Most dog books focus on how to change our companion’s behavior; very few ask how we might change our own.

This workbook and journal, created by ethicist, celebrated author, and dog guardian Jessica Pierce, helps readers learn to live more mindfully with their dogs. Across ten chapters filled with exercises grounded in behavioral science and contemplative practice, Pierce invites readers to mirror their dog’s movements, savor shared silence, examine the impulse to command, reflect on past relationships with dogs, and prepare for the inevitabilities of aging and loss. She teaches readers how to view their dogs with the care of a field biologist—keeping notes, mapping relationships, and generally observing to better understand the dog’s world. She also challenges long-held assumptions about traditional dog training and asks whether our methods truly serve our dogs or simply reassure us as humans.

Many readers of Pierce’s acclaimed earlier books asked for a practical guide to help them put ideas into daily practice. For both those readers and those new to her work, this workbook is her response: a human-training manual informed by science, ethics, and lived experience. Each chapter begins with a short introduction to orient the reader, followed by self-directed exercises, reflection prompts, and shared experiences from living with her dog, Bella. Annotated further-reading sections point to both accessible books and peer-reviewed research. With its blend of gentle guidance and intellectual rigor, this workbook helps readers cultivate a more curious, collaborative, and compassionate relationship with the dogs they love.

Jessica Pierce is an internationally acclaimed bioethicist and writer whose work focuses on animals, ethics, and the everyday ways humans can learn to live more thoughtfully with other species. She has published fourteen books, including Who’s a Good Dog? And How to Be a Better Human, also from the University of Chicago Press, and, most recently, Dogpedia: A Brief Compendium of Canine Curiosities. Her essays have appeared in TheNew York Times, The Washington Post, TheGuardian, TIME, and Scientific American. Pierce is a faculty affiliate at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. She lives in the Colorado Rockies, where she shares her life with a very special dog named Bella and a very special human named Chris.

A Note on Safety and Comfort

Introduction

1. Mindful Presence and Shared Stillness

2. Curiosity and Observation

3. Relationship and Connection

4. Emotions and Inner Life

5. Behavior and Interpretation

6. Communication and Co-Regulation

7. Freedom and Letting Go

8. Time, Aging, and Impermanence

9. Reflection and Integration

Acknowledgments