Here are 100 books that The Other End of the Leash fans have personally recommended if you like
The Other End of the Leash.
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All my life, some of my best friends have been animals, especially dogs and horses. As a sensitive kid who wore her emotions on her sleeve and who was constantly worried about pleasing parents, teachers, and friends, my animal friends felt like a source of unconditional love where I could let my guard down, just be myself, and not worry about being judged. The books I recommended all include extraordinary animal friendships. Four of the five are narrated or partially narrated by the animals themselves and are what inspired me to try my hand at writing a book for kids told from a dog’s point of view.
I love this book because of Enzo, the canine narrator. In fact, he may be my favorite narrator of all time. He is one of those narrators I would love to be friends with or who I would love to have as a professor or a spiritual guide.
The first time I tried reading it I put it down because I ugly-cried in the first chapter when Enzo recounted the story of how he planned to simplify his beloved human’s life. Thankfully, a trusted friend convinced me to give it another try because it’s now one of my all-time favorite books. Coming from an English teacher of twenty plus years, who reads a lot of good books, I think that's pretty high praise.
Yes, I cried a lot in this one, too, but I also laughed and did not want to leave Enzo or the humans he loved so dearly…
Soon to be a major motion picture, this heart-warming and inspirational tale follows Enzo, a loyal family dog, tells the story of his human family, how they nearly fell apart, and what he did to bring them back together.
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: he thinks and feels in nearly human ways. He has educated himself by watching extensive television, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo realizes that racing is a metaphor: that by applying the techniques a driver would apply on…
It all began at a very young age when I aspired to be Jane Goodall and save the lives of animals. Since then, her wisdom, courage, and activism have guided me throughout my life. Through my childhood, I nursed fledglings with eyedroppers, adopted turtles left on the curbside, and became an advocate for “Save our Seals”. In college, I immersed myself in the study of animal behavior. I explored the behavior of Red Kangaroos, "Megalia Rufas" in captivity, exploring ways in which zoos could improve their facilities to respect the needs of the animals. These experiences set the landscape for my work as a holistic psychotherapist with the healing power of dogs.
This book had a huge impact on me many years ago when I started training Psychiatric Service Dogs. Turid opened my eyes to a complex understanding of how dogs communicate with us through subtle and not-so-subtle body language. I recommend this book highly to all of my friends that have dogs and my clients. You will learn to identify when your dog is stressed, how to recognize it, and then take appropriate action to help decrease and alleviate the dog’s stress.
Yawning, lip-licking, sneezing, even scratching are just a few of the 30-plus signals that dogs use to communicate with one another.
With On Talking Terms With Dogs you can learn to recognize these signals and use them yourself to interact with your dog.
Norwegian dog trainer and behaviorist Turid Rugaas has made it her life work to study canine social interaction. She coined the phrase calming signals to describe the social skills, sometimes referred to as body language, that dogs use to avoid conflict, invite play, and communicate a wide range of information to other dogs and also humans.
I’m a Swedish dog trainer and author who love training dogs in a fun, positive, and force-free way. I got my first Golden retriever in 2005 and learnt a lot about dog training and especially clicker training. When a friend gave me a dummy I really started to enjoy gun dog training and realized that there weren’t many people who trained gun dogs in a force-free way so I took all my knowledge from my reward-based obedience training and translated it into gun dog training, discussed training methods with a lot of people, held classes in force-free gun dog training and eventually collected all my thoughts and training advice into a book together with my friend Lena Gunnarsson.
This book has saved and helped so many dogs. Having a reactive or aggressive dog is very difficult, in this book you’ll get lots of training advice on how to help your dog. Your dog doesn’t have to have severe issues for you to find this book helpful – it’s so much easier to start training before the problem has escalated. You’ll get advice on calmly escorting your dog away before trouble arises, stopping resource guarding (ex-food guarding), and dealing with dogs barking at the door.
Our dogs’ behavior issues can often limit their lives and add challenges to ours. Emma Parsons offered hope and revolutionary solutions to thousands of owners of aggressive dogs as well as to professional trainers with her groundbreaking book Click to Calm, Healing the Aggressive Dog.
Now, she’s done it again. In her new book, The New Click to Calm: Solutions for All Dogs in a Challenging World, Emma has not only updated the Click to Calm protocol to enable more rapid behavior change but she teaches us how to apply it to help dogs with more common, less intense behavioral…
Long ago (or so it seems), I was a novelist and a normal dog person with one good dog who played a great game of fetch and ran with me. But then I discovered the other dogs—the ones still waiting in shelters. And the ones who never make it out of shelters. Now my life and writing revolve around these dogs. I’ve fostered 200 animals, traveled to nearly eighty shelters in eleven states, and co-founded the nonprofit, Who Will Let the Dogs Out, whose mission is to raise awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who fight for them. Now I still write, but I write to save lives.
