Over the past decade, Kathy Callahan’s family has taken in more than a hundred rescue puppies. This delightful photo-filled book features the wonderful stories that emerged as these foster pups were suddenly surrounded by a nurturing family complete with patient adult dogs and curious cats. With a gift for capturing the moment in both words and images, Callahan brings readers inside the poignant and ultimately uplifting work of fostering. This inspiring read is indeed about puppies, but it’s also about family and human connection. It’s about finding your own way — through that one special thing you can do to light a candle, instead of cursing the darkness.
A fascinating look at rescue dogs--where they come from, why every dog lover should consider adopting one, and how to make them part of your family. America's leading undercover animal investigator, Pete Paxton, has, among other exploits, infiltrated more than seven hundred puppy mills, worked undercover to close one of the largest and most infamous puppy mills in the United States, and shuttered the most notorious trafficker of dogs for experimentation in history. In this book, he shares stories of the amazing dogs he has rescued and brought to loving families, and also offers invaluable guidance and wisdom for anyone living with rescue dogs. Far too many people think rescue dogs have irredeemable anxieties, behavior issues, or other problems. In truth, rescue dogs can--and do--become wonderful companions. This groundbreaking book will help readers understand these dogs' unique ways of thinking, learning, and loving, and leaves no questions unanswered about the plight of dogs commercially bred in the United States--and what every dog lover can do about it.
Written in a fresh, warm voice loaded with empathy, Welcoming Your Puppy from Planet Dog lights the path to a relaxed, happy interspecies household “Expert advice that is deeply insightful, funny, entertaining, and highly relatable.” — Traer Scott, bestselling author of Shelter Dogs and Finding Home After a decade of guiding people who’ve just added a puppy to the family, dog trainer Kathy Callahan has learned a fundamental truth: at some point every one of them feels overwhelmed. When they seek out expertise, they’re flooded with impossibly detailed advice, conflicting opinions, and a surprising number of techniques that seem unkind. In contrast, Callahan reassures owners that success flows not from nailing an intimidating list of disciplinary tactics, but from adopting a mindset of “trusted guide” rather than “master.” The key to great training is recognizing that we have essentially kidnapped these puppies from their own vastly different culture. Using an easy-to-grasp “Planet Dog / Planet Human” concept, Callahan dives into the puppy essentials, including: • how to prepare your house (and yourself) for puppyhood • potty training, chewing, jumping, and other challenges • how to train with fun, not fear • why it might seem your puppy “just doesn’t listen” • navigating puppyhood with young kids, cats, and/or other dogs • what to do if there’s household disagreement on things like whether dogs belong on furniture In fun-to-read chapters filled with empathy for both the beleaguered humans and their confused puppies, Welcoming Your Puppy from Planet Dog paves the way for a rewarding friendship between a relaxed, well-prepared human and a canine family member who’s happily at ease in our world.
“The world is a very narrow bridge. Cross it with a dog.” “When in doubt, walk your dog” is the first of many valuable maxims in Dog Lessons, a heartfelt reflection on what dogs can teach us when we open ourselves to listen and learn. After sixty-plus years living and working with dogs, Hersch Wilson shares self-deprecating stories and lighthearted musings on a life filled with fur-covered furniture, unexplained messes, and destroyed property. The resulting compendium of dog wisdom — from universal values like loyalty and curiosity to practical lessons on napping, playing, and avoiding a serious fight — is not only poignant but eminently good advice.
A comprehensive dog training and puppy training program that offers the added benefit of one-on-one online advice from the author Do you consider your dog part of the family? Most dog guardians do. But just like children, dogs need structure. Structure to show him that he shouldn't jump on every person who enters your house, or urinate indoors, or drag you down the road when you walk him. In Imagine Life with a Well-Behaved Dog, Julie Bjelland offers all the information you need to make your dog confident, secure and able to understand and follow rules. Drawing on years of experience, Julie has created a thorough guide that teaches basic training, how to communicate with your dog, and how to prevent and solve behavior problems. She discusses how to train your puppy and how to train adult dogs, even special needs dogs, and tells how to choose the right dog for your family and how to integrate him into a home with kids, other dogs, or cats. Because each dog's situation is unique, Julie is offering readers exclusive one-on-one guidance via her website, for up to 60 days. Here dog training, often very expensive, is now affordable and accessible to a broad audience. Julie's down-to-earth, uncomplicated advice is a welcome solution for a busy dog guardian and aims to change the way people communicate with, and care for, their dogs forever.
