The Loved Dog

The Playful Non-aggressive Way to Teach Your Dog Good Behavior

Book Review. Nonfiction. Target Audience: Dog owners

Journey to The Loved Dog

The Loved Dog was a journey for the author. From Israeli Special Forces to self-imposed isolation observing a wolf pack, Tamar’s experiences shaped her understanding of dogs and people.

Her military background exposed her to training methods she found abhorrent. Growing up in an abusive environment heightened her empathy with creatures on the receiving end of such training. These influences led her to seek a way to train dogs with kindness rather than bullying.

" I believe we all have a choice about whether we live our lives through love or fear. "

Tamar Geller

She Chooses Love

She creates a framework that is perhaps the most useful part of this book – delineating the seven basic needs of a dog. Most dog training manuals talk about two of your dog’s needs: food and leadership. In her mind (and mine) those are a small fraction of what a dog needs.

She includes things like surprise and excitement. I never considered, but once I incorporated them into my life with Sandy, both Sandy and I were happier and more engaged with one another. that prompted me to buy a snuffy mat for Sandy because it's a fun game

That section alone was worth the price of the book.

The Loved Dog Plays

She invents training methods that are playful. She works with dogs to overcome their fears. And helps owners to understand their dog.

Her philosophy on training is that play is the best way to learn. She details how to teach your dog to comprehend verbal commands with repetitive sing-song sounds.

Yes, I tried it.

Yes, it works.

Yes, I feel goofy.

But when I start singing Sandy's walking song, it reminds her that we are walking forward, not zigzagging to sample every smell. And she walks properly. So I am happy to be the crazy lady singing to herself/her dog as she walks.

That section alone was worth the price of the book.

What I Hated About This Book

Throughout the book she explains how she came to her philosophy and training methods. She shares examples of how not to train your dog, namely stories of abuse in the name of training.

I may be overly sensitive, but there were several times when I needed to put the book aside. More than once, I said I wouldn’t come back to it. But I always did, because her training methods were worth learning about.

Why I Kept Reading Anyway

She offers so many game ideas, training hacks and valuable tricks (like how a puny human like me can win tug-of-war against the crazy-strong Sandy.) that I kept going back. In fact, in writing this, I decided to reread the book to see if I can pick up a few more I may have missed before.

Learn More

Learn more about Tamar here.

Or visit her website here.

Get the book here.