Your Purebred Puppy Book

How to select the right breed of dog for you and your family, locate a good breeder, and choose the very best puppy of the litter.

The decision to buy a purebred dog may be made easily, but the question of which breed to buy is more complicated. Your Purebred Puppy, Second Edition, takes the guesswork out of choosing a dog. Updated to include twenty new breeds, this authoritative guide profiles 200 breeds and varieties of dogs-complete with photographs of each-to help prospective buyers find the one with the physical and behavioral characteristics that will best suit them. Michele Welton explains step by step how to decide on the right breed, locate a reputable breeder, and pick a healthy, good-looking, good-tempered companion. Also provided are simple tests readers can use to determine a puppy's temperament before they buy him and bring him home. Acquiring a dog is a big commitment, requiring time, patience, and money. Your Purebred Puppy, Second Edition, is the essential guidebook to accompany you on the search for your new pet.

Publishers Weekly

Adopting a quasi-scientific approach to choosing a suitable breed of pedigreed pooch, this volume labors to objectify what is ultimately a very personal choice. Lowell, a dog obedience teacher in California, quizzes readers on their expectations regarding 10 aspects of living with a dog--the animal's sociability with strangers, compatibility with children, need of indoor and outdoor activity, trimming and clipping, and beyond. Then she profiles 175 breeds, supplying charts for each that tabulate the 10 factors. But despite her careful quantifications and seemingly authoritative declarations, most of the information she supplies is highly subjective. For example, a true/false test includes ``I think most parents are too permissive or lackadaisical''; rejection of this statement, according to her, lessens the likelihood that the reader is ``equipped to handle a breed who tried to test your leadership.'' Lowell's repetitious analyses of the breeds themselves are also too general: she presents the apparent pros and cons, but rarely are they entirely applicable. (Dec.)