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Your Dog is Your Mirror: The Emotional Capacity of Our Dogs and Ourselves

April 12, 2012

Book review

Because of unresolved emotions in our past, our dog may well know us better than we know ourselves and because dogs know us “by heart,” they can help us connect with and heal our buried issues.

by Kevin Behan

Even those dog lovers who feel that they understand their pets better than anyone else are sometimes bewildered by a mysterious behavior or response. This, asserts Behan, is because our dogs’ actions and attitudes are driven not by what we say or do, but by what we feel.

Two conclusions follow from his argument: Because of unresolved emotions in our past, our dog may well know us better than we know ourselves and because dogs know us “by heart,” they can help us connect with and heal our buried issues.

He demonstrates that dogs and man are connected more profoundly than has ever been imagined. And, that as things now stand in the conventional wisdom and scientific study of dogs, we are completely missing the connection a dog makes possible, not only with nature but most importantly with our own human nature.

Based on dogs evolving as cooperative group members, Behan’s approach offers practical ways to decode and change behaviors — and profound ways to learn from the mirrors our dogs provide.

$15.95 — New World Library, 40 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 31, Number 2, April/May 2012.

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