Search Results: Dog Books

For the Love of a Dog Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend “A marvelous book that everybody who loves dogs should own.” -Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation “[McConnell] sheds new light on the emotional lives of animals.” – The Washington Post “A wonderful book…Fine, balanced, charming, it is sure to appeal…

Do you have a dog who isn’t good meeting other dogs when on leash? If so, you’ll not be surprised that a recent blog post on how to stop uninvited dogs from approaching your own got 129 comments and reached 352,783 people on Facebook.   Wow. That’s compelling. In some ways, I’m not surprised. My…

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The Other End of the Leash Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs “Vivid anecdotes and keen insights… a wonderful book… [that] exudes wisdom and passion throughout.” – Bark Magazine “Warm and informative, The Other End of the Leash teaches us to bridge some differences and to honor others.” – Dog Fancy “This is…

Meet Theo & Kimberly Found by the dog catcher, running on the highway in New Jersey, Theo was an eight month old whippersnapper when I first met him at the shelter in Old Bridge, New Jersey where he’d languished, un-adopted for over three months.  Though he was hampered by lack of training and the security…

  August 26th is National Dog Day! I know many of us celebrate our dogs everyday, but here are five additional ways to consider spending this special holiday… 1. Get out and play: Enjoy the day with your dog(s)! My favorite game to play with Willie is “Find It”. Start by hiding your dog’s favorite…

August 17, 2026 Size Matters (When Using Treats as Reinforcement) What helps an animal learn a new behavior fastest? Standard practice has assumed that learners need a large number of trials to learn a new behavior, and given the numbers of repetitions required, each reward, usually food, is small. In other words, lots of tiny…

Away to Me Trisha’s debut mystery novel.A woman. A dog. A murder. “Away To Me has it all: amazing canines, a flawed, funny, compelling heroine, unrelenting suspense…” -Cat Warren, NYT bestselling author of What the Dog Knows “Away To Me is like All Creatures Great & Small meets Agatha Christie-only with more glorious writing, and…

The Education of Will Healing a Dog, Facing My Fears, Reclaiming My Life “McConnell gives a voice to those who can’t speak in words and provides hope for fearful animals everywhere.” -Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human  and Animals in Translation “Wisdom earned in the hardest places, dog and human, brings with it a carrying…

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month! My rescued dog, Tootsie, and I have been celebrating all month on my Facebook page, but there’s still plenty of time to help homeless dogs. This issue is currently more important than ever, given all the tragedies that have disrupted dogs and their families around the country. Here is…

Questions About Purchases Who do I contact if I have a question about my order? Order fulfillment is now being done by our good friends at Dogwise in Wenatchee, WA. We are confident that they will continue the same level of customer-friendly service that we have done our best to provide. Nothing else will change:…

The Puppy Primer The Puppy Primer, Patricia’s beloved guide to raising a puppy, is now all-new and fully-updated! “We give The Puppy Primer to all of our Puppy Day School students because it is the next best thing to having a trainer in their living room.” – Kelly Elvin, TipTopTraining, 
Kalamazoo, MI “The Puppy Primer…

The paperback edition of The Education of Will is here! I can’t believe it’s been a full year since the hardcover release. It’s been an amazing year of speaking engagements, interviews, and most importantly, getting to know readers on a deeper level. I am grateful for all the emails, calls, personal conversations, blog and social…

From the Introduction: Good Puppy Owner! Goooood Puppy Owner! How clever of you to start now on your puppy’s education! You should feel good because you are caring and committed enough to take responsibility for your new dog’s welfare. As you know, there’s more to your puppy’s well-being than physical health; your dog’s behavior will…

It’s never too late to go back to basics! Family Friendly Dog Training is the perfect resource to help your clients, customers, or adopters deal with the most common behavior issues. We all know how serious tiny behavior problems can become—help the animals at both ends of the leash by providing steps for healthy, effective…

I have to give myself chocolate when I leave on a trip, because I find it so hard to say goodbye to my dogs. But I’m not the only one who suffers when being separated from someone I love. Separation anxiety (SA) can be a serious problem and dogs who suffer from it may panic…

We’re wrapping up the 7th anniversary celebration of Love Has No Age Limit’s publication, what a great time to review three of the most important things to remember when bringing a new dog into the home: #1: Patience! Just because a dog isn’t a puppy anymore, doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t have a lot…

