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I can’t remember anyone in my immediate family ever owning a cat. We had lots and lots of dogs. We were a family of hunters. Embracing the Wild in your dog is not a training manual for dog owners. But I highly recommend this book by Bryan Bailey if you are a dog owner, or even just a nature lover. Dogs are a huge and integral part of American culture. They are everywhere and it behooves dog owners and parents to understand the true nature of Man’s Best Friend. I grew up with dogs and know the truth of the principles set out in Embracing the Wild in your dog. My father taught them to me but he wasn't nearly as articulate as Bryan Bailey. Before you can train your dog properly you should know your dog’s true nature. That is what is learned in Embracing the Wild in your dog.

Bryan Bailey teaches us this nature beautifully. Step by step he shows us the nature of dogs and how we often fail them because we do not understand them. There are beautiful pictures and very pertinent insights throughout Embracing the Wild in your dog. Insights Mr. Bailey learned at the feet of an awesome Green Beret while growing up in the Alaskan wilderness. The writing is simple but elegant and the anecdotes feature situations and dogs that Bryan has owned and known. I found the story of Rex and the grandson especially powerful. All animal lovers should read this book. It’s really about a lot more than dogs.

Embracing the Wild in Your Dog

An understanding of the authors of our dog’s behavior – nature and the wolf.

by Bryan Bailey


If I could give “Embracing the Wild in your Dog” by Bryan Bailey, ten stars in every category, I would. Never before have I read a non-fiction book that enlightens, disturbs and inspires all at once, and leaves me wondering if I even took a breath from the time I opened the book.

As I read the last page and checked Bryan Bailey’s biography, I let out an audible sigh. If the sigh could speak, it would say brilliant and breath-taking.

“Embracing the Wild in your Dog” is both of those. It is also a memoir and an instructional book. But its premise and its concepts may not be embraced or welcomed by all who cannot think of that little fluffy puppy in their laps as a wolf. But he is…at least instinctively, and Bryan Bailey makes sure you know that by the time you’re finished reading.

As soon as I’d read the first few chapters, I began looking at my little Shorkie, Duffy, through a different lens. I realized that when he first took a light nip of my grand-daughter’s lip and our gut reaction was to yell at Duffy for his bad behaviour while we wiped away her tears, that Duffy’s reaction to having his neck grabbed in a hug constituted a threat and he was merely issuing a warning…as his now very distant forebears, the wolves would have done. I have now learned that no amount of breeding these “fur covered humans on four legs” is going to breed out the wolf in him. As an Indian chief explained to the author’s mentor, “Because a dog carries a wolf inside of him, he also carries the wolf’s prints. The wolf goes with him everywhere he goes.” Sadly, today’s dog owners live in denial of this truth. As a result, children and adults are being bitten and dogs are being euthanized, while vet bills and law suits drain bank accounts because we dog lovers don’t want to acknowledge the wolf in our dogs.

©Viga Boland