Divine Canine is organized around the five basic obedience commands: Sit, Stay, Heel, Down, and Come. Each dog story focuses on how teaching the dog these basic commands leads ultimately to a calmer, happier dog and therefore calmer, happier humans. So we watch as Tessie the mini bull terrier with obedience issues learns that she is not the "alpha" of the family and must listen, as Hugo the bulldog learns to not jump up, and as Boomer the rottweiler mix learns that aggression will not be tolerated and is not necessary. But what we also learn is what we as humans must give to the dog -human relationship; what our companion dogs should expect from us.
While all of the Monks' dog books are wonderful, I especially enjoyed The Monks' Way to a Happy, Obedient Dog because of the personal stories. We see the good, bad, and the ugly when it comes to the dogs and their owners and learn about ourselves as much as about our pets.
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