The Puppy Primer

by Patricia B. McConnell, Debra Shieber (Narrator), Brenda K. Scidmore

Engaging, humorous and easy to follow, the updated Puppy Primer is packed with positive reinforcement tips and tricks, special topics and more. This updated and expanded version of our best-selling Puppy Primer is used by thousands of trainers across the U.S. New dog owners love it because it provides clear and concise information that makes training effective and fun. It's tone is upbeat and encouraging, yet it is chock full of even more useful information that every puppy owner needs.

What's new? Dr. McConnell added new information about the benefits of positive reinforcement AND the importance of realistic expectations. For instance, "sit" while waiting for the food bowl is NOT equivalent to "sit" when company comes to the door! While it's almost twice the size of the original, the book is still easy to understand, user-friendly and priced right for trainers and dog owners especially important in today's economy. It's the perfect guide for positive-based training classes or for new dog owners flying solo! Expanded sections/special topics

Socialization

Positive Reinforcement

House Training

Crate Training

Handling/Collar Touch

How to Stop Unwanted Behavior

Helping Puppies Conquer Their Fears

How Play Teaches Obedience and Emotional Control

How Not to Play!

Lots of New Tricks and Games

Adolescence Exercises

Sit

Down

Stand

Come

No Jumping Up

Walking Side by Side

Games like Fetch, Find the Toy, etc.

Take It/Drop It

Puppy Pause (Precursor to Stay)

NOTE TO DOG The Puppy Primer is designed as a guide for puppy classes based on positive training methods. Join hundreds of professional dog trainers across the country who rely on this book to help set the standard for excellence in puppy training.

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction, Animals, Pets, Reference, Self Help

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, (CAAB) has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals. She is known worldwide as an expert on canine and feline behavior and dog training, and for her engaging and knowledgeable dog training books, DVDs and seminars. Patricia has seen clients for serious behavioral problems since 1988, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching "The Biology and Philosophy of Human/Animal Relationships." For fourteen years she dispensed advice about behavior problems, and information about animal behavior research, on Wisconsin Public Radio's Calling All Pets, which was heard in over 90 cities around the country.

Patricia received her Ph.D. in Zoology in 1988 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison researching dog behavior and communication between professional trainers and working domestic animals.

Reviews

[Classic reverie]

We lost our dear little Blondie months ago and she taught us many things; how much she loved life and the importance of each day, the simple things in life which brought her happiness and how she really wanted to live but life became too hard with each breath. The most important thing she taught us was about love! So not knowing when we would bring another puppy into our lives but in being refreshed to those miraculous little beings, my husband picked out a couple Kindle books about puppies.

Patricia B. McConnell's The Puppy Primer is a great start for new puppy owners or previously owners who had puppies as a refresher course. She gives a look into how puppies think, how to train them with many commands, helpful ways to raise a happy puppy. I thought this was very helpful and looking to use it as a reference when I need to be reminded about how to teach certain commands successfully.

[Michael Lent]

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks but I learned that raising puppies has changed a lot since the last time we did it 18 years ago. Good stuff.

[Viktor Lototskyi]

10 books after, 1 day before getting a puppy - this is the best book to get for the first weeks/months.

[Michelle]

"Somewhere between five to seven months, your previously docile puppy may become impossible one day and go back to being an angel the next. Just when you are feeling proud of how much you and your dog have progressed, your training goes backward rather than forward."

I had to laugh when reading this. Our puppy turned five months a week ago and we have already experienced this. One day she was a hell beast. She was troubled by her teething in the evening so she got a frozen Kong, and the rest of the evening and the day after she was an angel again. It wasn't the magic of the frozen Kong but just her puberty starting.

I love the training exercises in this book and the helpful tips. We already have some foundations on the basic exercises with our pup, but still this book gives lots of inspiration to train and strengthen the foundation. We're definitely going to try some things with our girl on a daily basis.

[Gabriele MaZa]

I'm so happy I've read this book before getting a puppy. I've learnt from my past mistakes with other dogs as well as I feel prepared to greet a new pup :)
This book is an encyclopedia of what to do and how to do. And the most important - what not to do in order to have a psychologically healthy puppy.
I hope theory will work in practice.

[Jessie Gammill]

self explanatory lol

shamelessly counting this toward my 2023 reading goal but this was actually extremely helpful & Zach and I both learned a lot!! The author is very funny and made learning enjoyable. now time to put it to practice!!!!

[Rayanne Craven]

Really great book for puppy parents! I plan on adding this to my reading recommendations for my puppy clients as I found it short but packed full of great information.

[Marla]

Great book teaching a new puppy owner how to train a puppy. Book is separated into 6 chapters and each chapter is meant for you to work on your puppy training for that week.

I enjoyed learning about puppy training in such simple, step-by-step instructions. I'll reread the appropriate chapter each week once we have the new puppy.

[Caroline Bimberg]

very educational in a straightforward, realistic, and practical way! super helpful for my layla. I would recommend this book to every single person getting a puppy

[Catherine]

I finished this book quite awhile ago. It is a basic but very helpful and kindly written guide to raising a happy puppy.

