Description
Price: $27.95 - $25.99
(as of Feb 20, 2025 19:29:36 UTC – Details)
The must-have guide to addressing anxious, fearful, or reactive behaviors in your dog through positive reinforcement, from certified dog trainer and animal behaviorist Zazie Todd.
Is your dog showing signs of fear, anxiety, or reactivity, such as biting, food guarding, shyness, or aggressive barking? You’re not alone. Close to 75% of dogs struggle with fear-based behaviors, and require our support and understanding to feel safe and secure.
In Bark!, Zazie Todd provides solutions for these behaviors. Decoding the latest canine science, she shows readers how to address the root cause of your dog’s fears, with expert advice and practical tips on:
How to tackle common canine fears, such as loud noises, the vet, separation anxiety, and other dogs.How to manage a dog’s natural fear responses through positive reinforcement.How to keep your dog, yourself, and others safe when they are fearful or reactive.How to create safe havens for your dog, and make yourself a secure base for them no matter where they are.Compassionate, practical, and rooted in science, Bark! helps dog owners understand the many factors that might be causing fear within your dog, and how you can help them lead a safe and happy life.
Praise for WAG by Zazie Todd
“A must-have guide to improving your dog’s life.”—Modern Dog Magazine
“The author’s evidence-based analysis simplifies the science and reduces essential elements into practical, replicable activities geared toward enriching a dog’s life.”—Library Journal, STARRED Review
“Dog owners and those considering becoming one should appreciate Todd’s substantial insight into how dogs and humans relate to one another.”—Publishers Weekly
From the Publisher
Publisher : Greystone Books (October 1, 2024)
Language : English
Hardcover : 288 pages
ISBN-10 : 1778401368
ISBN-13 : 978-1778401367
Lexile measure : 1180L
Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
Dimensions : 5.7 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book helpful for providing practical advice and training for fearful dogs. They describe it as concise, easy to read, and well-written. The pacing is important for helping dogs feel safe. Many consider it an essential resource for pet parents or professionals who want to protect their pets from fearful situations.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Kindle Customer –
A Game Changer
This book is a game changer. It is well written and packed with incredibly valuable information.Every dog parent could benefit for reading this book And every dog will be grateful!
K –
Positive methods and actionable advice
This is a great book for folks looking for positive methods to help their anxious, fearful, or reactive dog. While the concepts are based on scientific principles, the information is laid out in an accessible, easy to understand, actionable way.And it’s not just about the dog… there are tips for the dog’s person, as well. The author realizes that having an anxious, fearful, or reactive dog can be stressful and challenging to cope with. She offers support for a dog owner in this situation, knowing one’s dog best and not allowing oneself to be pressured by others to put the dog in stressful situations.The author emphasizes the need to go slow and give the dog time to adjust. I found the entire book useful and informative, and urging the reader to take it slow is critically important.I chose to read Bark! as I have a fearful geriatric Chihuahua and also have been fostering two puppy mill (breeder) survivor dogs. While my own dog is reactive due to (I believe) poor socialization, the puppy mill dogs are fearful because of the lack of positive human interaction and likely abuse during their adult lifetimes. Bark! offered useful tips I could apply for both scenarios.I’ve learned alot from Dr. Todd’s blog, website, and books. I wholeheartedly recommend Bark! and suggest also checking out her website.
Sunnybill –
Important information with plenty of depth.
I have been rehabilitation profoundly fearful dogs for 9 years. Zazie Todd has approached a complex task with an organized approach that not only covers the basics, but also delves into some of the more complex aspects of fearful behavior. Zazie’s constant reminders of the importance of timing and understanding the theory behind your training practices is spot on. Her book is a valuable addition to the science based literature helping us learn how to truly restore trust and a sense of safety in our fearful canine partners.
