About The Author

Bonding for Life is a system of dog training that began its evolution over fifty years ago.  I first learned to train dogs under the tutelage of one of the best dog trainers ever, Rudd Weatherwax.  He was the owner and trainer of the original Lassie, and many Lassies that succeeded him.  The original Lassie's name was Pal, and I had the honor of meeting him before he died.  He was very old and blind and deaf.  At that time I was a teenager, and my mother owned a female collie named Lassie.  Actually she had a big long AKC name; her pet name was Lassie.  

Rudd Weatherwax saw my mother's Lassie competing in a dog show in the spring of 1957 in Reseda, California, near where my mother and I lived.  

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Bonding for Life is a system of dog training that advocates the bountiful rendering of rewards and the judicious application of discipline.  Sounds like just about everybody's dog training 101, eh?  If you tally up the Bonding for Life reward-correction ledger, it's about ninety percent reward and ten percent correction; and that includes corrections so gentle I call them “suggestions.”  I think few would argue with that ratio, but some dog trainers may disagree with the prolific amount of food rewards I prescribe early in the dog's training; especially because the rendering of those rewards starts one full week before the actual “meat and potatoes” behavioral training begins.  I call that reward process bonding conditioning, which I describe in Chapter One.  I believe I make a compelling case for this procedure, which is mostly about feeding your dog directly from your hand several times a day.  Later in the book I explain how you will gradually cut down on the food rewards and come to rely on three acquired secondary reinforcers I call the affection rewards: praise, stroking, and positive eye contact.  You will learn about them in Chapter One; a chapter that also gives a “ballpark” explanation of the evolution of wolf to dog.  

Bonding for Life is a system of training for anybody who has a dog, but much of the information I describe in the book published on this website is for people who own adult dogs that have “issues,” and therefore need significant “leadership” to direct the resolution of their various difficulties.  In Chapter One I explain the concept of what I call the benevolent alpha – a kind and loving person who is thoroughly cognizant of his or her dog's psychological needs, and that person diligently seeks to satisfy those needs.  Nevertheless, that person is also an alpha leader who is not trepidacious about using fair and humane discipline to establish a reasonable and comprehensive structure for their dog's behavior.  Dogs, like all of us, must abide by a set of rules, but dogs trained with the Bonding for Life system (which depends on the aforementioned bonding conditioning and another important exercise called control-relaxation) will develop a joyful and alacritous attitude about behaving properly and responding promptly to their owner's commands.  Bonding for Life dogs are high-spirited, self-confident, and joyfully obedient.  

The Bonding for Life target reader is a person who knows little of dog training and wants a highly detailed, step-by-step explanation of how to train their dog, as well as an explanation of why to do the things I recommend.  The book is not about the various training specialties such as agility, search and rescue, police work, and et cetera.  It is for the “home consumer” who simply wants a well behaved and responsive dog that functions properly around people and other dogs, whether in its own or another's home, or out in public.  Also where unexpected and “stimulating” events are encountered, such as at the dog park.  In the Overview and elsewhere in this book, I am more specific about the positive things you will get from your dog when you use the Bonding for Life methodology.  

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