I couldn’t get into this book. The advice didn’t resonate with me probably. If you’re looking for advice on your dog and want to approach the relationship the same as you would with your kids, this is a good book for you. It had the feel of a toddler parenting book, which was okay but it just didn’t jive with me. And a lot of the advice is geared toward someone who has brought a puppy home, so this definitely didn’t work for me as an owner of adult dogs, which can be harder to train. Some of mine are just too stubborn, lol.

I enjoyed the approach and ethos that is shared with this book. A dog guardian/parent is about not just providing the basic needs but also ensuring that dogs are given the tools they need to succeed and have full lives with the parameters they may have. I have a rescue dog who I work diligently with on her reactivity. My approach has always been to guide her in a way where she is able to have trust in me while also doing things that may seem scary to her in a safe environment. I use science-based tools to hone our exercises and get her more acclimated and behave neutrally towards her triggers.

This book provided details on ways that we parent children can be applied to how we parent dogs. It provided countless anecdotes, professional insights from the field, and clear guides on exercises/activities that can be utilized with your dog.

Sections were clearly marked and broken into easily digestible material. The book includes knowledge but also shows you how it can be applied in day to day life.

I appreciate the HEARTS framework. The focus is on life skills not necessarily obedience, which I appreciate. I don’t need a perfect dog. I want to my dog to feel more confident and comfortable in situations where they feel insecure.

Overall, I think this was a great book that really showed a kinder approach to working with your dog.

The author has created a book like no other currently aailable in the dog training industry. A book that explains attachment and how it can affect your relationship with your dog AND provides positive ways to teach your puppy life skills without techniques that can damage your bond.

While I did enjoy this book immensely, it felt so much like so many other non-fiction dog books that I have read. Journalist for Psychology Today, Wendy Lyons Sunshine also co-wrote, Raising the Challenging Child, and The Connected Child. Both of these books were about ways in which to work with abused and traumatized adopted and foster children. After bringing home her rescue dog, Hazel, Lyons Sunshine realized that the standard dog training practices and tactics that she was using were not working and she needed to change what she was doing. That is when she began employing the practices of what she learned by writing her two previous books.

Now, there are going to be a whole gang of people that are of the camp that dogs are not people and, most especially, they are not kids. Of course they aren’t!!! However, what Lyons Sunshine exhibits in this book is that some of the practices that have proven to be successful in working with traumatized adopted and foster children who have a history of abuse and neglect can be applied to traumatized adopted and foster dogs who also have a history of abuse and neglect.

Almost every fur baby (yes, I am of the camp that my pets are my babies) I have ever adopted was either from an animal rescue or a shelter (there were two that were from litters of family or friends). I have read a lot of books about dog training, as well as attended dog training sessions with most of my fur babies and have been practicing many of these standard skills and practices with all of my fur babies. So, on that note, a lot of this book was a refresher course for me, which is always a good thing. However, there was one program that was new to me and it was one that Lyons Sunshine wrote about in her previous books on children. It was called the HEARTS of parenting.

H = Heal the body
E = Enrich and optimize the brain
A = Appropriate environments with felt safety
R = Respectful and secure relationships
T = Teach sensitively and positively
S = Support the individual

The HEARTS of parenting supports research of animal welfare practices and methods by considering a dog’s emotional, medical, and ethological conditions when taking on the care of a an adopted or fostered dog. I was comforted by the fact that I already engage in and utilize quite a bit of these practices and methods. I also enjoyed learning some more ways that I can do better or differently in raising my rescued fur babies. This will benefit both my dogs and I, as well as strengthen our relationship with each other and the world we live in.

I also really enjoyed the various case studies of real-world experience from pet parents and the challenges that they encountered with their own rescued pups. I especially loved how applying these principles and practices really improved their relationships with the pups, but also how these folks made their pups’ worlds a much safer and nicer place to be for the pups. Because that’s what all of this is about – making a safer place in this world for the abused, neglected, and traumatized pups that we adopt and live with and love unconditionally.

As is often the case when reviewing a book like this, where I can’t rate it on characterization or storyline, I am rating it on the information it provided and the way in which it was presented. I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.3 and will be rounding down to a 4star rating. I want to thank NetGalley and HCI Books for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #HCIBooks #TenderPaws