Tales of Two Species: Essays on Loving and Living with Dogs

by Patricia B. McConnell

How well do you and your dog understand each other?
Have you ever caught yourself wondering what your dog is thinking when he rolls in something stinky? Do you wonder how much of your emotional life is like that of your dog's? What about life from your dog's perspective? Join best-selling author and ethologist Patricia McConnell in pondering these questions in this thought-provoking collection of essays about people and dogs. Written for every dog lover out there who wants to know more about their canine companion.

Gain insight into the dog-human relationship
-What does the name given to a dog say about the owner and the future relationship between the two of them?
-Humans are experts at using words. Dogs are experts at body language. How can we use these talents to better communicate with each other?
-We have bred dogs for many different purposes over thousands of years to hunt, to herd, to provide protection, even to cuddle. How has this process impacted a dog's ability to learn and be trained?
-Why getting "dominance" over your dog isn't the answer to having a more obedient dog.

What other dog experts say about Tales of Two Species
It's rare for someone with so much scientific knowledge to have her feet so solidly planted in the real lives of dogs. This book is a gift to those of us who want to understand dogs better, to communicate with them more clearly, and perhaps most importantly, to help dogs understand us!
Sue Sternberg, author of Great Dog Adoptions and A Guide to the Inducive Retrieve

In Tales of Two Species Patricia McConnell gives us a thoughtful and glowing picture of how the lives of dogs and people have become entwined. Some of these essays will make you laugh, others will bring a tear, but all will make you think more closely about your relationship with your own dog.
Stanley Coren, author of The Modern Dog and Why Does My Dog Act That Way?

Plato, Socrates, Descartes, McConnell those are the great philosophers. Truly no one in our time asks the questions McConnell does about why dogs act as they do. For anyone interesting in going beyond training, to truly begin to understand how the canine mind ticks, this book is a must.
Steve Dale, My Pet World, Tribune Media Services; Pet Central, WGN Radio, Chicago; and nationally syndicated Steve Dale's Pet World

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction, Animals

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2008

About the author

Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, (CAAB) has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals. She is known worldwide as an expert on canine and feline behavior and dog training, and for her engaging and knowledgeable dog training books, DVDs and seminars. Patricia has seen clients for serious behavioral problems since 1988, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, teaching "The Biology and Philosophy of Human/Animal Relationships." For fourteen years she dispensed advice about behavior problems, and information about animal behavior research, on Wisconsin Public Radio's Calling All Pets, which was heard in over 90 cities around the country.

Patricia received her Ph.D. in Zoology in 1988 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison researching dog behavior and communication between professional trainers and working domestic animals.

Reviews

[Sue Burden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Patricia McConnell as an advocate for dogs. In all her writings she puts across dog behaviour in a way us humans can understand. She admits her floors and where she has made mistakes. She reassures the reader that sometimes the toughest actions (such as rehoming) are sometimes for the best for both dog and human.
Patricia B. McConnell is definitely my go to for dog behaviour.

[Shaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title I expected a collection of stories that Patricia McConnell had compiled. I soon figured out it was a collection of her Bark articles.

I am avid Patricia McConnell fan and read Bark cover to cover. Some of the articles I did remember reading.

It was really easy and pleasant to read. Sort of like Reader's Digest but I wasn't inspired to go out and train a new way or adjust my thinking. I doubt I'll remember much of the content. The article length really didn't work for me as far as absorbing goes. I would have liked a normal book with the ideas flowing together and constantly being reinforced by the new information on each page.

I still enjoyed her writing style and her ideas and anecdotes but the format just didn't work for me.

[Dixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of McConnell's _Bark_ articles from the past couple of years. She covers a wide variety of doggie topics with her usual combination of anecdote and science. Strangely familiar if you're a regular reader of _Bark_, but well worth reading otherwise.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Series of essays by a woman who understands dogs and our relationship to them. I learned something in every essay.

[Amanda Rossing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. Just simply amazing