Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy

by Steve Mann

YOUR SIMPLE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO RAISING AND TRAINING A HAPPY PUPPY OR DOG!

My name's Steve Mann and I've been a professional dog trainer and behaviourist for over 30 years . As founder of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers, I've helped transform the lives of over 100,000 dogs and their families - and now I want to help you, too!

Whether you're living with a brand-new puppy, an adult dog or rescue dog, my methods will give you everything you need to know. Using simple, proven, science-based and ethical techniques, I'll show you how to have the best relationship with your pup, as well as teaching you how to

super-fast recalls, great loose lead walking, perfect manners and much, MUCH more...

I promise, it really is easy peasy and every tip , trick and lesson will bring you and your puppy closer together.

I'll see you on the other side,

Enjoy!
Steve Mann

Genres: Nonfiction, Dogs, Animals, Education, Self Help, Unfinished, Ebooks

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Andrew Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new puppy takes over your life. Well, that’s my experience, anyway. Teddy moved in two weeks ago and quickly enlightened me on how much free time I’d had, and have now lost. And if that sounds like sour grapes it’s not meant to be, his arrival has enriched our lives and definitely re-introduced a youthful energy to the house. But what are the key things you need to know and to do to ensure that both you and the dog get the most from this experience? My wife had already signed up for a (rather expensive) BBC course fronted by Steve Mann and had further depleted the family coffers by buying the book to go with it. A week in & I hadn’t disturbed its covers, but after a particularly fraught day and a sleepless night I decided I needed some help.

Steve’s philosophy is largely based on his view that there are really only two reasons why your puppy won’t do what you want it to do:

1. They don’t understand what you’ve asked them to do
2. They’re not motivated enough to do it.

A good deal of what follows is centred around bribery (treats) and repetition. In truth, most of what it is common sense but nonetheless I found it helpful to see it spelt out. It’s too early to tell whether the wisdom we’ve absorbed will make a significant difference to our journey, but my senses say it will certainly help.

If I have a bone to pick it’s that though Steve explains the virtues of creating a safe place for the puppy – in essence a crate – he doesn’t address some of the difficulties arising from trying to establish a routine involving the same: namely, what do you do if the puppy doesn’t take to it in the manner you’d like (other than dispensing more treats and more repetition) and as it’s positively not meant to be a place of punishment how do you take a break from a puppy who’s been amped up for hours and doesn’t fancy a spell in his (or her) ‘safe place’?

But nit-picking aside I do think this book is a valuable source of information and also, sometimes, comfort. It seems that Teddy has doubled in size in the short since he joined our family – he does like a feed – and he’s won our hearts at the same rate he’s grown. We all love him to bits.

NB: I’ve provided a photo of Teddy in standard pose, for reference

[CM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I though this was a great book for training a puppy. We just got a new puppy and I really didn't know where to start at all and this book was very clear, well written, easy to understand and had a lot of humor thrown in there. This book focuses on the positive reinforcement method over the dominance training method, which really resonated with me. I have only been applying the methods for just under a week but so far so good! Definitely recommend this book.

[Anniek · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're welcoming a new puppy soon (YAYYY), and even though we've always had dogs, it's been 14 years since we've had to raise a puppy, so I wanted to refresh and update my knowledge. After reading this, I feel a lot more confident in raising a happy puppy, and it's given me a lot of tools to raise the puppy more positively, which I'm excited about as I want to create a strong bond with our puppy. I will be revisiting this book a lot when we actually have our puppy, to be able to follow the steps of the training. Not unimportantly, this book was also just very easy and a lot of fun to read, so I'd recommend it to anyone who has a dog or wants one.

[Jari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Open deuren intrappen, definities verkeerd omschrijven zodat het in het plaatje past, compleet onrealistische tips. Kan me niet voorstellen dat dit boek nuchter is geschreven...

[Alicja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Świetna pozycja dla świeżo upieczonych właścicieli piesków.

[Hanneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prima boek met veel info over het trainen van een puppy. Ik ga het waarschijnlijk nog zeker een aantal keren raadplegen als de dondersteen eenmaal bij ons thuis is :)

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent puppy training book. In 7 days I'll be putting all this into practice! I can't wait.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lai gan vāciņš ir diezgan bērnišķīgs šajā grāmatā Tu atradīsi daudz noderīgu un vērtīgu padomu, ja esi kļuvis vai drīz kļūsi par kucēna saimnieku. Svarīga un vērtīga informācija nodota caur humoru un reāliem piemēriem.

[Hannah Ouston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is positive puppy training at it’s ever so slightly frustrating extreme. The tone of the book can feel very patronising, however, the content is really valuable. Mann offers games, training techniques and advice to really enjoy your puppy, spending time developing a relationship, not dominating or harming them. He makes owning a puppy sound like the incredibly exhausting and rewarding hard work that it is, and doesn’t sugarcoat what the experience will be like. An easy to read introduction to positive puppy training that will help you really love the time you get with your puppy.

