Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs
by Suzanne Clothier
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Book Summary Information
Author: Suzanne ClothierEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-18
ISBN: 044669634X
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Book Reviews of Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs
Book Review: A good book for what it is, with caveats
Summary: 4 Stars
This book describes, through subjective stories and sometimes rather overly sentimental and repetitious narrative, how to relate to a dog as a thinking, feeling being with a soul of his own, rather than as a furry domestic "object" to be systematically molded by force to man's will.
There's an upside and a downside to this approach. The upside is that Suzanne is clearly a person who deeply loves and cares for her animals, and she desires to inspire others to adopt a similar approach and thus obtain a closer connection with their dog on a deeper and more meaningful level. Based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews of the book here, she is largely successful in this effort. The downside is that this approach is difficult if not impossible to quantify, and as such the book is neither a manual of training nor technique, which Suzanne openly admits. If you have an interest in a specific "behavior problem", this isn't the book you're looking for. However, if you have an interest in the underlying issues and human-canine dynamics that may very well be the source of the "behavior problem", then you'll at least be well on the road to finding your answer here. And given the fact that many "behavior problems" in dogs actually arise because of our own incompetence or misunderstanding of dog psychology, many people (and dogs) would benefit tremendously by our learning to get in touch at some level with "the canine soul".
The one small criticism that I have about the book is that I think Suzanne is rather disingenuous and over-the-top in her blasting of Vicki Hearne. Given the opposite ends "A" and "B" on the scale of approaches to dog training -- with Suzanne at "A" and Vicki at "B", Suzanne's pendulum clearly swings too far to the left at times.
I say this because, all deference to doggie souls aside, they are *still* and will always be dogs. As such, their neurological systems are designed so that they learn MOST EFFECTIVELY through methods that utilize operant conditioning. As Jean Donaldson so appropriately points out in her excellent book "The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs", training methods based on operant conditioning are the widest window that is open to us in this regard and thus, the ones we should use.
This is not to say that one should not also listen to what Suzanne Clothier has to teach us. Because in the end, the absolute best that you can do for your dog is to understand him not only as a thinking, feeling being in his own right, but also how to teach him in ways that he'll best understand.
The Culture Clash: A Revolutionary New Way to Understanding the Relationship Between Humans and Domestic Dogs
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