“Before you can study an animal, you must first love it.” (Konrad Lorenz)

Across the world, we are killing too many dogs needlessly. In Australia, approximately 80 percent of all dogs that end up in shelters are there due to either dog-to-dog or dog-to-human reactivity. Sadly, this is not a problem exclusive to Australia.

While this is a startling statistic, the sad truth is that the vast majority of dogs facing euthanasia in these shelters are highly salvageable and the solutions are often very simple to apply. Their death is not only unnecessary, but is a blight on how many owners and trainers not only poorly understand dogs, but often unintentionally train them to fail.

What is even harder to accept is that the solution to this epidemic of needless stress is available to everyone, and it starts from how we communicate and train our dogs in our homes, day to day. We have the ability to channel the drives and instincts of our dogs from potential problems into tools that can make these amazing animals thrive with a mindset based on self-control and low stress, regardless of the environment our dogs are exposed to.

Best of all, it can happen at home, everyday. We all have the ability to change how our dogs see triggers in life and, in turn, educate them into making better choices around how to respond to day-to-day situations in a positive and highly constructive way.

If this audiobook can change the approach of just one person to achieve a better understanding of what causes reactivity in their dog, then that is one person more than before who has better vision and skills to help resolve this problem.