You might know that I recently adopted two rescue puppies. When they came, they were basically feral, and I couldn’t get near them with a leash. That made it impossible to take them to standard puppy kindergarten classes, and someone at the vet told me they had a trainer who came to the house. We hired that trainer and she was fantastic. She used the same theories that I was familiar with from my masters in Mental Health Counseling, including exposure therapy and positive reinforcement.

I wasn’t surprised to see that Grossman’s book espouses the same principles. She refers to Pavlov’s dogs and B.F. Skinner, among other notable names in behavioral science, psychology, and explains how they relate to dog behavior.

My favorite thing about this book is how well the author conveys her message and voice, which comes through loud and clear even when narrated by someone other than the author. I didn’t even realize that the narrator and author weren’t the same person until I was well into the book. Eunice Wong does a fantastic job of bringing Grossman’s words to audio, and it’s clear that she had a fun time with the reading, which already utilized humor in multiple places.

I also loved the enthusiasm that Grossman shares in this book. She so obviously loves dogs, and wants to bring this information to a wider audience than she can through her own School for Dogs. I’m so grateful that books like this exist, since it helps to reinforce the training methods that I learned and have instinctively applied. Rather than punishing our dogs for engaging in a behavior we don’t want them to do, Grossman encourages her readers to learn why their dogs are engaging in a specific behavior, in order to determine how to get them to stop doing it.

Throughout the book, Grossman explores what natural dog behaviors mean, and how we can get them to want to change that. The reward-based training has worked best for my own dogs, and there are practical ways to use this kind of training to get our dogs to do what we want, whether it is sit, stay, lie down, or do cool tricks. This kind of training focuses on the dog’s strengths, and allowing them to feel safe enough to actively participate in training, which was one of the first things that the trainer I hired did—provide a ‘safe space’ for the dogs to indicate they were willing to engage. One was always ready, the other had her moments where she’d just bow out of training, and I was never asked to force her to come back and be willing to learn. Instead, I had to earn her trust first, and then be flexible with our training sessions.

Grossman devotes earlier chapters in the book to explaining the psychological underpinnings of behavioral training, and honestly? The biggest difference between applying these principles to dogs or humans is that dogs can’t speak to us using words—instead we have to rely on their nonverbal cues, knowledge of dog behavior, and our understanding of our own individual dog(s). She does an outstanding job with explaining the similarities and differences between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment, which can be difficult to grasp if any of these are new terms.

This is the kind of book that everyone who has a dog should be reading immediately. The author is excited about her work with dogs, wants to help people learn more about how to train their dogs in the best way for them, and does so in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. Positive reinforcement is a technique that encourages dogs to do what you want through rewards and praise, not punishment, which has shown to work fast but actually not be the most effective and safest method of training. Grossman has a lot to say about more well-known methods of training, such as that used by Cesar Milan, but it’s easy to see where she is coming from. If you have a dog, are thinking of getting a dog, or just want to learn how to understand dogs better, this is the book for you.

This book is as really good and extremely helpful! We are planning on getting a puppy soon. It’s been 10 years. I have read another book on positive reinforcement, and I knew I wanted to train a new puppy this way. This book had a lot of good information on positive reinforcement and how it’s different from other training ways. I appreciated the hands on exercises. I thought the narration was done well! Lots of good stuff here! Huge thanks to Tantor audio and Netgalley for allowing me to listen and review this audiobook!

Love love love!! I already bought a physical copy and I’m on the waitlist to join School of the Dogs training club!

Likes: I loved how the author used science to backup her training methods (I love tracking data and science).
I loved the bit about how values of reward matter. I learned that at a seminar a couple of years ago and it has been a very useful tool in my training.

Dislikes: criticizing methods/name dropping. I felt that part one was pretty negative and I didn’t learn anything until part 2. I dropped a star for that.

