The Other End of the Leash

This book made me much more aware of how it is natural for us as humans to behave and move in ways that might be disconcerting to our dogs. Being aware of this greatly impacts my interactions with dogs, who, after all, are a completely different species, so it makes sense to approach them differently than we would another primate.

Patricia McConnell’s writing style is engaging, and she shares personal stories throughout the book. I’ve loved everything she’s ever written, but this one is a must-read for anyone who spends any time around dogs. 

You’ll have picked up a theme here: dog behavior is pretty simple. It’s human behavior, illuminated by how we act toward dogs, that’s damnably complicated. In this book a supremely well-informed behaviorist and trainer turns her scope not on the animals she’s studied so intently, but on the humans who interact with them. Only in that context can we understand why our pets do what they do: they do stuff because we are another kind of animal entirely. As primates, we persist in treating everyone else as if they were a primate, too. McConnell asks us to “get out of”… show more.

Understanding your dog and getting your dog to understand you is a two-way street. Dr. McConnell shows us how our actions and behaviors are interpreted by our dogs and what we can do to make small shifts (or some big ones if needed) to improve communication. My first dog, Jackson, was a tough dog with a mind of his own and I initially blamed much of his behavior on being a bad dog. Using techniques from this book, I was able to understand my role better and after adapting, Jackson transformed from bad dog to my best friend.

Patricia McConnell’s book looks at the effects we have on our dogs – we are literally the other end of the leash. How we behave around our dogs and interact with them can have massive repercussions if we make the wrong choices or previously received the wrong information. There is a lot of outdated information and advice still in circulation, unfortunately, much of it by people with large audiences, but people like Patricia McConnell do an excellent job of explaining why those methods are risky and potentially damaging to our bonds and relationships with our dogs.

Go ahead and add every single book McConnell has ever written to your reading list because the Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and all-around badass can do no wrong. McConnell has published a series of dog training books covering everything from puppy training to living in a multi-dog household peacefully and they’re all wonderful, but this one stands apart because it weaves lyrical storytelling with real-world dog training advice. Major McConnell fangirl here!