The Other End of the Leash

Rating:
Summary: I think I have a better understanding of my dogs now.
Review: I've seen Trish McConnell on Animal Planet and listened to her radio show. So I already knew I liked her and her dog "philosophy". The book is a fun read and informative. It is not a training book, however. You will not read about HOW to make your dog sit, stay, come etc. What you will read about is dog to dog interactions, human to dog interaction. From this information, she is able to give you insight on how what you do or don't do will make your dog react. She compares humans to primates and dogs to wolves and discusses the similarities and differences between all. While I was reading the book and after I finished, I found myself watching my dogs carefully. Sometimes my dogs do just what she said, other times I see something different. But keep in mind that I think she is often talking about dogs with behavior problems. She talks about social manners between dogs. Dogs do not approach each other head on. I've watched this happen now. But she mentions that dogs do not like to hug. Mine initiate hugs, but I understand now that that is because they recognize that as something that I like and they are comfortable with hugs with me but not with strangers.
The anecdotes about her dogs are great for helping the reader to understand a point. At the same time they are fun to read, heartwarming and brought tears to my eyes. If you love your dog(s), you'll like this book. I especially would like to read more and I would love a chance to talk with and ask questions of Trish McConnell. She seems to have so much more information to share than could ever be written in a book

Rating:
Summary: interesting and fun but did i learn much?
Review: i must first admit that i have learnt 2 or 3 useful tips after reading this book. i was hoping that it'd be much more fruitful though.

this book is written like the author is sitting down chatting with you throughout a relaxing day about her experience; dropping hints and tips on the best way to handle dogs, the differences between primates (human) and canids(dogs), dog's emotions, how they have personalities, dominance etc.

invariably, such 'talks' will involve stories with relevant points, as well as some that stray quite far from the theme. bbeing interesting, i think many readers will not mind the occasional light hearted irrelevant story.

despite the fact that there are some useful hints and tips on how to handle our best friends, they are too few and far in between. bulk of this book is somewhat repetitive, and the author tends to be too 'talkative'. also, there is just too much comparisons with other primates like baboons, gorillas etc are often used to draw similarities and differences with dog's behaviours.

i hope i do not come across sounding like a sexist but i find that this book will more likely appeal to female readers, who are more emotive. i always like the more text book style, indexed do this, do that; this is bad, that is good etc.

this is a good and interesting book to read, but getting only 2-3 useful tips out of 220 pages i feel isnt good enough. a good idea will probably be for you to imagine buying a book by agassi on tennis. you'll end up hearing a many heartwarming stories about his life/marriages; and the other half of the book tells you about tennis, how the ball spins, some techniques on service, returns but generally you'll only learn 2-3 tips about playing tennis well like how your legs should be positioned, what type of racket may suit your style etc.

Rating:
Summary: Great book to help you understand your pooch
Review: Lots of good information about what's going on in your dog's head & what should be going on in your head.

Rating:
Summary: The best one yet!
Review: Patricia is an excellent animal behaviorist and I recommend all her books. This one is the best one yet.

Trisha is not a dog trainer--she is an animal behaviorist, this is what makes all the difference! Think of an animal behaviorist as a "root-cause" analyzer of behavior. Training only helps to train the pet to do a certain action but it does not get at the root cause of the response or behavior (like inadvertantly rewarding the behavior, you would be amazed at how many of us do this).

One of my dogs has had dog training with Dogs Best Friend and they have the kindest and most dog-friendly ways of teaching!! Patricia's dog training classes teaches us that 99.9% of dog training consists of training the human, not the dog. Patricia teachs us how although we may be animals, the messages we send to our best friends are much different. For example, we may smile at our dog or attempt to hug it, but in dog language that is an act of aggression! In this book she tries to teach us how to behave more like dogs, and less like people (however crazy that sounds). One thing I remember from Dogs Best Friend training was a trainer whom had a family pet as a child who only responded to "sit, sit, sit, sit." It would not answer to just the command "sit." Patricia teaches us the value of the 1-word command, and the usage of positive, rewards-based training. This book is more than just a training book it provides valuable insight into the way dogs think. You will be amazed at how much your pet can learn when you start speaking their language! This book teaches us to think about how we are behaving in front of our dogs, and how important it is to "Be the leader of the pack, A benevolent leader," as she would say.

