Book Review – Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy by Steve Mann

First published, 2019

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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 the enthusiasm and certainty that we’re going to get this right.

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