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Tamar Geller isn't your average pet trainer. In fact, she shuns that title altogether, preferring to be called a "life coach" instead. As described in her book, The Loved Dog: The Playful Nonagressive Way to Teach Your Dog Good Behavior, Tamar became interested in dog behavior when she enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces at age 18. There she witnessed harsh military dog training methods such as prong collars, choke chains, hitting, pushing, and bullying. She now advocates a much kinder approach to dealing with dogs.

Tamar nixes the notion that pets should be submissive to their owners, hoping as an alternative to form connections and build confidence in our canine companions. She gained celebrity status appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and acquired some of Hollywood's hottest actors and actresses for her clientele. Through Tamar's Loved World Foundation, shelter dogs are brought to prisons to live with inmates, who train them using The Loved Dog method. The prisoners then have the opportunity to work at her Loved Dog center after their release. Here, she gives some tips on effectively communicating with canines.

Tamar's "Another Chance for Love" non-profit program:

I started a program that I named "Another Chance for Love" not just for shelter dogs, but for people as well. You see, I know first hand how painful it is not to be loved and what it's like to be misunderstood, and I needed to do something for those people who have experienced those feelings. Some of these people I'm talking about are currently serving time in juvenile prisons. The prisoners are younger than 25 years of age. I can identify with them and I can see that if not for my loving friends and the opportunities that the Israeli army offered me, I could have very easily ended up imprisoned as well. The prisoners are hand-picked by the prison's psychologist. We start with 3 months of basic Psychology lessons and learning how to use voice, body language and face expression to convey a message to a person or a dog without needing to revert to violence. Then we introduce the dogs. Each dog gets 3 handlers; one is a "primary" and two others are "babysitters" so the dog is always supervised as they live in prison 24/7, which is way better than being stuck in a cage in an animal shelter. The Another Chance for Love program takes between 2-3 months to complete.

But more than anything, this program transforms and restores self esteem and hope in the prisoners and the dogs. Their basic needs are finally being met. Their need for love, their need for feeling good about themselves, and wanting to be successful, are all fulfilled. It gives them all the joy of taking on and learning new skills and they feel appreciated. But there is even better news. When the dogs are trained, they get certified as "A Loved Dog" and are available to adoption by the public. When the prisoners are released, they have the opportunity to come and work as trainers for The Loved Dog. Currently we have some of them, who with the experience of play-training with many different kinds of dogs and personalities, have become expert dog trainers working with us.

We give them all Another Chance for Love!!! May we all get that chance in our lives.

Smiles, Tamar

Visit the Another Chance for Love Website! >>

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