Tender Paws will be especially helpful for people who are getting new puppies or adopting traumatized rescue dogs. This book offers lots of positive, gentle methods for working effectively with dogs.
— Distinguished Professor Dr. Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make us Human
Using her own experience with a problem puppy as a jumping off point, an award-winning journalist explores why we treat dogs as family and shows how parenting best practices used with at-risk children can also benefit our dogs.
Based on research into child development, attachment, trauma, canine behavior, learning, dog training, and ethology, Tender Paws shows how force-free, positive reinforcement dog training and handling methods align with evidence-based parenting best practices. The book dives deep into best practices, introduces the “HEARTS” framework, explores four pet parenting styles, and shares strategies that make it easy to make informed choices for our own dogs.
Featuring illustrative cases and insights from dog behavior experts and trainers such as Victoria Stilwell, Kim Brophey, Denise Fenzi, Suzanne Clothier, Andrew Hale, Roman Gottfried, Hélène Marie Lawler, Christopher Pachel DVM, and others, Tender Paws is full of strategies that can improve dogs’ long-term welfare and inspire our own pet parenting journey. The author also invites us to take a compassionate look at our own “inner child” and history of intergenerational trauma, so that we may approach the little ones in our care with greater understanding and mindfulness.
This perennial Amazon bestseller received a starred review from Library Journal, was named ASJA Outstanding Book of the Year, and has been translated into multiple languages. Nearly 350,000 copies sold. See 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
Written by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine.
