Excellent Book for New Dog Owners & Adult dogs with Housebreaking Problems
 

I have read a lot of books on owning a dog as I had never owned a dog before, this book however is the BEST of all that I have read. I highly recommend it for new dog owners or dogs who are having trouble with chewing or housetraining....it is "Before and After Getting Your Puppy" by Ian Dunbar. Hope you find it helpful... give me some feedback on your opinion of the book! :thumbup:

My dog obedience teacher recommended that book and I agree. The kong recipe ideas were great too.

I've met Dr. Dunbar and attended a seminar with him. He is a very nice man and some great ideas but a lot of them focus on larger dogs. I had a nice chat with him about some of the unique challenges in dealing with small dogs, especially ones that are under 4 lbs. He admits that he deals with larger dogs and doesn't have as many suggestions for the tiny pups. He recommends getting a dog by 7 or 8 weeks to start the socialization process and I tried to explain that some toy dogs are barely eating on their own and are sometimes too small to go to new homes. He feels that many problems with toy dogs, including house breaking go back to the fact that they are too old by the time we get them. I guess it is just a dilemma that toy dog owners have to deal with. He is a very nice man and truly loves dogs.

That is great you met him. Glad to hear he is nice. He came across as a little full of himself as I read the book but he is a leading person is his field. As far as his book goes, I found almost all of the infomation and tips did work on my toy sized Yorkie, even the potty training part. My dog trainer who recommended the book has toy dogs. I don't say this to disagree with you, I just write this to say if someone with a yorkie puppy wants a good book, it will still be a great source of information for you. A lot of the other books I read were just not nearly informative as his.

There are several Ian Dunbar training videos on YouTube. Just enter "Ian Dunbar" in search.

Ian is/was the man and is slowly retiring to work on getting breeders to do just what he says get them home earlier and start training them before they go home.
He site I think call dog star daily is great for info.
I like pretty much want he says about dogs except his need to hierarchy them.
He and I agree on the fool on TV as well.
There is no reason for a yorkie to not go home at 8 weeks to a home of a wise yorkie owner and there is no reason a breeder can not start soical skills class with the puppies in the home to counter sending them home late.

There are few taht work with little dog Leslie McDewitt be one and Emma Parson was looking into tiny to travel with now Ben is gone.

I love The Dog Whisperer by Paul Owen as well as jis new puppy whisperer book. ( although I wish people would stop making dog training a magic based thing instead of a science and locic based thing)

JL

Yes I understand that eventhough we are behind the curve with the socialization because 3 months is the crucial deadline and many Yorkie owners aren't able to get their babies by then, I think his perspective on crate training and chewing is on the mark. Housebreaking and chewing are the issues that tend to cause the most problems. Even an adult (especially a toy dog) can be socialized over time.

You be wrong in the socialization thing once the boat sailed it was sailed and you can not make a dog as good as it should have been if it had it socialization done in the right period. This is what he is trying very hard to teach everyone right now. It is was it is and once the brains wired.
Toy dogs are no different then large dogs the wiring is all the same and the preset time period that is genetic for all is the same... want to have a look at fuller and scotts study.
Why do you think that there are so many fearful little dogs cause they are not soicalized enough early enough.
If you have a breed or a dog that tends to have fear concerns you need to soicalize much more then normal. 100 place. people, things , sounds and dogs by 16 weeks and more after but no less before.

JL

I agree there is an ideal time to get the maximum benefit of socializing your dog, but even fearful adult dogs (not aggressive dogs with behavior issues) can be socialized to some extent, they may never be at their peak but they can be trained to be less fearful. I got my yorkie as a 5 year old adult and she was and still is very skittish and fearful, but she has improved in the 10 months I have had her, and has become less fearful as she becomes familiar with people and places. I know she will never be fully over the skittishness but from what I read, some yorkies have that temperament of being a one owner dog vs outgoing and a social butterfly.

You would think that be so but having put the years and years in on one little fearful baby there is not much change.
Oh FYI 95% if not more of aggression is fear based... and we can prevent that by soicalization. And not breeding poorly soicalized dogs or with genetic based fear concerns as well. Even those have a better chance with great social skills.
Why is it even acceptable to think it ok to have them live with any fear at all when we know what it takes to help them be ok in life.
We invest a great deal of cash to start with these guys at 1000 for some and then the time and the love. why not get them out of the gate right.
As for temperament that got zippo to do with fear and social skills... I am well socialized but I rather spend time at home and quiet but you can take me out and dress me up and I can play nice ( yeah most days). My dog can go out play nice and would still rather be at home where the stress is lower and having to cope is less.
I have another dog that is well socialized to the point she not any where what the breed type implies. A great little one but when she comes home you can tell that although she a great girl well adjust polite dog girl, she rather be curled up at home.
Social butterfly... oh yes I have a friend that has a dog that the life of the party but his social skills are zip and he is a royal pain but he does not care.
Then again he afraid of thunder and is not great with other dogs but he is the life of the party.... lack of socialization for sure.
I have an associate that got a dog young non yorkie as it had aggression concerns young... this dog was socialized and well trained to the max and young.... you coming off the street never know which of the 5 dogs that live in that house is the one you need to keep an eye on as it a good dog but can have bad days and it now works as a rehab dog for aggressive dog.
Some of these guys that are undersocailized can not make it back and end up not with us any more. That should never happen and it does.

We know better and there is very little excuse to not do the best we can.

JL