One woman’s journey into the heart of a dog crisis Soon after Jacki Skole brought home an eight-week-old puppy from a New Jersey rescue organization, she wondered how such a young animal could have so many idiosyncrasies—so she set out to find an answer. Dogland, an extraordinary mix of memoir and investigative journalism, follows Skole’s journey to trace the origins of her newest family member. Along the way, Skole interviewed dozens who work in the world of animal rescue—from shelter managers to animal rights activists—taking readers from dilapidated county-run shelters in the South to strip malls in the Northeast where rescue groups seek homes for homeless pets, and from rural and urban “vet deserts” to the very heart of the South’s complex relationship with companion dogs. Amid the serious issues facing shelter dogs in America, Skole found tireless animal advocates and humble visionaries who believe their ideas and their passion can save canine lives throughout the South—and the entire United States. This award-winning book offers a thoughtful and inspiring look into America's dog crisis and how we can come together to resolve it.
Tender Paws takes a deep dive into the practical benefits of applying therapeutic parenting best practices to dogs in our care. When Wendy Lyons Sunshine got her first puppy—abandoned behind a gas station, struggling with worms and anemia—she was in over her head. As puppy training guides failed to help her with the out-of-control, traumatized bundle of teeth and claws rescue pup, she turned to her work helping world-class child development experts. Could strategies for raising happy, well-adjusted kids transfer to a puppy? As it turns out, yes, they can! From the first try, parenting wisdom transformed Sunshine’s relationship with her challenging little one. Soon enough, Sunshine’s view of her puppy shifted from one of adversity to one of compassion and understanding, and she was able to bring patience and therapeutic concepts to meet her dog’s needs. When Sunshine reached out to experts, they affirmed that science-based principles used with at-risk children align well with best practices of holistic, positive, and progressive dog handling. Exploring parallels between human and canine research, attachment styles, history of trauma, parenting styles, and her own “inner child” proved a mindful path for pet parenting. Far from a standard dog training manual, Tender Paws explicitly applies parenting wisdom and best practices used with special needs kids to a cross-section of scenarios, from recognizing developmental trauma and unmet core needs, to making decisions about appropriate equipment, to responding to difficult behavior, to understanding the parenting style from which we approach our dogs. Sunshine empowers you and your dog by offering: A synthesis of the fields of child development, attachment, trauma, sensory integration, neurobiology, learning, animal behavior, and ethology. A problem-solving framework that makes dog training decisions clearer and behavior frustrations easier to resolve. Parenting wisdom to help your dog move beyond trauma and into wellness. Borrowing the principles of parenting for dogs feels obvious to some people: instinctive and ordinary and inevitable. But that’s not true for everyone, especially those of us who had a less than ideal childhood and bear the scars of early harm, loss, trauma, or deprivation. Tender Paws provides an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, evidence-based guide for readers who want to honor the needs of—and improve outcomes for—puppies and dogs they care about.
When Dr. Ian Dunbar introduced his SIRIUS® Puppy Training in 1982, dog training mostly comprised punishing adult dogs for bad habits and lack of compliance. Dunbar focused on verbally cuing and creatively luring to achieve desirable behavior and using “life rewards” — sniffing, walking, play with dogs, and interactive games — to reinforce speedy compliance and good habits from the outset. His “dog’s point of view” approach revolutionized the field, and today there are few trainers who have not been strongly influenced by it. While positive reinforcement is now widely adopted, this new book details how other reward-training techniques have strayed from Dunbar’s original, quick and easy, highly effective lure-reward approach for teaching dogs ESL, in which we can verbally cue specific responses, offer heartfelt praise for success, and give guidance when dogs err. With Dunbar’s method, we can teach dogs when and where to eliminate, what to chew, when and for how long to bark, and when and how to appropriately let off steam. Barking Up the Right Tree offers proof that aversive punishment seldom works to eliminate undesirable behavior or to get the dog back on track. Dunbar presents numerous nonaversive yet highly effective solutions for misbehavior and noncompliance — simply by using the words you teach, and without even raising your voice. The culmination of fifty-plus years at the vanguard of dog behavioral science, Barking Up the Right Tree is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants harmonious, two-way communication with a calm, confident, well-behaved, happy canine companion.
Bring your love of Disney to life with more than 100 amazing and creative projects and activities. The perfect rainy-day gift for kids who love Disney and enjoy crafting. Let their imaginations run wild with more than 100 enchanting Disney inspired arts and crafts, party games, puzzles, papercraft and many more fun and practical activities. With stunning photography and clear step-by-step instructions, the Disney Ideas Book guides you through each exciting project, from growing grass hair on Frozen trolls and creating The Lion King animal masks to crafting festive Mickey Mouse hanging decorations and Winnie the Pooh party hats. There are top tips on every page to help make your creations a success, with handy templates provided at the back of the book. Featuring family favourite characters from animation and live-action movies and TV, including Frozen, Toy Story, Moana, Inside Out and Cinderella.
