A Dog Who's Always Welcome by Lorie Long

A Dog Who's Always Welcome by Lorie Long

You can take her with you.

If you're like most dog owners, you want a trustworthy companion you can take on family vacations, to ball games, on hikes, and to cafes and festivals. You want your dog to behave when you have guests, stay peacefully at hotels, ride calmly in elevators, and maintain proper doggie decorum in all kinds of situations.

Chances are, you've watched and admired assistance and therapy dogs who are attentive to their owners' needs no matter what. This book taps into the secrets of assistance and therapy dog trainers and shows you how to use focused foundation socialization training to make sure your dog is well behaved--even in unfamiliar environments loaded with distractions and temptations. It goes beyond typical behavioral training and basic commands and covers:

Evaluating your dog and recognizing traits that will affect her needs

Using reward-based processes to teach complex behaviors and self-discipline

Creating a socialization program that makes your dog focused on you and confident in different environments

Reading your dog so you can anticipate her reactions and keep her focused on your directions

With these sophisticated training techniques, you'll turn your family pet into a sociable, take-anywhere dog who will always be welcome!

Lorie Long has been raising and training dogs for over 25 years. She competes in dog agility contests with her two Border Terriers, one of whom just won the coveted AKC title of Master Agility Champion. Long has taught basic and intermediate dog obedience lessons, competed in AKC obedience events, and trained her Labrador Retrievers to visit nursing home patients as therapy dogs. She's written for Dog World, The Whole Dog Journal, and other publications.