I signed up for puppy training; will I still need to read these four puppy books?

Some people tell me: "I don't plan to buy any books, because I'm going to puppy training, and they can answer all my questions there".

First and foremost, let's agree that attending puppy training with your puppy is always advisable, if only because it will be a huge benefit for your puppy's socialization. In addition, you'll learn a lot of useful stuff in puppy training, like the sit, down, and come commands, for example.

And if you do run into a few questions, you can always ask the dog trainer providing the puppy training. The emphasis, however, is on a 'few' questions.

You need to realize that a puppy training usually don't last longer than one hour, once a week, over something like a ten-week period. Now, obviously, a dog trainer will not be able to answer all the questions you may have in just one hour. Their duty is to explain exercises and then practice them throughout every class, enabling you and your puppy to pass the puppy training exams at the end of the training.

So even though they can give you a few tips on house-training, crate training, teaching your puppy not to bite, and training it to stay home alone, that will cover just about 3% of all the tips collected in my four books, based on interviews with 30 dog behavior experts.

Summing up, puppy training is primarily intended for socialization and practicing obedience drills. They don't focus on getting your puppy housebroken, making it feel safe in a dog crate, teaching it not to bite, and teaching it to be home alone.