Book review: ‘Be Your Dog’s Best Friend’
Be Your Dog’s Best Friend: The Benefits of Mutual Bonding and Relationship Building by Katya Lidsky. McFarland, 2025. Softcover, 209 pages.
Katya Lidsky, the author of Be Your Dog’s Best Friend: The Benefits of Mutual Bonding and Relationship Building, is a woman with a mission — albeit one that has changed. Passionate about pet adoption, she used to believe that the best deed someone could do for a dog in a shelter was to adopt them and take them home — end of story. However, over time, she realized that the relationship building that comes after adoption between a dog and their new person is just as important.
In her book, Katya explores what makes a good canine-human relationship. In our dogs, Katya proposes, we see ourselves — the good and the parts we need to change. By looking for the best in our dogs, we can also find the best in ourselves. This mutual bonding takes time and effort, and it’s the underpinning of our partnership with the dogs we love.
Through accounts of her own struggles and how her beloved dog Ophelia helped her through them, the author reflects on the bond that grows after you adopt a dog and bring them home. As well as sharing tales of foster dogs, she also provides exercises to facilitate bonding.
In this thoughtful spin on dog adoption, Katya Lidsky shows how responsibility and love can change both humans and dogs for the better.
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