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Summary: The one book every dog would ask their owner to buy
Review: Suzanne Clothier's latest book, Bones Would Rain From the Sky, is perhaps the best single book on the nature of the relationship between dogs and people I have ever read. But saying just that does not nearly encompass the entirety of the book. It is about much more than "just" our relationship with dogs. It is about relationships of all sorts. What we bring to a relationship, what the other party brings to the relationship, and how we can and must learn to read ourselves and our partner. I am by no means a new age type. In fact if I am anything, I am very much a nuts and bolts type. I have worked most of my adult life as a race car mechanic and a designer of performance parts. I am a freelance technical writer for automotive magazines and a hobbyist race car driver. I am also a dog lover and have been since my earliest memories. I have trained and handled dogs professionally off and on since I was 10 years old. My approach to working with dogs is pragmatic and results oriented. I tend to look more at the how and less at the why. I currently run a rescue that works only with deaf Great Danes. I relate this only to assure you that anyone can find value in, and learn something from Bones. While Bones is not your typical "users manual" for dog ownership and training, it is a profoundly important work and should be required reading for anyone who owns or works with dogs. It will help you see an entire new side of your relationship with your dog and the dogs you work with, and will help you to better understand how and why they behave the way the do. Suzanne is one of the best trainers in the business, and in Bones she gives us an insight not only into how she lives and works with dogs, but also how dogs live and work with her, and with all of us. Buy this book, even if it is the only book on dog ownership, behavior, or training you ever buy. The nuts and bolts stuff you can find in a dog training class in most areas. What Bones can teach you comes only from a select few and at the astronomical hourly rates that a behaviorist would charge.
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Summary: five kibbles with gravy on top
Review: Ever look into those pleading brown puppy eyes and wonder just what your dog is thinking? Holistic dog trainer Suzanne Clothier knows and she shares her secrets in this empathetic, humorous, and down-to-earth book. No cookbook on how to get your dog to sit, Ms. Clothier instead suggests examining the dynamic between a human and a canine. Dogs, she believes, are completely honest and tell their own truth at every minute. Our job is to learn to read their signals and communicate better with them. A simple shift of thinking makes a world of difference: from "walk the dog" to "walk with the dog," from "dominate alpha" to "leader" can open up a world of possibilities. Ever practical, Ms. Clothier does not suggest that house manners and training are in some way a betrayal of dogkind. Rather, she emphasizes that since living in an civilized setting is unnatural for a dog (the ancestral wolf never had to deal with apartment living and busy streets!), it is our duty to give them the training and social skills they need to coexist with us in our modern world. Her insights into canine behavior, thought processes, and language truly can help "deepen our relationships with dogs." Whether you are pondering getting a first puppy, or are welcoming your 20th, Bones Would Rain from the Sky will refresh your enthusiasm for understanding and loving a canine partner. On a scale of one to five, Bones gets five kibbles with gravy on top!
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Summary: Interesting counterpoints
Review: By chance, I read this book in the same week that I read "The Monk Downstairs," and "Open House." Each informed the others in interesting ways. "Open House" and "The Monk Downstairs" could almost be two results of the same class writing assignment. Each concerns a single mother, her own single mother, and a man who has been out of the social dance for some time, finding their way back into love. While "Bones Would Rain from the Sky" is meant to be about forming deeper relationships with dogs, it has much to say about relationships of all sorts and provided an interesting counterpoint to the two novels. I particularly like the fact that Clothier never identifies any of the dogs in her book by breed, but treats each one as an individual.
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Summary: Thought-Provoking yet Enjoyable
Review: BONES WOULD RAIN FROM THE SKY should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever shared their life with a dog. It is even more important reading for anyone who is thinking about obtaining their first dog. The development of this book took a lifetime of learning and growth as a trainer and as a person. Reading it and then incorporating its ideas into your life with your dog, will make both of you much happier and your relationship much more fulfilling.
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Summary: Bones Would Rain from the Sky
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read about dogs. Suzanne provides a subtitle of "Deepening your Relationship with your Dog" and it is right on. Not only will it help you deepen your relationship with your dog, but it will motivate you to reflect on your relationships with people as well. I have often commented while reading a book that I will read it again, but with this book I finished it and started reading it for the second time on the same day. I actually bought my husband his own copy so I wouldn't have to relinquish it for awhile. I highly recommend this outstanding book.
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Summary: Dog Lovers! Must read!
Review: This book is so well written and covers so many ranges of feelings with animals and humans. It is orginial, sensitive, and extrememly informative and real. It touches you deeply if you are an animal and especially a dog lover. This is real life and can make your life and communications with your dogs the best it will ever be! Don't miss this book! I gave it to friends and to dog trainers alike and have had nothing but the higest praise on this book.Lets face it, if more children had respect for animals who knows how much less anger would be in the world?
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Summary: Informed Owners=Happy Dogs
Review: "Bones Would Rain from the Sky" is a must read for the new or
experienced dog owner. Having successfully rehabilitated a previously abused dog from the SPCA--I have learned an amazing amount of information about the importance being a truly dedicated and devoted dog owner.Behavioral issues with a dog are usually with the misinformed or careless owner. Suzanne Clothier, the author, keeps re-confirming that dogs are looking to their owners for leadership, guidance and above all, consistency.A bit of diligence goes a tremendous way and the reward is the joy of a content and well-adjusted dog.
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Summary: Your Dog Needs You to Read This Book
Review: Clothier has done it again! This time she has explained how to communicate with your dog. Using examples, stories, logic and love, Suzanne Clothier illustrates how she has become closer to her animals. This is a very down to earth book, and I had a hard time putting it down. It has earned a special spot on my bookshelf, and is a book to go back to, reread, ponder over, and learn again and again.
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Summary: A book of transforming insight
Review: Bones may not really be raining from the sky, but the prayers of dogs are answered in another way by the arrival of Suzanne Clothier's book 'Bones Would Rain from the Sky'. Clothier not only helps us understand our dogs, but with striking and often humbling clarity shows how our dogs view and understand us. At the heart of this book is the insight that a healthy two-way dog-human relationship is essential to living happily with a dog. Not an "I command, you obey" relationship, but rather one of mutual understanding, trust and love. Through anecdotes, analogies and analysis Clothier unveils for us the nature of such a relationship, and, encouragingly, illustrates its desirability and demonstrates its possibility. Whenever one speaks of "relationships" with animals, the natural reaction may be a shudder at the thought of flaky anthropomorphism and a lovey-dovey glossing over of the vexing issues of obedience and temperament. Be assured, however, that 'Bones' quite on the contrary both recognizes dogs as the unique beings they are and recognizes relationships as the complex, often painful things they are. It is only by coming to grips with the way those unique beings tick, and with the implications for how we relate together, that we can begin to address issues of obedience and temperament. 'Bones' is thus philosophical yet highly practical, intellectual yet full of deep emotion. If you don't yet own a dog, read 'Bones' before you get one. If you do have a dog, you will probably find both your dog and yourself somewhere among the pages of 'Bones' and smile, sigh or, if like me, more than once smack your forehead with the palm of your hand in a sudden dawning of new understanding. Either way, you and your dog will be glad you did.
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Summary: Another dog book?
Review: No, This is not just another dog book. "Bones", in fact, reads more like a novel than like the usual dog text, good as the latter might be. The story begins as Suzanne describes her childhood life as a dog, licking the knees of guests from under the dining room table. Written with great humor, the reader is hooked. The story just gets better and better and deeply engrossing as Suzanne delves into her relationships with dogs. Always full of anecdotes to be remembered, this book is one to be treasured and read more than once.
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