Dog writer Mary Burch, Ph.D., Certified Behavior Analyst, reviews Puppy Love:
Amazon prompts me when new books of certain topics come out. A week ago, I got the prompt that Puppy Love was available. I need another dog book like I need a sharp stick in my eye but the photo of the puppy on the cover who was looking right at ME along with the marketing words targeted right at ME got me and before I knew it, I bought it with one click.
The book arrived yesterday. BRAVO to both Liz and Wiley (Publishing).
I knew any book by Liz would be well written, but dog books are dog books and after you look at 1 million of them, most of them start to look alike.
The material covered is pretty much the same as what is covered in other puppy books. But this book is very different. Each topic from teaching basic skills to housetraining and handling behavior problems is covered on one page with a photo of a puppy on the opposite page. So, Liz has summarized for the busy puppy owner what they need to know about each topic on one page with plenty of great white space (although pages are all nicely colored) and she has left out all of the typical blah, blah, blah. For teaching skills, a very simple task analysis is provided. I'm going to try these with some puppies because these are some of the most edited TA's I have seen.
The photo editor, Sheri Wachtstetter, is credited on the book's cover.
This is something one rarely sees, but the photo editor's work is a key part of this book. Many of us do the best we can to get pictures and there are a ton of books where every few pages, there is a great photo. In full color, the photos appearing on every other page of Puppy Love are all GREAT.
How the publisher produced a book for under $25 with such high quality photos is beyond me. I have seen other color books at this price point but some of the grass looks lime green because the color balance and resolution was not handled properly.
Every writer should buy this book. The downside is it might make you want to jump out the window because it is so good. The up side is you will sit with it in your hands and realize you are holding something that is cutting edge and unlike anything else that has been done before.
-Mary Burch
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