The Puppy Diaries
Raising a Dog Named Scout
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4.1 • 66 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
An instructive and marvelously entertaining chronicle of a puppy's first year, by the executive editor of The New York Times
One sparkling summer day, Jill Abramson brought home a nine-week-old golden retriever named Scout. Over the following year, as she and her husband raised their adorable new puppy, Abramson wrote a hugely popular column for The New York Times's website about the joys and challenges of training this rambunctious addition to their family. Dog-lovers from across the country inundated her with e-mails and letters, and the photos they sent in of their own dogs became the most visited photo album on the Times's site in 2009.
Now Abramson has gone far beyond the material in her column and written a detailed and deeply personal account of Scout's first year. Part memoir, part manual, part investigative report, The Puppy Diaries continues Abramson's intrepid reporting on all things canine. Along the way, she weighs in on such issues as breeders or shelters, adoption or rescue, raw diet or vegan, pack-leader gurus like Cesar Millan or positive-reinforcement advocates like Karen Pryor.
What should you expect when a new puppy enters your life? With utterly winning stories and a wealth of practical information, The Puppy Diaries provides an essential road map for navigating the first year of your dog's life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Abramson, executive editor of the New York Times, is a tough-minded investigative journalist with a soft spot for cuddly pups. In this book, based on her popular Times blog, she chronicles her first year with her new puppy, Scout, and shares what she learns about doggie nutrition, training, socialization, and even pet health insurance. When her husband, Henry, falls in love with a friend's British standard retriever and persuades her to get a puppy from the friend's breeder, Abramson, still grieving the loss of her beloved Westie, Buddy, is reluctant. But by the time they've gotten home with Scout, Abramson has already begun to dote on her. An empty nester with two grown children, she delights in bonding with other dog owners at the dog park, fretting over Scout's graduation from puppy kindergarten, and pampering her with trips to doggy day care or to a pool for pooches in their Tribeca neighborhood. As Scout romps toward canine "adolescence," chomping through shoes, spectacles, and table legs with pin-sharp teeth and dragging her owners along by the leash, Abramson consults with dog authorities like Cesar Millan of The Dog Whisperer, clicker-training and positive-reinforcement proponent Diane Abbott, and animal behaviorist Temple Grandin. Though not all might have such envious resources, puppy owners will enjoy her account of the trials and joys of raising a puppy and will benefit from her balanced look into the contentious realm of dog-training methods.
Customer Reviews
The Puppy Diaries
Jill Abramson has written and informative, interesting and entertaining book about getting the perfect dog for she and her husband Henry. Much information about all aspects of researching the “right” dog and going from there to accommodating the puppy and training the puppy and the first year of growth of the puppy into an adult dog. Funny and
It makes everyone who loves dogs want to get a puppy.
Name Dropper
The book was recommended to me so I purchased on a whim. I love dog books and stories.
Unfortunately I found the author to be extremely tedious. Really, normal people with puppy issues don't meet with 1/10th of the experts that the author name drops in her book. I found her writing style to be more of a who I know that what we did.
Skip it or rent from the library. Don't buy the book.