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Your Dog Is Your Mirror

The Emotional Capacity of Our Dogs and Ourselves

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Your Dog Is Your Mirror

By: Kevin Behan
Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
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About this listen

In Your Dog Is Your Mirror, dog trainer Kevin Behan proposes a radical new model for understanding canine behavior: a dog’s behavior and emotion, indeed its very cognition, are driven by our emotion. The dog doesn’t respond to its owner based on what the owner thinks, says, or does; it responds to what the owner feels. And in this way, dogs can actually put people back in touch with their own emotions.

Behan was originally trained under the dominance theory by his father, John Behan, one of the first in America to make dog training a career. But he eventually came to believe that what made the modern dog trainable was not the dominance hierarchy but the dog’s ability to work as a cooperative group member in the hunt. This ability then evolved into an emotional capacity that perfectly complements human emotion.

Behan demonstrates that dogs and humans are connected more profoundly than has ever been imagined - by heart - and that this approach to dog cognition can help us understand many of dogs’ most inscrutable behaviors. This groundbreaking, provocative book opens the door to a whole new understanding between species, and perhaps a whole new understanding of ourselves.

©2011 Kevin Behan (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Animals Biological Sciences Dogs Emotions Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Pets & Animal Care Science Dog Training Heartfelt

Critic reviews

“Beautifully written and deeply engrossing, Your Dog Is Your Mirror is destined to change the way we think about dogs.” (Lee Charles Kelley, dog trainer and best-selling mystery novelist)

“There are scores of books on how to change the outward behavior of a dog. But Kevin Behan challenges us to look deeper, to examine the dog’s behavior as an emotional reflection of its owner, revealing our own unresolved issues. Your Dog Is Your Mirror is beautifully written, with entertaining and insightful examples from throughout Kevin Behan’s remarkable career. This book will forever change your relationship with your dog, and you will never look at your dog in the same way again. It is a must-read for every committed dog owner.” (Kyra Sundance, internationally best-selling author of 101 Dog Tricks and 101 Ways to Do More with Your Dog!)

Your Dog Is Your Mirror is a very thought-provoking book that will force you to reconsider who we are and who dogs are and why we are so attracted to one another. Kevin Behan calls upon his extensive experience with our best friends and makes the important point that in the emotional interactions between dogs and humans, it’s not the human reading the human in the animal but the animal reading the animal in the human. Whether you agree with Kevin’s provocative theories or not, the age-old adage that no one knows you like your dog clearly rings true. I learned a lot from this wide-ranging and unique book.” (Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and The Animal Manifesto)

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I would recommend this book to anyone who loves ok with or is thinking of living with a dog. Kevin’s story is beautifully told and his understanding of both dogs and humans is illuminating. I have been struggling with my dog and having thoughts of rehoming her, but this book has made me see both herself and myself in a different way and has made me want to see what might come of this new perspective.

Eye-opening!

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I loved this book. I was looking for a way that I could change my dog but what I found is a way that my dog can change me!!

This book changes everything

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content interesting.there is a lot of interesting stuff brought up in this book. I think it's a little "woo woo" new age-y -- but I liked it

story interesting . reader terrible.

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Really unique take on dog behaviour and our human dog relationships. Well worth a listen. Definitely recommend

Great listen

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makes you think about the owner - dog relationship, a lot of interesting ideas

very interesting

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