Any dog lover is at a loss without this book. For more on Trisha, those of you whom can tune in to Wisconsin Public Radio, Saturdays Trisha hosts a program called "Calling all Pets" which answers pet related problems. I do believe you can view past shows on WPR's website.

Best of luck in the care of your dog, and remember--your behavior can mean the difference between having a good pet and having a great pet!


Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and Informative
Review: I really enjoyed this book. It is a book on dog behavior, and provides only a few actual training tips. However, the author gives many very interesting anecdotes from her own experiences, which she uses to illustrate her points. It is a quick and easy read. All dog owners should read this book, especially if they are experiencing behavioral issues with their dogs.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best dog training books around!
Review: If you ask 100 dog trainers to agree on something, they will agree on one thing: that it is always more difficult to train the dog's owner than to train the dog!

I just finished reading "The Other End Of The Leash" and I have to say this is one of the best dog training books every written. Why? Because it is a book that trains the *reader*!

The purpose of "The Other End Of The Leash" is to facilitate communication between humans and their best friends. Patricia has studied animal communication for years and in this book you will find her personal experiences paired with lots of helpful advice. We are taken on a journey, and we study both primates and canines. At the end, we are left with a much clearer picture of how our dogs see us. By becoming aware of the different habits of primates and canines, we realise lots of things: For example, it's not the dogs fault if he runs away from a human that is walking head-on towards him. For a primate this is a perfectly normal way to greet someone, but for a dog a head-on approach means attack. This is the most simple example of what you will find in this book.
Patricia McConnell's way of writing is simply magnificent as well. By the end of the book I felt like I had personally met her three Border Collies and Tulip. More than once I had to stop reading for a few minutes because I had tears in my eyes.

Patricia helps us become better dog owners. By making us more aware of our moves, she helps us realise how to bridge the gaps between the human world and the canine world. After reading this book you will understand so much more about how your dog behaves, that it feels like taking a blindfold off!

In conclusion: this is a book that should be in every dog-lover's library!

Rating:
Summary: A very different and good dog training book.
Review: As a professional dog trainer with over 18 years experience, I have read and continue to read dog training and behavioral books on a regular basis. I was really pleased with this book. It isn't just a "dog training book", it is thought provoking and has a lot to offer. For one thing, the author is an actual animal behaviorist which is kind of a treat. Many authors of dog training books are dog trainers, not animal behaviorists and attempt to pass their "opinions" off as fact which can be irritating. If authors are going to write "facts", they have to be actual facts and not just opinions that they feel strongly about. This author does that, she frequently backs her thoughts up with scientific proof which is really refreshing. I like that she talks about her own dogs alot and their behaviors. I just thought it was a great book and recommend to readers. This book will remain on the top of my must read list, I have already recommended it to a few of my dog friends.

Rating:
Summary: The first and last behavior book you'll have to read
Review: Finally I found a book that explained so much in a fun light manner. I'm not a trainer or animal behaviorist , I just want to know what's going on in my dog's mind for him to do some of the antics he does.

Rating:
Summary: Good information but a little too wordy
Review: There's a lot of comparison between how humans are like apes and how different we are from canines... a little too much comparison I thought. I appreciate all of the insights and I can understand her wanting to make a point but I found myself wanting to skip all that and just "cut to the chase".

There's a lot of interesting information about dogs it's just kind of hard getting past the other stuff to get to it.

McConnell has a booklet called "How to Be the Leader of the Pack" which I'm hoping is the shortened version of "The Other End of the Leash".

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT read!!!!
Review: I have many dog training books in my possesion but I confess that I am not an avid reader and get bored easily with reading the whole book and find that I read small sections throughout the book. The Other End of the Leash was not such a book however. I found myself so engaged with each page that I couldn't put it down and read it cover to cover!!!! I found the book to be insightful, humorous, though provoking and encourages the reader to look through different points of view on the relationship with their dog. I encourage this book to my dog training clients as it is just an excellent book. I hope you enjoy your read through it as much as I did. If you have ever heard Trish McConnell speak, you will find this book to make you feel like Trish is reading this book directly to you. It is written like she speaks....so enjoyable.