researched more as well I would not of made that mistake. But oh he was so cute and sad looking locked in that cage.
Anyway back to the book. Dixie Tenny has done a wonderful job bin this book of letting us know just what to expect from Dogs. Not just that they are great companions, but how to take care of a dog, how much work goes into adding a dog to the family, many ways of choosing a dog. Do not go into choosing a family dog blindly. Really research, and thing about it, and read this book.
Author's Bio:
Dixie Tenny has been helping people and their dogs find each other and form successful partnerships since the early 1980s. She founded two rescue organizations: Purebred Dog Rescue of Saint Louis in 1984, and Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue, Inc. in 1987. Dixie was the Director of Training for the Greater St. Louis Training Club, Inc., for five years, creating classes and overseeing the work of 40 head and assistant trainers. In 2003 she and another experienced trainer created Dogs Unleashed, LLC. They traveled to clients’ homes and worked with behavior and training issues.
Dixie’s professional credentials include trainer certifications from the prestigious Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior, and the Association for Pet Dog Trainers. Dixie formed her own business, Human-Animal Learning Opportunities, LLC (HALO) in 2013. HALO hosts continuing education seminars for dog trainers.
Dixie has lived with a wide range of dogs over the years including mixed breeds, Australian Shepherds, Welsh and Cairn terriers, and more. While in Seattle, Dixie raised a labrador puppy for Canine Companions for Independence, Inc. (CCI). Currently Dixie lives with a Beauceron and an elderly Papillon, as well as four cats. When not doing things related to animals, she reads widely, enjoys the company of her three grown children, follows baseball and English Premier League football, and travels the world.
Giveaway:
Prizes:
Win one of 5 Dream Dog prize packages! Each package includes a copy of How to Find Your Dream Dog, a $15 Amazon Gift Card and Outward Hound Slow Feeder Dog Bowl) Open to USA & Canada
Ends April 8
