Tender Paws - by Wendy Lyons Sunshine (Paperback)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

Tender Paws takes a deep dive into the practical benefits of applying therapeutic parenting best practices to dogs in our care.

2025 Winner in the Service/Self Help category of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Awards

2024 Winner of Dog Writers Association of America's Maxwell Medallion for rescue/adoption book

2024 IAM Book of the Year Award finalist in the Animlas/Pets/Nature category.

What if you could nurture your dog the way that developmental psychologists, trauma specialists, and other experts approach raising children?

In Tender Paws, award-winning journalist Wendy Lyons Sunshine shows dog lovers how to use best practices from child development, attachment theory, trauma research, parenting styles, and advanced learning theory to foster trust, resilience, and cooperation in their canine companions.

Reimagine Dog Training as Dog Parenting

Traditional dog training often relies on dominance, obedience, and control--but modern science tells us there's a better way. Tender Paws introduces the HEARTS framework, a holistic approach designed to help dogs thrive emotionally, behaviorally, and socially.

• Healing--understand how physical issues, trauma, and stress affect dog behavior and how to support recovery
• Enrichment--learn how to fulfill your dog's cognitive and sensory needs
• Appropriate environment--create a home where your dog feels secure
• Respectful relationships--build a trusting and cooperative connection
• Teaching sensitively and positively--promote ideal learning with evidence-informed strategies
• Support the individual--tailor care to your unique dog's temperament, history, and biology

Far from a standard dog training manual, Tender Paws shows how and why to apply parenting best practices to diverse scenarios, such as:

• recognizing developmental trauma and unmet core needs, especially in rescue puppies and dogs
• making decisions about appropriate equipment,
• responding to difficult behavior,
• understanding the parenting style from which we approach our dogs.

Full of heart-tugging, real-life stories, expert interviews, and practical tools, Tender Paws empowers you to understand your dog's behavior through a new lens--one rooted in science, empathy, and connection. Helpful visuals and diagrams make it easier to decode signs of stress and find effective ways to help dogs thrive emotionally, behaviorally, and socially.

What You'll Learn

• The surprising similarities between raising children and raising dogs.
• How to apply principles from attachment theory and trauma-informed care to your dog.
• The importance of both nurture and structure for well-adjusted and emotionally healthy pets.
• How to avoid common mistakes that erode trust and increase anxiety.
• The HEARTS framework and tools to address behavioral challenges with kindness and science.

Readers have described Tender Paws as a "compassionate manifesto" and "a game changer." Recommended by animal behavior expert Temple Grandin as well as certified dog trainers and dog lovers alike. Tender Paws is winner of the American Society of Journalists & Authors Book Award and a Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writers Association of America, as well as finalist for the IAN Book of the Year.

Who This Book Is For

• New dog parents looking for humane training methods.
• Rescue dog adopters navigating behavioral challenges.
• Pet owners who want an easier approach to dog training
• Dog lovers who want a deeper emotional connection with their pets.
• Anyone interested in the intersection of psychology, behavior, and animal welfare.

A groundbreaking guide to compassionate, holistic, evidence-informed dog parenting--perfect for anyone who wants to raise a happy, well-adjusted dog without fear, punishment, or outdated training methods.

Review Quotes

"...a must read for dog parents looking to foster a strong relationship with their pets. It's well researched, informative, entertaining and clearly written with eye-opening, fresh, practical and actionable dog-training advice ...."

***Winner in the Service/Self Help category of the 2025 American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Awards***

"With eye-opening and heart-tugging case studies, Tender Paws shows how the same foundational methods that help at-risk children can also support struggling 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?"

*** 2024 Winner of Dog Writers Association of America's Maxwell Medallion for rescue/adoption book ***

"Entertaining guide to dog training, based on parenting principles."

--BookLife Reviews

"An articulate, highly informative, and enjoyable puppy-parenting primer."

--Kirkus Reviews

"This is a thorough guide that will be most helpful to patrons who need help training difficult dogs. It includes a good deal of background information and theory along with its practical suggestions."

--Library Journal

"An invaluable and thoroughly 'user friendly' instructional reference and 'how to' guide for anyone who has (or would like to have) a canine companion. Exceptionally well organized and presented, informed and informative, and ideal for non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject, "Tender Paws: How Science-Based Parenting Can Transform Our Relationship with Dogs" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library Dog Training & Animal/Pet Care collections."

--Midwest Book Review

"Wendy's insights for adopting scientific best parenting practices for our family dogs provide unique and welcome contributions to the pet dog industry and dog loving culture. Her interdisciplinary approach to our relationships with dogs, as domesticated animals who remain genetic and circumstantial lifelong dependents on us humans as our pets, is elemental to the evolution of our collective understandings and practices as professionals and families. Wendy helps us to see our dogs as the sentient, emotional, intuitive, social species that they are--one who has shared a love story with our own species over thousands of years and so become intimately intertwined with our own families as a result. This book capitalizes on the author's exceptional ability to guide parents in the critical elements of providing the necessary security that children require to show up in the world as their best selves, in order to help dog families to do the same. A powerful, well-researched, and important common-sense book for every dog lover. Highly recommend."

--Kim Brophey, CDBC, CPDT-KA, author of Meet Your Dog: The Game-Changing Guide to Understanding Your Dog's Behavior

"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 individuals' lived experience, with a heavy focus on safety (physical and emotional) and the importance of fostering secure social attachments. We are seeing a much-needed move away from compliance-based approaches to ones that seek to put the individual dog's care and support needs front and centre. By doing this, the book will encourage 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

"Tender Paws will be especially helpful for people who are getting new puppies or adopting traumatized rescue dogs. This book offers lots of positive, gentle methods for working effectively with dogs."

--Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make us Human and Visual Thinking