Although my dog Scamp is the lead actor in this book, it is not a book about dogs. Children are the real focus, and the content is addressed to their grown-up handlers — the parents and teachers who guide them out of their blissful state of infant irresponsibility, through the challenges of childhood, and into their own unique, self-determined biographies.

Training dogs and raising humans have startling areas of congruence. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, caregivers, or anyone working with children, I thought, might want to partake of lessons Scamp taught me.

This book is my attempt to convey those lessons and their applications to school, home, and, most significantly, life.

From the table of contents:

1. Why Not Eat the Chocolate First?
2. Training - More Than Potty
3. Getting Acquainted
4. A Child Is Not a Dog
5. Pedigree or Pedagogue
6. Firmness, Fairness, and Consistency; Practice and Repetition
7. The Need for Objectivity
8. Child Whisperer
9. No One Takes Me Seriously
10. Tight Ship, Tight Leash
11. Treats and Punishments
12. Growling, Barking, Baring Teeth
13. Be Cool!
14. Food
15. Anticipation
16. Yes, but Do They Love Me?
17. Taking the Show on the Road, Taking the Road to the Show
18. Process
19. The Habit of Distraction, the Loss of Mindfulness, and the Impact on our Children