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Read For The Love Of A Dog: Understanding Emotion In You And Your Best Friend (2006)

For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend (2006)

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4.28 of 5 Votes: 5
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ISBN
0345477146 (ISBN13: 9780345477149)
Language
English
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ballantine books

For The Love Of A Dog: Understanding Emotion In You And Your Best Friend (2006) - Plot & Excerpts

It took me a while to finish this book, but I really enjoyed it. I would read it a section at a time and then spend a little while processing the information before continuing on. This book really packs in a ton of information. It is a great book for anyone who is interested in learning more about canine behavior and emotional states. I found it really interesting and well researched. Each time I read a section I stopped to talk about it with my husband or try to observe some things in my own dogs.I have three dogs, and one of them has emotional and behavioral issues. We've actually taken him to Best Friends, the clinic that Patricia founded in Madison. We met with Chelse, who is pictured in the facial expressions photos in the center of the book. Reading this book really has helped me with some ideas for our dog. I've always wondered why he is the way he is - we adopted him from the shelter about a year ago, and since then have been working with him on a myriad of issues, including biting! Ouch. People always tell me, oh, he must have been abused, or something like that. This book presented a lot of other options for why he might be the way he is, and I really appreciated learning about them. It was very interesting to read about how his genetics and early development could have affected the way his neural pathways have developed and are now making his behavior what it is. Learning about all the brain chemistry has made me understand a lot more about the medicine he is on (and quite frankly, feel better about trying it at all). I definitely recommend this book to anyone, but especially to those like me who have a troubled dog. It really provided me with a lot of insight about his behavior and even my own reactions to it. It even has helped me get over my fear of him biting me again, and work with him much more constructively.

I liked the book until the very end. I got disappointed in the last chapter that made me rate this book from 5/5 to 3/5. My impression of the book throughout the book except the last chapter was the author was taking "academic-neutral" positions of the various topics....sort of "well let's give a benefit of doubts because there is no hard proof right now." But then in the last chapter, I noticed an inconsistency in her logic of reasonings. In one section she goes:"The fact that the more complicated explanation makes me feed good is a reason to be skeptical, but it's not reason enough to dismiss the possiblity that Luke understood I was in danger." (pg 282)In another section:"Remember, good science always considers the simplest explanation first, and it seems far simpler to imagine dogs as having a conscious sense of self than not." (pg 276)In one she is saying simplicity is not a good reason to be persuaded to an opinion, yet, in another section, simplicity is precisely the reason to be persuaded. This may not be much, but to me her arguments was no longer convincing since it now seems to me that her opinion is already there without a reasoning; the reasonings are added afterward. Not that I don't appreciate what the book has to say. She sure knows a whole lot more about dogs than I do, and there are so many things for me to learn from the book; I'm still glad that I read the book. It's just the tone of the book changed so drastically at the end (at least that's what I felt) the book's integrity was somewhat diminished (again for me personally).

What do You think about For The Love Of A Dog: Understanding Emotion In You And Your Best Friend (2006)?

I love listening to people who love dogs talk about dogs. Patricia McConnell ends her book with a reiteration of her opinion that dogs are more than just cute, cuddly animals, that they are a reflection of ourselves and the bridge between us dog lovers and our deeper, egoless selves. She speaks of her dogs in a way that I imagine could sound overly "fluffy" to some people, even people who like dogs. But for those of us who see the value and utility in trying to truly tap into what goes on in a dog's mind, she gives words to feelings that are difficult to describe. A lot of what is discussed in this book seem, at first glance, so obvious that they don't need any further discussion. But McConnell introduces different views and perspectives and discussion points that showed me the depth and complexities of issues like "emotion" and "self awareness" and "abstract thinking." A lot of the studies she discusses make for great anecdotal reading, in the way that any scientific study investigating behavior can be. She doesn't go into great detail about the more scientific bases of the studies, but behavior and emotion in themselves make for challenging scientific study.Overall, this book was a fantastic reaffirmation of my love for dogs, and my appreciation of the depth of a dog's emotional life. It has also provided me with the words to explain why it is I feel so strongly about these animals, and what exactly is that pure emotional connection I feel towards dogs.
—Nicole

If you love dogs, this is a wonderful read. The author lives on a farm with her dogs and takes you through her journey with them. Publisher's SummaryYes, humans and canines are different species, but current research provides fascinating, irrefutable evidence that what we share with our dogs is greater than how we differ. As behaviorist and zoologist Dr. Patricia McConnell tells us in this remarkable book about emotions in dogs and in people, more and more scientists accept the premise that dogs have rich emotional lives, exhibiting a wide range of feelings, including fear, anger, surprise, sadness, and love.For those of us who deeply cherish our dogs but are sometimes baffled by their behavior, For the Love of a Dog will come as a revelation - a treasure trove of useful facts, informed speculation, and intriguing accounts of man's best friend at his worst and at his very best. Listeners will discover how fear, anger, and happiness underlie the lives of both people and dogs and, most important, how understanding emotions in both species can improve the relationship between them. Thus, McConnell introduces us to the possibility of a richer, more rewarding relationship with our dogs.
—Michael

Josh and I listened to half of this on our road trip to DC. I had already read the book a few months ago. With Charlie in tow in the back of the car, it made for a lovely conversation piece. Josh hasn't read an entire book on dogs (just puppy training), and this was my way of sneaking in some information. We got through the chapter on facial expressions and we are now paranoid that Charlie rarely smiles. Still, it was a great book to listen to since Charlie was going to be with my two year old niece. It is obvious that he is gleefully joyful around her. He was so gentle. We even filmed some of it so we could further study the interaction. There was one facial expression that i never noticed on my dog out of the four basic ones of anger, joy, disgust and fear and it was disgust. That was the perfect way to describe the look in his face when I told him to stay for a picture with my niece Ella, and she kept pulling on his ear. He leaned as far away as possible without breaking the stay command. What a trooper!
—Stef

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