Customer Reviews:
 Great insights, enjoyable reading January 3, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have already read "The Other End of the Leash" and found this book to be just as enjoyable and informative as that one. And although the subject matter overlaps a bit (both deal with better understanding and communicating with our canine friends), I still learned a great deal. While "Leash" deals primarily with the differences in the ways primates (we) and canines (they) express ourselves (eg, we like to hug; they don't), this book illustrates how similar we are in the ways we express our emotions (eg, we both open our eyes wide when frightened).
Dr McConnell relates results from research into animal emotions, which gives her writing great credibility, as talking about emotions is a tricky business, especially emotions in animals. Yet she makes the science very easy to understand and combines it with stories of her own dogs and of her clients' dogs to illustrate her points. And it's all presented in her inimitable style: humorous, intelligent, a little self-deprecating. And she obviously loves her subject matter and wants us all to understand our furry friends better.
This is not a how-to training book, but rather a guide to understanding your dog better. It has already helped me read my dog better and has changed the way I interact with her.
If you have dogs or just like dogs, read this book and "The Other End of the Leash," keep the research and advice in mind, and you will enrich your relationship with your canine friend(s) (and maybe even some human ones) in ways you can't even imagine.
Book December 31, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Book: "For The Love of a Dog"
Looking forward to reading this awesome book on dogs.
Great service from Amazon!
For the Love of a Dog December 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is very cute, I felt that the author was speaking directly to me as a friend. I learned A LOT about dog behavior, and now analyze every move my dog makes... in order to better understand dogs in general. This was so informative yet impossible to put down!
 For the Love of A Dog November 29, 2007
3 out of 22 found this review helpful
This book was a little too text booky for me. Not all that interesting
Best of Everything November 24, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love to read dog books that are wonderful, heartwarming stories that I can learn from. Dr. McConnell has given us those stories (some, sadly, not so heartwarming), along with a huge dose of the scientific explanations of emotions in humans and dogs. I run from science - not my type of reading at all. But I was enthralled with the wonderful information in this book, made possible by the layperson-oriented writings. Just in the time I've been reading the book, I have seen so many things in my dog that I had not known before.
Besides being a wonderful book, easy to understand as well as captivating, the Reference section is amazing. Not only does she give us her chapter-by-chapter references, but she has notes about the ones that were most helpful in her research, and why. It seems to be a great jumping-off place for further learning.
I got this book from my local library, but it is at the top of my Christmas list as something that I have to own. I can see myself using this information for years to come.
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