You cannot begin to fix the problem of overcrowded shelters and the destruction of adoptable dogs unless you grapple with the category of dogs labeled pit bulls. I cannot say enough good about this book. Thorough, fair, well-written, inspiring, instructive, just amazing. Every person involved in dog advocacy, rescue, or training should read this book, heck, every person that loves dogs should read this book – especially those who have opinions about pit bulls. This book will make you think about how the media dictates our popular opinion about pretty much everything. Thank you to Bronwen Dickey for writing such an important book.
The controversial story of one infamous breed of dog--a New York Times Bestseller ("Animals" list).
When Bronwen Dickey brought her new dog home, she saw no traces of the infamous viciousness in her affectionate pit bull. Which made her wonder: How had the breed—beloved by Teddy Roosevelt and Helen Keller—come to be known as a brutal fighter? Dickey’s search for answers takes her from nineteenth-century New York dogfighting pits to early twentieth‑century movie sets, from the battlefields of Gettysburg to struggling urban neighborhoods. In this illuminating story of how a popular breed became demonized--and what role humans have played in…
I have over 30 years in animal welfare advocacy and have rehabilitated then re-homed hundreds of dogs, cats and horses. As a professional humane educator, I consult with animal welfare professionals as well as adopters and have developed educational programs for all ages regarding the need for compassion and care of domestic and wild animals. I write books, blogs, and articles that fit into my missions of: 1) saving more animal lives by educating the people who care for them, and 2) humane education through storytelling. My children’s Pups & Purrs Series spotlights teaching compassion, respect, and tolerance. Each is narrated by its own dog protagonist.
This book touched me in new and unexpected ways. Renowned trainer Suzanne Clothier’s unparalleled insights into dog emotions combine with her compassionate awareness of how they perceive their own worlds. Written with knowing empathy, Suzanne discusses how to meet dogs’ needs for leadership without cruel coercion, and examines how canine culture clashes with human ignorance and insensitivity. Real dog stories show how respectful relationships can save dogs from tragedy and unnecessary destruction. I personally identified with Clothier’s emotions and learned more progressive ways to reach dogs in ways they understood.
Akin to Monty Roberts's The Man Who Listens to Horses and going light-years beyond The Hidden Life of Dogs, this extraordinary book takes a radical new direction in understanding our life with canines and offers us astonishing new lessons about our pets. From changing the misbehaviors and habits that upset us, to seeing the world from their unique and natural perspective, to finding a deep connection with another being, Bones Would Rain from the Sky will help you receive an incomparable gift: a profound, lifelong relationship with the dog you love.
At least one dog has accompanied me almost my entire life. Much of that time has revolved around working Border Collies, training them, and working sheep together. One particular young dog turned my perceptions upside down when he arrived, proving to be like no other dog I had ever encountered. Through the learning about fearful and anxious dogs I needed to understand him, I found myself developing a new passion – helping others to understand dogs. Since that dog entered my life, I have been on an intense educational journey and sharing my learning and experience with others, both on the topics of ‘reactive’ dogs and dogs in general.
This amazing book looks at what makes our dogs who they are. It details all the elements that go into making up an individual dog, including how the breed groups that exist in the dog species affect their behaviour. As someone who loves Border Collies, I am very aware they don’t suit every home, and this book explains the reasons why herding breeds (and the other groups) won’t suit every home perfectly. After reading this book, the differing needs of dog breeds are much clearer. Understanding the needs of dogs that come from their very genetics makes understanding the whole dog so much easier, and leads to a much happier life together.
Every dog owner knows that along with the joy can come the stress and frustration of behavioral problems, which are expensive to diagnose and treat. Enter Kim Brophey, award-winning canine behavior consultant. Using cutting-edge research, Brophey has developed a groundbreaking system that allows owners to identify what their dog is struggling with, why, and how they can fix it. Brophey's approach is unlike anything that has been published before and will give dog owners a new understanding of what motivates and affects their dog's behavior. Brophey's innovative technique rethinks the way we categorize dogs, and distills information from over twenty…
I was one of those little girls for whom all imaginary best friends were animals. I fantasized about running away to the woods with only a dog. I daydreamed endlessly about horses (and grew up to write a book about the strange and compelling relationship between women and horses). When I was adult enough to get my own dog, the love exploded like a firecracker. I wanted to learn everything I could about her—which of course led to learning perhaps even more about myself. My interests extend to the junctures of the natural world and that of humanity; I’ve also written books about the nature of home (The Place You Love Is Gone) and motorcycling.
