Ruff Love: A Relationship Building Program for You and Your Dog

by Susan Garrett

A Relationship Building Program for You and Your Dog

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction, Animals

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

A world-leading educator of dog trainers, Susan is also one of the most successful agility competitors of the last three decades. She has won multiple Gold Medals at National or World Championship events with every dog she has ever owned over the past 30 years. Susan was one of the very first dog trainers to share knowledge online when she opened her "Clicker Dogs" website many years ago. Susan has helped hundreds of thousands of people enjoy a great relationship with their dogs through her workshops and keynote speaking around the world, award winning books, DVDs, magazine articles, blog posts, podcasts, free dog training and dog agility video series, and online dog training programs.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Keeping a dog created most of the time for 7 weeks seems excessive. Not sure I'm onboard with this.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I took home a fearful yorkie as a foster I had to figure out how to bring him into the world where he could feel safe (without spoiling him) but still be a well mannered dog at the same time. This was the first program that he was placed on. It went very well and within six weeks he was through it. Though he is still on the management program this was his first step into not being afraid of the world.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan Garrett's success is undeniable and her deeply bonded relationship with her dogs is a huge part of that. Her system of "Ruff Love" isn't hard on the dog--it develops your dog's self-control so that he can be trusted with nearly everything, making his world wide and wonderful. It's the same concept as your infant can't be trusted to use Legos responsibly. A dog that has too much freedom too quickly doesn't realize he's misbehaving by barking in excitement, jumping on guests, or chewing his favorite Louboutin chew toys, and as a result is kept away and isolated. It's only "Ruff Love" on the owner, who naturally wants to love and spoil their new, adorable dog, but this inadvertently creates bad behavior.
This system is a great system and the only cost is delaying the oh-so-enjoyable spoiling your dog until they have the impulse control to handle it without going off the deep end.
It's not a strictly unique system; it's very similar to Ian Dunbar's puppy system and many other positive-only trainers have common key components. This isn't a bad thing; it shows it works.
If you're a visual learner, watch Sympawtico's excellent videos on YouTube, especially "Puppy Training - The Puppy Play Den!", "Chew Toy Training - 5 Tips to Cew Toy Train Your Dog", and his series on crate training games.

[Olivia Alvarado · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been using an adapted version of this program for 2 weeks and the changes in my agility dog are stunning. My trainer and classmates are floored. I don't know if this will work for everyone, but if you have a zoomy agility dog who needs help focusing, it's definitely worth a read.

[Karen DeForest · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time I read this I thought no way didn't apply all of what the book's plan set out, (didn't make sense at the time) however once I subscribed to Susan's blog's and took the "Home School The Dog" Program and "Crate Game" program did I totally 'get' what Susan wrote about in the Ruff Love book.
Susan totally 'gets' what is needed in dog communications and getting the dog to achieve what we are wanting from them. A must read.

[Jen (Remembered Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overall training philosophy here is perfect for behaviour modification. The amount of crate time used is a bit much for for my taste, so it’s not a program I would use in its entirety, but this is still an excellent guide for new people with either a challenging adult rescue or a high-drive puppy. And the charts in the final reference section are fantastic.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very short and helpful book. My puppy loves the bonding games.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like your dog well enough, you're just interested in getting a little bit more out of him, don't get this book. I don't know many people who can actually stick to the Ruff Love program -- I think for most people, it's a bit much, when 'all' they want is a strong recall.

If you're interested in training a competition dog, or you think your relationship with your dog has a real problem, get this book, stick to the program.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in 2003 and perused it in the years since, but I'm going to give it a thorough re-read again.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tis going to become the Elphie bible for the next few months.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've done this more or less with all my dogs. Now that I have two new ones it's a little challenging, but we'll make it through.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked the copyright (2002), and this does seems dated. Some of the content I still use, but some of it seems...

Anyway, I feel this book needs an update/refresh.