[Mariah Harper]

I thought this one was super helpful! For a first time dog owner, this book make me feel far more confident in my ability to train my upcoming pup...step by step info, signs to watch, and general things to expect in terms of dog behavior...will be referencing this a lot!

[Magen - Inquiring Professional Dog Trainer]

3.5 stars This book lays a strong, basic foundation for puppy owners. It covers more topics than one would get in puppy kindergarten, but tries to take them in small bites. I would strongly recommend people read through at least the first chapter or so before bringing the puppy home as many of the things discussed are useful to know before you get too far down the road. For example, it's important to understand the critical period for socialization before it has passed. While this book does cover crate training and house training, it does not cover tough cases, so if your puppy is struggling, consult a trainer or find another book.

I also read Family Friendly Dog Training and, though I've thought about it for a bit, I am hard pressed to say which you should read if you're only going to read one. Puppy Primer covers things that are specific to puppies and in the depth necessary for puppies while Family Friendly Dog Training does not discuss (i.e housetraining) or does not cover in enough depth (i.e. crate training) concerns many puppy parents are bound to have. However, many topics (i.e. wait) are better covered in Family Friendly Dog Training. In some ways, it feels as though Puppy Primer was written with the assumption one would read Family Friendly Dog Training at some point. While I read Puppy Primer first and felt sufficiently capable of training my puppy off of that, I also wanted to read Family Friendly Dog Training for anything it might cover which wasn't covered in Puppy Primer. Everything in Family Friendly Dog Training is in Puppy Primer (though not the other way around), but all the topics in it felt better covered in Family Friendly Dog Training. Ulitmately, if you aren't concerned about puppy specific issues and are willing to go slower with your puppy than the 6 week design in Family Friendly Dog Training (at Dog's Best Friend Limited (the current and past owners of the company are the writers of Family Friendly Dog Training) the topics in Family Friendly Dog Training are covered in two courses over 12 weeks for puppies), than I recommend Family Friendly Dog Training. If, however, this is your first puppy, I recommend reading Puppy Primer before you get the puppy and then read Family Friendly Dog Training as the puppy matures some, probably around adolensence, as many dogs forget the basics as teenagers and starting at the beginning might be a great idea.

[Bailey]

Trying to find the perfect puppy book to give my brother to help prepare him for a puppy. This book was close, and I am huge Patricia McConnell fan, and wanted to give this to him. But the book is so poorly organized that I didn't.

For the first time puppy owner, like my brother, the "special topic" sections are invaluable. How do I set up a space for a puppy? What do I need to buy to be prepared for my puppy? What is socialization, how do I do it, and why is it important? How do I teach my puppy not to bite me? How do I teach my puppy not to go to the bathroom in the house? How do I teach my puppy not to chew on things? I wish all of these topics were in the front of the book and clearly labelled in the table of contents rather than approached as "special topics" that you have to hunt for in between training sections.

If there hand been a training exercising followed by a special topic that used that exercise, it would have made sense to me. As it was, I was left confused as to why things were arranged and organized the way they were. I hope there will be an updated version that addresses this, because the book has great content, and I'd love to give it to more people.

[Christina]

This is a good intro to having and training a puppy. The method is 100% positive and reward-based and I think the advice is good. But it's riddled with copywriting errors and typos- honestly, I spotted one every couple of pages. There are no pictures, and I would have liked more specificity about puppy ages and time frames. Maybe the authors were being purposely vague to avoid building up owners' expectations, but it would be nice to know an approximate age when I can expect to let my puppy play unsupervised in the house for a few minutes. That sort of thing.
Still, I'm glad I read it- it was quick and informative.

[Karen L]

An excellent book to read before bringing home your new puppy. I am glad I read it before we brought Gipper into our home in June. It gives good tips on training and dog behavior.

[Anna]

Good as a practical, week-by-week accompaniment to The Other End of the Leash. I'll definitely revisit this if and when we actually get the second dog.

[Jennifer]

The best puppy training book I've read. Using it with our third puppy now with good results

[Kathryn]

Getting another puppy!!! Wish me luck...

[Jacob]

This book is a mix of how to deal with puppy and how to train the puppy.
It was good, quick read to learn a few tricks.
- determining that your pup may want to go out (list is long)
- punishing puppy may have different effects than we anticipate. He may not know what he was punished for depending on timing.
- attaching leash to front of harness is better than back as attaching it to back cause more pulling.
- off leash walking - give (good) treat every time your dog come to you/look at you
- entire family has to be consistent with commands and behavior (it helps to speed up the training process)
- baby steps approach: do not try to train coming or sitting in the wild (when distracted by new environment or other dogs) until something is mastered without distractions
- when training to play fetch, you need to throw ball right after dog releases it
- to teach command at the beginning (e.g., 'come') practice randomly ~20 times per day!
- distract instead of try to retrieve item from dog mouth, otherwise dog will mistake it for a game

Book is divided into 6 sections (6 weeks), but...every puppy is different and some will get some of the things right away, some other will take longer...hence it does not help much. Everyone just need to adjust learnings from the book for their dog. The Power of Positive Dog Training is more comprehensive overview of dog training where you can go over each exercise, and focus less on ones that your dog is good at and more on ones that are problematic.

