Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog

Before & After Getting Your Puppy is a simple, practical guide for anyone bringing a new puppy into the family. In clear steps, with easy-to-follow training deadlines, Dr. Ian Dunbar, who pioneered puppy classes and a loving style of dog training in the 1970s, presents a structured yet playful and humorous plan for raising a wonderful dog. The guide is based on six developmental deadlines:

completing owner education and preparation

assessing a puppy's prior socialization and education

teaching errorless house-training and chewtoy-training

completing a socialization program of meeting strange dogs and people

learning bite inhibition

a continuing program of ongoing training


In the first half of the book, Dr. Dunbar focuses on what the owner needs to know to select a great puppy. In the second half, he presents the crucial lessons the puppy must be taught during its impressionable early development. Over time, Dr. Dunbar's kind, positive program has been proven the most effective.