Donald J. Hanson –
An excellent and essential resource for those with anxious or fearful dogs
Bark!: The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog by Dr. Zazie Todd is an excellent and, in my opinion, essential resource for pet parents or professionals who have or are thinking of bringing a dog who is anxious, fearful, or reactive into their homes.Early in the book, Dr. Todd notes that data indicates ââ¦up to 72.5 percent of dogs have some kind of fear or anxietyâ¦â I have had four dogs in my life with some level of anxiety, and as a Professional Canine Behavior Consultant (PCBC-A), I see many clients with dogs for this very reason. It is essential for us to understand these are not bad dogs. As the author notes âItâs not helpful to assign blame to a dog who is, in fact, simply struggling.âThe book contains three sections, each building on the other. The nineteen pages of scientific references at the end support each section, which only recommends humane methods.Dr. Todd explains the differences between anxiety, fear, and reactivity and how these emotional responses are often linked to aggression. She also discusses the many reasons why so many dogs are fearful. She does a superb job of outlining the many myths, or nonsense taken as fact, that are still being perpetuated about dogs, often by pet care professionals. She concludes with three tips crucial to helping an anxious or fearful dog: 1) Your first priority is to help your dog feel safe. 2) Pick a treat your dog loves, and 3) Find an activity you do with your dog that makes you both happy and do it!The book also discusses how to tell when your dog is stressed, which is critical if you are going to help your dog feel safe, which, as noted above, is your number one priority. Dr. Todd has included an excellent section on stress and stressors and the intricacies of the fight-or-flight system. Dog bites are examined, along with helpful advice on how to keep your dog from biting.The book discusses dogs afraid of other dogs, those who react towards people, dogs scared of noises, the veterinarian, being left alone, and others they see as threats that might take their food and other stuff. Dr. Todd even discusses how fear-related issues can lead to dysfunctional repetitive behaviors like tail chasing,In part 3, the book offers suggestions on how and where to get help for your dog and yourself, noting: âGetting help for your dog from behavior professionals is one thing that people say really helps.â The book includes a section on how to evaluate behavior professionals, as, in many cases, you will be looking for more than a dog trainer who teaches sit, down, and come.I like this book so much that I now recommend it to all my clients. I am also giving copies to every team member at Green Acres Kennel Shop and ForceFreePets.com, as well as several veterinarians in the area. Thank you! Dr. Todd!
Portia Scott –
SO much help!
This is a wonderful, well thought out and well written book. Definitely earned a place on my doggo bookshelves.
Sus –
A wonderfully comprehensive, well researched and well written book perfect for pet professionals and pet guardians of anxious, fearful or reactive dogs. As an RVT of over 25 years, I wish that we had had this information years ago so that we could have realized that our patients were not “bad dogs”, just fearful. Very thankful now that this information is out there and circulating in the vet community so that we can help make the experiences of our patients better. And as the guardian of a fear reactive little dog, I appreciate all of the information included and the explanations provided as well as training methods to help our dogs out. I especially appreciate the stories that the author includes of her experiences with fearfulness and anxiety with her own dogs. If you have a fearful, anxious, or reactive dog then you know how frustrating, isolating and challenging it can be…but also how rewarding it can be to see them flourish once they start to feel safe and secure. Daisy and I give it two paws up!
Alice Oven –
Like all Zazie’s books, this has your dog’s wellbeing at its heart. It not only provides practical advice on managing and reducing your dog’s reactivity, it drills down to the root causes and helps you understand and emphasise with your dog’s anxiety. It also acknowledges the complex emotional responses we have as dog guardians, and avoids shaming human or dog. I loved this book so much and can’t wait to put the tips into action!
Alexandra –
Brilliantly researched and explained, this book is a must have for dog guardians who have anxious and/or reactive dogs. It’s also a pretty fun read as opposed to some of my other dog training books! Highly recommend.
Andrea –
Solid advice, well written, but did not help me with my needs.
Magee –
This is a great book if you have a fearful dog. The approach is respectful of the dog and a very positive approach to training. I found it easy to read and easy to learn the different techniques.