Having a stubborn, difficult-to-train dog breed, I am always looking for insights to do things better or to find something that we can stick with. In this book, the author gives us her backstory and her evolution as a trainer of dogs… and chickens. She talks about earlier methods including a popular one from the late 70s/early 80s where dogs were routinely whipped. And she talks extensively about behavioralists Pavlov and BF Skinner. Apparently training your dog with love means giving lots of treats to reward the behavior you like. It sounds simple, but remembering to praise when they are just hanging out and chilling is much harder than it sounds. Plus, since it is all about rewarding with treats, we’ve had to cut back on his kibble so we don’t overfeed him! It’s too early to tell if we’ve managed any permanent behavior modification, but it’s definitely worth a shot. And he’s not complaining about the treats either.
The book is upbeat, often humorous, and well narrated. The author is based in NYC and often trains dogs for city life, so there are suggestions for things like elevator etiquette as well as for suburban dog parks. If you want a perspective on dog training with positive reinforcement, give this a try!
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook for review purposes. Publication date: Oct. 29, 2024.

I've been searching high and low for a book on this topic with tangible steps and this is what I've been looking for! I have a physical copy on the way so I can refer back to it. I do wish it covered what to do when a dog repeatedly does something you're trying to stop.

n terms of dog training books, 'How to Train Your Dog With Love + Science' is a really great listen(audiobook release is read by Eunice Wong and published by Tantor Audio).

Grossman presents the science behind her methods with a conversational voice, making it easy to understand and relatable. She starts out by explaining what makes her approach different and spends some time discussing how we culturally arrived at some of the common misconceptions about dog behavior.

Her approach really simplifies dog training and it is apparent that she loves her work and just wants what's best for the dogs and humans alike. My favorite anecdote involves a small dog and his owner's concern that the dog was struggling for dominance with her boyfriend, who would get growled at each time he tried to walk the dog. When observing the dog being walked, Grossman found that the owner and the boyfriend were using different leashes and the one the boyfriend was using had a larger clip that was hitting the dog in the face. He stopped using that leash and their walks were fine after that. Obviously, the answer isn't always that simple, but I found that it was a good example of how we can better help our dogs by changing the way we perceive our pets' motivations.

As the new dog mom of a rescued pittbull mix, I really appreciated her no nonsense approach and I'm looking forward to seeing how it helps my dog Billie adjust to her new(ish) home and family.

Thanks Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the advance listening copy of this audiobook.

First thing’s first: thank you Netgalley for the ALC of this book!
How To Train Your Dog With Love + Science by Annie Grossman is a book that introduces readers to the world of R+, science backed dog training.
Full disclosure: I am pretty nerdy about dog training. In the words of Mad Dog Metalworks: high maintenance and behaviorally complex? Sounds like my kind of dog! I thought this book did a good job at intruding folks to the more scientific parts of positive training while explaining why more traditional methods might not be as kind or as effective as one might have been told. While it wasn’t anything earth shattering for me, I fully recognize that not everyone has been deeply entrenched in the dog world for as long as I have.
I do think this was accessible for folks who don’t have a good handle on the psychology of dog training. It also did a good job at breaking down the more nuanced aspects of positive reinforcement vs positive punishment and some of the other more nuanced pieces of training. I think it is less of a training book, but more a way to understand the R+ training methodologies. While there are some exercises in this book, it’s not a manual per se. However, I do think this is a great book for people to read before they start training their dogs or hire a trainer! There is a lot of really good information packed into this book.
I’ve found that most people would prefer to train their dogs with kindness, they just don’t know how or why “balanced” or “compulsion” training isn’t great. I think this book will open the door of training with kindness and science for a lot of people.
4.5⭐️

I enjoyed learning the science behind dog train and why it does or does not work. As someone with a reactive dog I hope to put some of the training into practice.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this approved -arc request. I’m enjoying this audiobook, I love dogs, and will definitely learn new training tips and skills for our family puppy and dogs.

Thank you so much to the publisher, I love this audiobook so far and so excited it was approved. I’ll write my full review to follow.