Rating:

“Kids Training Puppies in 5 Minutes” is simple to read. All the words are appropriate for those beginning to read. On most pages, the message is simple and concise. There is a list of tips that are in bullet point form.

There are two different puppies shown throughout the book. A little boy and a girl are shown demonstrating the training tips.

Repetition is used throughout “Kids Training Puppies in 5 Minutes.” J.T. asked at one time if he was reading the same page over, because the concepts are the same in many cases. Throughout the book, it is stressed that the children/trainers must develop a relationship with their puppies.

J.T.: “This book is good. I liked it. My friends would like it, too. I do not have a puppy. I have a dog. I am going to train my dog with this book.”

This book can be used with preschoolers, also. The pictures are attention-grabbing. The concept is simple. There is a lot of repetition.

I wish there were more children involved in the photographs. There are only two children in the book. To show some diversity would allow all children to relate more to the trainers/children.

JoAnn Dahan and photographer, Walter George, created a wonderful book. “Kids Training Puppies in 5 Minutes” is not only effective in teaching children; it is also enjoyable to read. This book will teach your child the responsibility they have when they have a puppy. It also will help your child create a bond with their pet.

Rating:

It’s not quite as great as I hoped, though. For one thing, I don’t see why they didn’t make the reservoir larger. We still have to fill the thing up once a day or so (though we’d have to do this at least as often with our old water bowl). They could have easily doubled the size of the water reservoir without making it awkwardly large.

For another thing, the water tastes good to our dogs, but it looks kind of unappealing. I somehow hoped that since the water was pumped through a filter continuously, it would be crystal clear. It’s free of hair, but it has an enormous floating island of drool on it. The problem is that the water intake for the recirculation is on the bottom of the basin, but since drool floats on the surface, it just builds up until you skim it off or clean the thing out. I’m sure they could have designed it so that some of the water intake came from the water surface. But like I said, the dogs don’t mind. The water is much less gross than our water bowl would get (besides the floating drool island).

The third thing about it that could be better is that it’s not super quiet, even on the slowest setting. It’s not that bad though; we have it in the kitchen, and we never turn the thing off. It’s a bit of white noise that doesn’t interfere with watching TV in the living room or anything. But if you’re concerned about noise, you should be aware it’ll make some.

Despite these quibbles, I still give it 4 stars. It gets our dog drinking more water, which is good for him.

One last thing — the instruction manual makes a big deal of cleaning out its various parts weekly. I think buying the brush kit (and some extra filters) to go with it is a good idea, instead of having to go back and have a second set of things shipped to you the next week (if you don’t have a pet store local that sells the extras for this thing).

Rating:

It’s clear that JoAnn Dahan has a real handle on how to instruct children, training puppies, and making it easy for parents!