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By learning about your canine companion you also will learn a lot about yourself if you're open to it.

As you learn to understand "dog" your dog will learn to understand "human"—a win-win for all.

Most behavioral issues we have with a dog come from our wanting them to act less like a dog.

There can be nothing better than living with a dog (or other companion animal) and having negotiable two-way relationships in which each individual has an equal say in how they want to be treated and respected.

Of course, the tenor of these and other relationships are highly dynamic and at any given time there has to be give-and-take by each party with the goal of attaining near equality over time. But, the real-life question at hand is how can some sort of equality or near equality be achieved when humans and their dogs differ in what they want and need, sometimes from moment-to-moment, and humans and their dogs are uniquely individual? There are countless nuances to the sorts of relationships they form and how they mature.

While these on-going situations and relationships can be somewhat daunting, I was pleased to learn of a recent highly acclaimed book by award-winning writer Laurel Saville titled How to Live with a Dog: Stories and Solutions for Humans with Dog Problems and Dogs with Human Problems in which she explores the science, psychology, and emotional heart of dog-human connections with empathy and on-the-ground solutions for those people who truly........

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