[Emma Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great tips but the author seems to think his way is perfect and universal for any puppy - it's not. And his cockiness made it annoying to read sometimes. There were a few good jokes and good tips etc, and we have adopted some of the training advice, but the 'my way or the highway' approach just annoyed me. A happy and healthy approach is much better in my opinion.

[Lance Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent puppy training book. You can tell the author genuinely loves dogs, and it focuses on positive reinforcement. The goal is to make your puppy as happy as possible, which will make you happt too (unless you're a psychopath who hates happy puppies). I highly recommend this to anyone who has recently gotten a puppy or is planning on getting one.

[Nik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent advice & all written in good humour. I can’t wait to try out the tips with our new puppy when she arrives 🐾

[Eris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nic nowego się raczej nie dowiedziałam, więc to książka bardziej dla początkujących opiekunów, tylko ten humor... No, jest dość infantylny, więc miałam wrażenie, że książka jest kierowana do dzieciaków. Niemniej słabe żarty (chociaż z cztery mnie rozbawiły) czy nadużywanie wykrzykników nie wpływają na merytorykę, więc polecam.

[Nura Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book, adored the funny tone.

Everything is explained in a very simple, quite positive way that you feel you can't wait to put your learnings into practice.

I really appreciate the positive, no-punishment approach, where dogs are seeing as individuals with feelings, emotions, and worries we should learn to read from their body language. It was refreshing to find a training strategy that debunked the alpha-dominance style, and the wolf pack ideas and instead left space to emotions, kindness, and patience.

It was an easy read also because it was effortlessly funny. It's proper British humour. I've read a few reviews saying the author is cocky, which I totally disagree with, so I suppose irony isn't for everyone in every context, whereas I like it all the time.

I'd probably read it again a few more times for support when the circumstance arises.

[Meghan Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish i read this 6 months ago when we first got Bailey, but better late than never! Really easy to read with lots of practical advice that we can start implementing straight away while we're reinforcing the basics with our adolescent pup!

[Shona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendly and casual guidance, practical but still explaining a lot of the "why" as well as the "how". I'll see how it goes when I get to put it into practice!

[CJM · Rating 4 out of 5]

soft launching some news....... 🐕

[Anna-Grete Juchnewitsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lihtne, kasulik ja lõbus lugemine, kust saadud teadmiste najalt saan oma kutsikapreilit kasvatada :)

[Nine Vogel-Ketel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niet alles gelezen maar wel veel aangehad.

[Tom Birkett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving it 5 stars for now... perhaps when she arrives and we try out the stuff that may change.
A fantastic book, really well explained steps which give me some confidence for the training.
I also thought his style of writing was hilarious and made it easy to read. Not like reading a school textbook like I feared these books would be like.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy and fun to read guide for a first time puppy owner like me.

[Fredrik · Rating 5 out of 5]

My puppy bible! I’m gonna return to this book so many times...

[Evelina Bł · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pozycja dla świeżo upieczonych psich rodziców :)

[Agata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mega fajna! Napisana w fajnym stylu, super podejście do piesków oparte na badaniach naukowych i doświadczeniu autora!
Czarodziej w posłanku! cudowna rada 💕💕

[Beccy Kinnear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, all the advice makes sense and comes from a guy who appears to have the dogs best interest at heart.

[Emma Ferrier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll rate this once I've been able to put it into practice but a good, informative read and I feel very prepared for puppy now!

[Petrina Binney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I wish I’d had when I first picked up my Jack Russell. With clear, concise directions on how to train your dog, ‘Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy’ places great emphasis on positivity, and changing a puppy’s behaviour by giving them something more interesting to do than destroying the house, the family, everything in sight.

When I was growing up, I went to puppy training classes with my Labrador-cross and was taught to ‘correct the dog’. This usually involved a swift pull on the lead which, whether attached to a standard collar or choke chain, caught the dog by surprise and damaged the relationship we - rather demoralised dog-lovers - were trying to cultivate with our totally bewildered dogs.

Thank God, dominance theory has now been thoroughly debunked and, in this marvellous training guide, the reader is taught to be their dog’s good and responsible friend, as well as the source of all joy. A happy dog, just as a happy person, is much more likely to take in information than a terrified dog.

The writing is clear and friendly, and the instructions are logical and reassuring.

There are a great many exercises in this guide, all of which I look forward to trying out with my Jack Russell. Yes, he’s eight years old now, but I have come away from this book with enthusiasm and certainty that we’re going to get this right.

Thanks to Aimée for thrusting this at the top of my TBR pile.