It’s never too late to go back to basics! Family Friendly Dog Training is the perfect resource to help your clients, customers, or adopters deal with the most common behavior issues. We all know how serious tiny behavior problems can become—help the animals at both ends of the leash by providing steps for healthy, effective…

Patricia is known worldwide as an expert on canine training and behavior and for her engaging and knowledgeable books, speeches, and seminars. She is the author of the much-acclaimed books The Other End of the Leash (published in 14 languages), For the Love of a Dog, and her memoir, The Education of Will. Her debut…

Author, Speaker, Animal Behaviorist MORE ABOUT PATRICIA Your dog is begging you to read this! A classic, now in thirteen languages. READ MORE The all-new, fully-updated version of this beloved classic is now available! READ MORE A powerful memoir about dogs, love, trauma, and redemption. READ MORE Stories, science, and advice about the emotional lives…

Let Dogs Be Dogs: Understanding Canine Nature and Mastering the Art of Living with Your Dog by The Monks of New Skete and Marc Goldberg. The primary premise of the books is that dogs can’t be happy without a pack leader, and that had better be you. It thus seems appropriate to begin this review…

Raymond and Lorna Coppinger’s new book, What is a Dog? makes a compelling case for the “village dog” or “street dog” as THE dog, not a random collection of mongrels and strays. “We will argue that they [street dogs] are the real dogs, the ancestral type of our modern breeds. They are unique and beautifully…

Are you a dog trainer or behaviorist? Are you a veterinarian? Oh wait, do you just love dogs, have dogs, or care deeply about dogs? Then, honestly, get this book. It’s sort of like the sunrise and the sunset worked together t0 create the best day ever. Kathy Callahan, of PupStart, is an expert, no…

So many books, so little time! Here are a few I’m enjoying: Magnificent Mind at Any Age by Daniel Amen. This is a fascinating book by a psychiatrist who began doing SPECT scans of his patients brains and discovered how many psychological/behavioral problems related to brain function. It’s an inspiring book for anyone looking to…

Well, I had wanted to write about a book one of you asked about: The Wolf in the Parlor, but life seems to have its own schedule and I have only just started it. It is one of the gazillion books I am sent by publishers to review and I have to admit I have…

I felt sick to my stomach. How could I even think about not keeping Willie? The dog who moaned when he pressed his head against my neck; whose happy face could only be described as radiant. When Willie was good, he was very, very good, and by now I loved him as much as I’d…

Come, Sit, Stay: A Conversation about Coping in Hard Times. March 28, 2020 Click Here to view the discussion on YouTube Interview with Colleen Pelar, CPDT-KA, CDBC. February 20, 2018 Episode of the show “Helping Families Love Living With Dogs” Patricia and Colleen discuss “Fear and Trauma-How Dogs Experience It and How Owners can help their…

You know I love Willie; sometimes I think almost too much. But I’ve never loved him more than I have this morning, after finishing the book, Part Wild, by Ceiridwen Terrill. Willie is a dog. Inyo, the focus of Part Wild, is a wolf-dog who Ceiridwen adopted as a puppy. The book is a brutally…

Introducing ‘Away To Me’ the first mystery novel from best-selling author Patricia McConnell! ORDER NOW! “Away to Me is like All Creatures Great & Small meets Agatha Christie-only with more glorious writing, and more border collies!” -Sy Montgomery, NYT bestselling author of What the Chicken Knows “Away to Me has it all: amazing canines, a…

From Chapter One: An explanation of emotions, and why they are so controversial in animals. At first, all I saw was a white blur out of the corner of my eye. It was a long way away, maybe five hundred yards, and initially I wasn’t sure what it was. Most of my focus was on…

From Chapter One: What is more beautiful than watching a dog, all muscle and mind and heart, run free across a field of green to gather a flock of sheep? My heart swells up every time I see it. Every time. And I see it a lot. Being an applied animal behaviorist is my career,…

Now that I’m home from speaking in Mexico and Florida, I’m scheduling talks around the Midwest for the rest of 2018. It’s nice to keep it local for a while, even though these last trips have been powerful experiences that will stay with me for a long time. For the rest of this year I’ll…

  We’re celebrating the 7th anniversary of publishing Love Has No Age Limit: Welcoming an Adopting Dog into Your Home! Since its inception, over 100,000 copies have gone home with adopted dogs and their new families. This book has the answers, from what to do (and not do) the first day, week and month, why…

