Long known as a dog coach to the stars—her clients include Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Owen Wilson, Natalie Portman, and Larry King—Tamar Geller changed the way Americans relate to their dogs with her bestselling book The Loved Dog . Her approach is simple and down-to-earth. Instead of utilizing the negative and often painful feedback of physical dominance, choke chains, and prong collars, Tamar recommends love, play, and mutual respect as the keys to a happy home for dog and human alike. Now, Tamar makes her Loved Dog™ Method accessible for everyone with this day-by-day guide that will lead you through the first thirty days with your new dog—or help you make a fresh start with your current dog. Drawing on her studies of wolves in the wild and basing her method on the principles of child development, Tamar uses an "instincts versus choice" approach that satisfies a dog’s Seven Basic Needs and will result in a pet with good manners. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog covers every question commonly asked by people embarking on the momentous journey of dog ownership: why it’s important to choose the appropriate dog for you and your lifestyle, what you can expect from a puppy versus an adult dog, how to introduce your new dog to your home, and how to respond when things don’t go according to plan. Tamar guides you every step of the way, from addressing undesired behaviors in your dog to crate and paper training him to introducing him to other dogs and helping him become relaxed with strangers. Included are important but often overlooked tips about the use of words and body language to communicate, the power of play, and the amazing value of teaching your dog some lighthearted pet tricks. Along the way, Tamar debunks myths in need of debunking: that dogs are frequently "alpha" by nature and need to be dominated; that discipline is the key to dog training, and that "success" only means getting your dog to do what you want. Instead, she shows how to align your dog's wishes with your own to create a rich and enduring relationship that works wonderfully for you both. Gentle, firm, and effective, 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog will build your relationship with your dog to make every new day together a day of love, joy, and discovery. Tamar Geller created, owns, and operates The Loved Dog™, Southern California's first cage-free doggy boarding and day care center. An advisor to The Humane Society of the United States, Tamar also works with many rescue organizations, and is the founder of the non-profit program Operation Heroes & Hounds™, which champions homeless dogs and wounded military personnel. She lectures on dog behavior at Pepperdine University and speaks at engagements around the country. When she’s not taping QVC on the East Coast, Tamar lives in L.A. with her own loved dog, Clyde. Visit her website at www.tamargeller.com. DAY 1 BRINGING THE DOG HOME The first day! Today we’re going to cover one of the most stressful (and easy to remedy) issues that every dog and puppy owner has to contend with: housebreaking. NEW HOME, NEW RULES I was once invited to the Today show to demonstrate a few Loved Dog techniques for bringing a new dog into the home. We had just finished a practice run, having set up the stage and rehearsed the segment the day before I was going to film it live. The stagehands were working their butts off to clean everything up, and I happily joined in—until one of them asked me to stop. I felt surprised and confused—I was just trying to help, to show them my gratitude for all of their hard work. Why on earth would they ask me to stop? What I didn’t know was that there was a set of regulations, established by the unions and the insurance companies, that assigned specific tasks to specific people. Even something as small as moving a salad bowl from one table to another represented a violation of the rules. It felt unnatural not to be able to help, but as I was learning, the TV world had its own rules that I had to obey. Thank God the stagehands were patient enough to understand that I didn’t know those rules, explaining them to me instead of smacking me with a rolled-up newspaper, spraying Binaca in my face, or choking me with a chain, telling me that they were the alpha leaders and that I shouldn’t misbehave or act so dominant. When dogs enter our homes, they’re in unfamiliar territory. They don’t speak the same language that we do. Their wolf instincts don’t naturally mesh with the rules and customs of our homes, our society, or what we would consider to be good manners. Even if we could provide our dogs with great coaching every minute of the day, they’d still make mistakes, at least at the beginning. Is it right to blame the dogs for being ignorant? Of course not! It’s up to us to communicate the rules in a way that our dogs can understand. It’s our job to teach them to make good choices, remaining patient and consistent while our doggies are doing all that they can to