It's clear to anyone who pays close attention to how dogs should be taught to adapt to a human-oriented world that positive, force-free, do no harm training is the only show in town. Because dogs are not really unconditional lovers (or our best friends), it's essential to establish a give-and-take relationship―a series of ongoing compromises―with our canine companions based on trust, mutual respect, and having a dog consent as much as possible to what you want them to.1

In her new and fun-to-read book How to Train Your Dog with Love Science: A Dog Lover's Guide to Animal Behavior and Positive Reinforcement Training, dog trainer Annie Grossman uses the latest science along with wonderful stories to show us how to allow dogs to express as much of their dogness as possible and have satisfying dog-appropriate lives without forcing them to do things they’d rather not do. When dogs feel safe and trust us, and we take their point of view on the matters at hand and they agree with what we're asking them to do, it’s a win-win for all―what could be better?

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write How To Train Your Dog With Love and Science?

Annie Grossman: In 2007 I was working as a freelance journalist and wrote a story for the New York Times about how the success of the show The Dog Whisperer was leading people to become trainers. I wrote it in part because I’d always loved training my own dog to do tricks and imagined it’d be a cool job. But in reporting the story, I got the sense it was an industry inundated with charlatans, with many “schools” praying on dog lovers daydreaming about plan-b careers.

But a few years later, I started chatting with someone at the dog park who told me his dad had been a criminal prosecutor and,........

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