[ThDogs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid little book. It started out a bit slow but it was giving me some laughs and little tips and adjustment I hadn’t thought of or had forgotten. I had thoroughly warmed up to it by the end of the book and looking forward to implementing some of the more creative training games with as soon as possible.

I can see why this book is frequently recommended to beginner owners and beginners to positive reinforcement methods, it has a lot of good introductions to foundational concepts and how to implement them. It doesn't make things overly complicated despite being quite thorough, covering a huge range of concepts from management, prevention, incompatible behaviours, positive interruptors, errorless lead pressure training, environmental acclimatisation, how to structure training...all covered in the book but not covered in jargon so that anyone can learn these skills.

The book started out with a joke I found quite funny, before moving into a standard yet amusing introduction. I found the training philosophy section quite dull but only because of a combination of the writing style and that the author has always been interested in positive reinforcement methods. So no interesting intersection between past methods, what changed his mind, how he got here. It was a bit preachy at times in the start which I just find unnecessary and would rather it get to the meat of the book. Fortunately this was relatively short.

I found the section on management informative but just a little short. I would have liked to have seen more examples of how management can be used to prevent mistakes (outside of toilet training).

I found the crate/pen section the right combination of helpful without turning it into a mandatory piece of the book's process or resorting to natural fallacies. A nice bit of fresh air.

It went over types of equipment and there was a missed opportunity on actually describing what a comfy harness is (since so many no-pull harnesses claim to be comfy while functioning out of discomfort despite and owner's best efforts to buy a safe harness).

The instructions for all the foundational skills of sit, down, stand, come etc were actually positive reinforcement, no false advertising here. Phew! A lure based method was the most prominent way of teaching, although the book later went into capturing some skills.

Assorted problem solving suggestions were very clever, I especially enjoyed the section on all the different reasons a puppy might be chewing and how to resolve each of them. Especially the "legal" chewing list to redirect the teething puppies too...and the adults, as the book recognised it is a normal dog behaviour.

I adore when a dog training book has check lists in it and this had one of the best exposure/socialsiation checklists I've ever seen. I also adored the play chapter, the guest management chapter and the mutually exclusive behaviour chapter. ESPECIALLY when this went into mutually exclusive behaviour for the owner to prevent owner-based bad habits. Got a chuckle out of that.

There was a section on dog parks where, instead of forbidding people entirely and avoiding the topic, the author provided guidance on how to identify a safe dog park and the etiquette to follow when using a dog park.

The lead walking section was short, but the methods (multiple within!) easy enough to follow along. I suspect I enjoy this section as much as I do because it follows the lead walking methods I use (follow the owner backwards, circle method, errorless lead pressure to teach the dog how to self-correct without owner input).

Similarily the recall section was a bit short but it neatly outlined several recall games to get you started and then emergency processes for what we can do when our not-yet-trained puppy need to recall in an emergency (more sections that made me laugh too, then remember fondly when a traditional-methods gundog trainer shared a time they pulled that exact emergency procedure. If it can attract a wild emu, it will attract your awol puppy). Later on in the Leave It chapter, the recal topic was expanded into indoor emergency recalls with the Fridge Game. I think the Fridge Game would have been far more beneficial in the recall chapter.

My favourite chapter was chapter 18, the rucksack walk. This reminded me of the classic sniffwalk with a couple of twists present in the rucksack and is such a spectacular and creative idea on using the exposure/socialising of new and novel objects to bolster your bonding. My mind immediately went to grooming equipment and smells that would relate to a vet hospital, as a great chance to introduce these usually negative items in a neutral-positive way that ALSO supports your calm environmental exploration, orienting on owner and chilling. I really really liked this Rucksack chapter. I also laughed heartily at step 1 getting the environment out of the dog's system and step 2 getting the training out of the owner's system before moving onto the actual rucksack game. Very clever. This game is just a very creative package of a whole bunch of foundational behaviours.

There were two sections which contained colour photos for a range of activities described in the book. The photos showed demonstrations of step by steps or what an exercise could look like - some of them funny.

Ultimately the book is a 4 star because the content was good, informative, clear and easy to follow - I just didn't vibe with the writing style for large sections of it. I'd make it a 4.5 star if possible for all the times it made me chuckle.

I did not realise this author was once a tv dog trainer, they seem to have broken the curse where every book by a tv dog trainer was filled with outdated junk. Pleased!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this training book. It seemed to be doable. I wish that there were more pictures or descriptions. But, this has been one of my favorites. I especially loved his idea of going on a rucksack walk, which is a relaxing short walk and then sit in the grass with the dog and one at a time pull out special things that you brought to share with the puppy—a new object, a new special food, etc. Put these items in a Tupperware container and slowly take it out. It helps to build a special relationship and helps to soothe and calm the mind.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff but very patronising writing style. Possibly originally written for children then modified for adults later