Our puppy info sources!

As puppy owning virgins, Liz and I needed some help with preparing for Jax's arrival and especially now we have got him.

Before we got Jax I subscribed to Pet Forums. This is a fabulous online community with loads of very knowledgeable dog owners willing to share their expertise. I've only had to ask a couple of questions as the vast pst thread resource and many, many stickies answered most of my early questions about getting Jax.

We bought two puppy books - one by Ian Dunbar and this, The Perfect Puppy, by Gwen Bailey. We soon abandoned the Ian Dunbar book, it was liked being preached at by the Rev Ian Paisley ('thou shall do it this way or your puppy dawg will be dooooooomed!' sybdrome!).

Gwen Bailey's book however is brilliant. Its easy to read, really well written and constructed and we thoroughly recommend it. Its by my bedside so I can gen up on puppy advice each evening!

The second bedside book we have is this Kennel Club guide, Spanish Water Dog by Christina Desarnoud. This gives us in-depth knowledge of this very rare and only recently recognised breed including the breeds history. Its fascinating to learn about their Turkish origin, their water dog relations (inc. the Portuguese Water Dog made famous by the Obamas puppy Bo) and how they have been used as working dogs for centuries for herding sheep and cattle, as well as harbour work in some of the northern Spanish ports, and are widely used on the continent today as police sniffer dogs and search and rescue.