Living with Kids and Dogs... Without Losing Your Mind: A Parent's Guide to Controlling the Chaos Book

If you've ever had your dog do something to your child that scared you, or had your child do something to your dog that made you wonder about a cruel streak, or both, this book is for you. Paraphrasing the author, most dog books say, "control your kid!" and most parenting books say, "control your dog!" In reality, "good kids and good dogs can get in trouble because of miscommunication" - Fluffy may well be doing what she was bred to do, and Johnny is just being age-appropriate, but it's our job as parents to form a relationship, and use management and training techniques to help these two mesh safely, and this book can tell you how. "Kids rarely try to bother the dog; they just act like kids."

This book is laid out in a very parent-friendly way. She begins with an overview of this topic, and then has four chapters focusing on key topics: choosing the right dog, preventing bites, identifying serious behavior issues, and the equipment you need to make life easier. After that, she offers four chapters of age-appropriate tips for helping your kids to interact with your dog: babies and toddlers, preschoolers, elementary schoolers, and teens. Finally, she ends with a chapter about saying good-bye - a topic all pet owners dread, but she addresses it with compassion and honesty.

Finally, as a courtesy to tired parents, she ends each chapter with a short list of tips, just in case you don't have the time to read the whole book, but need results now. All in all, this is a well-crafted tool, and you are bound to find some practical tips if you are seeing some friction between your kids and your pets.