Customer Reviews

Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer's Secrets for Building a Better Relationship

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
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This is a really great book. It combines basic common-sense strategies to not only train your dog, but to really *bond* with your dog, which is an often overlooked component. Victoria, a professional dog trainer, combines tips along with client-inspired stories that are both humorous and informative. This isn't a rote step by step "how to" type book; it's more of a holistic approach to improving the relationship we have with our dogs. Victoria also reminds us that building the canine-human bond can and should be a lot of FUN! Fast and easy read too.

I recently purchased "Bonding With Your Dog", by Victoria Shade and I can't say enough good things about it! It is probably one of the most well written and practical manuals on how to achieve optimum performance and happiness with your dog I have ever read. Do you have a problem walking with your dog on leash? Victoria Shade gives you step-by-step instructions as to how to fix it. Not only that, those instructions are something you can put into practice today. Additionally, the bond she is talking about with your dog can extend to your human friends as well. Well, not in walking them but in complimenting and praising what you think is special about them. With this praise, people as well as dogs tend to repeat these behaviors. Kudos to Ms. Shade for writing a book that delivers what we do to unintentionally hurt our bond with our dog and five major, practical ways to work on it. This is a must read for anyone who loves their dog.

I have had three dogs (now four)and always wondered what I could do to create a even better bond than kindness alone would let me have with them. This wonderful book answers those questions and more. I just got my fourth dog from a Lab rescue, and now I know much more to help me train her and create even more love between us. I thanked the author by email, but let me do it again here for writing such a terrific book.

I really have enjoyed this book. I have 3 Cavaliers who are very sensitive and submissive. Other training and bonding methods are just too harsh for these guys. This book has enlightened me to techniques that make training a joy for the crew and delightful for me as I can see their "lightbulb" moments when they just get it. The book is great!

I will begin by saying I loved this book. It's not a training manual per se. It is, in essence, exactly what it says it is: a book about building a bond with your dog. The entire book is rooted 100% in positive ideals. And not only is it rooted in those ideals, but it also does not buy into the dominance myths (in fact, she calls alpha "the dirtiest concept in dog training"). Schade is a clicker trainer and she's proud of it. Like many positive trainers that's not where she began. She began with traditional methods she never quite felt comfortable with and discovered the joys of clicker training when someone suggested she try it in order to teach her dog to roll over (something she was struggling with). The dog picked it up amazingly fast and even more importantly, was joyful about it. She was a convert.

The book is broken down into two main sections.

Part I ("All About the Bond") explores what the bond IS exactly. What does a dog who has a good bond with his human look like? How does he act? And more importantly, she offers up several questions to get you to evaluate your bond with your dog. It also explores how we undermine the bond (everything from punishing a dog when it comes to you instead of rewarding the recall to not spending enough time with your dog to spoiling the dog to the point at which the dog becomes demanding), some body language issues (especially in regard to people believing they are rewarding a dog when the dog clearly is not happy with this "reward"), and the concept of rights vs. privileges (privileges are those things that the dog has to earn; she makes the statement that a lot of dogs run into problems when people believe certain privileges, like having free run of the house when no one is home, is a right and not a privilege).

Part II ("Build the Bond") gives you several exercises to help build the bond that you're likely struggling with if you're reading this book. Some of these exercises are simply basic obedience (sit, down/stay, recalls). Some of these are ways to stop "naughty" behavior. But most of the ideas are ways to incorporate training in such a way as to make it fun. And I am ALL about having fun with my dog! This was the section that connected with me the most. She has some fabulous ideas on how to play with your dog to help build the bond. I also love the sections on keeping humor in your training as your dog WILL frustrate you and her somewhat crazy suggestions for stopping a dog from chasing squirrels and yanking your arm out of its socket.

I thought the whole book was excellent. She brings in a lot of examples from her clients, both the clients who were successful and the ones who continued to struggle. She has a good sense of humor and takes a few digs early on at the "TV dog trainer," which was amusing. She's very upbeat and positive throughout the whole book and she explains pretty well why she thinks that positive reinforcement (and negative punishment, which she does clearly use at times) work well for establishing and cementing the bond.

She and I don't agree on everything. I don't believe tug HAS to have rules unless the dog is completely out of control. I'm not against using flexis for walks. And I don't believe that the dog has to walk right next to you in order for you to have a good bond. She's not asking for heel position, but she wants the dogs to walk with a loose leash right at their owners side. She allows sniffing, but only for short periods and not very far out from the owner. I'm fully content to allow my dog out in front of me, to my side or even behind me at times. She checks in frequently enough on walks for me to know she realizes I'm part of the walk too.

Those are really very minor quibbles with the book, though. Overall, I think it's an excellent book for building the bond with a dog who you might feel needs a little bit (or a lot of!) brushing up on that aspect.

This should be required reading for pet parents. It is well written and heartwarming. It doesn't contain many training tips but what is there is great. It's just a very good book to help you bond with your best friend.

This was well written. We enjoyed it, it was refreshing to read.
Our family recommends it to anyone wanting to understand their dogs better.
We are donating it to our local shelter library. Sometimes people who adopt a new dog need to
understand more about them, as all dogs are different.

This is a good book about bonding with your dog. So many books are too simple and don't increase your knowledge, but this book goes beyond that and gives information you would not find anywhere else. I have a dog and I'm always looking to increase my knowledge about him. The more I understand him, the better we get along and the more I can train him. I put this book up there with Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs, as one of my favorites.

This book is a must read for all dog owners and potential dog owners. It is an easy read that is informative,thought provoking and entertaining. As a trainer this book has given me more "language" to better help my clients understand the whys and hows of positive training.

Excellent Read! I had the pleasure of meeting Victoria in the fun, playful atmosphere of her local pet store. My puppy Yogi, took to her immediately. "Bonding with your Dog" came highly recommended by a dog trainer friend. Naturely, I had high expectations. I wasn't dissappointed! Victoria blends years of professional dog training experience and an easy to read, "laugh out loud" perspective. There is tons of useful information for building a loving, respective, relationship with your dog. Yogi and I are better for the experience. Thank you!