The paperback version of The Education of Will is here and I’m thrilled with the new cover. It is a more fitting for a memoir, and a favorite photo of mine to boot. (Don’t tell anyone, but that’s Maggie working sheep, not Willie.) Just as gratifying is the new subtitle, Healing a Dog, Facing My…

For decades, animal behaviorist Dr. Patricia B. McConnell grappled privately with intense fear, anxiety, and guilt. In this soul-searching memoir, she recounts for the first time the compelling story of her past and how a dog named Will helped her recover from a history of trauma and shame. Patricia is forced to face her past…

“Brilliant… a perfect balance of science and soul.” Marty Becker, DVM, reviewing For the Love of a Dog Resident Veterinarian on Good Morning America   “Choosing good information to help clients with their pet’s behavior is as easy as reaching for one of Patricia McConnell’s excellent books.” Wayne Hunthausen, DVM, co-author of Behavior Problems of…

I’ve had a lot of questions lately about resource guarding. I’m not sure why–dogs stuck together inside because of the weather? A butterfly flapping its wings in China? Who knows. But I thought it was a good time to revisit a post I wrote in 2014 about dogs who guard resources from other dogs. Here…

Not long ago I re-posted a blog about Resource Guarding (RG), but focused treatment options on dogs who direct their threats toward people. Many of you asked about RG between dogs, and I promised I’d address that this summer. Here we go… There’s no doubt that RG between dogs is a bit trickier than when…

                  I don’t pretend to be able to keep up with all the dog/animal behavior books being published right now, but two books got my attention this week that I thought you might find interesting. In some ways, they couldn’t be much different from each other. Who’s…

The commercial aspects of the holidays can be off-putting, but I still love the focus on family and friends. And gifting too — when it’s a thoughtful expression of love. That’s why there are at least 15 books sitting close by my desk, either already wrapped or awaiting decoration, to be sent to dear family…

Would keeping your dog thin decrease his or her chance of dying from cancer? The author of this book says yes, in a set of arguments that correlates obesity and risk of mortality in Dogs, Dog Food and Dogma. I’ll summarize now by saying that the author Daniel Scholof is a good researcher and writer,…

I’ve been intrigued lately by a breed of dog called the Carolina Dog. These dogs have been in the news lately, because a study of the genetics of the domestic dog suggested that several of the American dog breeds (Chihuahua for example) have origins from ancient Asian breeds rather more recent European ones. The study,…

If you are a serious student of domestic dog behavior, you need this book. Its full title is The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior and Interactions with People (2nd edition). It’s not inexpensive, but well worth it. ($44.69 on Amazon, but don’t hesitate to contact your local Indie store to see what they’d charge you.) …

Our friend and colleague, Katha Miller-Winder, a prolific contributor to the comment section of this very blog (“Kat”), has published a valuable book that gives guidance and advice to those who’d like to join that special group of people and dogs who make the world a better place because of their efforts. Becoming a Therapy…

  My first dog training class, in 1968, involved my adolescent Saint Bernard and an ex-marine instructor who hung a Basenji off a choke chain for not sitting when told. Me and my dog walked out. Years later, in the 80’s, I became interested in dog training and took a friend’s dog to classes for…

Dogs & Human Health is user-friendly book about the “New Science of Dog Therapy” that nonetheless contains a plethora of references to good, solid science. (There are 50 pages of references at the end of the book. Be still my heart.) Dr. Milena Penkowa, a neuroscientist and medical doctor in Denmark, has produced something of…

    I don’t know about you, but I seem to keep getting busier and busier, while time seems to be speeding up. If this also describes you, and you are feeling pressed for the time and energy to do things like read a book review, I’ll save you some trouble: Buy this book. Then…

Fostering dogs from shelters, as a way to get them into a home setting while they wait for their forever family, used to be a rare occurrence. Many years ago I remember hearing about a shelter whose policies prevented workers and volunteers from taking dogs or cats home with them, even for brief periods. The…

So I don’t bury the lead, here’s where I’m going today: Why does the concept that dogs can get angry make some people angry? I was reminded of that when I was looking something up in For the Love of a Dog (I often forget where I wrote what . . .) and ran into…

What It’s Like to Be a Dog: And Other Adventures in Animal Neuroscience by Gregory Berns. In one of the early seminal papers on cognitive science, Thomas Nagel famously said that we could never really know what it is like to be a bat. (He actually said, “I want to know what it is like…