Jean Donaldson may be the most brilliant, certainly the most blunt and forthright, thinker on the subject of how dogs are, rather than how we wish them to be. In The Culture Clash, she lights dynamite under some of our fondest myths about why dogs do the things they do. The book reads like a manifesto. It forms a foundational philosophy for modern, evidence-based training, and it vigorously takes apart every dissimulating notion that dogs don’t already know what’s best for themselves. Reading this book for the first time was literally thrilling for me—my copy is filled with double underlinings and multitudes of stars in the margins at so many of the pronouncements that amount to a bill of rights for dogs. She knows whereof she speaks: she is the founder and principal instructor of the Academy for Dog Trainers, and a scintillating speaker at conferences promoting the humane education…
The book that has shaped modern dog training and ownership with its unique and scientifically sound recognition of the "cultural" differences between dogs and humans. Dogs can't read so you need to in order to really understand your dog.
At least one dog has accompanied me almost my entire life. Much of that time has revolved around working Border Collies, training them, and working sheep together. One particular young dog turned my perceptions upside down when he arrived, proving to be like no other dog I had ever encountered. Through the learning about fearful and anxious dogs I needed to understand him, I found myself developing a new passion – helping others to understand dogs. Since that dog entered my life, I have been on an intense educational journey and sharing my learning and experience with others, both on the topics of ‘reactive’ dogs and dogs in general.
I am incredibly fortunate to count Sally as a mentor and friend. Her understanding of dogs and their needs is wonderful and this book is one of the easiest to read references on interpreting canine body language that I have ever seen. Our dogs cannot speak to us so it is up to us to learn how to understand the communication they do offer and, importantly, to respect and heed it. This process of reading their communication signals and really listening to the dog goes a long way towards understanding their needs and creating the best possible lives together.
Excellent communication is relevant to interaction between all individuals whether sharing information within or outside our own species. Communication is paramount to excellent relationships.
As humans, we already have an entire range of listening blocks with each other, so with dogs with a completely different language. So, how do we even manage to communicate at all?
Thankfully dogs know our limits, so have spent hundreds of years perfecting their own communication skills to cope with the self-imposed boundaries of ours. The dogs in our homes are signalling, passing messages and displaying obvious requests most…
At least one dog has accompanied me almost my entire life. Much of that time has revolved around working Border Collies, training them, and working sheep together. One particular young dog turned my perceptions upside down when he arrived, proving to be like no other dog I had ever encountered. Through the learning about fearful and anxious dogs I needed to understand him, I found myself developing a new passion – helping others to understand dogs. Since that dog entered my life, I have been on an intense educational journey and sharing my learning and experience with others, both on the topics of ‘reactive’ dogs and dogs in general.
Dogs do so many things that seem strange and even a little weird to us, but they are all perfectly natural and normal for the dog. This book explains the ‘why’ of many of the things our dogs do and contains lots of information to help us lead the best and most fulfilling lives with our dogs. What I really love about this book is the way it normalises the fact that dogs are emotional creatures – as is now scientifically proven – and helps us to understand what that means for our lives together.
For all the love and attention we give dogs, much of what they do remains mysterious. Just think about different behaviors you see at a dog park: We have a good understanding of what it means when dogs wag their tails--but what about when they sniff and roll on a stinky spot? Why do they play tug-of-war with one dog, while showing their bellies to another? Why are some dogs shy, while others are bold? What goes on in dogs' heads and hearts--and how much can we know and understand? Canine Confidential has the answers. Written by award-winning scientist--and lifelong…
When I adopted my first dog, Jackson, I felt a little intimidated by his exuberance. By reading books about animals (and human behavior) along with stories that showed the deep connection possible between humans and dogs, I was encouraged to dig deeper, try different techniques, and appreciate all aspects of Jackson’s personality. As we added more dogs to the pack and discover new challenges, I continued to seek out experts to help develop my relationship with my dogs and help them to live happier lives. As somebody who does a great deal of research about dogs, I appreciate and share well-researched and well-presented materials from both non-fiction and fiction.
This is my favorite dog novel that I’ve ever read. I keep buying new copies and lending them to friends who apparently enjoy the book as well, since the books continue to circulate around. The story is a simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking tale about a family who breeds their own unique mélange of dogs and strives to keep them alive through a son who is mute but has a special method of communicating with dogs.
A literary debut of stark and striking brilliance - a coming-of-age story, set in the remote wilderness of northern Wisconsin.
Born mute and able to communicate only by sign, the brilliant Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents Gar and Trudy. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomised by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong companion. But when his beloved father mysteriously dies, Edgar blames himself, if only because his muteness left him unable to summon help. Grief-stricken and bewildered by his mother's desperate affair with her dead husband's brother, Edgar's…