[Bruce]

Here's a thumbnail review. I read this in anticipation of picking up a puppy in June (which we did).

It follows the positive-reinforcement behaviorist school shared by Sophia Yin, whose books are probably better for their painstaking step-by-step instructions (with photos), if possibly slightly less thorough in their breadth of content. The Primer contains a lot of repetition (filler?) and some solid ideas on housebreaking. Still, if you have Perfect Puppy in Seven Days, you won't get much more from this than validation that you're on the right (or wrong) path. (Not that that's bad.)

Long story short, knowing what and what not to do and executing properly are two different things. Puppies are hard, exhausting, sleep-depriving labors of love with two-hours' worth of bladder (five to six crated at night). Socialize your pet and hire yourself a trainer to train you.

[Anja]

I really like Patricia McConnell's books on dog training. While preparing for the arrival of an eight weeks old puppy, I read this book among several others and I loved the division into weekly training suggestions. The division makes a lot of sense and I think is easy to follow.

The only downside to this division is that the theoretical part about dog behavior is also divided. It might have been better to split the book into a theoretical part and a part with the weekly exercises.

Especially getting the puppy acquainted with other dogs in the household comes way too late in the book. The puppy will get to know the other dogs in week one, not five weeks later. Also, this section is far too short and does not address how to introduce your puppy to cats or other pets in your household. I can understand her referring to her other books on this topic, but a little more guidance would have been nice.

All in all, this is a good book on puppy training, but you should read it as a whole before you get your puppy, not week by week.

[Lauren]

Excellent, easy to read and use dog training book. I really like Patricia McConnell's approach to positive training. Her research in dog psychology and emotions is enlightening and really makes you rethink our approach to dog training. I feel like I really understand the why and how of some of these training strategies. I also love that this book is broken up into weeks and that she brings back skills from earlier chapters to reinforce them and increase their challenge/difficulty. Can't wait to put some of these into practice soon!

[Jamie Brady]

Easy to read, incremental instructions on how to train a new puppy. Also contains helpful situational training cases (e.g. multi-dog households, etc.). The text frequently mentions training exercises for specific weeks (e.g. "this week focus on blah blah blah), but doesn't really call out the schedule, which would be helpful. Perhaps the author might even publish a companion workbook where it graphically provides a schedule of exercises the puppy should be working on by week, as well as notes to help owners keep track of progress and deficiencies.

[John Poulain]

Finished this today which is good because I now have a puppy! Each chapter deals with a different week of bringing up a puppy so I'm flicking back through to focus on Sit. Like the other books I've read by Patricia McConnell she focuses on positive reinforcement of good behaviour and how to encourage your puppy to do that and be set up for success.

Full of funny quips and different ways to achieve the same objective she stresses that puppy training is more about the owners behaviours than the dogs and how to use treats, toys and play to go through different steps of commands.

[Rick Lees]

This book was perfect for what it is. short, easy to read, informative but easy to implement. Every section has a solid balance of exercises and games to do with your dog and perspective about how a puppy experiences the world. I felt like it set very reasonable expectations and illuminated some things I hadn't even considered. At times the writing is a little corny, but I found it earnest and endearing.

I made plenty of notes in the margins and will absolutely revisit it next time I have a puppy.

[Kap]

Good collection of positive-reinforcement training techniques for new puppies. It would have benefited from a table of contents or an index, in addition to better organization. I also didn't like how each "chapter" was meant to be read and implemented on a weekly basis. But the contents itself was enjoyable and informative. It might need a modern lifestyle update, because suggesting "quick training sessions during commercial breaks" is a thing of the past.

[Pedro Pinheiro]

Great first book to read if you've just adopted a puppy (few-months-old dog), with a lot of practical training tips and psychology-backed principles explained in a easy-to-read and empathetic way.

I wish the book was more clearly structured though; it wasnt clear for me when to introduce each of the trainings in the puppy's lifetime, and the order of the training felt confusing at times too.

Must read for puppy owners nevertheless, it's definitely helping me a ton!!

[Hilary]

Really good review of puppy training with great ideas for fun learning games with puppies that set a foundation for mental stimulation and great manners later on. Well written and easy to follow. Week by week lesson plan - what to work on each week and how to build on what you did the previous week! Great resource that I would definitely recommend to any new puppy owner.

[Jade Caprio]

A must read for a new owner or anyone looking for a little more info on the basics.
It has some great stuff but is not a insightful read for someone experienced.
Also being pro positive reinforcement I appreciate that it didn't spend half the book bashing balanced training (which I see happen a lot)

[Anastasia Bizyayeva]

This book was unbelievably good - I haven't had so many highlights in my Kindle for anything. Really comprehensive week-by-week guidance on positively reinforcing your puppy, and explanations for why certain methods work better than others. I'm going to be a first-time dog owner soon, and I feel really confident that I'm going to be in a good position as a result of this book!