Suzanne Clothier's Bones Would Rain from the Sky was a wonderful book. It should be required reading for any dog owner.

It is not really a training manual for dogs. It's more of an exploration of life with dogs, and trying to understand the world from their point of view. If anything it should teach dog owners to have more patience with their canine companions. The dog afterall is having to learn a whole new language that he/she is incapable of speaking.

Clothier does give some training tips. The main thrust is that each dog is an individual, just as people are. What works for one dog, may not work with another. There are no exact recipes as she puts it. It's up to the owners and trainers to find out what works for each individual dog. It appears a daunting task, but if we love our dogs as much as we profess, shouldn't we try?

Hanky warning: The last two chapters deal with the loss of a pet. They aren't easy reading, as she vividly brings the emotions of grief to life. They're important though in that they teach us much of how to deal with the grief of losing our pets.

Some may fault her prose as being long winded, but I enjoyed the various antedotes of dealing with troubled individuals. (

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Antares1 | Jan 27, 2009 |

I loved this book when I read it a couple of years ago. I was very interested in dog training and it was wonderful to read about someone's journey to truly understand dogs and dog training. Suzanne Clothier truly loves animals and she is a good writer. I think that she exaggerates some of her interactions with dogs but that didn't really detract from the book for me. I was super into learning everything I could about dogs when I read this and may not have been as attached to this book if I hadn't been in this phase. (

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craneflat | Nov 29, 2008 |

The book that has most increased my own joyous sense of relationship with dogs is tBones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs, by Suzanne Clothier. The title is based on a Turkish proverb, "If a dog's prayers were answered, bones would rain from the sky."

I began reading the first chapter in a bookstore one day. The author is telling of being a child, under her family's dining table, pretending to be a dog. The first sentence is "My only mistake was licking her knee."

My immediate surroundings fell away, and I was under the table too. Of course, I bought the book, and as I drove home, I was in a reverie about my own childhood love of dogs, with its intense yearnings and joys. In the next few days, I devoured the book. I felt like I was in the presence of a zestful and compassionate friend who also happened to be a good storyteller. The chapters range around all things related to dogs. It's not a how-to book, but lots of how-to ideas came to me as I read.

It's a book to read slowly and reflectively, really, and so it has stayed by my bedside, where I can pick it up and read a bit. Clothier writes so beautifully and so much from her heart that as a writer I am jealous. And as a person who loves connecting with dogs, I am inspired. (

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RosanaHart | Apr 15, 2008 |

This is a fantastic book, it is one that I know I will read again as it is one of those books that when you are done you just go..wow. Although this book does center around relationships with dogs, it really can apply to any relationship. There are parts that made me laugh out loud and parts that made me cry (which I had never done because of a book). (

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billtaichi | Feb 8, 2008 |

Wonderful insight into our love affair with our dogs. We learn from our dogs about faith and trust and honesty, values that our dogs teach us by their example. (

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Nancy.Mosholder | Mar 22, 2007 |

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0446525936, Hardcover)

For anyone who has ever dreamed of being able to really talk to their dogs--and 'hear' what they have to sayBONES WOULD RAIN FROM THE SKYAkin to Monty Roberts's The Man Who Listens to Horses and going light-years beyond The Hidden Life of Dogs or any training manual, Suzanne Clothier takes a radical new direction in understanding our life with dogs...and our mutual love. Drawing on a lifetime of experience with dogs, this nationally renowned dog trainer brings us astonishing new lessons about our animals--and ourselves.Gently, with intelligence, humor, and unfailing patience, Suzanne Clothier guides us to truly comprehend another creature's mind and heart.You will discover how our dogs see the world from their uniquely canine perspective, how we can meet their deep need for leadership without using force or coercion, and how the "laws" of canine culture often put our dogs at odds with us and our very human world.Clothier's unparalleled insights into aggression in dogs can help prevent a tragedy, including the unnecessary destruction of a pet.In these pages, you will meet unforgettable dogs who will capture, and perhaps break, your heart. There is Badger--handsome, curious, and perhaps dangerous. Can his threatening behavior be changed? Though doomed by a congenital heart murmur, the winsome pup McKinley offers an unforgettable lesson in living. Then aging Vali brings us to the moment that all dog owners must someday face: the loss of a devoted companion. But what this old dog teaches us in her last days may change you forever.As in no other "dog book" or training manual, in BONES WOULD RAIN FROM THE SKYan extraordinary woman shows us how to find a deep connection with another being and to receive an incomparable gift: a profound, lifelong relationship with the dog you love.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:16 -0400)

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