In Tender Paws, discover how therapeutic parenting principles that help vulnerable children can also improve dog behavior—bringing calmer households, stronger bonds, and healthier, happier outcomes.
* Winner, 2025 ASJA Book Award
* Winner, 2024 DWAA Maxwell Medallion
At the core of the book are parenting styles and the HEARTS Framework, a practical, holistic approach to helping dogs flourish emotionally, behaviorally, and socially: Heal the body • Enrich the brain • Appropriate environments • Respectful, secure relationships • Teach sensitively and positively • Support the individual.
Blending real-life stories, expert insights, and her own journey with a traumatized rescue puppy, Sunshine offers a compassionate, evidence-informed approach to common challenges—from behavior struggles to training choices and building trust.
Because when we parent dogs with compassion and science, we discover their true potential—and our own.
“I love this book! This is no ordinary training manual! Not only will it help transform the relationship the reader has with their dog, but it has the potential to change how they relate to other humans and even with themselves.” — Andrew Hale, Dog Centred Care
“A guide for compassionately helping puppies, rescue dogs, and older traumatized canines live their best lives, based upon neuroscience and strategies developed for aiding at-risk children. …. lucid and informative … surprising and intriguing … easily understandable… An articulate, highly informative, and enjoyable puppy-parenting primer. Our Verdict: Get It!” — Kirkus Reviews Indies
“Exceptionally well organized and presented, informed and informative… Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs is especially and unreservedly recommended…” — Midwest Book Review
“Especially helpful for people who are getting new puppies or adopting traumatized rescue dogs.” — Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make us Human
“A powerful, well-researched, and important common sense book for every dog lover…. Highly recommend.” — Kim Brophey, author of Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Behavior
“Sunshine’s ability to break down complex canine psychology into layman’s terms is particularly helpful, and she provides hands-on graphics and tools—checklists, diagrams, and graphs—as well as vivid descriptions…. she also consults with over a dozen animal behaviorists, making this a well-rounded, valuable resource for beleaguered dog owners.” — Booklife
“A game changer…fully deserves to sit next to Patricia McConnell and Jean Donaldson on your bookshelf.” — 5-star Amazon review
Unleash your inner pet parent—with help from the fields of child development, attachment, sensory integration, neurobiology, learning, and trauma—and bring out the best in your cherished companion. Discover the four parenting styles and the foundational HEARTS framework for supporting those who struggle, whether human or canine.
See what readers have to say about TENDER PAWS at LibraryThing, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
Available from Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Audible, and your favorite bookseller.
In RAISING THE CHALLENGING CHILD: How to Minimize Meltdowns, Reduce Conflict, and Increase Cooperation, leaders of Chaddock Family Services and Residential Treatment Center share 30 proven strategies for reaching kids who struggle.
THE CONNECTED CHILD: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family introduces parenting wisdom from the founders of the Karyn Purvis Institute for Child Development.
Noteworthy:
- ASJA Outstanding Book of the Year
- Translated into multiple languages
- Over 350,000 copies sold
- Over 2,400 5-star reviews on Amazon
- “An extremely useful parenting handbook… truly outstanding … strongly recommended.”
— Library Journal (starred review) - “A tremendous resource for parents and professionals alike.”
— Thomas Atwood, president and CEO, National Council for Adoption