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SARASOTA, Fla. — Wendy Lyons Sunshine had just completed a book for struggling parents when she and her husband rescued a shelter puppy. Overwhelmed by unexpected behavioral challenges, she asked herself, “What would an expert parent do?”
The answer can be found in her new book, Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs. In it, Sunshine draws parallels between early childhood behavior and animal behavior and blends the best of both worlds to create a holistic, therapeutic approach to the care of dogs.
Wisdom within the realms of attachment styles, history of trauma, social-emotional development, and other science-based principles used with at-risk children transformed Sunshine’s relationship with her challenging little dog. Soon enough, Sunshine’s view of her puppy shifted from one of adversity to one of compassion and understanding, helping her bring patience and therapeutic concepts to meet her dog’s needs.
Full of illustrative cases and thoughtful insights to support dog welfare and inspire your own pet parenting journey, Sunshine’s new book, Tender Paws, explores parallels between human and canine research; delves into attachment theory, the effects of trauma, parenting styles, and sensory issues; and offers strategies that meet the needs of all dogs — often in unexpectedly simple ways. Far from a standard dog training manual, Tender Paws reveals why love alone isn’t always enough and how evidence-informed parenting practices can help.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Wendy Lyons Sunshine is an award-winning writer and journalist who co-authored The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family, a bestseller that has been translated into multiple languages; and Raising the Challenging Child: How to Minimize Meltdowns, Reduce Conflict, and Increase Cooperation.
She blogs about animal welfare and the human-dog bond for PsychologyToday.com and has contributed to The New York Times, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Weekly, and many other publications. She has trained in the L.E.G.S. applied ethology model of Family Dog Mediation and assisted at a local animal shelter. She and her husband live with a rescue dog on an overgrown acre where they all enjoy watching wildlife.
To learn more, please visit
Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs
Publisher: HCI Books
Release Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN-10: 0757324959
ISBN-13: 9780757324956
Trade Paperback, 352 pages
Available wherever books are sold
PRAISE FOR WENDY LYONS SUNSHINE’S TENDER PAWS
“Fully deserves to sit next to Patricia McConnell and Jean Donaldson on your bookshelf.”
- Amazon reviewer
“I love this book! Not only will it help transform the relationship the reader has with their dog, but it has the potential to change how they relate to other humans and even with themselves. This is no ordinary training manual! Tender Paws gives an insight into the importance of understanding the individual’s lived experience, with a heavy focus on safety (physical and emotional) and the importance of fostering secure social attachments. This book will support the reader to give their dogs the best gift of all—a voice! I highly recommend this book, and I know dogs everywhere will too.”
- Andrew Hale, founder of Dog Centred Care
“I’m so glad Wendy Sunshine — a best-selling child development author — suddenly began to wonder about dogs. In her new book Tender Paws, she pulls off something extraordinary: an exploration into parenting and dog-raising techniques that is both wonderfully readable and fully grounded in well-cited science. The author focused her considerable research skills on the topic, and dozens of poignant case studies and examples of hard-won wisdom shared by thoughtful fellow travelers (including some famous names!) really give Tender Paws its powerful emotional punch. I’m so grateful this book now exists!”
- Kathy Callahan, author of Welcoming Your Puppy from Planet Dog and 101 Rescue Puppies
About the book:
Tender Paws takes a deep dive into the practical benefits of applying therapeutic parenting best practices to dogs in our care.
When Wendy Lyons Sunshine got her first puppy—abandoned behind a gas station, struggling with worms and anemia—she was in over her head. As puppy training guides failed to help her with the out-of-control, traumatized bundle of teeth and claws rescue pup, she turned to her work helping world-class child development experts. Could strategies for raising happy, well-adjusted kids transfer to a puppy?
As it turns out, yes, they can! From the first try, parenting wisdom transformed Sunshine’s relationship with her challenging little one. Soon enough, Sunshine’s view of her puppy shifted from one of adversity to one of compassion and understanding, and she was able to bring patience and therapeutic concepts to meet her dog’s needs.
When Sunshine reached out to experts, they affirmed that science-based principles used with at-risk children align well with best practices of holistic, positive, and progressive dog handling. Exploring parallels between human and canine research, attachment styles, history of trauma, parenting styles, and her own “inner child” proved a mindful path for pet parenting.
Far from a standard dog training manual, Tender Paws explicitly applies parenting wisdom and best practices used with special needs kids to a cross-section of scenarios, from recognizing developmental trauma and unmet core needs, to making decisions about appropriate equipment, to responding to difficult behavior, to understanding the parenting style from which we approach our dogs.
Sunshine empowers you and your dog by offering:
A synthesis of the fields of child development, attachment, trauma, sensory integration, neurobiology, learning, animal behavior, and ethology.
A problem-solving framework that makes dog training decisions clearer and behavior frustrations easier to resolve.
Parenting wisdom to help your dog move beyond trauma and into wellness.
Borrowing the principles of parenting for dogs feels obvious to some people: instinctive and ordinary and inevitable. But that’s not true for everyone, especially those of us who had a less than ideal childhood and bear the scars of early harm, loss, trauma, or deprivation. Tender Paws provides an interdisciplinary, comprehensive, evidence-based guide for listeners who want to honor the needs of—and improve outcomes for—puppies and dogs they care about.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
